VisualHub Review

Do you love watching movies? If you do, then I\’m pretty sure that you also get the itch to purchase a copy or two of your favorite flicks whenever you have the spare cash to do so, even more so if sold at a bargain at your favorite video store or downloadable from your trusted peer-to-peer network.

Though at the same time, even if we already have a copy on hand, as much as we\’d love to normally we do not always have the time to spare to watch these treasured flicks at our own leisure. Be it because of work, family matters, a last minute night out, etc.

In situations like these, don\’t you just wish that you could simply transfer everything to your trusty iDevice such as your iPhone or iPod, carry it with you and watch it on the fly whenever you feel like it? But a new issue comes up; which application amongst a myriad of choices would do the job best with as little fuss as possible?

If you ask me, I\’d always go back to an old time favorite: VisualHub. The ever reliable app can play around with various video formats and convert them into a vast array of video file types like say AVI, DVD, MP4 and MPEG just to name a few. Now each format comes with its default configuration, but if you are the adventurous type and would like to take a gander this could be for you. Being able to do do some minor edits, adjustments, nips and tucks to influence the final outcome, VisualHub offers an extensive Advanced Settings panel that allows you to make these changes in case you\’re not content with the pre-configured settings to begin with.

Be it for playback on your iPod, a TV screen or say on your Apple TV, VisualHub has got it covered. Now, if you\’re the type who likes to save as much space as possible on your Mac and would not mind a minor drop in quality for as long as you\’d be able to view movies of satisfactory quality and being able to save space on your hard drive and conversion time all in one go.

Doing this is as simple as ABC. All one needs to do is drag and drop the files for conversion into the program\’s main interface, choose amongst which file type you would like the file to be converted into, and then select the quality setting from a choice of five namely: Tiny, Low, Standard, High and my favorite, Go Nuts ( which coincidentally happens to be the best quality setting that\’s up for selection ).

You could also opt to tick the radio button for H.264 Encoding, which happens to provide you with better video quality, whilst taking up less space on your hard drive albeit in exchange for a longer conversion time. If you can spare the time and you have the enviable gift of patience, I would suggest electing for a Go Nuts quality standard in combination with H.264 Encoding for the best quality output you can get from VisualHub. Lastly, you can play around the Advanced Settings tab and do some form of experimentation in relation to your intended output. I\’m pretty sure that through trial and error, running by two to three conversions coupled with your personal choice settings would make you an expert in selecting. More often than not, the best settings you could ever hope for in influencing your intended output in no time.

MacReview.com Verdict:
I really like its minimalist grayscale interface. As an added bonus, pointing your mouse at each of the main settings lends for a short description of what that setting does which makes this app that much easier to use. Lastly, the Advanced Settings tab makes for some fun customizations. And if you take the time of day to learn how to master playing around with these settings, I could just about guarantee that the final output would indeed be worth it. Unfortunately it is no longer supported.