((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))) June 8, 2000
_____________________________SPONSORS_____________________________
This newsletter sponsored by: LiveStat, Eprise and Affiliate Solutions
__________________________________________________________________
******************************************************************
WEBSITE TRAFFIC ANALYSIS LiveStat is an excellent tool for owners looking for a full featured site audience and statistic package. With unparalleled accuracy, LiveStat provides real-time statistics that will uncover your site's real value. Go to http://www.livestat.com/ioc4
***********************************************************adv.***
Now with over 98700 subscribers!
http://www.webreference.com <- link to us today http://www.webreference.com/new/ <- archive, subscribe/unsub http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html <- article submission
New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:
1. OPEN PUBLISHING: Submit Your Article! 2. FEATURED ARTICLE: A First Look at RealProducer Plus 8 3. NET NEWS: * Microsoft Loses Landmark Ruling * NSI's Webjacking Epidemic * Meet the $7.5 Million URL * New Pen Writes and Sends Email
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. OPEN PUBLISHING: Submit Your Article!
Every Thursday the Update features a new article contributed by our readers through our Open Publishing Initiative. We encourage you to submit your own article ideas. Your words could be here, being read by over 98,000 people!
http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html
This week, we thought we'd try something new, and feature an article from one of our companion sites here at internet.com, http://www.StreamingMediaWorld.com. Streaming media is one of the most exciting and dynamic topics on the Web, and whether you're interested in streaming video, audio or animation, StreamingMediaWorld has got it covered.
In this article, author Tim Kennedy takes a first look at the new RealProducer Plus 8 beta. Does this upgrade to Real Network's popular streaming media production software live up to the hype? Peek under the hood and find out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. FEATURED ARTICLE: A First Look at RealProducer Plus 8
RealNetworks recently held their annual conference for 2000. As can be expected, the company used the occasion to roll out a line of updated software to take on their streaming media competition. One of the updated new arrivals is a beta version of RealProducer Plus, RealNetworks' popular software for producing streaming video and audio. (RealProducer is priced at $149.95, and is currently available for Windows and Linux only). Is the new version 8 of RealProducer a big change?
>Little Change on First Glance
On first glance, users of RealProducer Plus 8 will see little change from its prior sibling. The software retains the same general look and feel. On the top sits the preview and post compression window. To the bottom left is the description and keyword meta-information text boxes that made a splash at the conference last year. To the bottom right are the bandwidth and quality settings that identify what RealProducer is using for its compression work.
Likewise, when launching RealProducer Plus, you will get the same wizards that it offered before. So as you sum up your first glance with RealProducer, you might think that the new version number is all hype. But there is more than meets the eye. To find the major changes in RealProducer Plus, you have to look under the hood.
>The Need for Speed
Real is trying to stake their claim on a broadband world. To do that, you will find them showing off clips that claim VHS quality at half screen resolution when running at 300kbps. I did not experience those kind of results with my 384kbps DSL line. But I was quite pleased with the streaming quality of a 220kbps "I Dreamed of Africa" movie preview. Those high speed DSL and Cable Modem options in RealProducer Plus show promise for a streaming future.
>Video Filtering
More magic lies under the RealProducer Plus Preferences. Video pre-filtering gives you a little more control over the material that you are feeding the encoder. A Video Noise filter can hunt down digital distortions and a Resizing filter can take care of those problems that come with scaling down your source material during the encoding. For the film producer, an Inverse Telecine filter removes those unneeded frames added when converting 24fps film to 30fps video. A De-interlacing filter for PAL and NTSC rounds out the set.
******************************************************************
Content management without complication. Eprise offers a powerful content management application that makes it easy for business users to create and publish Web content. And Eprise's open technology architecture enables fast implementation and easy integration with existing Web tools and corporate systems. Put an end to static Web sites and IT bottlenecks. Just visit http://eprise.com/ad20
***********************************************************adv.***
>And a One and a Two...
But don't close those preferences down yet. The most precious preference settings at your disposal in the new RealProducer Plus fall under the "Video Codec" tab. Here, RealProducer Plus gains Two-pass and Variable Bitrate encoding. With Two-Pass, the software will "watch" your entire video clip before it begins encoding. This way, the encoder will know what to expect before it has to crunch the numbers. Ideally, the encoder will be able to compensate for encoding difficulties by this increased understanding of your clip. Variable Bitrate encoding varies the bitrate depending on the needs of the actual footage. A more demanding passage, such as a video dissolve, will gain more data. A quieter area of your clip will not consume any more resources than necessary to maintain consistent quality. Both of these capabilities are what one would expect from more expensive encoding bundles. These are very welcome additions to RealProducer Plus.
There are some catches for using these features. Two-pass will obviously increase your encoding time since it needs to go through your media twice. Variable Bitrate encoding will slow down the launch of your material in the RealPlayer. You can adjust this latency but you do so at risk to the quality of your streaming media. All this said, both of the Variable Bitrate and Two-pass problems are worth the increased quality of the clip.
