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!

By: Dominic Arnold