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[andrewt]

I tried to play this real audio stream: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/pt/011227.gatti1.4a.ram and I get a message from MC saying that I need to install Real Player. Is this true? Does MC not natively support real audio streams?

[Supersnake]

For whatever the reason may be, that link at the time of my writing, does not activate any playable .ram audio stream.

May I suggest another way to test if your MC can play a ".ra" or a ".ram" file?
1. Go to the RTHK web site:  http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/download/news.html  
2. Right click on one of the five DOWNLOAD icons and choose Save link as.  (Two of them are for the Hong Kong news in Cantonese, and another is for the news in Mandarin.  The remaining two are clearly marked as being for the news in English)
3. Save the link to your desktop.
4. Right click on the .ra file that you downloaded to your desktop and elect to open with Media Center.

Note:  My MC can play all five of those downloadable ".ra" files, so this confirms that MC can play .ra files.
However - while I do not have Real Player installed in my system - I do have the Real Alternative player installed in my system. Therefore, due to the fact that I installed the Real Alternative player, I do have a RealAudio codec(s) within my system.  

If it is a requirement to first have the RealAudio codec(s) in your system before MC can play .ra/.ram files, you can elect to do this by: installing a recommended, non-problem causing codec package or by installing any of several media players that are known to play RealAudio files (Real Player, Real Alternative, VLC Media Player, etc)
 
 

[andrewt]

Thanks. I tried the streams on the RTHK web site and I got the same error message. It looks like it doesn't have the codec, but I have both VLC and Real Alternative installed... I guess I could try re-installing Real Alternative...

[Supersnake]

Your reply isn't clear to me if you attempted to play a downloaded and on your desktop RTHK .ra file.
What happens when you attempt to play one of the downloaded and on your desktop RTHK .ra files with VLC and Real Alternative?

[andrewt]

You're right, I forgot to download them to the desktop. The downloaded ones worked fine with Real Alternative and VLC, but I still got the same message from MC... I'd rather not have to install Real Player.

[Supersnake]

For now don't worry about the display reading you need Real Player, that message is more likely something that will appear by default when your .ra file doesn't automatically play by MC. Now that we know that VLC and RealAlternative can play that desktop file, try this....

Open up MC then browse to Tools > Options.  Look in the left tree and click on File Types.  When you do that a scrollable window will appear to the right.  The first heading in that scrollable window will read > Audio.  Stay within that Audio section and use your small scroll bar to scroll down until you see RealAudio (ram,ra)

Mouse click on RealAudio (ram,ra) to highlight the entire line.  When it is highlighted look below and outside of the little window you were scrolling and see if it reads:

Settings For File Types Selected Above
File Type:  RealAudio (ram,ra)
File Association:  [  ]  <----  click the check box to place a check mark in it .

Underneath the check box you just checked you will see:
Setting the File Association will make Media Center the default player, so double-click in Explorer will (sic) open the file with Media Center.
Read the next line below that and see if it reads
Playback Method: Automatic

If it does then click OK and a Media Center window may appear reading Would you like to save any changes you have made? If so, click SAVE.  Now exit your Media Player and restart your computer.

--> Return to your desktop and see if your .ra file is now displaying the MC icon.   If it does, click on it and see if Media Player automatically starts playing it.

[andrewt]

I've already had MC play back Real Audio by default, so the .ra file already has the MC logo on it. When I double-click it on the desktop, it tries to open in MC (I see the file name in the MC window), and then I get the message saying I need real player.

[Supersnake]

(delete)

[Supersnake]

Knowing that (a) I can play the .ra file with my Playback Method set to either "Automatic" or "RealPlayer engine" while not having RealPlayer installed, and (b) seeing that you have confirmed the codec is in your system and the file association is activated, yet your MC is still demanding RealPlayer, then (c) now is the time for you to set the Playback Method to RealPlayer engine (instead of Automatic) and see if you can play that .ra file.