Help - System Requirements and Trouble-shooting Tips

• What are the basic system requirements for our live webcasts and Videostream (Archived) programs?
• What if I cannot view the live webcasts or Videostream (Archived) programs?

What are the basic system requirements for our live webcasts and Videostream (Archived) programs?

Shown below are minimum computer and Internet requirements for accessing our live webcasts and Videostream (Archived) programs. These guidelines, while fairly detailed, cannot cover every possible configuration. Please note that there may also be other factors not directly associated with your system configuration -- such as Internet congestion or other applications you may be running -- that may contribute to poorer performance.

PC (Windows based computer)
Minimal Computer

• 120MHz Intel Pentium processor or equivalent
• 16MB of RAM
• 56.6Kbps modem
• 16-bit sound card and speakers
• 65,000-color video display card (optional; required for video)
• Windows 98 operating system
• Internet connection and web browser (I.E 4.01 or later)

Recommended Computer

• 200MHz Intel Pentium processor or better
• 32MB or more of RAM
• Cable or better
• Full Duplex sound card and speakers
• 65,000-color or better video display card
• Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later.
• Internet connection and web browser (I.E 4.01 or later)

Macintosh
Minimal Computer

• Mac OS 8.1 or later
• 64MB RAM
• Virtual Memory turned on, set to 65MB
• 604 PowerPC (200 MHz or better)
• 28.8Kpbs modem Internet Connection
• Browser support: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later

Recommended Computer

• Mac OS 8.5 or later
• 64MB RAM
• Virtual Memory turned on, set to 128MB
• G3 233 (or faster) PowerPC
• 56.6Kbps or better Internet Connection for both audio and video
• Browser support: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later

What if I cannot view the live webcasts or Videostream (Archived) programs?

This help section FAQ will help you with coming issues associated with streaming online content. You can jump to any point by clicking on the links below.

How do I get the latest CODECs for my player?
Why is my video playback ugly?
Why is my video distorted or not displaying at all?
Why is my audio playback poor?
Why do I have problems with video or system freezes when playing video content?
Why can't I play clips on my computer at work?
Am I behind a Firewall? Do I need to use Proxy?

Player Support

With help for issues specific to the performance of your player, please visit the link below associated with your player.

Windows Media Player Support

How do I get the latest CODECs for my player?
If you click on a file that is not standard for your Player, the AutoUpdate feature will try to install a plug-in to match. If a plug-in exists, your Player will download and install it so you can play the file. If a plug-in is not available, your Player will return a "No update available", "Unable to render", "Decompressor not found" or "Missing codec" error. These errors occur because the file was created with a codec that is not installed on your computer.

For more information on CODECs for Windows Media Player, click here.

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Why is my video playback ugly?
RealPlayer attempts to show video at whatever color depth your system is set to display. If the color settings in your Control Panel are set less than 16-bit, (see System Requirements) you will get poor or no results when viewing video clips. You should increase your screen resolution to 16-bit (thousands) or 24-bit (millions) color.

1. To change your color depth in Windows
2. Choose Settings/Control Panel from your Start button.
3. Double-click Display.
4. Click the Settings tab.
5. Change the Color palette setting to High Color (16-bit) or True Color (24-bit).
   
6. Click Apply. You may have to reboot your computer to have the changes take effect; Windows will inform you if you do.

Note:
You may not be able to go to a higher color setting depending on the desktop area you have selected and your video card. Windows will only allow you to select choices that are appropriate for the installed video driver.

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Why is my video distorted or not displaying at all?
To deliver the best video in the fastest way possible, your player uses the latest optimized video protocols. Not all video cards or their drivers will function properly with this optimized approach. If a video card or its drivers are incompatible you may see unexpected results (see The Symptoms immediately below).

The Symptoms
Incompatibility with optimized video usually manifests itself in one of the following ways:

• You do not see any video in your player display panel. All you see is an empty, magenta or black square.
• You do not see any video in your player, only a snowy picture that moves. (Go to Turn off Optimized Video.)
• You see video in your player but it has a green tint to it and may be distorted so that you only see stripes of the video or only part of an enlarged picture. The overall effect is as if you were looking through a hole at a larger screen.
• You see video in your player but it is stretched vertically or horizontally in only one direction. The picture distorts into a wide, flat picture or a tall, thin one.
• You see video, but it is more like a slide show than moving pictures and/or the edges are ragged and pixelated (looks like it is made up of a bunch of blocks rather than a clear picture).
  If you are experiencing one, or more, of these symptoms, confirm the problem by using the test below to be sure that optimized video is the issue and not some other conflict.

