So now that I have this software, what do I do with it?
Contents
1. 17 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual The Many Ways to Play a Clip There are two very different ways to play media clips on your computer The first is local playback Local playback is when you use the Open File option from your RealPlayer File menu The second way clips are played is as streamed content This is any clip that is played in real time over the Internet But before you can play a clip on the Internet you have to connect to it You can connect to streamed content by clicking on links in a web page using the Open Location option from your RealPlayer File menu or by using any of the new options RealPlayer has to offer My Channels My Favorites Plus only and the Real com Media bar Note For a complete discussion of streaming media and the Internet please see Chapter 6 What is Streaming Media and How does it Work on page 39 Navigating through a clip When you start playing a clip you have loaded it A clip remains loaded until you select a new clip Loading a clip means either that you are connected to it or that it was the last clip you were listening to during the current session of RealPlayer A session starts when you launch RealPlayer and ends when you close it Stopping a clip does not unload it Stopping a clip just resets it to play from the beginning However just because a clip is loaded does not mean you are necessarily connected to the Internet Loading a clip on2. REALPLAYER THE BASICS ye j With every new version of RealPlayer RealNetworks tries to improve your experience not only in what you hear and see but also in how you use the program This chapter describes the basic functions common to both RealPlayer and RealPlayer Plus Additional Information Check your Help file for additional information about RealPlayer features Be sure to download the latest Help file update Just go to Help Check for Update So now that I have this software what do I do with it RealPlayer gives you access to multimedia files both on the Internet and those stored locally on your computer and your LAN With RealPlayer you can find and play Channels Live Stations and other clips directly without having to launch your web browser first My Favorites and Scanning features of RealPlayer Plus detailed in Chapter 5 let you organize and search for clips with just a few clicks of your cursor Note Clip is a catch all phrase to describe anything RealPlayer plays A clip can be video audio video with audio RealText RealPix Real System G2 with Flash any combination of these or any other form of audio visual media that a plug in is available for Some clips contain more than one song or video these are called multi clips A multi clip strings together several individual clips of content but you only have to click on it a single time to hear or see all of the media associated with that clip
3. Sharing Favorites RealPlayer allows you to share Favorites with other users of RealPlayer Sharing is accomplished through the use of Exporting and Importing Favorites To Export a Favorite 1 2 Select Organize from your Favorites menu Click Export Favorite or Export Folder depending on what you have selected in the Organize Favorites dialog The Export Favorites dialog will open Select a place on your hard disk to save the Favorite or folder of Favorites also called a Favorites Pack and give it a name Click Save The file will be created with an RNX extension E mail the file to your friends The file should be mailed as a simple text file if you need to designate file type in your mail program Tip If you want to quickly Export an entire Folder of Favorites just select Export foldername from the Options menu on your My Favorites tab RealPlayer Plus only To Import a single Favorite or folder of Favorites also called a Favorites Pack 1 2 Select Import from your Favorites menu An Import Favorite dialog will open 3 Browse as you would with your Windows Explorer to where your mail program downloads files and select the Favorite to be imported it will have an RNX extension Click Open The Favorite will appear in your RealPlayer Additional Information When individual Favorites are imported folder information is included If an identical folder already e
4. View menu View Playlist When the playlist is displayed the title of the clip currently being played is displayed in the left text box the number of clips in the playlist and the number of the current clip is indicated in the right text box A list of the clips is displayed as a pull down menu in the clip title box 25 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual Individual clips can be selected from the list or with the Jump back and Skip next buttons Additional Information You can create a multi clip by selecting drag amp drop any playable files clips from a local directory then dragging and dropping them onto RealPlayer The clips are then listed in the playlist bar and start to play one after the other Visualizations and Audio Analyzer ATE Visualizations PC only Figure 4 7 Display Panel with Visualization Visualizations display audio information in fun visual formats Click to toggle the Visualizations on The Visualization is shown in the Display Panel You can from several different Visualizations displays Flip through the available Visualizations by clicking to go backward or forward through the possibilities To change how Visualizations react or look click to display the Visualization Options display window This will give you access to Fade Rotate Zoom Slide and Blur Type controls These options affect how some of the Visualizations behave An On Off c
