About streaming video and audio

“Streaming” video and audio allows you to watch digital video clips and listen to digital sound files without having to wait for a huge file to download (and without having to have gobs of disk space available to hold it). The streaming player downloads only a little bit of the video file and begins playing it. It continues to download in the background as the file plays. And as soon as the player has used the video information, it throws it away, so it doesn't hog all the space on your hard drive.

A free player is available from RealNetworks. They also have a version which they will be happy to charge you for. It is a continuing game to find the free player. Real has used every trick in the book to make the free player difficult to find. We try to keep the link at the upper left of this page current, but Real moves the page frequently.

The Fine Print
No endorsement of this products by OID or UCLA is intended or should be inferred. All support of the RealPlayer software is handled by RealNetworks.

Setting up your system to receive streaming media

First, you need to download the appropriate version of software for your computer. The software is free, but you will have to fill out a registration form.

Bookmark this page, so you can return to it (and the page that has the link to the material you want to view) since you may have to restart your browser before the plug-in will work.

Click on the Real logo to the left, fill out the registration information, and download the installer software. Note where you have saved the downloaded software, because in the next step you will need to find the software and run it.

The software you have downloaded is not the player; it is the installer for the player. You have to run the downloaded program. It will install the RealPlayer and update your Web browser to to make viewing of video and audio streams automatic.

During the installation process, you will then be asked for the type of connection you use to connect to the Internet (28.8K, 56K modem, T1, LAN, etc.) This parameter is asked for in a casual way during the installation process, but it will dramatically affect your ability to stream audio and video, so give it the proper information. Obviously the higher the bit rate, the better the image and sound quality.

You are now set to use RealPlayer! And you can use it for this event, future ones, or any of the numerous sites offering RealAudio and RealVideo content. Helpful information about the installation procedure can be viewed on the RealNetworks Service and Support web site.

System requirements is a useful RealPlayer link that provides a breakdown of computers, modems, bit rate, etc.