Record Media from RealPlayer 

You can record to My Library just about any audio and video media you play in RealPlayer. It can be on-demand media with a definite beginning and end, such as a song, a movie trailer, or an internet video. Or you can record a clip from live streaming media such as a live TV webcast.

For more information about types of streaming media, see Streaming Media Basics.

Whether you are recording on-demand or live streaming audio or video media, if a stream is recordable you can begin recording it at any time during playback, including when the stream is paused.

RealPlayer supports all the major video types, including RealMedia, Windows Media, Flash, QuickTime, and MP3. However, videos that have DRMDigital Rights Management - Technologies or restrictions used by publishers or copyright owners to restrict access to or usage of digital data or hardware. or other content protection systems applied to them by their owners are not recordable. RealPlayer alerts you that a clip is or is not recordable:

Record

1. While you're playing recordable media in RealPlayer, click the Record button on the Player Control bar. (You may also begin recording by selecting File > Record > Record this Clip, or by pressing [Ctrl+R] on your keyboard.) You can click Record at any point during the clip to begin downloading and recording the entire clip from start to finish.
2. The clip begins saving. The Player Control bar position slider tracks the progress of the clip currently playing.

3. When the entire clip you want is downloaded to the buffer, a status dialog tells you when clip has been saved to My Library.

Status Dialog

Function		Description
Close this dialog when saving is complete		Automatically closes the status dialog as soon as your clip has finished saving. This setting remains enabled until you deselect it at a later time.
View in Library		Click to open the Downloads & Recordings pane of My Library, where you can find your clip and related information.
Close		Manually closes the status dialog.

Armed Recording

If no clip is currently playing, you can "arm" the recorder to attempt to record the next clip that plays.

To arm the recorder, click the Record button before playing a recordable clip. The Record button's red dot begins to blink, indicating that RealPlayer will attempt to record the next clip played. Then, when you next play a recordable clip, RealPlayer will automatically begin recording it.

If for any reason the clip is not recordable, RealPlayer will display a bubble above the Record button telling you so.

To disarm the Record button, click it again. The blinking stops and RealPlayer will not try to record the next clip.

Good to Know

Live streams must be manually stopped

A live stream must be manually stopped, or else it will record until the maximum duration set in Preferences (default 4 hrs). You can check or set the maximum recording duration for live streams by opening Tools > Preferences... > Download & Recording > Advanced Settings.

To stop the recording before the maximum duration, without stopping the live stream, click the Record button again. You may also stop recording by:

• Selecting File > Record > Stop Recording.
• Pressing CTRL+R on your keyboard.
• Right-clicking the Position Slider timeline, then selecting Stop Recording.

Are all videos recordable?

RealPlayer accepts all the major media formats, including RealVideo, RealAudio, Windows Media, and QuickTime. However, videos that have DRMDigital Rights Management - Technologies or restrictions used by publishers or copyright owners to restrict access to or usage of digital data or hardware. or other protection applied to them by their owners are not recordable.

Tell me about the recording buffer

While you view or listen to live media, RealPlayer temporarily stores the most recently streamed content in a buffer. In your Preferences for Playback Settings, you can change the size of the buffer. The default time is 30 minutes.

While you're recording streaming media, it's buffered until the recording is stopped and the clip can be saved. The recording buffer's size is limited only by your disk space. 

You can play, pause, or replay any part of the buffer, even while it continues to save content. The buffer — indicated on the Position Slider timeline in red — will continue to save content until it is full or stopped. When full, new streaming content will continue to be saved as the oldest content is erased to make room for it.

When recording a live stream, the buffer is extended beyond the 30-minute (or other Preferences setting) default time. That's because the live stream has a different maximum recording duration and must be stopped manually. You can check or set the maximum recording duration for live streams Tools > Preferences... > Download & Recording > Advanced Settings.

RealPlayer displays start, stop, and current time marks when you mouse overUsing your mouse or cursor pointing device to move the cursor over an interactive area in the current display. the slider. 

For more information, see PerfectPlay.

Tell me about transcoding

Audio and video media come is a wide variety of file types, as seen in file name extensions such as .WMV, .AVI, and so on. In order to download and record different file types, RealPlayer may transcode a media file — meaning that it digitally converts the file from one type to another. Transcoding is a common means of communicating files in media technology.

For example, RealPlayer transcodes — converts — WMV and QuickTime videos to RealVideo during the recording process.

With live streaming media, RealPlayer always transcodes the live stream in real time. On-demand media files may be transcoded or else maintained in their native format, depending on the file type involved.

Files that are transcoded will appear in My Library with the extension .IVR (Internet Video Recording). This extension is the same for audio or video file types.

You can adjust transcode preferences at Tools > Preferences > Download and Recording. Clicking Advanced Settings opens a dialog where you can:

• select the default recording time for live webcasts.
• adjust the conversion (transcoding) quality of videos you download.