5. can be added to your favorites list like any other media clip See Favorites below Favorites Just like bookmarks on a web browsers RealPlayer lets you save and organize the locations to your favorite clips and links To organize your favorites select Favorites Organize from the pull down menu at the top of RealPlayer An Organize Favorites dialog box will be displayed Create folders to save your favorite clip information in To add a favorite to your list select Favorites Add to Favorites from the menu bar An Add to Favorites dialog box will be displayed Select a folder to add the clip to and click the OK button The clip you are playing or the last clip loaded if you are not playing a clip will be added to the selected folder in your list of favorites Figure 4 4 Playing Favorites 9 My Top 10 MP3 Clips To play a favorite clip La Stations Like 1 Select the My Favorites tab from the Real com Daily News Content Panel A list of Favorites folders WebRadio net Rock ili beidisblaved f he lef ea Tutorials will be displayed See Figure to the left About Take5 2 Select a folder to display saved clips 3 Select the clip you want played RealPlayer will either play the clip or go to the designated location See My Favorites on page 31 for more S Addto Favorites CaM information about playing and saving Favorites 23 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual
6. find out if there s something new see Channels gleam on page 22 Tip You can force a Headline update to occur ahead of its next scheduled time by selecting Update headline now from the Options menu If you are not connected to the Internet your RealPlayer will attempt to connect to your ISP when you click Update headlines now To turn off automatic updating see Content Preferences on page 61 Your RealPlayer comes loaded with a starter set of Channels but you can change these at any time by clicking Add New Channels In fact RealNetworks is always working to supply you with new Channels so check regularly to see what new Channels are available 20 RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics To Change or Add to Your Channels 1 Click the Channel titled Add New Channels 2 A page will open in your browser or if you use a PC and have Internet Explorer V 4 0 or later it will open in your RealPlayer 3 Follow the instructions on the Channels page to change your lineup Channels are available for a variety of interests News Entertainment Sports and others 4 Click Finish on the Channels page to have your selections take effect Real com Take 5 Figure 4 2 Channels tab real com Real com Take 5 is a special service created by RealNetworks to bring you oO take chek to m the best of the web a daily showcase of t s ols the top streaming entertainment Eann the da
7. subscription options in your Preferences see Content Preferences on page 61 Real com Product Flashes Product Flashes deliver RealPlayer Tips and Tricks and Special Offers from RealNetworks You can change your subscription options in your Preferences see Upgrade Preferences on page 63 How do you know when you have received a Flash When you ve received a Flash RealPlayer will let you know in one of two ways 1 The RealPlayer icon in your Windows System Tray will glimmer Windows Operating System only You change how this looks on the appropriate Preferences tab depending on the services you ve selected Click the icon in your Tool Tray to see the new Flash The Windows Tool Tray is where you see the time at d 11 55AM displayed shown to the left 29 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual 2 A Message bar will appear in your RealPlayer see Figure 3 12 Message bar on page 16 The bar will let you know what sort of Flash you ve received For instance if you see a light bulb with words such as RealPlayer Tips and Tricks after it you ve received a Flash with information about how to use one of the many features of RealPlayer Just click the Message bar to see the new Flash Flashes will not interfere with your listening or viewing experience You choose when to watch the Flash after it has arrived Resizing E RealPlayer is manually resizable Just hover your mouse over any
8. ay Channels gleam dy Figure 4 3 Channels tab with gleam Channels also let you know when there s maay Click to something new to watch A gleam will Tam Flay appear on the channel shown to the left nae To see when your Channels were last JANNELS updated see the date or time next to Options To update manually click Options and select Update Headlines Now Gleams Updated 10 00 am GUD Channel Update Options Menu Radio Tuner RealPlayer provides access to Live Stations continuous real time streaming media from a variety of radio stations throughout the world usually a combination of live and pre recorded programs Station are selected with the Real com Radio Tuner Note When playing a continuous feed such as a radio station the status bar will show the word Live instead of the length of the clip See Status bar on page 15 22 RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics You can go to the Radio Tuner from the Radio menu which offers a variety of quick selections or by clicking Radio Tuner on the Media bar see Figure 4 9 Real com Media bar on page 28 Opening the Radio Tuner takes you to a site at Real com By following the links you can select and play radio broadcasts right from your RealPlayer You can search for Live Stations by their name call letters or browse through available Live Stations sorted by category Once selected radio station locations
9. corner or edge of RealPlayer click hold and drag to the size C QO ar you would like to use 4 Search Message Service 7 ei 2 x s To return to a specific Size use the Zoom control see Figure 3 9 Display Panel Mac on page 14 or the View Zoom menu command to select Original or Double size Note Macintosh users will be able to resize from the bottom right corner of their RealPlayer using the familiar single arrowed cursor 30
