New RealPlayer Announcement

By Ben Rotholtz, General Manager, Web Services & Syndication & Matt Spragins, Director of Product, RealPlayer

On May 31^st at “D” we announced the new RealPlayer. The beta version of the new RealPlayer will be available by the end of June. That’s ’07.

How is the new RealPlayer different from previous versions? Let’s touch on a few highlights: The most notable difference is visible across tens of thousands of web sites immediately after installation. On-demand and live streaming and progressive video in the four major formats – Flash, Windows Media, QuickTime and Real – is now downloadable through a very simple download button that temporarily hovers near video content as it plays. You don’t need to worry about format. You don’t need to worry about the media player. Just hit the download button and your own Internet-wide personal video recorder from within Internet Explorer and Firefox (Safari and Firefox on the Mac to follow this year) will download or record non-copy protected Internet video directly to your hard disk, enabling you to watch the video content in wholly new ways – when and how you want to view it. What’s that mean? Full screen playback, playlists immersive video that allows you to lean back and discover video on your PC or burn it to a CD or DVD to rediscover web video through your television. By the end of the year we’ll also provide direct transfer to portable devices so that web video content can become part of your lifestyle no matter where you are you’ll have your own collection of Internet Video as you want to see it.

The new RealPlayer rationalizes multiple formats, multiple players and multiple playback experiences into one very simple interface that gives you the power to build, organize, view and transfer your own personal video clips. It’s that simple.

The new RealPlayer is completely easy to use. Install the new RealPlayer. Open your browser and find a site with video that interests you. If the content is not protected and the video is available in a format that the new RealPlayer understands then a download button appears. Sample a few seconds of the content to see if it’s something you might be interested in and then hit the download button and move on to another piece of content, to another site or close your browser to start another task. The video is rapidly copied or recorded to your library while you surf, play or work. Once the video arrives you can easily watch offline without internet bandwidth congestion (goodbye buffering), watch full screen (hello quality and detail) on your PC, television or portable device (welcome flexibility).

Add your own ratings and comments to your video downloads and recordings. If it’s a video clip you like you can easily share the links to original content you found so your friends can play it back with whatever player it was originally created for – they don’t need the RealPlayer (of course we think they’ll have a more rewarding experience if they’ve got the new RealPlayer so they can also download or record a copy for their own personal use as well).

There are numerous fine details across the new RealPlayer that make this one of the most exciting pieces of software to hit the Internet in a long time.

Please join us on this blog to talk about RealPlayer. Feel free to discuss features, industry trends and product direction to help us build a better experience for you.

Thanks for the feedback, the recommendations, the tirades and the non-stop encouragement that has driven us to create the new RealPlayer. We can’t wait to turn you on!

Comments

[Galley]

Man, I thought RealPlayer 11 would never be released!

[Brian Johnson]

Please release a Mac version of what looks like an awesome media player soon - before the end of the year. I really hope that this version when brought to the Mac, will actually be good and have feature parity. Previous Mac versions of Real Player sucked!

But nice work Real! Version 11 looks really cool (I just hope, like most people, that it will be as good on the Mac).

[Steve]

Looks good.

I can't wait for a Mac Version. Any Mac related release details you want to share?

[RPProduct Team]

We are working on the Mac version. We will have one out before the end of the year. Thanks for the input.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Kriptical]

Will this player support xp pro x64 and Vista x64 OS's? We use the Rhapsody service at work and love it. But not being able to use it at home b/c I run xp pro x64 is kind of a bummer.

[Charles Abrahams]

Hey there. I was on softpedia.com and I saw that there is a new RealPlayer coming out. That's great because I have been waiting forever for a new version to come out. I would like to know when exactly it will be released (when in June? - Maybe 2 weeks from now) and what the name of the new player will be. Can the software work with tv tuners like J River Media Center 12? Can you provide me with any good quality screenshots of the new program, better than the ones leaked to the net? I would also like to know if when I am playing an audio or video file I can be editing mp3 tags (the same one that is
playing and also another tag as well)? What is the program going to be like? What formats can it play?

Please respond soon as I would love to know the answers. PLEASE!

[Bill Dettering]

The technology looks interesting, but I wonder how Real's content partners feel about this? All the Media companies HATE anything to do with recording. This is a big shift in Real's business model.

