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So long, Techspansion, and thanks for all the video-converting fish

Posted by Dan Moren | Friday, October 03, 2008 10:00 AM PT

techspansion.jpgSay it ain’t so! Techspansion, makers of fine media conversion utilities VisualHub, AudialHub, and iSquint, has announced its intentions to discontinue its applications and close its doors for good.

The announcement came with little fanfare on the company’s front page, which was replaced with the news. Wrote Techspansion founder and Fearless Leader Tyler Loch, “After much soul-searching (it’s not you, it’s me), for personal reasons, Techspansion is closing its virtual doors.” The company’s support forum and e-mail support will continue to operate for the time being, helping users wrangle out persistent issues.

This is a bummer. I know plenty of people who relied on VisualHub for their video-converting needs—the app was a virtual alchemist of video, with the ability to turn just about any video format into any other format. And for converting video to an iPod-friendly format, iSquint was about as easy as it could get.

Techspansion, you will be missed; we wish Tyler best of luck with his future endeavors.

Comments (10)

This really stinks. Virtual Hub is one of my most used apps and I was commenting recently how seemingly every time I opened it the thing was updated. It will really be missed!

October 03, 2008
10:31 AM PT

Dammit! I can't believe it. This is one of the best Mac apps ever. Hopefully Tyler can get things in order soon and revisit Visual Hub development. Good luck to you, Tyler.

Anonymous
October 03, 2008
10:51 AM PT

Okay, this really blows. I use VisualHub *constantly* for transcoding videos pulled from my Tivo, home movies for my parents, etc. It's a shame to see the developer of such a great product close shop. Pity.

Grant
October 03, 2008
10:55 AM PT

Luckily for us, the newest developer snapshot of Handbrake includes VisualHub capabilities for converting various media formats to iPod friendly files. Open source saves the day (for now)...

Jan
October 03, 2008
11:42 AM PT

I'll be one of many users saddened over this. VisualHub was my goto app @ work & home. I've gone out out my way to encourage every new Mac convert to buy this program.

Don
October 03, 2008
12:06 PM PT

Nooooo! This must be a bad nightmare. To me, there is no other app that compare to VisualHub in easy of use mixed with advanced enough options (without making it an option hell).

What can be done to make these apps survive? Sell it to another developer to continue the work?

Christofer Author Profile Page
October 03, 2008
12:07 PM PT

Jan sort of answered my question.

Could the source be released to the public and have the open source community pick up the slack?

October 03, 2008
12:28 PM PT

Holly Crap Batman, Gotham is doomed!!
This was one of just a few apps I do not want to work without....
I'll pay double the rate to keep ya going.

Mike
October 03, 2008
10:37 PM PT

And I just recently fell in love with AudialHub. Bummer. Hope there's a Knight in Shinning Armor out there to come galloping in to rescue to these fine apps. And all the best to Tyler. Outstanding job guy! Sorry to see you go.

AlbertW
October 04, 2008
10:12 AM PT

This definitely leaves a hole in the OS X application lineup. Hopefully, someone will step up to fill it, but I have a hard time imagining a better app than Visual Hub.

And with iTunes 8.0 paring down its converting abilities, Audial Hub was looking more and more necessary, too.

Techspansion will be missed. But please, Tyler, release the code. Don't leave us high and dry.

Billy K Author Profile Page
October 06, 2008
8:09 AM PT

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