10. e Analyzer you are probably going to experience clipping and distortion in your sound Adjusting the frequencies that seem overpowering can correct this problem Real com Media bar The Real com Media bar provides links to web sites that organize and access media information and services for the RealPlayer Figure 4 9 Real com Media bar sig Radio Tuner Guide 4 Search Message Service v D E tt Connect to onnect to F Drag bar Radio Tuner Goring to Real com Guide Use these buttons to quickly find media content on the Web Radio Tunergives you an up to date listing of available radio and video content by opening a Real com web page in your browser or if you have a PC and Internet Explorer V 4 0 or later in RealPlayer itself Search will open a Real com web page in your browser or if you have a PC and Internet Explorer V 4 0 or later in RealPlayer Follow the instructions on the page to look for clips that interest you Search will automatically look for audio video and other media clips that meet your search criteria Just click on any of the resulting titles to listen to a clip Guide will take you directly to the Real com Guide a comprehensive media hub for free Internet audio and video media and related software Find media featured on the Internet and play it with one click Choose from a comprehensive listing of downloadable music live event calendars and access to premiere programming More than 2 000 radio and t
11. elevision stations 8 000 Web sites and 500 daily live events are offered Message Service lets you select check for and view messages you received from the Real com Message Service Message Service commands are displayed as a pull down menu This is an optional service that you can personalize to send news and information updates to your RealPlayer Messages are downloaded 28 RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics automatically or when the Check for Real com Messages command is selected from the Message Service see Figure 3 12 Message bar Messages are displayed when you select the View Real com Messages command See Real com Message Service below for more information Real com takes you directly to the Real com home page where you can find out about all the latest from RealNetworks Real com Message Service RealPlayer can keep you informed about events and information in several categories with the Real com Message Service The Real com Message Service is actually two services delivering different types of information Real com News and Entertainment Flashes and Real com Product Flashes You can choose to subscribe to either or both services when you install RealPlayer or change your subscriptions later from the Message Service pull down menu Real com News and Entertainment Flashes News and Entertainment Flashes alert you to breaking news and live concert events You can change your
12. ifferent modes click the rollbar on the Analyzer display Why would you want to see what you re hearing Aside from a visual good time the Audio Analyzer can help visualize what you are hearing and help you adjust the sound with your Equalizer Plus only When you adjust the Equalizer you will see a corresponding change in the peaks and troughs on your analyzer Using the Equalizer and the Analyzer together can be very powerful The Bar Graph and Spectrograph modes are the best to work with for accurately seeing how your changes in the Equalizer are affecting your sound quality The Spectrograph mode indicates the level of each frequency each narrow band of sound by showing you a column of light The Spectrograph displays over 100 frequency bands The range of frequencies on the equalizer are in the same order as on the Spectrograph going from Bass to Treble left to right Because of this direct relationship adjustments on the Equalizer will be more obvious in the Spectrograph mode than they will be in Wave mode 27 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual Wave mode does show your frequency range but in a vertical format to show the frequency change from a zero mark that runs horizontally across the center Essentially it shows how high the levels are for each frequency Reading it does require a little more practice but if you notice most of the peaks are very high hitting the top and bottom of th
13. ily music news and specialty show programming on the Internet Real com Take 5 is available only through RealPlayer Screening heen A single click on the Real com Take 5 FENE icon starts the program You ll hear an excerpt of the showcase content as well as a list of other categories you can access Additional Information Real com Take 5 is a SMIL presentation see SMIL on page 52 that combines RealSystem G2 with Flash RealText RealPix and RealAudio all synchronized in the same presentation within RealPlayer Real com Take 5 is designed to give you a good experience even over slower dial up connections such as when using a 28 8 modem Real com Take 5 takes advantage of other new RealPlayer features such as multi instance multiple RealPlayer windows and file caching Multi instance 21 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual allows you to view a video clip in a new window and not lose your place in the main Real com Take 5 window substantially reducing the need to reload pages In fact when pages are reloaded some of the components on the page are retrieved from Clip Cache see Performance Preferences on page 72 speeding performance Real com Take 5 has a dedicated team at RealNetworks working every day with content providers to find the best and most informative content from around the Web just for you All this makes Real com Take 5 one of the best places to be on the Web every d