[Daniel Aleksandersen]

Make a Linux version too, please! And follow the hype folks! There are so many Debian based Linux distributions (Ubuntu, ..) that you should offer an official .deb package as well as the .rpm.

[gfvdfgd]

thanks

[Charles Abrahams]

Hello to all. I have been reading about this new RealPlayer software and all I hear about is ripping and streaming internet video from sites like youtube. Does it have the ability to "PLAY" mp3s and video files like AVI, MPEG, WMV, MOV and others. Because I think all this streaming and ripping is getting to be a bit confusing. I would like to know if the software can play and edit mp3 and other video file tags. Can it rip mp3s from CDs like in Realplayer version out now? What else, specifically can Realplayer next version do that Windows Media Player 11 or J River Media Center 12 can't? What aside from streaming video can this new player do that will blow people away?

Please reply soon?

[RPProduct Team]

Charles,

Thanks for the questions. Yes, RealPlayer still has the ability to playback all the major audio and video formats, including WMV, QuickTime, and now Flash video (the first major player to do so). It still supports ripping of CDs and other audio features from past versions of the RealPlayer. What will blow people away in the new RealPlayer? The ability to download and record video from thousands of sites in any major format. It lets users watch video when they want and where they want.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[RPProduct Team]

Daniel,

We are a planning on releasing a version for Linux as well. Unfortunately, it won't be until later in the year. It will come out the same time as the Mac version.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[RPProduct Team]

Kriptical,

We do support the RealPlayer on 64bit Windows Vista. However there are a few caveats since many device drivers do not exist for Portable Devices and DRM support is TBD.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Christian]

All those fancy new features but nothing about the things that every other major media player has but not RealPlayer: Global keyboard shortcuts which makes it possible to control the player while other programs have focus. And also ability to minimize to system tray. Both those are showstoppers for me when it comes to my media player which always runs and always needs to be accessible without having focus.

[RPProduct Team]

Christian,

Those are good features. We agree that controlling your media while balancing your window clutter is important. We have these items in our roadmap. Stay tuned for continued user experience improvements.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Christian]

This is good news! RealPlayer has always been my favorite (regardless of all the gripe about system hijack etc.). So if it now could become an efficient player also when it comes to usability it could very well end up being my default player.

[nove]

i want to download real player

[;-)]

will the new Real Player have a podcatching feature? I'd like to be able to watch videocasts using RSS feeds.

[RPProduct Team]

We have had several requests for a podcatching feature and have it in the roadmap. However, we don't have a specific date for it yet.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Claudia]

I am very interested to know what (if any) enhancements exist for people who use RealPlayer for music?

[RPProduct Team]

Claudia,

We have not changed the music experience within the RealPlayer. While there are no new features around music, the new download feature does allow you to download some embedded music clips on the internet.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[islam]

i need sir to run over over recording one on my computor.

thanks

islam

[flamenco]

This sounds good and all, but what is your definition of "copy-protected". Sounds like it's a good time to short Real stocks; I smell law suites.

[Frankie Brooks]

I am trying to install the realplayer program but, I cannot find it in my list of programs. I can recieve e-mails but. I can't pull up school assignments. Any help that you can give me will be helpful.
I can be reached at (202) 378-3167

Thank you and may peace be upon you.
F.Brools

[Rafael Lucas dos Santos Vieira]

Aparentemente a nova versão do Real Player está excelente, estou muito ansioso para poder baixar e desfrutar de suas novas ferramentas, queria saber quando ele será lançado no Brasil??

[irfaqn]

sd

[Rodrigo Maciel]

Please release a Mac version!!!

[suraj]

can your player convert any format to div X so
that can write direct to CD or DVD is any
thing that also view like convert tool utilite
plus download free movies
Can your player fichurs
can be add to it

[khaskhali]

download software

[Shawn]

Looking forward to a Mac version, as are the others! Wondering if you will have one towards end of year that will also be Leopard compatible?

[Jesse Flake]

My computer came with an older version of Real Player that worked fine for playing CD's and listening to streaming radio. Recently a new icon, evidently for a newer version, appeared on my start menu. Since its addition, I have been unable to open either version nor to play CD's or listen to radio programs. I have uninstalled both programs. I have read so many negative comments about the Beta version that I prefer to download an earlier version. However, I can not find other version on the realplayer.com website.

