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Online Support Manual

Please use this manual to resolve any problems or questions you may have regarding your account before contacting our Tech Support Staff.

Chapter One - Support Home
Chapter Two - General Account Information
Chapter Three - The Control Panel
Chapter Four - FTP & Fetch Instructions
Chapter Five - Telnet Access
Chapter Six - POP 3 Email Settings
Chapter Seven - Mail Manager & Mail Lists
Chapter Eight - Microsoft FrontPage
Chapter Nine - Anonymous FTP
Chapter Ten - Site Statistics
Chapter Eleven - Password Protected Directories
Chapter Twelve - CGI-Bin, Formmail, SSI
Chapter Thirteen - Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
Chapter Fourteen - Changing Your Password
Chapter Fifteen - PHP
Chapter Sixteen - Policy, Guidelines, & Disclaimer
Chapter Seventeen - Real Audio, Real Video

Chapter Seventeen - Real Audio / Video

Overview
Will I be able to stream RealMedia files?
Is there a difference between streaming using the PNM-protocol and the HTTP-protocol?
What are some of the special features of the RealServer?
How do I get around not having "bandwidth negotiation"?
How can I create my own ".ram" file?


Overview

Real Audio/Video will work with each of our hosting packages.  We consider it to be a third party application and cannot offer detailed support beyond this article, included as a courtesy to help you get up and running faster.
The program "Real Audio Server" is not present on our system.  It is not needed.  The folks at real audio would like you to believe that it is required, it is not.  If you are familiar with the .ram file and how to refer to it in a call, you will find that Real A/V streams just fine.  They refer to it as pseudo-streaming on their site and the only benefit lost is the ability to change file size automatically for your users connection speed.  Most of your files never need this option.  But on the really big ones you can accomplish that by offering the user 2 or 3 choices of file/screen size.  Below we will show you just how to write and call the file to use Real Media capabilities of your users' browser and plugins.

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Will I be able to stream RealMedia files?

Yes, you will be able to stream RealMedia files.  You will need to create a .ram file that calls your real audio/video file.  The .ram file is just a text file with an absolute URL.  This URL will need to be:
http://full.domain.name/directory/filename.rm

Consult Online manual article here for more details.

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Is there a difference between streaming using the PNM-protocol and the HTTP-protocol?

If you visit http://www.real.com/, you might come across a term called "pseudo-streaming".  According to audiohost.com: "Pseudo-streaming" is a discriminating name for HTTP-stream.  It was invented by the RealAudio promotion to suggest that you need to use the RealAudio server if you want to get "real" streaming.  Here's a free translation: "Streaming RealAudio files without using RealAudio server software".  That's all there is to it! The RealAudio server actually has some special features that cannot be achieved (in RealAudio) without it.  Regarding "streaming" we cannot find a difference between the two protocols.

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What are some of the special features of the RealServer?

With the Real Server, you are able to take advantage of "bandwidth negotiation".  This feature takes into account the bandwidth of the surfer's Internet connection when clicking on the hyperlink that requests the RealMedia file.  Depending on the connection, the RealServer will provide a different version of the RealMedia file that best suits the visitor's bandwidth connection.  You also need the RealServer to broadcast "Live" on the Internet.

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How do I get around not having "bandwidth negotiation"?

While encoding, if you set the target audience to 28 K modem, you will be able to reach the largest audience possible.  If you want your higher bandwidth connection visitors to receive better quality recordings, you can always create a second link to a RealMedia file that is encoded with a target audience of a higher bandwidth connection.

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How can I create my own ".ram" file?

Typically you'll create a realaudio file subdirectory under domain-www, and put all your audiofiles there.

Then your .ram file, a.k.a., metafile, will contain an address with this format:

http://fulldomainname/subdirectory/filename.rm

The "subdirectory" is a subdirectory of your domain-www directory.

So for example:
http://musicforyou.com/ra/music.rm

Notice:
The above address goes in the .ram/metafile, not in your HTML code.  Your HTML code calls the .ram/metafile. Then the .ram/metafile is used to call up the .rm/realmedia file.  So for example, your HTML code would look something like this:

<a href="http://musicforyou.com/ra/music.ram">Click here to listen to music.</a>

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