14. ly means that RealPlayer knows where to look for it and what clip it should work with when you click any of the control buttons see table on next page 18 RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics Navigation Button Action Play starts a clip from the beginning or from where you ea paused it Live streaming media example live radio starts at the current point in the program Pause freezes playback of the clip If you pause a clip for several minutes you may be disconnected from the clip When you resume playback there may be a delay while RealPlayer reconnects to the site Real time streaming media is not buffered while puased and will reconnect at the current point in the program Stop halts playback and resets the clip to the beginning The Position Slider indicates where you are in the clip Dragging the slider to a new position will let you jump around a large clip watch the time indicator on your Status bar for your location Not available during Live media play The longer you hold down Fast Forward the further ahead in ad the clip you will jump Not available during Live media play The longer you hold down Rewind the further back in the clip you will jump Not available during Live media play Q Mute turns the volume all the way down affects all System Sound Cues on PC What if am disconnected from my Internet Service Provider ISP If you are
15. not connected to the Internet and attempt to play a loaded clip RealPlayer will try to establish a connection for you In most cases on a Windows PC this means you will see the Dial up Connection dialog that you see when you launch your browser or get your e mail For a Macintosh most often you will be reconnected automatically In both cases if you do not automatically reconnect to the Internet connect manually and try to play the clip again 19 CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual Channels Channels give you one click access to content that is updated on a frequent basis All take advantage of the SMIL format which provides a richer experience by using multiple types of streams at once see SMIL on page 52 for details Figure 4 1 My Channels My Channels provides you with up to date g arae Click to headlines from all of your selected Y Play Channels while you re connected to the Internet Headlines for each Channel appear to the right of the Channel s icon as you move your cursor over the Channels You can also set the Headlines to display and scroll Headline automatically see Content Preferences on page 61 Updated 10 00 am Spone Menu Headlines update automatically while you are connected to the Internet When the content for a Channel has changed since your last visit you ll see a gleam appear on the Channel icon you won t have to play the Channel to
16. ontrol n t in the Options window will turn on or off all optional Note When Visualizations is turned on and a clip is playing it appears in the Display area This will override any visual component of the clip you are playing You can restore the video display by turning the Visualization off When Visualizations is turned on and a clip is not playing the Display area is blank 26 RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics Why would you want to see what you re hearing Aside from a visual good time the Audio Analyzer can help visualize what you are hearing and help you adjust the sound with your Equalizer RealPlayer Plus only When you adjust the Equalizer you will see a corresponding change in the peaks and troughs on your analyzer In addition to the Visualizations that come with RealPlayer You can download new Visualizations from Real com To download these files go to the RealPlayer Home Page available on the Favorites Web Sits menu Follow the directions on the web site to install the Visualization files Once installed the new Visualization s will be immediately available on RealPlayer Audio Analyzer Mac Figure 4 8 Audio Analyzer in two different modes Click to aaa change A tes modes PLP ade Hv Wave mode Spectrograph mode The Audio Analyzer includes the Wave mode and Spectrograph mode similar to the Spectrograph Visualization in the PC version To cycle through the d
17. xists the Favorite is placed there otherwise the Favorite is placed in a new folder created with the name of the source folder Imported Favorites will not overwrite your existing Favorites even if they have the 24 RealPlayer 8 Plus User Manual CHAPTER 4 RealPlayer The Basics same names or folder names Instead Favorites will appear in your RealPlayer with identical names but may connect to different clips Location bar Playlist bar The Location bar on RealPlayer displays the URL or address of the currently loaded clip similar to the address bar in your Web browser and gives you browser like control of your RealPlayer Figure 4 5 Location bar D Location file C My Music Queen Greatest Hits 01 Back Forward URL of current clip Drop down list of previously played clips Drag bar The drop down Location list keeps track of the last 20 addresses you enter type or paste into your RealPlayer The Back and Forward buttons let you to jump back and forth between the clips you were playing also similar to your Web browser Figure 4 6 Playlist bar Playlist rj ooo gt Displays title Jump back to Skip t of current clip previousclip next clip Drag bar in Playlist Current clip of x clips in Playlist The Playlist bar will open automatically when you are playing a multi clip a clip that contains other clips in sequence To open the Playlist bar manually use the
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