What Is It?

A legacy format supported by virtually all computers.

What Plays It?

Some standalone devices, some DVD players, every computer after 1996.

More Information

MPEG video was created in the early 1990s as a worldwide standard for digital video. It lives on in many forms today. MPEG video can be played by nearly every computer without special software, plugins, or codecs needed.

Easy Settings One-by-One

NTSC/PAL

There are two major television formats in the world. NTSC and PAL.

NTSC stands for "North American Television Standards Committee", and as expected from the title, this format is used in North America. It is also the native format of Japan and northwest South America.

PAL stands for "Phase Alternating Line", and as expected from the title, tells you absolutely nothing helpful, leaving you lost and confused. It's the format used in the rest of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and most of South America. People in Antarctica are too cold to watch TV.

Consult this map for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:NTSC-PAL-SECAM.png For the purpose of MPEG video, SECAM and PAL are identical.

Quality

If visual quality isn't as important as just getting the message across, you can set the quality slider to "Low" or "Tiny". If the video demands the absolute best quality possible, choose "High" or "Go Nuts". "Go Nuts" sets a data rate near the maximum attainable quality of the codec. This setting may take over 5 times as much space as "Standard", but will look nominally better.

This is a personal preference. "Standard" is good for the majority of users and video types. The rest is up to you.

MPEG-2 Encoding

MPEG-2 is a revision to the MPEG format. DVDs use a specialized set of MPEG-2 settings. Don't use this unless you know why you have to.

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Apple VisualHub manual MPEG-2 Encoding
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VisualHub specifications

Apple VisualHub was a versatile multimedia application designed for Mac OS X, aimed at simplifying the process of converting video files into various formats. Launched by a small developer known as TechSpaghetti, VisualHub quickly gained popularity due to its user-friendly interface and powerful functionality.

One of the main features of VisualHub was its ability to convert videos to a wide range of formats, including MP4, AVI, MPEG, and more. This flexibility allowed users to prepare video content for different devices such as iPhones, iPods, and Apple TV. The drag-and-drop feature enhanced user convenience by enabling users to simply drag video files into the application for immediate conversion.

VisualHub was built on a combination of robust technologies, leveraging FFmpeg, a popular multimedia framework, to handle video processing. This underlying technology empowered the application to support a diverse array of input formats and deliver high-quality output quickly. Additionally, VisualHub utilized a streamlined codebase that optimized performance and improved conversion speed compared to many of its competitors.

Another noteworthy characteristic of VisualHub was its batch processing capability. Users could efficiently convert multiple videos at once, saving valuable time, particularly for those who needed to process large collections of video files. This feature, coupled with its intuitive interface, made it accessible for both casual users and more advanced video enthusiasts.

In addition to conversion, VisualHub also offered basic editing capabilities, including trimming video clips and adjusting audio settings. This provided users with some level of customization before finalizing their videos.

Despite its many strengths, VisualHub faced challenges, particularly as the digital landscape evolved with the rise of cloud-based services and streaming platforms. However, its legacy as a user-friendly and efficient video conversion tool remains recognized among macOS users who sought a straightforward solution for handling their video files.

In conclusion, Apple VisualHub was a significant tool in the realm of multimedia applications for Mac, known for its extensive format support, batch processing, and ease of use. While it is no longer actively maintained or available for purchase, its impact on video conversion software continues to be appreciated by those who utilized it during its prime.
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