Confirming the Problem
If you are seeing any or all of the above symptoms, do the following to make sure it is an optimized video issue:

• Connect to a video clip or click Play to start playing a loaded video clip.
• Wait until the video is exhibiting one of the above symptoms.
• Click and hold on the title bar of your player (the blue bar on the top of the Player).
• Drag your player to a new location on your desktop.
• If you saw the video playing properly while you were dragging your player but the problems reappeared when you stopped dragging your player (or shortly after you stopped dragging it):

Turn off Optimized Video

• Select View/Preferences... from your menus.
• Go to the Performance tab (see Performance Preferences).
• Find Video card compatibility at the bottom of the tab.
• Deselect (uncheck) Use optimized video display.
• Click OK.
• Close your player and restart it. (If you have StartCenter running, you will need to close this as well to fully restart your player. To close StartCenter, right-click on the StartCenter icon and select Close StartCenter. StartCenter will restart when you launch your Player again).
• Attempt to play the video again.
  If you still do not see the video playing properly, then other issues may be affecting your RealPlayer. Contact Technical Support at http://service.real.com for access to the RealPlayer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and other up-to-date and technical information.
• If you update or change your video driver or video card, you should reselect Use optimized video display to see if it works properly. If it does not, follow the instructions above again to solve the conflict.

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Why is my audio playback poor?
Playback quality varies depending on available bandwidth and how the file you are playing was encoded. If the quality is garbled, choppy, or skipping, use the following guidelines to isolate and correct the problem.

If the playback quality is poor:

• Check the actual modem connection speed. This speed may be shown in the lighted display for external modems or through an information window if you have an internal modem (check the user manual for your modem). Sometimes service providers use a lower rate connection speed such as 28.8Kbps, so, even though you are dialing in to your ISP on a 56Kbps modem, you are only receiving data at 28.8Kbps.
• If your computer seems sluggish during playback, try adjusting your playback performance. On the Performance tab of your Preferences, adjust the Playback Performance slider closer to Lowest CPU usage.
• If audio on every site is scratchy, popping, or distorted, click Settings... in the Sound card compatibility section of the Performance tab and choose Disable 16-bit audio. (Windows only)
• If you are getting no audio or audio is playing back quickly (everything sounds like a chipmunk), click Settings... in the Sound card compatibility section of the Performance tab and choose Disable custom sampling rate.
• If you are using an external modem with a Windows PC and the Statistics window shows minimal packet loss (10% or less), your system may have a problem with the speed at which packets are transferred between the modem and your computer. Try setting the port speed higher (at least twice the modem speed).

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Why is my player still rebuffering or giving poor playback?
Packet loss occurs when information is unable to successfully travel from one server to another. When your player connects to a Windows Media Server serving variable bandwidth content, the server detects your Internet connection speed and sends the best stream possible for that connection. However, As the quality of your Internet connection changes due to packet loss,

To minimize poor playback, try playing the content during times when Internet traffic is not at its peak. U.S. business hours and weekend evenings are peak times. Connections and playback will be better at other hours.

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Why do I have problems with video or system freezes when playing video content ?
With the video enhancements in Windows Media Player, there are a few requirements to ensure the best video experience. If video appears erratically or you experience system freezes while attempting to play video files, you may be able to solve it with the following suggestions. Your player requires a minimum of 16-bit color in Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, and 2000. If your computer is incapable of displaying at least 16-bit color, you may only get a black square in your player when you play video content.

To check your color settings:

1. Click the Start menu, choose Settings, and then Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Display icon.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Make sure that "High Color" or "True Color" is selected in the colors list.
5. Click OK.
6. Restart your computer if prompted.

Windows Media Player requires Microsoft DirectDraw (DirectX) certified drivers. Your player uses DirectDraw for the following Optimized Video features: Hardware Stretching, Blitting, and Overlay support. The video hardware must support these features in order to function correctly with the Optimized Video setting.

