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How can we help?
To make your experience of bbc.co.uk as enjoyable and useful as possible, we use the latest technologies across a wide range of media (audio, video, animation, interactive games and news tickers). For easy-to-follow advice about technical issues click on the relevant subject below. For other help subjects look in the left/right-hand columns.
- How does streaming work?
- What's the problem with Windows Media Player?
- RealPlayer won't install
- RealPlayer isn't working
- Missing plug-in error
- RealPlayer isn't connecting
- Picture and sound dropout
- Higher quality streams
- Saving audio and video files
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How does streaming work?
We store files on our servers, which are streamed to your RealPlayer when you click on an audio or video link. The
player plugs in to your browser and will automatically establish a connection between your computer and our servers
when a link is activated. The file will then play as it downloads.
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What's the problem with Windows Media Player?
When the BBC began publishing audio and video content Real Media was the most secure form of streaming. Unfortunately Microsoft no longer supports Real content. Consequently, many of the later versions of the Windows Media Player will not play our clips. This may change in the future.
NB: Some World Service clips are also streamed for the Windows Player.
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RealPlayer won't install
RealPlayer will only work on the operating systems listed below. If you don't have one of these operating systems, it simply won't install.
Windows: 95/98/2000, ME (final release), NT 4.0, XP
Macintosh: PowerPC 604 OS 8.1 or later, G3 OS 8.5 or later.
Unix: Solaris 2.6/2.7, Linux 2.0
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RealPlayer isn't working
Check your connection to the Internet and make sure your computer has a soundcard installed. If your computer is
part of a company network and protected by a firewall you won't receive Real Media content unless you set
up your player to access it via a proxy server. Go to the RealPlayer preferences, select the proxy tab and
enter the address of the server where required. You should contact your system administrator or ISP
for more details of this address.
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Missing plug-in error
When an audio or video link is activated the address of the file you are downloading appears in the
location bar of the player. This will only accept addresses for Real Media files. Any other address will receive a 'missing plug-in' error.
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RealPlayer isn't connecting
Occasionally you may receive error messages when connecting to audio/video clips. A 'No DNS entry' error means that RealPlayer can't locate the server that you're trying to connect to. In this case, check that the link address is valid and ends with a .ram or .ra extension. Should you discover a broken link please contact the webmaster.
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Picture and sound dropout
A DNS error or deterioration in the quality of the sound or picture can happen when RealPlayer doesn't receive enough data to maintain a connection to the server. This is generally caused during periods of very high traffic on
the Internet or local area network. These periods may only last for a short time - try accessing the files again later on. Some problems also occur if you're trying to connect to our higher quality streams using an old version of RealPlayer. We advise that you download the latest version.
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Higher quality streams
Some files are streamed using the higher quality digital G2 Surestream. This provides clearer pictures and stereo sound and should mean less connection dropouts. If you have the latest version of RealPlayer and still encounter problems connecting to the higher quality streams, go to RealPlayer preferences and lower the bandwidth setting.
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Saving audio and video files
Because of the way audio and video files are streamed you can't save them to your computer, unless specifically stated otherwise.
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