Real Media Streaming

All FastVirtual web hosting plans support HTTP streaming (aka pseudo-streaming).

This method enables you to stream many different media types, including Real audio and video files, from your web site. Multiple simultaneous streams are supported, with the only limitation being your own accepted levels of bandwidth usage.

The following guide provides step-by-step instructions for preparing, adding, and streaming Real audio or video files from your web site.

Create (or Convert to) a Real Audio/Video File

Create new, or convert existing audio/video to a Real audio/video file.

Many multimedia applications include the Real CODEC as standard (or make it available as a plug-in), which enables you to export directly to Real audio/video files from within the application. Alternatively, you can download RealProducer Basic from RealNetworks. This is a free utility for converting existing media to Real audio/video files.

Create a .ram File

Use Notepad (or similar text editor) to create a new text file. Open this file and enter the following line (replacing "yourname" and "yourmediafile" as appropriate):

http://www.yourname.com/yourmediafile.rm

The URL should be absolute (don't forget the "http://"), and should point to the exact location you want the media file to stream from. This is also case-sensitive, which means "YourMediaFile" is not the same as "yourmediafile".

Save and close the text file, then change the file name/extension to "yourmediafile.ram", where "yourmediafile" is the exact same name you gave to the ".rm" media file.

Upload Your Files

You should now have two files; your ".rm" media file that contains your Real audio or video, and your ".ram" text file, which contains the URL to the media file. Upload these files to the location you specified in the ".ram" file.

Note: Audio/video files are binary, whereas text files are ASCII, so remember to upload your files using the appropriate mode. Most FTP programs allow you to configure the transfer mode for extensions you specify, so simply add ".ram" to your ASCII file types, and ".rm" to your binary types. Then you won't need to worry about future uploads.

Build Your Links

Create a text or image link to the ".ram" file on your web site. When the link is clicked, the visitor's RealPlayer will launch and begin downloading the ".rm" file. Playback commences once a portion of the file has downloaded, while the remainder of the file is downloaded in the background.

Provide a RealPlayer Download Link for Your Visitors

You may wish to place the following button on your site to inform visitors that you are providing Real audio/video content, and to allow them to download the free player:

Embedding Content in HTML Pages

Real provides applications for creating embedded content, such as RealProducer Plus. Plug-ins are also available for popular multimedia applications. For further information, please visit the RealNetworks web site.