6

Tutorial Six

RealSystem
SureStreams

This tutorial illustrates how to prepare a RealSystem SureStream file for use on a RealServer and
include this movie on your site.
NOTE: In order to complete this tutorial, youll need a properly configured RealServer. See
Reals site for more details on setting up a server.
The file you need for this tutorial is in the Tutorial folder on the Cleaner 5 CD-ROM. This
tutorials source movie is provided courtesy of Streamriver networks/21st Century Media,
http://www.21stcenturymedia.com/

Understanding RealSystem
RealSystem is RealNetworks streaming architecture, offering realtime streaming from a
RealServer. Users can view RealSystem files with RealPlayer, a free player application available
from RealNetworks website.
RealSystems SureStream feature allows you to create up to six versions of your audio and video
tracks that are specifically encoded for common user connections. All the different versions are
stored within one final file, so you dont have to worry about uploading multiple movie files.
During playback, the RealPlayer and RealServer continually communicate and can repeatedly
switch between versions to deliver the highest-quality stream that the viewers connection can
support at any given time.
For more information on RealSystem, see the RealSystem section of Appendix A:
Architectures & Formats in the Cleaner 5 User Manual.

Tutorial Six RealSystem SureStreams

1. Getting Started
Select File > New Batch and create a new batch called Tutorial 6 Batch.
The Batch window is now empty.

Drag Tutorial6.mov onto the Batch window, then crop and trim the movie if desired.
If youre not familiar with cropping and trimming, see the tutorial on page 2 for more details.

2. Choosing a SureStream Setting

Double-click on the in the Setting column
to open the Advanced Settings window.

In the Advanced Settings window, open the

RealSystem Streaming setting group in the setting
list and select Real modem SureStream.
This is a good general SureStream setting. If you are
working with voice-only or music material, you might
want to use one of the other default settings.

Choose a Real-SureStream video setting.

Click on the various setting tabs in the Advanced

Settings window to see the different parameters in this
default streaming setting.
Click the Encode tab to see the encoding settings with
which each version will be processed.
Click the Audio tab to see the settings that will be
applied to the different audio tracks.
See the RealSystem section of Appendix A:
Architectures & Formats in the Cleaner 5 User Manual
for more details about the SureStream feature.

You can make up to six

SureStreams in one movie.

Tutorial Six RealSystem SureStreams

3. Making the RAM File

The RAM file, also called a metafile, is a small text file that contains the location of the movie on
the RealServer. It is this file which you reference from your HTML and place on your HTTP
server. When the viewers computer downloads the RAM file, RealPlayer uses the information
contained in it to locate the actual streaming movie.

Check the Create Metafile (RAM) option in the Output tab of the Advanced Settings
window and enter the exact path to your RealServer in the field provided.
The path to your RealServer begins with rtsp://
because the RealServer uses the RTSP protocol for
media delivery. Dont include the name of the
movie at the end of the path. Cleaner automatically
adds this to the end of the path for you when it
creates the RAM file.

Enter the exact path to your RealServer.

See the RealSystem section in Appendix A of the

Cleaner 5 User Manual for more details.

4. Creating the HTML Link

Cleaner can create the HTML HREF link that youll use to include your movie in your web page.
This launches the RealPlayer to play the movie when a viewer clicks on the link.

Check the Create HTML option in the Output tab of the Advanced Settings window and
enter the text you want for your link.
Once youre done processing your movie, Cleaner creates a text file that has the same name as the
movie, but ends with .html. Youll use this link text in a later step of this tutorial.

5. Applying the Setting

Once you are done modifying the setting, apply it to the movie.

Press the Apply button in the Advanced Settings window.

This returns you to the Batch window, and the SureStream setting you selected will be listed next
to the source movie in your batch.

Tutorial Six RealSystem SureStreams

6. Processing the File

Press the Start button and specify the Tutorial Results folder as the destination folder for
the final files.
Once the file is encoded, Cleaner will chime. In the
destination folder are three files: the RealSystem file which
ends with .rm, the HTML embed tag, which ends with .html
and the metafile, which ends with .ram.
Because Cleaner cant play RealSystem files, the Output
window displays a text message instead of the final movie
when the file is finished encoding. If you want to view your file
prior to uploading it to your site, open it with RealPlayer.
On the Mac OS version of Cleaner, you can use the
HelperApps menu to easily launch RealPlayer to view your
RealSystem files. See the Streamlining Cleaner Workflow
chapter in the Cleaner 5 User Manual for more information.

The RealSystem movie, RAM file

and HTML file.

7. Including the Movie on Your Site Manually

If you want to include your SureStream movie on your website, you must do three things:

Copy and paste the contents of the HTML file Cleaner created into your web page HTML.
This tag references the RAM file, not the actual movie. Then upload the new HTML to your
HTTP server.
Upload the RAM file to the same folder as your web page on your HTTP server.
Upload the SureStream movie file directly to your RealServer, not your HTTP server.
Cleaner can automatically upload the file for you if you set a custom FTP destination. Doubleclick on the Destination column in the Batch window. See the Publishing Your Files chapter in
the Cleaner 5 manual for more information.

Tutorial Six RealSystem SureStreams

8. Viewing Results
Once youve uploaded all the pieces, view
the web page with your favorite browser. Click
the link to launch RealPlayer.
In order to see your file, you must have
RealPlayer properly installed.
To see the effects of the different streams, try
viewing the movie with different connections,
such as a modem and a T1. The RealPlayer and
RealServer will automatically show you the best
version for your current connection.
Open RealSystem files with RealPlayer

Tutorial Six RealSystem SureStreams