Sun, 09/07/2008

2008 Press Releases

RealNetworks Introduces RealDVD: The Best Way to Watch DVDs

RealDVD Lets Consumers Save, Organize and Watch DVDs On Their PC and On The Go


SAN DIEGO, CA, DEMOFall — September 8, 2008  — Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks® today unveiled RealDVD™, the first mainstream PC application allowing consumers to easily save their DVDs to their hard drive. RealDVD makes it easy to save DVDs to a PC or portable hard drive and watch them later without the physical discs. Unlike existing consumer applications on the market today, RealDVD is licensed DVD software that saves a secure copy of a DVD to the hard drive without removing or altering the CSS encryption.

"RealDVD gives consumers a great new way to get more out of their DVDs," said Rob Glaser, chairman and CEO of RealNetworks. "RealDVD continues in Real's tradition of consumer innovation over the past 15 years alongside RealAudio, RealJukebox, RealArcade, Rhapsody, and, most recently, RealPlayer 11."

RealDVD eliminates the hassle of searching through piles of DVD cases to find a missing disc and the disappointment of finding a favorite disc scratched and unplayable. Saving DVDs lets consumers create a valuable back-up copy of their digital library on their computer or portable drive for playback at home or on the road. RealDVD is ideal for traveling on business or entertaining the kids on a long trip with instant access to a variety of content and no physical discs to manage. Laptop users will appreciate improved battery life as the disc drive is no longer needed for video playback. Saving DVDs to portable hard drives creates an easy to manage personal library that is great for travel. Content saved to portable drives can be played on up to five machines licensed to an individual user.

Fast Facts: RealDVD saves an exact copy of the DVD image to a PC's internal or portable hard drive. Users can simultaneously watch and save a DVD Saved DVDs are then encrypted and locked again to make sure they cannot be shared or stolen Saving DVDs takes an average of 10-40 minutes, and takes up roughly 4-8 gigs of space RealDVD lets users pause and auto resume playback where they left off DVDs saved on a portable hard drive can be played on up to 5 PCs per user with an authorized copy of RealDVD Watching a saved DVD uses less battery life than viewing content from a disc in the drive Browse cover art, genre, title rating and actor information, imported automatically during saving Parental controls ensure children only access entertainment that is appropriate for their age Fifty percent of U.S. broadband households have over 50 DVDs in their collections, and last year consumers spent more than $16 billion purchasing DVDs _(According to TDG Reports & Screen Digest)_ Hollywood shipped 1.1 billion DVD discs in 2007 — nearly 30 million more than in 2006 _(According to Screen Digest)_

In 1995 RealNetworks gave the Internet a voice with the first-ever Internet broadcast via the release of the RealAudio® Player, an innovation that garnered Real a coveted Emmy Award® by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Two years later RealNetworks became the first to bring streaming video to the Web with RealPlayer®, and followed that innovation with RealJukebox®, one of the first products allowing consumers to save their CDs to PCs, build media libraries and transfer to devices. Last year Real re-introduced a new version of RealPlayer, featuring a consumer-friendly download button that made it one-click simple to save Web video. RealDVD is the next step in bringing video entertainment to the PC.

RealDVD will be available this month from www.realdvd.com. Consumers can register to be one of the first to receive RealDVD for a limited-time discount offer of $29.99 ($20.00 off the retail price of $49.99). Additional licenses [up to 4] are available at a discounted price of $19.99.

For More Information:
Jennifer Humiston
Shift Communications
617.779.1812
jhumiston@shiftcomm.com

Tiffany Dunning
RealNetworks
206.892.6733
tdunning@real.com

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ABOUT REALNETWORKS

RealNetworks, Inc. delivers digital entertainment services to consumers via PC, portable music player, home entertainment system or mobile phone. Real created the streaming media category in 1995 and has continued to lead the market with pioneering products and services, including: RealPlayer®, the first mainstream media player to enable one-click downloading and recording of Internet video; the award-winning Rhapsody® digital music service, which delivers more than 1 billion songs per year; RealArcade®, one of the largest casual games destinations on the Web; and a variety of mobile entertainment services, such as ringback tones, offered to consumers through leading wireless carriers around the world. RealNetworks' corporate information is located at www.realnetworks.com/company.

RealNetworks, RealArcade, Rhapsody, RealPlayer and the Real logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. or its subsidiaries.  All other trademarks, names of actual companies and products mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.