The Real Audio and Video Server is no longer required to serve Real Content streams. Real Networks has come out with Real Player version 5.0 or higher, of which one feature is the ability to play files delivered via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). What this means is that now real content can be delivered in the same manner as a gif or text file without requiring Real Network's proprietary PNM protocol.
What this means to you? Anyone may have RA files served from their pages without using a Real Server. Also, because these files are being served via HTTP, the overall server load should remain about the same, because one RA file is like several web pages; HTTP doesn't care what type of files it is serving - it just knows to push files out!
So if your REAL files are small then HTTP protocol is fine and you don't require a true Real Server. If you are running larger media files we also offer solutions for you below.
Why would you want to use a true Real Server? If you are serving
large or high-quality files, you may want to consider
use of the PNM protocol. HTTP is not quite as robust as PNM and HTTP
is best suited for those serving smaller
files or not insistent upon the absolute best quality. If you want
to install a Real Server yourself, you may
download
Real Server software from Real Network's server page. Note that we do not
provide technical support for its installation.
Alternately, if you need a server with Real Server installed on it, we have specialized servers for this task. Please contact us for details on stream pricing.
Serving content without a Real Server:
rtsp://REAL_SERVER_IP/SERVER_USERNAME/file.ra
For instance, if your real server was 209.213.96.60, your real server logon name was robert and your .ra file on the real server was named myshow.ra, then the line in your ram file would look like this:
rtsp://209.213.96.60/robert/myshow.ra
rtsp://209.213.96.60/robert/myshowpart1.ra
rtsp://209.213.96.60/robert/myshowpart2.ra
rtsp://209.213.96.60/robert/myshowpart3.ra
TRUESPEECH
TrueSpeech is a freely-available encoding and playback system for audio
files that are primarily speech. It offers superb
compression, at the expense of quality, and is only considered suitable
for speech, not music or other audio.
You can place TrueSpeech files in your Web site, with the extension
.tsp, and they will work for anyone who has a
TrueSpeech player in their browser. This can be done with any account
type, as no server-side operation is
required. If errors occur make sure a MINE type is setup for
.tsp on your server.
For more information on TrueSpeech, please visit the TrueSpeech
homepage.