RealPlayer 10.5
Helix Powered
With Harmony(tm) Technology

Welcome to RealPlayer from RealNetworks

This document describes RealNetworks' RealPlayer. The software and documentation are provided to you in accordance with your license agreement.

For the latest technical information or assistance, please visit Customer Support.

For the most up-to-date version of this document, please visit the online RealPlayer release notes

Contents

System Requirements
Installation
Network Issues
Known Issues
Manually Configuring Your Browser
Troubleshooting
Using RealPlayer through a Firewall
Full Screen and/or Video Not Displaying Properly
Reporting Feedback

System Requirements

Minimum

• 350MHz Intel Pentium II processor or equivalent
• 64MB of RAM (128MB on Windows XP or later)
• 52 MB available disk space
• 28.8Kbps modem (audio only)
• 16-bit sound card and speakers
• 65,000-color video display card set to display at 800x600 (video)
• Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later (playback only), Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or later, or Windows XP
• Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
• Note: For playback of Windows Media and QuickTime, you must have Windows Media Player 6.0 or later and QuickTime 5.0 or later installed on your computer

Recommended

• 500MHz Intel Pentium III processor or greater (supports simultaneous record/playback features)
• 128MB of RAM
• High-speed Internet connection (audio/video)
• Full Duplex sound card and speakers
• 65,000-color video display card set to display at 800x600 or higher (video)
• CD writer (for CD writing features)
• 700+ MB available disk space for writing Media and MP3 CDs (not required for audio CDs)
• DVD player and DVD playback software (for DVD playback)
• Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or later, or Windows XP
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
• Windows Media Player 9.0 or later
• QuickTime 6.4 or later
• If using Screen-Reader software: JAWS (v4.02 or greater recommended) or Window-Eyes (v4.21 or greater)

*All other brands and names are property of their respective owners.

Note: Operating system requirements only apply to RealNetworks products. Third party plug-ins or add-ons may have different system requirements.

Return to Contents

Installation

• Install directory: RealPlayer is installed in the C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer directory unless you specify otherwise or unless you had a previous version of RealOne Player installed. When over-installing an older version, RealPlayer will be installed in the old RealPlayer or RealOne Player directory. RealPlayer also installs several system files into the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real directory on your hard drive. On NT, files are installed in the C:\Windows\Profiles\your_account\Application Data\Real directory and on Windows 2000 and XP files are installed in C:\Document and Settings\your_account\Application Data\Real directory. Two DLLs are installed in the Windows\System directory.
• Installing RealPlayer: Installing RealPlayer will uninstall any previous version of RealPlayer, RealOne Player, and RealJukebox.

Network Issues

Before changing any Network or Proxy settings, please contact your System Administrator. Incorrect settings can cause RealPlayer to appear not to function.

• UDP Ports: 2 or more UDP Ports must be configured and the UDP Port ranges must begin with an even number and be delineated by a '-' with the exception of the range 7070,7071.

  For example:
  7070-7071 or 7072-7076 or 7070-xxxx will work.
  7070,7071 will work, but no other range can be listed this way.

  The following ranges are incorrect:
  7071-7072 or 7071-7073 or 7071-xxxx (beginning with odd number) will not work.
  7070,7072 will not work.

• Proxy Services on a small LAN: If you have proxy services set up for a small LAN to provide Internet access to a number of computers, (e.g., using Intel(R) In Business Internet Station(TM)), you should disable the autodial feature of your hardware to avoid causing your proxy to automatically connect to you ISP. RealPlayer cannot sense the difference between a persistent connection and one provided by an intermediate source and will continue to update headlines and check for upgrades on a regular basis causing your proxy box to dial-up frequently.
• Firewalls: If you are attempting to connect from behind a firewall (most companies employ firewalls to protect their networks) you may find it takes considerably longer to obtain a connection.
• Unable to connect: If you enter incorrect proxy information during a RealPlayer session and attempt to connect, RealPlayer will remember that information for the duration of the session even if you delete it and attempt to connect again. To clear the information, delete it from the Proxy Preference tab (by Clicking Tools > Preferences and expanding Connection to choose Proxy), click OK, close RealPlayer and restart your Player.
• Unable to Sign-in / Service unavailable: Incorrect Proxy information will block the Sign-in process in RealPlayer causing an error to be displayed, "Service unavailable. We're sorry - the RealPlayer sign in service could not be reached. Please ensure that you are online or try again later." Correctly entering your proxy information in your Preferences (by Clicking Tools > Preferences and expanding Connection to choose Proxy) will solve this problem. Proxy information is unique to your network and can only be obtained from your Network Administrator. If you are unsure of your specific settings and proxy environment contact your Network Administrator. You may also obtain helpful information from our Firewall web page.

Known Issues

CD / DVD Playback

• Unable To Play DVDs on Windows NT 4.0: Playback of DVDs is not supported on Windows NT 4.0.
• Power DVD: RealPlayer cannot play DVDs using the free version of PowerDVD software. RealPlayer will contact AutoUpdate, which will then inform you that DVD software is needed. This problem does not occur with the "paid-for" version of PowerDVD, nor with the "free" version of WinDVD.

CD Burning & Transfer

• Burning or Transferring Windows Media Content: RealPlayer 10.5 uses the Windows Media 9 Series and version 9.5 Format SDK for CD burning and device transfer of Windows Media content (WMA). As a result, the burning or transfer of Windows Media content is not allowed on Windows 98 Gold or Windows NT 4.0, which are not supported systems by the Windows Media 9 Series and version 9.5 Format SDK. Windows 98 Second Edition is not affected.
• Auto-Insert Notification: RealPlayer CD Burning relies on the Windows auto-insert notification to inform it that a disc has been inserted. If this notification option is not turned on, RealPlayer CD Burning has no way of knowing a disc has been inserted, and will continue to display that you need to insert a blank disc to begin. By default, this notification is turned on by Windows but the installation of some software may prompt you to turn this off. In order to allow RealPlayer CD burning to function properly, the Windows auto-insert notification option must be turned on.
• Cannot Play While Recording WMA Tracks: When recording a custom CD and selecting the play quality of WMA (Windows Media), the "Play While Recording" feature of RealPlayer is not available. If a track was playing when you began recording, the track will finish playing and then stop until the recording is finished.
• DVD Media Support: DVD media is not supported for CD burning in RealPlayer. This includes DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW discs. Only CD media is currently supported for CD burning.
• Restricted Accounts not able to burn CDs: On Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems, users with restricted rights accounts will be unable to use the CD burning feature of RealPlayer. Please use an account with power user or administrator rights to create custom CDs.
• Track-At-Once (TAO) and 2 Second Gap Removal: Using the 2 Second Gap Removal and Cross-Fade features when burning an Audio CD using the Track-At-Once (TAO) writing mode will result in a slight audio gap between tracks on the CD. However, please note these 2 features are not fully compatible with a small number of CD burning drives. In some cases, the drive may still place 2 seconds of silence between the audio tracks. Other drives may fail to successfully burn an Audio CD when these features are enabled together.
• Playback while transferring to a Portable Device: You cannot playback while transferring files to some portable devices.
• Canceling a CD burn: Some drives cannot properly handle the cancellation of a CD burn. Some drives may become unresponsive if a CD burn is cancelled. If this occurs, restart your computer to regain access to your CD burning drive. Other drives may continue to write blank tracks to your CD.
• Default bitrate for WMA ready-to-transfer files is 160kbps.  If your portable device does not support 160kbps WMA playback, change your device preferences for ready-to-transfer files to a bitrate that is supported by your device.  The device preferences can be found under Tools > Preferences > Devices > Advanced Settings in the RealPlayer menus.
• Transfer of RealPlayer Music Store tracks to secure Windows Media device may fail.  If transferring RealPlayer Music Store tracks to a secure Windows Media portable device fails, select Tools > Check For Updates in your RealPlayer menus. In the AutoUpdate dialog that opens, select the "Drivers" tab on the left and then select "Windows Media Format SDK" from the list that is displayed. Click Install to begin the download and installation of the Windows Media Format SDK.
• Transfer of RealPlayer Music Store downloads to multiple Apple iPod devices may corrupt copied files. If you are transferring RealPlayer Music Store downloads to more than one Apple iPod device at the same time the transferred copies may become corrupted. The original RealPlayer Music Store downloads will remain unharmed.
• RealPlayer Music Store downloads may fail to transfer to Windows Media DRM 10 portable devices. If you are transferring RealPlayer Music Store downloads to a Windows Media DRM 10 portable device, and the transfer of your content fails, you may need to upgrade the security of the Windows Media components on your computer. This can be accomplished at the following Microsoft web site http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.com/Indivsite/en/indivitf.asp?force=1
• RealPlayer Music Store downloads transferred to Windows Media DRM 10 portable devices may not play. If you are transferring RealPlayer Music Store downloads to a Windows Media DRM 10 portable device, the content may not playback from the device without upgrading to the latest Windows Media components or the latest firmware for the device. To install The latest Windows Media components:
  1. Select Tools > Check For Updates in your RealPlayer menus.
  2. Select the "Drivers" tab on the left of the AutoUpdate dialog.
  3. Select "Windows Media Format SDK" from the list that is displayed.
  4. Click Install to begin the download and installation of the Windows Media Format SDK.
  5. The latest firmware for your Windows Meida DRM 10 portable device can be obtained from your device's manufacturer's website.