>But Wait, Thereís More
Did you think I was done already? RealProducer Plus gains new tools for editing pre-encoded clips and previewing what your site visitors might see. Launch the RealMedia editor from the RealProducer Plus File menu and you start a stand alone editor that can edit your encoded media, allow you to correct your meta- information, and even merge events and image maps into the file. These capabilities are not new but they used to be limited to obscure command line utilities.
I wish I was more excited about the Bandwidth Simulator. Upon installing RealProducer Plus, a bandwidth simulation plug-in is installed to the RealPlayer on the same computer. This allows you to test what the site visitor will see at various data rates and packet loss conditions right from RealPlayer. The catch for this tool is that the file must be up on the actual server for the simulation to work. It would be far better to have the software be able to simulate conditions for a file right on the producerís hard drive.
>Final Judgement (For Now)
RealProducer Plus 8 is still a beta but I decided to put it through some early encoding paces. I was startled. At $149, my initial results with RealProducer Plus show a quality nearly matching the nearly $1000 Media Cleaner Pro/Sorenson video codec combination that I reviewed earlier in the year. With a little more practice, I just might beat the quality of Sorenson. The improved codecs, Two-pass encoding, and Variable Bitrate capabilities of the new RealProducer Pro make Real a formidable streaming foe.
******************************************************************
Affiliate Solutions Seminar - San Francisco You'll learn inside secrets from industry leaders and successful online marketing companies. AS 2000 features panel discussions focusing on revenue sharing and affiliate strategies. June 15, 2000 at the Fairmont Hotel. http://seminars.internet.com
***********************************************************adv.*** About the author and article:
Tim Kennedy is the originator of Streaming Media World and one of the leading authorities on SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language). His "JustSMIL" section of SMW is responsible for much of the growth and popularity of the site.
This article first appeared on StreamingMediaWorld.com, on June 5, 2000, at: http://smw.internet.com/video/reviews/rprodplus8/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. NET NEWS: Microsoft Loses Landmark Ruling, NSI's Webjacking Epidemic, Meet the $7.5 Million URL, New Pen Writes and Sends Email
>Microsoft Loses Landmark Ruling
As expected, the gavel fell on Microsoft Corp. Wednesday afternoon when Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, handed down his final judgment in which he sided with the Department of Justice's plan to split the company in two. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,2171,3_390031,00.html InternetNews.com, 000607
>NSI's Webjacking Epidemic
It's been fairly easy to steal high-profile domain names from Network Solutions, and officials there say they're working hard to correct the problems. But why has it been so easy? http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,36797,00.html Wired.com, 000608
>Meet the $7.5 Million URL
It's got a recognizable name and some high-profile backers, but does Business.com have anything on Yahoo? http://salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/07/gumbel/index.html Salon.com, 000607
>New Pen Writes and Sends Email
A pen that communicates wirelessly to a transmitter, allowing you to send email or faxes just by scribbing a few lines? Sounds like sci-fi, but Ericsson announced plans to produce 10 million "Anoto" pens based on wireless Bluetooth technology. The pens are expected to hit the market next year.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2584537,00.html ZDNet.com, 000608
That's it for this week, see you next time.
Andrew King Managing Editor, WebReference.com mailto:update@webreference.com
Eric Cook Assistant Editor, WebReference.com mailto:ecook@internet.com
Catherine Levy Assistant Editor, WebReference.com mailto:clevy@internet.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information about advertising in this newsletter, contact Frank Fazio, Director of Inside Sales, Jupitermedia Corp. Call (203)662-2997 or write mailto:ffazio@internet.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This newsletter is published by Jupitermedia Corp. http://internet.com - The Internet Industry Portal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To learn about other free newsletters offered by internet.com or to change your subscription - http://e-newsletters.internet.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ internet.com's network of more than 100 Websites are organized into 14 channels... Internet Technology http://internet.com/sections/it.html E-Commerce/Marketing http://internet.com/sections/marketing.html Web Developer http://internet.com/sections/webdev.html Windows Internet Technology http://internet.com/sections/win.html Linux/Open Source http://internet.com/sections/linux.html Internet Resources http://internet.com/sections/resources.html Internet Lists http://internet.com/sections/lists.html ISP Resources http://internet.com/sections/isp.html Downloads http://internet.com/sections/downloads.html International http://internet.com/sections/international.html Internet News http://internet.com/sections/news.html Internet Stocks/VC http://internet.com/sections/stocks.html ASP Resources http://internet.com/sections/asp.html Wireless Internet http://internet.com/sections/wireless.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To find an answer - http://search.internet.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information on reprinting or linking to internet.com content: http://internet.com/corporate/permissions.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) 2000 Jupitermedia Corp. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~