[Raghu]

How to install the ''Quick Time Real PLayer''

[Raghu]

How to install the ''Quick Time Real PLayer''

Because i want to see my video's in real player, but shows ''please install ''Quick Time Real PLayer''!

[abdulla]

how to close the web page when playing Real player beta?

thank you,

[AngeAlexiel]

Hi , first of all, i love real player 11 on vista
but i dont really like vista anymore, so i switched to leopard, and i praise god for this great idea , i love it, now im waiting for a beta version of real player 11 for mac, my two questions are, when ?? u promise it will be before end of december 07?? and will the beta will works on tiger and leopard?? thanx a lot, keep up the godd work, realplayer is the most beautiful player on the all galaxy ^^

[Mel Thompson]

I'm not even really a super newbie. I've done lots of line-command installs. For some reason nothing works. Put another way, google "real player" "debian" "can't install". And one will see people giving the instructions which should work. But alas, for most people none of the line commands work, and real player doesn't work with any of the standard packages. Real Player only seems to work when pre-loaded with SUSE. Otherwise, for everyone who gets, out of sheer luck more than skill, a Real Player to install on linux, there are an ocean of "can't install" posts. All of them download the file, getting the .bin that never works for anyone even after chmod andd ./ and all that. Is this a kind of punishment to entice us to go back to our Mac and Windows?

[Pat]

Realplayer 11 is good, but why can't we minimize the screen so that it only show the player like in 10. I mean why can we close the browser part and only show the player. It better when listening to mp3 and having a small window to look at.

[Sophia]

I am not able to play the video in rmvb format with my laptop running Vista Home Premium edition. For the same video, I have no problem to play it with another computer running XP. I'm using Realplayer 11. The error msg I got was the "Clip Not Found". Pls help!

[Tarleton]

Since I loaded RealPlayer 11 on my Dell Inspiron 1000 using Windows XP, It will not play CDs on either my internal or external drive. It recognizes the drive but does not recognize the CD in the drive.

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[Esenthal Prave]

I'm not sure what the hold-up is... maybe they have re-thought their stance on how this is going to actually make the company any money. Or perhaps their lawyers pointed out the liability of providing agents a platform to stick their feet in their mouth. Whatever it is, it's hardly something I'd claim as being "Well done".
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[candice]

i have dl things from youtube and copyed them to my external harddrive so i can watch on my pc at home. the problem is i dont have the net at home. how can i watch the files?

[martha]

great post! real player 11 is lot more kool than the previous versions..

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[mahadev]

i want real player new version

[Patrick ONeill]

I loved the integration between the Real player download and Firefox that let me easily download videos.

(I wish it worked with Opera, my preferred browser, but nevermind)

In any case I just upgraded to Firefox 3 and it doesn't work any more - do I have to switch to IE for video sites or is this something that Real will be addressing soon ?

Thanks

[Marc Ready]

Yes I second that for Firefox 3.

Are you planning to update the RealPlayer Browser Recorder for Firfox 3 soon?

It really is an great program by the way!

Thanks Again

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[Richard D.Greensmith.]

you are deducting $5.18 a month from my bank account--what for I don't know.I don't even have Real Player on my computer any more. Would you please contact me to confirm you are not doing this anymore. yours sincerely Richard D Greensmith

[Dan]

Richard, my name is Dan from RealNetworks customer support. I will be contacting you via email to help you with your account. If you need any additional support, you can contact customer support via phone, email, or chat. http://service.real.com/contact/help.html?product=subs

[Gary Johnson]

Is Real Player 11 compatible with 64-bit Vista?? I can't seem to get a clear answer anywhere on this, and I'm about to buy a 64-bit Vista computer. PLEASE ADVISE.

[csross]

Is there a way to programmically disable the "download this video" pop-up. I know it can be set manually to eliminate that pop-up, but with IE only, if a user has WMP and Real Player with WMP selected as the default, the pop-up still shows. Then after the second video and corresponding popup, IE crashes. How can I programmically disable that pop-up please?

Thank