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Tutorial: RealSystem G2 & SMIL

Part 2

So you may be asking yourself, "What's this got to do with RealSystem G2?" The answer refers back to our previous discussion about audio and video on the Web. Since the Web browser isn't the best "player" for these mediums, developers have started to use other tools for displaying these mediums.

Some are using RealNetworks' Real Player as their tool of choice, while others are using tools such as Microsoft's NetShow, another top contender in the industry. But Real Networks is about to release a new viewer technology called RealSystem G2. RealSystem G2 has all the features we've come to expect from the Real Player--streaming audio, even at low bandwidths, and streaming video, which is finally starting to be up to par with public expectations.

The product uses RealSystem G2's SmartStream technology to offer outstanding audio/video quality at all bit rates--even under lossy network conditions! (RealNetworks' new G2 music codec enhances the frequency response by up to 80% for 28.8 modem users!) But it also has another feature that sets it apart from the other streaming multimedia tools which are available--support for SMIL!

Using G2, developers will be able to create content which combines smooth scrolling text with different fonts and colors, high resolution images which utilize powerful transition effects, and streaming audio, video, or animation. RealSystem G2 features an open architecture that allows developers to use new datatypes, including MIDI, VRML and MPEG (the Real Networks SMIL page features an image of the G2 player showing both the content and the SMIL code used to create it).

The RealSystem G2 will include several new codecs and presentation/layout capabilities to aid developers in the creation of G2 multimedia content. These features include:

• RealAudio G2 - the new codecs enabled Real Networks to significantly improve the quality that RealAudio provides--at all bit-rates and even under lossy conditions.
• "Encode once" - This will allow a single RealAudio or RealVideo file to scale to all bandwidths.
• SMIL Wizard - This template driven tool is used to create advanced multimedia presentations using SMIL.
• RealEncoder SDK - This Software Developer's Kit (SDK) exposes API's to third party companies that wish to integrate RealAudio and RealVideo compression into their tools and applications.

[Move on to the next part of the article.]

This article first appeared in May, 1998.

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