Real Audio And Real Video, Streaming Media For Your Web Site

Real Audio and Real Video, streaming media for your web site

Anybody interested in creating RealAudio and RealVideo content on their sites will find it's a great deal easier than they might have initially imagined.

The instructions given below are for RealAudio on a Windows 95/98 computer, but the process is almost identical for RealVideo and other platforms. I tentatively suggest you print out this tutorial for easier reading, by copying the text and pasting it into Wordpad or Word then printing it out. Or if, you prefer, you can download the text as a zipped document from here. Netscape users please press shift as you click to save the file to disc.

Before you start, be sure you:

1: have an audio or video file in one of the following formats: AVI, MOV, WAV, or AU format. If your file is not in one of those formats, you will need to convert it before starting this tutorial.

2: check with your internet service provider or the people who provide your web space that they support streaming media. This is the one sure thing that will guarantee that you'll never get this technique to work on your site. Save your self a lot of time and effort by finding out before you start this tutorial.

3: are not violating any copyright laws by placing copyrighted material on your web site. It goes without saying that the best files to put on your web site are files you've created yourself. A snippet of the Spice Girls may titillate a few but it won't encourage people to stick around or even come back to see how your site develops and it may make you vulnerable to prosecution.

Step 1: Download RealProducer encoder The current version is RealProducer 7.0. To get the encoder, click here, fill out the form and download the encoder. I've been through this process myself a few times and I can guarantee that Real won't send you annoying bumf. After you finish downloading, you will need to execute the file you downloaded and install RealProducer.

Step 2: Preparations to encode your music file Double click the icon on your desktop or from the start menu called " RealProducer." In the dialogue box which pops up choose 'record from file'

Now you need to enter the name of the file that you want to encode. Click "Browse" and browse for the file. Once you have found the file, click "Open" then "Next".

In the next screen, enter the title, author, copyright and a brief description of the track to inform your listeners of the kind of thing they can expect to hear when they play it. Then click "Next". Now you need to select the target audience. Select "Multi-rate SureStream for Real Server G2" and click "Next". Then choose 56k Modem as a target Audience stream format. Most PCs, browsers and modems should be able to handle this.

The current screen asks for the audio format. Select the appropriate type based on the type of file you are encoding and click "Next".

Now you will be asked to enter the output file. You can choose to enter it anywhere on your hard drive but you should be able to remember exactly where you placed it. Then you should click "Next". Please ensure at this stage that you avoid any spaces in a file's name. Most servers are still susceptible to file names which aren't continuous so a file like 'wake free zone.rm' would be more easily recognised as 'wakefreezone.rm'.

Finally, RealProducer allows you to confirm your choices. If there is nothing wrong with your choices, click "Start". If you wish to change something, hit 'back' and change what you need to in the appropriate dialogue boxes.

Step 3: Encode the file In the "RealEncoder" screen, click the "Start" button in the lower left corner of the RealEncoder window. It may take a few minutes to encode the file, depending on the length of the original file. The blue bar in the lower right corner of the RealEncoder shows your progress. When encoding is finished, a "Recording Complete" box will pop up. Here you are given the choice to upload the destination of your file to Real Server Janus where, if you're lucky, someone may stumble across your musical offering via their web site. You simply connect to the internet and fill out the form at Janus to inform them where they might find your music. Then you should close RealProducer .

Step 4: Upload the file To upload the file to your Web site, you will need to use an FTP program or Site Manager. You can upload to any directory, just be sure you remember the address of the file. If your program asks, this file should be uploaded in "Binary" mode.

Step 5: Make a text file linking to the Real (*.rm) file Click your Start Menu and go to "Run." Type "Notepad" and click "OK". In Notepad, type only this line of text: http://www.server#/username/directory/file.rm. # is the server that you are on, username is your domain username, directory is where you've uploaded the rm file to and file.rm is the actual file that you uploaded. For instance the file wakefreezone is at: 'http://www.eidosnet.co.uk/donkit racks/wakefreezone.rm'

Here's the rub. There should only be one line of text in the Notepad window. When you are finished, click "File" and go to "Save As." In the "Save as Type" selector, select "All Files (*.*)". Select a directory you can remember, and in the "File name:" box type a name with an ending of .ram. (For example, sound.ram.) Click "Save." This is extremely important. What you've done here is to create a kind of sign post to the .rm file which then, when your visitor clicks on to the link, points their copy of RealPlayer to the .rm file which the application will then play.

Step 6: Upload the text file Use an FTP program or Site Manager to upload the text file to your web site. You can upload to any directory, just be sure you remember the address of the file. If your program asks, this file should be uploaded in "Text" or "ASCII" mode, however most FTP programmes worth their salt will know what type of file you're uploading and change the mode automatically.

Step 7: Link to the text file on your web site You will need to edit one of your HTML files on your Web site and place a link to the *.ram file. This link should be to your web site, not to the file on your hard drive. Then you will need to re-upload the HTML file.

Step 8: Test your RealAudio file Go to your web site and click on the link to the RealFile (the *.ram file). Your browser should quickly download a file, and RealPlayer should open and play the RealAudio file. If anything does not work correctly check the addresses you used and make sure they are accurate. If your file refuses to play but no other error messages pop up, you should check that you uploaded the files with the proper file type.

RealVideo To make RealVideo, use the same method but be prepared to wait while the file encodes as video is far more memory hungry than audio.

Have fun!

About the Author

Dominic Arnold dominic@deepflight.co.uk