RealPlayer Tips

Students who are experiencing problems viewing the streaming audio lectures may want to try the following:

1. Enabling UDP Transport

For Real Player:

Go to the 'Tools' menu, and select the 'Preferences' option.
Under category, look for 'Connection'.
Under Connection, select 'Network Transports'.
Make sure that 'Manually Configure Connections' is checked.
Make sure that 'Use Specific UDP Ports' is checked, and enter 7070 in the textfield to the right.
Finally, click OK to save your changes.

2. Use TCP only

If switching to UDP doesn't solve your problem, then try setting RealPlayer to only use TCP:

1. On the Tools Menu, click Preferences.
2. In the Categories pane, double-click Connection and then click Network Transports.
3. Click the 'Manually Configure Connections Settings' check box.
4. Click the RTSP Settings button.
5. Click to clear all boxes except 'Use TCP for All Content', then click OK.
6. Click the PNA Settings button.
7. Click to clear all boxes except 'Use TCP for All Content', then click OK.

3. Use HTTP only.

If switching to TCP only doesn't solve your problem, then try configuring RealPlayer to only use HTTP:

On some networks it may be necessary to configure Real Player to use the HTTP Only option to connect to the Internet. This option allows a player operating behind strict firewalls to access programming. However, quality may not be as good as other connection options.

1. On the Tools Menu, click Preferences.
2. In the Categories pane, double-click Connection and then click Network Transports.
3. Click the Manually configure connections settings check box.
4. Click the RTSP Settings button.
5. Click to clear all boxes except Use HTTP, then click OK.
6. Click the PNA Settings button.
7. Click to clear all boxes except Use HTTP, then click OK.

4. Adjusting bandwidth Settings in RealPlayer:

If you are using a 56k (or less) dial-up Internet connection, and you are experiencing problems, you may want to try adjusting the bandwidth settings in your RealPlayer.

In the ReaklPlayer, go to the Tools menu, and choose the Preferences menu-option. Then, select Connection and set set the Normal and Maximum values as follows:
Normal: 28.8Kbps Maximum: 33.6Kbps

5. For AOL users:

If the AOL screen name you are using has restricted access levels (Parental Controls), the AOL access level specified may prohibit RealPlayer from connecting to content for playback. To correct this problem, change the access restrictions for that AOL screen name.

6. Play files during "off-peak hours".

You may receive connection errors when playing files or downloading updates for RealPlayer if the Internet or your Internet Service Provider is experiencing high traffic.

This problem typically occurs during "peak hours" when network traffic is highest. Playing files or updating at an alternate time during the day can usually correct connection problems caused by high traffic.

7. Update your Internet Service Provider's software.

If your Internet Service Provider (America Online, Earthlink, or others) uses custom software to connect to the Internet, updating that software may resolve these issues. Contact your Internet Service Provider to verify that you are using the latest version of their software available, and to verify that their software uses a 32-bit compatible Winsock driver.

Top of Page

San José State University

SCHOOL OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE