Rescuing video from the ancient Real Video format at DVinfo.net

Andrew Smith · May 23rd, 2018, 08:52 PM

Once upon a time, when modems screamed as we forced them to connect to the internet over a phone line, there was a magical technology that enabled video and audio to be available on web pages: Real Player with its real Video and Real Audio formats (either streamed or as a file). And verily the days of postage stamp sized video were born.

Things have changed since.

Looking through archives I discovered that I had video files in the .rm (Real Media) format and naturally wondered how I was going to convert them onward to something modern and ... usable.

I'll save you the stories of the legendary nagging pestilence of the Real Player (free version) download and install experience, but to say that I am politely surprised that (a) the company still exists, and (b) the current basic Real Player brings us something we need - the ability to convert out of their wretched dead-end legacy format.

Initial testing shows that the original frame rate (15fps from my demo content file from ten years ago) is maintained and you can specify the encoding rate within the options for the mp4 format selection. (There are other formats you can choose but I don't know why you would bother.) For safety, I am encoding the converted output at the overkill rate 10Mbit/sec and having it upscale from postage stamp to 720p while we're at it. You can also batch process.

At this point it's working well with the mp4 working well in Premiere Pro and any audio synch issues can be easily fixed. Whilst the quality of the resulting file is a bit crap, this is merely a reflection of the video quality we were excited about a mere ten years ago. It's good just to be able to maintain the usability of these files. Mp4 will be a valid format for a very long time ... I think.

Andrew

John C. Chu · May 27th, 2018, 07:01 AM

That's awesome to hear.
I remember when Apple first introduced Quicktime, with a video window the size of a postage stamp, to RealNetworks doing audio streams and then video and now we are talking about 4K video files on YouTube and beyond.
Amazing times.

Boyd Ostroff · May 27th, 2018, 07:06 AM

I also remember the original quicktime... people called it "postage stamps that wiggle". :-)

May 23rd, 2018, 08:52 PM	#1
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,065	Rescuing video from the ancient Real Video format Once upon a time, when modems screamed as we forced them to connect to the internet over a phone line, there was a magical technology that enabled video and audio to be available on web pages: Real Player with its real Video and Real Audio formats (either streamed or as a file). And verily the days of postage stamp sized video were born. Things have changed since. Looking through archives I discovered that I had video files in the .rm (Real Media) format and naturally wondered how I was going to convert them onward to something modern and ... usable. I'll save you the stories of the legendary nagging pestilence of the Real Player (free version) download and install experience, but to say that I am politely surprised that (a) the company still exists, and (b) the current basic Real Player brings us something we need - the ability to convert out of their wretched dead-end legacy format. Initial testing shows that the original frame rate (15fps from my demo content file from ten years ago) is maintained and you can specify the encoding rate within the options for the mp4 format selection. (There are other formats you can choose but I don't know why you would bother.) For safety, I am encoding the converted output at the overkill rate 10Mbit/sec and having it upscale from postage stamp to 720p while we're at it. You can also batch process. At this point it's working well with the mp4 working well in Premiere Pro and any audio synch issues can be easily fixed. Whilst the quality of the resulting file is a bit crap, this is merely a reflection of the video quality we were excited about a mere ten years ago. It's good just to be able to maintain the usability of these files. Mp4 will be a valid format for a very long time ... I think. Andrew Attached Thumbnails

May 27th, 2018, 07:01 AM	#2
John C. Chu Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Rego Park , NYC Posts: 665	Re: Rescuing video from the ancient Real Video format That's awesome to hear. I remember when Apple first introduced Quicktime, with a video window the size of a postage stamp, to RealNetworks doing audio streams and then video and now we are talking about 4K video files on YouTube and beyond. Amazing times.

May 27th, 2018, 07:06 AM	#3
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Re: Rescuing video from the ancient Real Video format I also remember the original quicktime... people called it "postage stamps that wiggle". :-)