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sandsl · 02:24 AM

Well Real just released RealPlayer 10 beta for Mac OS X, and I've got to say I'm quite impressed! Huge improvement to the quality of the application, much more responsive, graphic equaliser, nice preference icons, cocoa app, mutilple player windows open etc.

Download RealPlayer 10 for Mac OS X

Randman · Jun 30, 2004, 02:23 AM

It's still Real.

MindFad · Jun 30, 2004, 04:25 AM

Wow, the new version is really nice. I'm impressed.

Icon, though new and not completely hideous, is still borderline hideous.

Other than that, I like the new color scheme for the player. Preferences window looks very nice.

Real's always been like the bastard QuickTime player. I use it for the radio. It ain't so bad.

Krypton · Jun 30, 2004, 04:35 AM

How do I download it without their 14 day free trial?

JLL · Jun 30, 2004, 05:18 AM

Originally posted by Krypton:
How do I download it without their 14 day free trial?

Click on the Free RealPlayer link in the top right corner.

Krypton · Jun 30, 2004, 05:58 AM

Originally posted by JLL:
Click on the Free RealPlayer link in the top right corner.

Thank you

OptimusG4 · Jun 30, 2004, 06:02 AM

Seems to be written in cocoa, or a very good implementation of carbon. Very nice so far.

Krypton · Jun 30, 2004, 06:17 AM

Originally posted by OptimusG4:
Seems to be written in cocoa, or a very good implementation of carbon. Very nice so far.

First decent Cocoa app I've seen from a big name

Window resizing slower than previous version, but everything else

Krypton · Jun 30, 2004, 06:59 AM

Here are some great finds:

� Mouseover the playback content to adjust brightness/contrast etc.
� Click the real guide widget in the top right and you'll find a (WebKit?) browser built in.

Busemann · Jun 30, 2004, 07:36 AM

Pretty great any mpeg4 steam (WWDC Keynote as an example) can be viewed with it. The closer feature parity with the windows version is definitely a good thing.

sandsl · Jun 30, 2004, 07:36 AM

They deserve to be congratulated for RealPlayer 10 after there abysmal first attempt

This is a really good native cocoa application, written by a big company, making use of the latest cocoa has to offer, including webkit.

(although the app icon does suck

)

Krypton · Jun 30, 2004, 07:51 AM

Originally posted by sandsl:

(although the app icon does suck )

I think we'll let them off for that

Krusty · Jun 30, 2004, 09:21 AM

Hey did you notice that it now conforms to Mac OS windowing standards (multiple windows via File-->New Player) but most importantly, closing the last open window doesn't quit the player ( that windows-que behavior with Real and WiMP always drove me batty)

Synotic · Jun 30, 2004, 09:38 AM

Originally posted by Krusty:
Hey did you notice that it now conforms to Mac OS windowing standards (multiple windows via File-->New Player) but most importantly, closing the last open window doesn't quit the player ( that windows-que behavior with Real and WiMP always drove me batty)

Not surprising, seeing as they probably got that for free after rewriting it in Cocoa

To any devs, I wanted to mess around with the nibs and see if I could change the interface but it seems that they're requiring their own custom palette that's required for the custom interface. Is their palette somewhere hidden in the app or is it embedded in the binary somewhere? It'd suck if it were Cocoa and we couldn't play with the interface.

I also came up with an icon for RealOne a while and the new RealPlayer just recently, take 'em or leave 'em

link

And I realize i didn't do any of the smaller icon sizes... if anyone likes them I might consider redoing the icons at smaller sizes.

Developer · Jun 30, 2004, 09:50 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
It's still Real.

It's actually quite good. I'm not a fan of Real's custom window appearance, but except that it's excellent. So I give it a

madmacgames · Jun 30, 2004, 09:58 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
It's still Real.

sometimes content is only supplied in Real format. Don't be such a fascist

-Q- · Jun 30, 2004, 10:15 AM

Looks good so far. Still annoys me that you have to dig to find the free one.

Here's a direct link.

Adam Betts · Jun 30, 2004, 10:49 AM

Very impressed with the improvements. Rewriting the interface in cocoa was a big right step. I'm pretty surprised that RP 10 used webkit for browsing..