General

• AutoUpdate Fails: If AutoUpdate fails because the plug-in could not be validated as an authentic RealNetworks component, check to make sure your computer's system date is correct. An incorrect date can cause the authentication to fail. Once you reset the date, retry AutoUpdate.
• Need a Newer Version of HHCTRL.OCX: Viewing the Help files on NT 4.0 may generate the following error message: You need a newer version of HHCTRL.OCX to be able to read this file. This is a known problem with IE (see MS Knowledge Base Q245515). Alternatively you can update to IE 5.5 or later.

Playback

• Analog Recording: Playback while recording is unavailable with analog recording.
• Importing Secure WMA Content: The "License Acquisition" dialog may be hidden under the Authentication web site page. Bring this dialog forward to continue importing.
• No Statistics for WMA Streams: RealPlayer does not currently support statistics reporting for WMA (Windows Media) streams.
• Statistics not displayed: Some statistics may not be displayed in the Statistics Panel during local playback of files.
• Surreal Fx Plug-in on Windows XP: Clicking on full screen mode in Surreal.FX crashes RealPlayer in XP guest mode.
• Switching Users in Windows XP: When switching to another user account while playing back an audio/video clip, RealPlayer will halt playback.
• Title/Author/Copyright (TAC): TAC may not always display when playing an older .RA (pre v5.0) file.
• Visualizations, Equalizer and MIDI Content: Visualizations and Equalizer are not available when playing MIDI content.

Portable Devices

• iPod Connect/Disconnect: You may see connect/disconnect issues with iPods.  We recommend that you connect the device before starting RealPlayer.
• Rio Devices: Installing RealPlayer 10.5 over RealOne Player v2 may fail to install the Windows Media Format and/or Device Manager SDKs if you have a Rio device installed.  To correct this, select Tools > Check For Updates in your RealPlayer menus. In the AutoUpdate dialog that opens, select the "Drivers" tab on the left and then select "Windows Media Format SDK" from the list that is displayed. Click Install to begin the download and installation of the Windows Media Format SDK.
• Nomad Devices: Creative Nomad Zen, Zen NX, and Zen XTRA are only supported on Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.  Creative Nomad devices are not supported on Windows NT 4.0.
• iPod Devices: Apple iPod devices are only supported on Windows 2000 and Windows XP.  They are not supported on Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows NT.
• Rio Karma: Disconnecting the Rio Karma portable device and then attempting to close RealPlayer can result in not being able to launch RealPlayer again until restarting your computer. This only occurs when using the software on the Rio Karma installation disc and is resolved by updating the software for the device.
• Motorola A780 and E680 Phones: To support media transfer to a Motorola A780 or E680 phone, you must ensure that the phone is recognized by Windows as a USB Mass Storage Device. To accomplish this, you must do the following:
  1. Connect your Motorola phone to your computer
  2. In the Add New Hardware wizard, choose the option to "Disable the device" for the Motorola USB Modem
  3. Windows will automatically install the correct support for RealPlayer

Web

• RealPlayer and Internet Browser Cookies: If you choose to disable your RealPlayer or Internet Browser cookies, your personalized choices associated with Channels, Radio, Search and Messaging may be disabled or not available. For more information for how these items work with Cookies, please go to the Preferences->Internet Settings in your Player and click the Tell Me More for any of these topics.