Many popular video cards use WinDraw drivers instead of DirectDraw drivers. The WinDraw driver incorrectly reports the capability of the video hardware to your player, causing your player to think that the video hardware can do things that it cannot. When the video is optimized and the video hardware cannot support the optimization, problems will occur. Problems range from poor quality or garbled video to your player becoming unresponsive and system freezes. If you experience similar problems, try disabling the Optimized Video setting in Windows media Player.

The following cards are known to have DirectDraw problems. Regardless of the setting in your player, optimized video is automatically disabled if any of the following card and driver combinations are detected:

ATI Rage II+ PCI, ati_m64
RAGE PRO TURBO AGP 2X (English)
Matrox Millennium G200, AGPMGAXDD32.DLL Matrox
Millennium G200 AGP, mga64.dll
Matrox Millennium G200 AGP, tsirchnl.dll
Matrox Millennium II PowerDesk, MGAXDD32.DLL
Matrox Millennium II PCI, mgapdx64.drv
Diamond Viper V33", vprddle.DLL
NVIDIA GeForce 256 AGP Plus (Dell), NVDD32.DLL
Diamond Viper V330, vprdrvle.drv
Diamond Viper V550, NVDD32.DLL
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Ultra, NVDD32.DLL
Hercules Thriller 3D Series (v 0.81.3539), v200032.dll
Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc.
Stealth II G460 Ver. 1.12\x0d\x0aV, stlthg46.dll
STB Lightspeed 128, with STB Vision 95, stbvisn.drv
Diamond SpeedStar A50 for Windows 98, DMSSA50x.dll

ALL STB cards that use nVidia Riva 182zx:
STB Velocity 128 3D, stbv128.drv
STB Velocity 128 (TV Support), STBV128.DRV
STB Lightspeed 128, without STB Vision 95, stbls128.drv
S3 Inc. Trio64V+, s3_2.drv
Chips And Technologies, Accelerator (new), chipsnd.drv
Cirrus Logic 7548 PCI, cirrusmm.drv

NeoMagic controllers (widely used in Dell laptops):
NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD, NmgcDD.dll
NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD, Nmgc.drv
NeoMagic MagicGraph 128 PCI, nmx.drv
NeoMagic MagicMedia 256AV, NmgcDD5.dll
Diamond Stealth II G460, s2g432le.dll
Diamond Stealth II G460, s2g432le.dll

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Why can't I play clips on my computer at work?
If you're on a local area network which is attached to the Internet, and are unable to play streaming files from remote web sites, it's possible that your company's firewall is preventing the stream from reaching you. Users can receive live and on-demand audio and video from the Internet without exposing their company's network to security risks.

If your computer is behind a firewall, please see RealNetworks' firewall page for more information:
http://service.real.com/firewall/

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Am I behind a Firewall? Do I need to use Proxy?
If you are behind a firewall you may consistently have one of the following problems:

You are accessing the Internet via an Internet Service Provider or a cable modem and have trouble connecting to streaming files on some or all Web sites but you can play local streaming files.

You are on a local area network which is attached to the Internet, and are unable to play streaming files from some or all remote Web sites but you can play local streaming files.

You receive one of the following errors consistently while trying to play content:

• Error 18: Invalid socket error
• Error 22: Requested server is not valid
• Error 108: Invalid Auto Transport Configuration Setup

If you are still unsure about whether or not you are behind a firewall, contact the Systems Administrator for your ISP or your company.

First attempt to Auto-configure your transport settings:

1. From the File Menu, Select View/Preferences.
2. Select the Transport tab.
3. Make sure the dot in front of Automatically Select Most Efficient Transport is selected.
4. Click Auto-Configure...
5. The Auto Transport Configuration box should come up.
6. Click OK.
7. As soon as the configuration is done, the message, Auto Transport Configuration is complete will appear in the box.
8. Click OK.
9. Attempt to play a clip on the Internet.

In some cases you may need to set a proxy so your player can receive information. In most cases, Use my web browser's HTTP proxy will work. However, depending on the firewall protecting your connection to the Internet this may not be enough. Please contact the System Administrator for the correct address and Port numbers for your network. Incorrect information can cause your player to appear to not work.

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