Products & Services

RealProducer converts common audio and video files into high-quality, live or on-demand streaming media for audiences from dialup to broadband speeds.

RealProducer includes powerful tools to manage the demands of professional production. Many encoding professionals who stream audio and video use RealProducer. It is used every day in mission-critical applications by content providers, network service providers, government, education, and corporate enterprises.

Combine RealProducer with Helix Server to:

• Broadcast live or "simulated live" audio and video webcasts

• Convert audio and video files for on-demand streaming media

• Create synchronized multimedia presentations combining multiple datatypes

Top Quality and Performance

• Reduced Latency — Included features reduce start-up delays to just seconds for both live events and on-demand streaming content

• Dynamic Encoding Complexity Control — Automatically adjusts the encoding complexity mode during a real-time encoding session to ensure that the computer's processors are used most efficiently

• High-quality RealAudio® and RealVideo® codecs — Unparalleled audio and video quality at all bitrates

• Performance Optimizations — Takes advantage of MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and other processor-specific optimizations and includes support for multiple processors and hyperthreading

Superior Pre-Processing Support

• De-interlace Filter — Removes "artifacts" that can be introduced when encoding NTSC or PAL formatted video for broadband RealVideo

• Inverse Telecine Filter — Removes extra frames added when content has been converted from film to digital video

• Black Level Correction Filter — Helps restore proper saturation of washed out source video

• Noise Reduction Filter — Removes distortions or static in video images, common to consumer-grade video recording equipment and older film material

• Improved Variable Bitrate (VBR) Encoding — Allows encoded video content to maintain a consistent level of video quality, either by optimizing for quality or a target average bitrate

• Two-Pass Encoding — Analyzes video content in first pass to determine how best to vary the playback bitrate — most effective with VBR encoding

• Audio VU and Clipping Meter — Calibrated meter in dB units shows left and right channels for input and output, indicating instantaneous peak, highest peak levels reached (peak holds), and clipped audio

• Audio Gain Control — Audio pre-processing filter adjusts captured input signals to prevent clipping or adjusts static sources if audio is too soft

• Improved Audio Re-Sampling — Supports a wide variety of sampling rates including full-resolution, full-spectrum 24-bit, 96KHz audio input

Efficient and Flexible Production

• Batch Processing — Automatically and sequentially encode multiple jobs within RealProducer, or write script to automate the RealProducer command line application

• Audience and Server Templates — Create and save customer parameters such as audio/video codec settings, bitrates, server IP addresses, broadcast methods, and more which can be re-used and shared across multiple encoding sessions or with colleagues

• Job Files — Create and save all necessary encoding settings, including input settings, target audiences, pre-filters, metadata, and server/file destinations destinations for re-use later or for standardizing settings among encoding stations

• Configurable SureStream™ Encoding — SureStream encoding, a unique RealNetworks feature, allows Helix Server to dynamically adjust to the appropriate bitrate stream for each unique user, adjusting dynamically based on network conditions

• Firewire (IEEE 1394) live capture support — Capture and encode live directly from your DV camcorder into RealProducer

• File to Server Live Broadcast — Deliver, rehearsed, pre-recorded presentations to everyone, at the same time, when the time is right. With additional flexibility on the encoding side, this feature compliments the Simulated Live Transfer Agent (SLTA) capability of the Helix Server.

• Backwards Compatibility — Select particular codecs for older RealPlayers and mobile devices with RealPlayer.

Robust and Reliable Fault Tolerance

• Advanced Broadcasting Functionality — Broadcasting options include: (a) Multicast which conserves bandwidth and increases redundancy and scalability by sending a single broadcast to multiple servers at once; (b) Pull Broadcasting which lets Helix Server start a broadcast from RealProducer when RealPlayer users have requested the broadcast stream; (c) Server Reconnect which automatically reconnects the broadcasting RealProducer and receiving Helix Server in the event the connection is lost.

• Multiple Destination Support — Send the same encoded file to multiple file locations and/or broadcast servers to increase system redundancy and reliability.

• Logging Support — Choose to record and display informational, diagnostic, warning and error messages for each encoding session to help troubleshoot your encoding jobs and broadcasts. View logs real-time with the Log Viewer or review each saved Log File after each encoding session is finished.

• Forward Error Correction — RealProducer resends additional packets at preset intervals to ensure against dropped packets along lossy 'loss-prone' networks.

• Loss Protection — Sends additional information in each packet to enable RealPlayers to reconstruct missing frames in the event of packet loss.

RealProducer runs on Windows and Linux operating systems.

Windows System Requirements

*Windows XP recommended for Hyperthreading support.

Minimum system configuration can encode using the command line application into RealVideo 10 in High Complexity Mode from a live device at 240x180 @ 15fps to a 28 kbps and 56 kbps SureStream file (default settings) without any degradation in encoding complexity or frame rate.

Recommended system configuration can encode using the command line application into RealVideo 10 in High Complexity Mode from a live device at 320x240 @ 30fps to a 768 kbps file without any degradation in encoding complexity or frame rate.

Supported Input File Formats

• Uncompressed AVI, uncompressed MOV, uncompressed WAV; any compressed or uncompressed file types supported by DirectShow (e.g. compressed AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2*, MPEG4, AU and AIFF); any compressed or uncompressed file types supported by QuickTime (e.g. compressed QT, MPEG1, MPEG2*, MPEG4, AU and AIFF)

*For MPEG2 input support via DirectShow, an MPEG2 decoder (commonly installed by PC DVD players) is required. DirectShow file reader supported on Windows only. DirectX 6 or later is required for compressed file reading. QuickTime file reader support requires QuickTime 5 or later and is supported on Windows only.

Supported Input Capture Devices*

• Audio: Wav or WDM-based capture device (WDM recommended)

• Video: VFW or WDM capture device (WDM recommended)

* Capture card must support one of the color formats supported by RealProducer. Capture card should support hardware scaling. If it does not, use RealProducer resize feature. Do not enable this feature in the card driver.

Supported Input Color Formats

• YUY2, YV12, YVU9, YVYU, CYUV, IYUV, UYNV, UYVY, V422, YUNV

Linux System Requirements

*ALSA Drivers are not supported.

Note: Any distribution that meets these requirements should work, but Real tests and supports Redhat 9.0 SUSE 9.

RealProducer for Linux takes advantage of UNIX shell scripting for the ultimate flexibility in heavy production environments. It is intended for users wishing a 24x7 remotely managed encoding solution. Users wanting a graphical user interface for encoding should use the Windows version.

Supported Input File Formats*

• Uncompressed AVI, uncompressed MOV, uncompressed WAV

Supported Input Capture Devices*

• Audio: OSS-based capture device (ALSA may work in OSS-compatibility mode, although this is not supported

• Video: Video4Linux 1 capture device (Video4Linux 2 may work, although this is not supported)

*Capture card must support one of the color formats supported by RealProducer. Capture card should support hardware scaling. If it does not, use RealProducer resize feature. Do not enable this feature in the card driver.

Supported Input Color Formats*

• YUV12 (aka I420*); RGB 15, 16, 24, 32^2; BGR 15, 16, 24, 32

*Note: I420 is the native color format of RealVideo. Using I420 as an input color format will improve performance since RealProducer will not need to convert the color format prior to encoding.