When someone tells them they can’t get a video to open or that the sound in particular movie won’t play, I answer with the same question, again and again, “Have you installed Perian?” Well, six years and a lot video, audio and subtitles successfully played later, the guys at Perian are moving on.

In a post on the project’s homepage, the four principals — Chris Forsythe, Graham Booker, Alexander Strange and Augie Fackler — don’t give a specific reason, but the end will come after the next update is released.

Starting 90 days after the final Perian release, we will no longer provide support. We’ll wrap up our loose ends, pack up our bags, and move on to new and exciting projects […]

We will soon release the final version of Perian, including all the fixes we’ve worked on since the last release. It may, or may not, work on 10.8.

See also: Get the most recent release, Perian 1.2.3

Perian source code will be posted to either Google Code or Github. Further, the guys are encouraging anyone with developer chops to pick up the cudgel and continue their good work.

And, when Perian fully stops working — lots of folks have been experiencing subtitle issues since installing OS X Lion — they’re suggesting using either Niceplayer or MPlayer.

Sorry to see them go and I will be sure post news of the last Perian update…

What’s your take?

via Perian

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