Including RealVideo® files in your site

Corporate Plan and higher virtual domain accounts include the use of the popular RealVideo® server.

STEP 1: CAPTURE THE VIDEO FILE

In order to to encode the RealVideo files, the video must first be in a format that the RealVideo encoder can use. The video that you have must be captured in the one of the following formats.

• AVI

• QuickTime

VHS, Beta or Laser Disc can be the source for the actual video content to capture. Consult your video capture card documentation on how to capture video in to AVI or QuickTime formats.

• NOTE:
  RealVideo supports any frame size with a height and width that are multiples of 16. The RealVideo encoder will also accept a 160x120 image size. When creating content, it is recommend to use a frame size of 176x144. Most video capture cards do not support this size. Indeo drivers must be installed on your machine for the encoder to be able to open the AVI. If the AVI file was captured with the same machine there is usually no problem. You can locate the INDEO drivers at this location; ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/IAL/multimedia/indeo/drivers/ivi_95nt.exe

STEP 2: CREATE THE REALVIDEO FILE

You must have the RealVideo encoder to encode Video for the RealVideo server. You can download a copy of the encoder from this link, http://www.real.com/

You must set three Parameters when encoding the RealVideo file: Audio codec,
video bit rate, and frame rate. The quality of the video file depends on these three settings.

1. First choose the bit rate for the video. See table below.

2. Choose the Audio codec. In order to figure out which codec to use. Follow this formula.
   
   Video Bit Rate = (Total Bit Rate) - (Bandwidth of Audio Codec)
   
   The RealVideo has discreet bandwidths. The video bit rate will be the difference between the total bit rate and the bit rate used by the chosen audio codec:
   
   **Video Bit rate is calculated by the real video encoder automatically.
   

3. Now choose the Frame Rate for the video. This depends on the content type of the video. If you have talking head type video The highest frame rate that can be achieved at 19 kbps, will be 7.5 to 10 frames per second (fps) for talking head type content with decent quality. A sporting event may only support 1 fps or maybe less. See the table below for a guidelines.

4. After selecting the correct Audio codec, video bit rate, and frame rate you can now encode the file. If you have the Real Video Player you can test the video file on your local system. You can download a copy of the Real Video Player at this link, http://www.real.com/products/player/playerdl.html .

Now save the Real Video File.

** Important **
Do NOT use underscore ("_") characters when naming RM files as they will not be interpreted correctly by the .ram file.

STEP 3: CREATING THE .RAM FILE

You need to create a text file with a ".ram" extension. This text file contains a URL to the RealAudio file in the following format:

pnm://<yourdomain>/~<userid>/audiofilename.rm

Note the "pnm:" prefix. Substitute your domain name and userid above. There must be a tilde (~) before the userid. This file can reside in the root directory of your account. The audio file name must have a ".rm" extension.

Once the .ram text file is created, save it and upload it to your web site in ASCII transfer mode. We suggest using the same file naming convention. (e.g. "test.ram" will launch the "test.rm" file)

STEP 4: UPLOAD THE .RM FILE TO YOUR WEB SITE

Upload the .rm file to the root directory of your web site in binary transfer mode.

STEP 5: CREATING THE HTML CODE FOR THE REALAUDIO FILE

The HTML document does NOT reference the .ra file itself; it must call the .ram file which, in turn, launches the RealAudio file as represented below.

<a href="http://(yourdomain.com)/(textfile.ram)">Listen to Audio</a>

If you reference the .ra file directly from your HTML code, the audio file may play, but you will not benefit from the streaming audio effect.

EXTRA: TIPS AND TRICKS

More information on features and tricks for putting RealMedia files on your page is available at the following link: http://www.realaudio.com/

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