Using dMC with Real Alternative

[Unregistered]

Until recently I was running dMC 9 with Real8 w/o any problems. RA conversions went smoothly. However, I recently dumped Real8 and am now using Real Alternative 1.04 instead. Real8 simply could not run a lot of the newer RA files on many web sites, plus I am not a fan of the Real Networks crowd. Real Alternative plays all my Real files beautifully.

The problem is, now dMC does not seem to work with it. When I try to convert an RA file now, dMC goes through all its usual motions, but when it's finished, the resulting converted output is very small, usually 1k or 2k, and will not play at all. I tried running dMC beta 10, but still the same result.

I love dMC, but don't want to go back to Real8, or to any other version of Real Audio, for that matter. Can anyone give me some guidance here, please? Is there any way to make dMC live with Real Alternative? Or am I forced to go back to Real8 (perish the thought)?

All help will be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much.

Ubi

[Spoon]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

Can you have both? (real 8 installed but not used)?

[Unregistered]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

Can you have both? (real 8 installed but not used)?

Hi, Spoon --

I don't think so. I've tried that, but it does not seem to work.

Real Alternative (RA) does not install Real Player. Instead it installs RealOne codecs and makes the necessary changes to the registry so that any program that needs the Real codecs will look to those settings to work. The problem with installing Real8 is that Real8 immediately installs its own codecs and then takes over the registry settings from RA. In effect, the RA settings disappear and Real8 rules the roost. Then, if I try to install RA again, it will override the Real8 registry settings and I'm back where I started.

It seems to me after a lot of very painful experimentation that the two programs will not coexist. You can choose one or the other, but not both. I have chosen RA because I don't like the RealAudio player and want to keep it off my system. In addition, as I previously mentioned, more and more web sites that I access with Real music files simply do not support the Real8 and earlier codecs. In effect, I'm being forced to go to RealOne codecs, but I will avoid installing the RealOne player completely. RA is the best of both worlds. I get the RealOne codecs w/o RealOne, and it even includes Media Player Classic which supports playing Real audio and video files. Of course, I can also use other players that support Real such as Winamp with proper plugins.

At the end of the day, the problem is that I want to use dMC to convert my Real files to other formats, but dMC does not seem to work with RA.
BTW, just FYI, the little program RA to Wave Recorder, which I'm sure you're familiar with, does work with RA. It can convert Real audio files only to wav with RA installed. The program is nice, but does not give me the flexibility or diversity that yours does.

I've gone on enough. Spoon, you are the expert, not I. I only wish that dMC and RA could work together.That would be ideal.

Thanks for your attention.

Ubi

[Spoon]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

I had hoped to update the real codecs with Helix, but I ran into problems. :(

[Petlydecker]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

Hello,

I am just curoius if Windows Media Player has the ability to play Real Player files with help of Real Alternative?

Thanks!

[Unregistered]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

Hello,

I am just curoius if Windows Media Player has the ability to play Real Player files with help of Real Alternative?

Thanks!

With RA installed, I have tried running both streaming and local Real Player files with both WMP 6.4 and 7.1. Sometimes it will work, but more often than not I get an unsupported format error message. There appears to be no pattern and no rhyme or reason to it. You pays your money and you takes your chances. Sorry I couldn't be more definitive, but that's just the way it's acting.

[Unregistered]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

I had hoped to update the real codecs with Helix, but I ran into problems. :(

Hi, firstly, coudes for your converter I discovered it just by accident and it is the best piece of software I have ever used.. I'm a bit streaming media enthusiasist/psycho..

Would you please elaborate a bit on the problems with Helix - have you been threatened by Real Networks or you just could'nt crack the code..?

You probably kno about it but there is a project which might help you:

https://porting.helixcommunity.org/PortingGuide.html

They have got also section on free licenses etc.

[Spoon]

Re: Using dMC with Real Alternative

It was a mass of classes and I couldn't see an easy example that decoded data and didn't pass it automatically onto a sound card.