Gorgeous toolbar icons, hideous app icon (but somewhat better than previous one). One little detail that I'm most happy about is 90 degree lighting in interface

I'd love to see an improved interface design and an additional of fast forward/backward controls someday soon though.

ratlater · Jun 30, 2004, 10:58 AM

Originally posted by -Q-:
Looks good so far. Still annoys me that you have to dig to find the free one.

Here's a direct link.

You da' man!

Oh and those icons are slick, thanks.

-matt

timmerk · Jun 30, 2004, 12:29 PM

I HATE companies that force you to register to download...

goose · Jun 30, 2004, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by OptimusG4:
Seems to be written in cocoa, or a very good implementation of carbon. Very nice so far.

There was some discussion a while back on how to determine if an app was written in cocoa or in carbon. What was it again? (I'm being lazy on the searches today).

Developer · Jun 30, 2004, 02:47 PM

Originally posted by goose:
There was some discussion a while back on how to determine if an app was written in cocoa or in carbon. What was it again? (I'm being lazy on the searches today).

Press the Help key on your keyboard. If the cursor turns into a useless help icon that beeps when you click something, then the app is Cocoa.

C.J. Moof · Jun 30, 2004, 02:58 PM

Originally posted by timmerk:
I HATE companies that force you to register to download...

It's not like you have to tell the truth to get the link....

bmedina · Jun 30, 2004, 03:29 PM

The improvements are nice, but it inherits iTunes 4.2's annoying feature of stopping playback when you switch to another user. So I have to keep version 9 around for those occassions.

And Apple requires you to register for many of their downloads, too.

Simon · Jun 30, 2004, 03:34 PM

Originally posted by -Q-:
Looks good so far. Still annoys me that you have to dig to find the free one.

Here's a direct link.

Thanks for taking your time to post the direct link. I really appreciate it!

I'm anxious to try it. I'm no Real fan, but some content just doesn't come in another format. And QT Player (at least Panther's) isn't exactly great either.

MindFad · Jun 30, 2004, 03:38 PM

Whoa, the Real helper uses webkit. I'm posting this from the "real" browser.

goose · Jun 30, 2004, 04:18 PM

Originally posted by Developer:
Press the Help key on your keyboard. If the cursor turns into a useless help icon that beeps when you click something, then the app is Cocoa.

Ahhh....thanks for the info. And for the guy who posted the direct link. Thanks!

f1000 · Jun 30, 2004, 05:13 PM

Great find, and kudos to Real for continuing to support OS X.

It's too bad the optional H.263 codec isn't H.264, instead.

paully dub · Jun 30, 2004, 06:24 PM

Excellent improvemant. I'm watching the Yankees Red Sox stream, and the cpu usage is practically cut in half, as well as a noticeably better quality image and sound.

Makes Real slightly less unlikeable...

neophilia · Jun 30, 2004, 06:44 PM

Geez, does anyone here (besides me) actually *like* the new app icon?
-n

kcmac · Jun 30, 2004, 07:28 PM

During set up it asks which media types you want to play with Real Player

1. Real Networks Media Package
2. Real-Time streaming protocol
3. Scalable Multi cast
4. SMIL Multimedia Presentation

Which to select? These don't affect QT do they?

Horsepoo!!! · Jun 30, 2004, 08:59 PM

Originally posted by Krypton:
First decent Cocoa app I've seen from a big name

Window resizing slower than previous version, but everything else

I can't believe it either. I used to hate Real with a passion but this is really jaw-dropping! It uses QuickTime for everything else, it's Real codecs for Real files and webkit for it's built-in browser. I'm flabbergasted.

grobbins · Jun 30, 2004, 09:41 PM

Originally posted by kcmac:
During set up it asks which media types you want to play with Real Player

1. Real Networks Media Package
2. Real-Time streaming protocol
3. Scalable Multi cast
4. SMIL Multimedia Presentation

Which to select? These don't affect QT do they?

It's really not especially important, since these just affect how external browsers like Internet Explorer hand off links to other applications, and Safari tends to ignore these settings anyway. Long-time Mac users would know these as "InternetConfig settings". But here's the breakdown.

They are all checked by default in RealPlayer because you are more likely to find these kinds of links for RealPlayer content than for content better handled by other applications. You can always change these settings in RealPlayer's Media Types preferences pane, and it will reset them back to QuickTime Player or to iTunes as appropriate.

