Documentation Release Note

Thank you for using RealPlayer! This guide explains RealPlayer clip types, such as RealVideo and RealText, and covers the use of the SMIL 2.0 standard, along with the RealNetworks extensions to SMIL 2.0. Although RealPlayer 10 currently supports most SMIL 2.0 features, some additional features will be added later, and will be made available automatically through RealPlayer's autoupdate feature. The following sections describe known issues with content production in this release of RealPlayer.

Tip: See Chapter 1 for summaries of new SMIL 2.0 features, as well as for information about additional changes to this guide from Release 8.

Latest Additions

The following sections note significant additions to this guide following its initial publication.

July 2004

This guide has been updated to cover the latest generation of RealNetworks products, including RealPlayer 10, RealProducer 10, RealVideo 10, and a new set of RealAudio codecs. The production methods for RealOne Player and RealPlayer 10 are the same. RealOne Player requires a codec update to play RealVideo 10 clips, as well as the new RealAudio codecs.

Note: The bandwidth simulator has been discontinued and is no longer included with RealProducer Plus. This guide no longer includes instructions on using the bandwidth simulator.

September 2002

The following sections of this guide have been updated. Most of these features require RealOne Player version 2 or later:

• Explained support for Flash sound effects in "Adding Audio to Flash".
• Updated the section on using a Ram file in a SMIL file, which is described in "Using a Ram File as a Source".
• Updated the section on using a SMIL file within a SMIL file, described in "Using a SMIL File as a Source". See "Full SMIL File Switching" for an example of using a single SMIL file to switch between other SMIL files based on the viewer language preference.
• Explained how to use <param/> tags to modify characteristics of plain text files and inline text clips within a SMIL presentation. See "Changing Text Characteristics".
• Updated the section on hyperlink access keys, as described in "Opening a Link on a Keystroke".
• Updated the section on linking to part of a SMIL file, as described in "Linking to a SMIL Fragment".
• An <area/> tag can now include both an href value to open an external link, and an activateEvent value to trigger a SMIL element. For example, a SMIL hyperlink can both play a video in the media playback pane and open an HTML page in the related info pane. For more on <area/> see "Using the <area/> Tag". The section "Defining a Mouse Event" covers activateEvent.
• Updated information about the Ram file syntax for streaming different clips to different versions of RealPlayer (RealOne Player version 1 supports this syntax). See "Streaming Different Clips to Different RealPlayers".
• Added information about the showvideocontrolsoverlay Ram file parameter. For more information, see "Controlling How a Presentation Initially Displays".

July 2002

• Updated the RealAudio chapter with information about the RealAudio surround sound codecs. See "Stereo Surround Codecs".
• Updated the RealVideo chapter to cover RealVideo 9. See "RealVideo 9 Codec".

Known Issues

You may find discrepancies between the instructions in this guide and RealPlayer performance. Known issues include the following:

• Secondary windows, which are described in the section "Secondary Media Playback Windows", are currently plain windows that do not include the standard RealPlayer skin.
• The <area/> tag's nohref attribute, described in "Leaving Out a URL Reference for Hot Spots", does not function.
• Targeting an HTML frame through SMIL, as described in "Targeting a Frame or Named Window", is not functional.
• Starting a linked clip somewhere in its timeline other than its normal beginning, as described in "Linking to a Clip with a Timeline Offset", is not functional.
• Contrary to the information in "Replacing the Source Presentation", a source clip stops, rather than pauses, when another clip replaces it in the media playback pane.
• Push wipe transitions, described in "Fade, Push, and Slide Transition Effects", are not yet functional.
• Prefetching, which is described in Chapter 19, is not functional.

Undocumented Features

The following aspects of RealPlayer functionality have not yet been documented, and in most cases are not fully functional:

• Support for media markers. The section "Using Media Markers" is a placeholder for this information.
• Support for wallclock timing. The section "Coordinating Clips to an External Clock" is a placeholder for this information.
• The min and max timing attributes. The section "Setting Minimum and Maximum Times" is a placeholder for this information.
• Time manipulations for animations. The section "Manipulating Animation Timing" is a placeholder for this information.
• The skip-content attribute.
• The <metadata> tag.

Netscape Navigator 6 Issues

There are two issues currently associated with using Netscape Navigator 6:

• If you embed a presentation in a Web page as described in Chapter 20, the path to the .rpm file cannot contain spaces or even escape codes for spaces (%20). This causes Navigator 6 to search for a missing plug-in.
• If you browse the HTML version of this guide with Navigator 6, you may not be able to play the linked sample files. If this occurs, you can open the sample files directly from the samples folder. You can also use Navigator 4.7 or Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.5 or later recommended) to browse the guide.

Note: This linking problem affects only local, relative URLs to clips played in RealPlayer. It does not affect streamed presentations in which the viewer launches the presentation from a Web page rendered in Navigator 6.

For More Information: The section "How to Download This Guide to Your Computer" explains how to get a local copy of the HTML guide that includes sample files.

©2002, 2004 RealNetworks, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, visit RealNetworks Click here if the Table of Contents frame is not visible at the left side of your screen.