Return to Contents

Manually Configuring Your Browser

If and when you upgrade your default OS browser, you may lose the configuration information for the RealPlayer program. The easiest way to reconfigure your browser is to reinstall RealPlayer.

Alternatively, you can manually configure your browser. Please go to RealPlayer Technical Support to find the most recent information and instructions.

Return to Contents

Troubleshooting

Using RealPlayer through a Firewall

RealPlayer uses port 7070 for TCP and ports 6970 through 7170 inclusive for UDP transmission. If you are accessing the Internet through a firewall, your firewall administrator will need to authorize these ports. Firewall information is available on our Firewall web page.

Full Screen and/or Video Not Displaying Properly

To deliver the best video quality, RealPlayer uses the latest optimized video protocols and Microsoft DirectX capabilities. While most current video cards (and their drivers) function properly in this mode, some older video cards and/or older video card drivers will not function properly with this optimized approach. If your video card or  installed video card drivers are incompatible you may see unexpected results (see 'Symptoms' below).

The vast majority of these problems can easily be solved by ensuring that you have the following:

• Microsoft DirectX (version  5.0 or later)
• Updated Video Card Drivers (preferably Microsoft-Certified)

The Symptoms:

Incompatibility with optimized video usually displays itself in one of the following ways:

1. You do not see any video in FullScreen mode.
2. You do not see any video in your RealPlayer Display panel.
3. You see only a "snowy" or "staticy" picture that moves in your RealPlayer where video should display.
4. You see video in your RealPlayer with one of the following issues. (a) It has a green tint; (b) It may be distorted so that you only see stripes of the video; (c) It appears as only a part of an enlarged picture, as if you were looking through a hole at a larger screen.
5. You see video in your RealPlayer, but it is stretched vertically or horizontally in only one direction, distorting video  into a long, flat or a tall, thin picture.
Attempt to playback video causes an Invalid Page Fault or otherwise causes RealPlayer to crash.

If you are experiencing one or more of these symptoms, read and perform the Confirmation Test below to be sure that the problem is the use of optimized video and not some other conflict.

Confirming the Problem:

If you are seeing any or all of the above symptoms, do the following to ensure it is an optimized video issue:

1. In RealPlayer, select the Tools > Preferences menu item.
2. Within Preferences, select to the Hardware tab.
3. Within the "Video Card Compatibility" section, move the slider from the far right ("Best Performance") to the middle position.
4. Attempt to play a piece of video content.
5. Repeat the first 3 steps, but now change the "Video Card Compatibility" slider to the far left/"Most Reliable" position.
6. Attempt to play a piece of video content.
7. Repeat the first 3 steps, returning the "Video Card Compatibility" slider to the far right/"Best Performance" position.

If Video played correctly anywhere in this sequence of tests, then this is an optimized video issue.

Resolving the Problem:

As mentioned above, the vast majority of these problems can easily be solved by ensuring that you have installed the following:

Updated Video Card Drivers, preferably Microsoft-Certified: Download these from your video card or PC manufacturer. These certified driver versions are commonly called "Microsoft Certified", "Windows Hardware Quality Labs Certified", "WHQL Certified" or "DirectX Certified". More information is available from the Technical Support Knowledge Base

Note: If you update your drivers, the functionality/features of the new drivers may be different than the old drivers; please contact your video card manufacturer for more information if this is the case.

Note: In some cases the "Microsoft Certified" drivers available from your video card manufacturer will not be the newest driver version the manufacturer lists as available for your card.

Attempt to play the video that was giving you trouble again. If it still does not display correctly, please proceed to the instructions below.

If Installing DirectX and Updating Video Card Drivers does not resolve the problem:

1. In RealPlayer, select the Tools > Preferences menu item.
2. Within Preferences, select to the Hardware tab.
3. Within the "Video Card Compatibility" section, move the slider from the far right ("Best Performance") to the middle position.
4. Attempt to play a piece of video content. If video still does not play, then continue to the next steps.
5. In RealPlayer, select the Tools > Preferences menu item.
6. Within Preferences, select to the Hardware tab.
7. Within the "Video Card Compatibility" section, move the slider from the far right ("Best Performance") to the far left/"Most Reliable" position.

If you update or change your video driver or video card in the future, you should return the Video Card Compatibility slider setting to Best Performance to see if it now works properly. If it does not, follow the procedures above again to solve the conflict.

Return to Contents