| REAL AUDIO/VIDEO INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS |
| What is RealServer/Media/Audio? RealServer is the software that streams media (RealAudio and RealVideo) over a network. The client receives the media in real-time, and does not have to wait for the clip to download. RealMedia is any media that is specifically created to be streamed from RealServer. RealAudio is an audio only streaming format. RealVideo is a video streaming format that includes both audio and video.
The RealPlayer client for viewing RealAudio and RealVideo is available as a free download at: http://www.real.com/player/. |
| How can I create Real Audio/Video files? You can create RealAudio and RealVideo files with RealNetworks RealProducer. More information on obtaining and using RealProducer can be found at: http://www.realnetworks.com/products/. |
| How much does access to the RealServer cost? The cost of RealServer Access depends on what type of stream is desired. Shared streams are included with Gold and Platinum Hosting Plans. For the current price of dedicated streams check out the Additional Business Plan Services price list. |
| What Hosting Plans include RealServer access? The Gold and Platinum Hosting Plans include RealServer shared streams. They also include the option to purchase dedicated streams. |
| What is a shared stream? Shared streams are a pool of streams shared between Gold and Platinum Hosting Plan owners. The streams area available on a first come, first served basis. |
| How many shared streams are allowed per user? If is difficult to determine the number of shared streams that a user can have access to, since shared streams are allocated on a first come, first served basis from a shared pool of streams. Theoretically, the maximum number of shared streams available to a suer (if only that user was accessing the shared pool of streams) would be the number in the pool. |
| How are shared streams allocated? Shared streams are allocated on a first come, first served basis from a shared pool of streams. |
| What is a dedicated stream? A dedicated stream is a stream that is guaranteed to be available to the user, unlike a shared stream. Dedicated streams can be purchased by owners of Gold and Platinum Hosting Plans. |
| How many dedicated streams are allowed per user? The number of dedicated streams that a user has access to is determined by the number of streams the user has purchased. Streams are available for sale to owners of Gold and Platinum Hosting Plans in units of five. |
| Can additional streams be purchased? Yes. Additional streams can be purchased in units of five streams by owners of Gold and Platinum Hosting Plans. For the current price of dedicated streams check out the Additional Business Plan Services price list. |
| How much bandwidth is allowed per user? In general, the amount of bandwidth (amount transferred from the domain per month in megabytes) is determined by the type of Hosting Plan the customer has purchased. The bandwidth used by shared and dedicated streams is applied to the monthly transfer limit. |
| Can additional bandwidth be purchased? Yes. Additional bandwidth can be purchased. For the current price of additional bandwidth check out the Additional Business Plan Services price list. |
| How do I get RealServer access? To access the RealServer, you must submit a Support Ticket asking your Support Team to setup access. |
| What protocols does RealServer support? The RealServer supports two protocols. RTSP: The Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) is a client-server multimedia presentation control protocol, designed to address the needs for efficient delivery of streamed multimedia over IP networks. RTSP is an open protocol that supports many file formats including SureStream, SMIL, RealText, RealPix, ASF (Microsoft's Active Streaming Format), Apple QuickTime, MPEG Audio/Video, RealAudio, RealVideo, and H.263 files.
PNA: The Progressive Networks Audio (PNA) protocol is designed and used with RealSystem version 5.0 and earlier. RealServer supports PNA for compatibility with older versions of RealPlayer. PNA is a proprietary protocol. |
| What protocol should I use? The protocol is determined by the type of media you are streaming and to some extent on the client's network configuration. Using the correct protocol ensures that the media will be streamed as fast as possible. Using the wrong protocol can result in poor streaming quality. RTSP is the best protocol for media created with RealSystem G2+ tools. It supports many media styles and is open standard. Older (legacy) media developed with RealSystems 5.0 and earlier should use the PNA protocol. |
| What ports does the RealServer listen on? The RealServer listens to three separate ports. What port gets accessed depends on the protocol being used. For RTSP, RealServer listens to port 554. For PNA, RealServer listens to port 7070. |
| What directory do I upload my RealMedia files to? You must upload your RealMedia files to your public directory. If you upload to a subdirectory of your public directory, the subdirectory must be reflected in the access URL. The URL used to access your RealMedia files depends on the protocol being used. |
| How do people connect to my RealMedia files? The URL used to access a RealMedia file depends on the protocol being used. The URL format for the RTSP protocol is: rtsp://yourdomain/yourdomain/filename.rm. the URL format for the PNA protocol is: pnm://yourdomain/yourdomain/filename.rm. For example, when using the RTSP protocol, if you wanted people to access a RealMedia file called "myrealmedia" and your domain was "mydomain.net," then the URL would be: rtsp://mydomain.net/mydomain.net/myrealmedia.rm.
Note: In a URL, the PNA protocol is represented by the letters "PNM."
The domain part of the URL represents your public directory.
In the previous example, if you place the file "myrealmedia" in a subdirectory of public, the subdirectory must be reflected in the access URL. If you upload the file to a subdirectory of public called "files," the URL for the file (using the RTSP protocol) would be: rtsp://mydomain.net/mydomain.net/files/myrealmedia.rm. |
| Where can I find more information? Real.com main download and information site: Real.com's support page:
http://service.real.com RealNetworks start-up demos: http://www.realnetworks.com/getstarted/ |