Techspansion has announce the release of VisualHub 1.31, a maintenance update to its video conversion software for Mac OS X. A free update for registered user, VisualHub costs $23.32.
VisualHub was designed to provide easy conversion between different disparate video formats, for users who want to watch videos they’ve downloaded off the Internet on their iPod, PSP, iPhone, or other device. It’s the shareware product that shares a common ancestry with Techspansion’s freeware iSquint, designed especially for the iPod, with a much greater range of supported formats and sizes.
Apple on Tuesday released Apple TV 2.0 software, which expands the TV interface’s support to include movies that you can rent through the iTunes Store rather than purchase. For the first time, these movies include a Dolby 5.1 surround sound soundtrack when used in combination with HDMI or optical audio outputs.
VisualHub 1.31 now adds the ability to encode 5.1 surround output for output on the Apple TV. Video sources with 5.1 AC3 audio will have their audio track passed through to the finished file, according to Techspansion — the video will be converted for optimal playback on the Apple TV.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later.