RealMedia .rm to .AVI

by : mazinz, AlienZombie & bleemer2 Return to the main hall

RARE ELEMENTS

Introduction

RealMedia files seem to be a law unto themself. There does not seem to be any way to re-encode them, so here is a method to capture to .avi while you play back the file on screen. This method works equally well to capture any format that you are having trouble with, equally it is excellent for creating windows tutorials - just capture as you work (set the sound recording to "mic" to add your own comentary)

This method was first published on the CDrom-guide VideoCD forum by Mazinz, problems with sound capture were solved by bleemer2 and AlienZombie.

Method

FIRST: Install "snagit" - just unzip the file and double click it to run the installer.

SECOND: Make sure you have the real player (some version) in your system.

THIRD: Sound - Doubleclick the volume icon in the Windows system tray (the yellow speaker near the clock)
Select "Options"/"Properties" and select "Recording"
In the bottom window make sure "Mixed Output" is checked (I can't find this option in Win2000, Win9x is OK though)
Click the OK button, below each volume slider you will see a "select" checkbox, select "mixed output"
OK, close the Volume conrol panel now - every sound that comes from your PC speakers will be recorded in snagit now.

FORTH: Open the real player, then go under "options", then go under "preferences" then click "performance" once
here UNCHECK the box that says " use optimized video display" this will stop real player from using your
graphics hardware to play its images. This way snagit can capture what is shown. Note you may have to restart
your system

FIFTH: Open Snagit, if the wizard starts just shut it down - we're the real wizards ;-)
Select the "Video Capture" option in the left pane,
Select "input" menu and check the following options:
Window
Record Audio
make sure "Include Cursor" is unchecked.

In "Options"/"Video Preferences" set the file you want to capture to.

In "Output"/"Properties" uncheck "auto configure" and set "frames/sec" to 25, now click "video setup" and select the avi codec you want to use for capture, I'd sugest Indeo or Cinepak as high compression codecs may result is frame loss.

SIXTH: Open the real file you want, hit record on snagit and hit play on real
once its done you have now made an avi file from a real media file--enjoy!!!

Sound sugestions for Windows2000 etc. - by AlienZombie

I've no idea what this means, it's a direct quote of AlienZombies comments!!

"Now, I didn't follow it exactly, so here's what worked for me: I use snagit for the screen capture, but the capture w/ sound feature isn't effective at all, so I used total recorder to record the audio. Then I multiplexed the audio and video (be sure the audio and video are in sync). Then use any one of a number of avi2mpeg converters if you want to burn it, or just to get it to mpeg. Hope this helps. If you have any questions, just ask." (AlienZombie)

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