If you find a browser link hands off one of these file types to RealPlayer instead of to QuickTime and you want to change it, just uncheck the box in RealPlayer's preferences. These settings are also reflected in Internet Explorer's preferences dialog, under File Helpers and Protocol Helpers.

RMPs are occasionally used for MP3 playlists, so iTunes can handle them, but usually they are for lists of RealPlayer content to be downloaded.

rtsp: (Real Time Streaming Protocol) is a URL protocol that most often indicates RealPlayer content. QuickTime does support rtsp streaming, but its rtsp video is usually not initiated with that protocol but rather with an http: protocol link.

Scalable Multicast (sdp files) are pretty rarely used, and could be for RealPlayer or QuickTime. I'm not sure of enough examples to say whether you're better of leaving it set for RealPlayer or for QuickTime.

SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) files are usually better handled by RealPlayer, since the SMIL format originated at RealNetworks and usually includes embedded RealVideo. However, there are some SMIL files which wrap QuickTime rather than RealPlayer content, and those SMIL files need to be handled by QuickTime Player. Unfortunately, there's no clear way for any player to tell ahead of time whether the SMIL file wraps QuickTime or RealPlayer content.

There are many other audio and video file types which RealPlayer and QuickTime can both handle, but RealPlayer for Mac OS X never attempts to set itself up as the preferred handler for those.

Randman · Jun 30, 2004, 11:05 PM

Originally posted by madmacgames:
sometimes content is only supplied in Real format. Don't be such a fascist

Ok, it is an improvement.

Freeflyer · Jul 1, 2004, 06:41 PM

Grobbins, thanks very much for such a clear and useful reply. That helps setting up everything. I now have a much better idea of what it's asking and why.

Cheers,

J.

asidrane · Jul 1, 2004, 09:28 PM

the web browser plug in doesn't seem to work as well as the last one. SO far, I haven't had things load all the time (it will get to 100% then just stop) and if they will play, i can't get the right click option of playing in real player to work. I know it's a beta, so i'll wait til the final release.

grobbins · Jul 1, 2004, 09:39 PM

Originally posted by asidrane:
the web browser plug in doesn't seem to work as well as the last one. ... I know it's a beta, so i'll wait til the final release.

Be sure to e-mail the URLs of the web page or audio/video that is having trouble to the development team at the address in the player's About box.

Mike S. · Jul 1, 2004, 09:48 PM

I've only ever loaded Real content in a browser over at news.com.com but that worked fine and I even happened to use the "Play in Real Player" context menu.

The 200K+ feed of Jobs at WWDC looked better in Real than in Quicktime, what bit rate stream is Apple using? I'm just wondering if Real's codec is of higher quality or it was just bandwidth skimping on the part of Apple. I played both at double size, BTW.

madmacgames · Jul 1, 2004, 10:05 PM

Originally posted by Mike S.:
The 200K+ feed of Jobs at WWDC looked better in Real than in Quicktime, what bit rate stream is Apple using? I'm just wondering if Real's codec is of higher quality or it was just bandwidth skimping on the part of Apple. I played both at double size, BTW.

From my personal experience where multiple formats are offered, I've always found the quicktime feed to be a little better than the real feed. Odd that of all people, Apple would put up a higher quality real feed.

PS. thinking about this, where did you find a real feed for this from Apple? I just double checked, and that I can tell only one feed is offered and it is in quicktime format.

Tick · Jul 1, 2004, 10:33 PM

Originally posted by Developer:
Press the Help key on your keyboard. If the cursor turns into a useless help icon that beeps when you click something, then the app is Cocoa.

Umm.. where is the help key on a ibook g3 700mhz machine?

kcmac · Jul 1, 2004, 10:59 PM

Thanks for the answer grobbins. Very helpful.

Mike S. · Jul 2, 2004, 12:31 AM

Originally posted by madmacgames:
Odd that of all people, Apple would put up a higher quality real feed.

PS. thinking about this, where did you find a real feed for this from Apple? I just double checked, and that I can tell only one feed is offered and it is in quicktime format.

I didn't get it from Apple, News.com.com has one up. It's about 15 minutes long, shot from a different angle and shows a bit of iChat and (I think) Spotlight.