RealPlayer Won't Play - help!

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Level 1

126 points

RealPlayer Won't Play - help!

This has been mentioned elsewhere by others and I'm wondering what the fix is. I had RealPlayer media player for Mac (11Gold) on Leopard and it was my default player. It renders video better then any other player in my opinion and is easy to use. After installing Snow Leopard the video portion of RealPlayer is now useless. Click on a video and the player opens but there is no picture, just sound. I need that RealPlayer back. It is my default player and I really hate that new QuickTime because it displays movies poorly (compared to RealPlayer or QuickTime 7) and you can't get rid of that silly tool bar across the bottom of the new QuickTime. Yes, it does fade away while watching the movie but pause the screen to take a screenshot and you can't get rid of it.

I've reinstalled Perian codecs, removed RealPlayer 11Gold and replaced it with both RealPlayer 10Gold and 11Gold but the results are the same - no picture. What is it about Snow Leopard that renders RealPlayer useless?

Here's another "player" problem. QuickTime 7 is now tucked away in Utilities and is much better in displaying a picture then the new QuickTime - problem is, you can't select QuickTime 7 as the default player. It is greyed out and you have to paw through the Utilities directory to assign it for that one viewing of a video through Get Info. Through Get Info you used to be able to "change all" making QuickTime 7 the default player for that type of media so in the future you just click on the movie and QuickTime 7 would open it. Not any more. What is that all about and how do I make QuickTime 7 the default player (if I can't have RealPlayer, that is)?

There are some little tweaks in Snow Leopard I like but overall I'm not gushing with happiness here.

Thanks.

3.2Ghz Mac Pro, 24-inch iMac and 2.4Ghz Aluminum MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6), Mac Pro 3.2GHz, iPhone 32g 3GS, 13" MBP

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 9:52 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 31, 2009 10:25 AM in response to HudsonJohns

Contact realplayer(they still exist?!?) and ask when they are going to update their program to make it work with snow leopard. It's their software, their responsibility- not Apple's.

I right click on media files, select open with and quicktime 7 is listed there and available.
No going to utilities or anything.

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Answer 2

HudsonJohns Author

Level 1

126 points

Aug 31, 2009 12:32 PM in response to Johnathan Burger

"Re: right click and find quicktime 7 available." You'd think that would be the case but it isn't that way for me despite the fact that I had QuickTime Pro on Leopard before the install. Quicktime 7 does appear in the Utilities folder and I have to phish down each time to get it. Once I do get it up and running I hit the "Get Info" button so I can "change all" future instances to just use QuickTime 7. Sadly QuickTime 7 is not an option and you can't burrow down to get it. That leaves me few options: QuickTime 10, VLC or the crippled RealPlayer.

Allow QuickTime 10 to "jump ahead" (move the tool bar indicator with a click on the toolbar ahead and the video halts. You have to push the forward button again.) AND, get rid of that tool bar when you pause a video. It too should fade after a second or two but it doesn't. And you can't get rid of it!) And finally the rendering display of QuickTime 10 (when compared to Quicktime 7 and RealPlayer) is two steps back. Not as crisp, sometimes blurry - not always but enough to be annoying.

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Answer 3

Aug 31, 2009 1:00 PM in response to HudsonJohns

I agree with you on all counts. As for RealPlayer, unfortunately it is entirely Real's responsibility to update it -- here's hoping they can find the resources to do so in their current state.

As for QuickTime X, I find the interface terribly disappointing. I work at a TV station, and I'm often scrubbing back and forth in the slider to find a specific spot in a program. It's indescribably disorienting to have the slider atop the video window. An option to return to a detachable controller would be welcome.

And finally, I also notice that the render quality, at least of MPEG4 content, is dramatically worse under QuickTime X than it was under QuickTime 7, with more pixel shake and less crispness. A pity.

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Answer 4

HudsonJohns Author

Level 1

126 points

Sep 1, 2009 9:41 AM in response to Eric Westby

An update: I spent some time in the RealMedia forums and the complaints about RealPlayer 11 are consistent - no video. RealMedia says it is a Codec problem but even after all codecs are reinstalled RP11 fails to work. OTOH - you can backlevel to RealPlayer 10 and Mac users are reporting it does work. I haven't tried it yet but will later this evening.

As for Quicktime 7 appearing as greyed out in the "Get Info" window thus leaving the user unable to make QT7 the default for their vast majority of videos - You can fix the problem. Open any WMV, AVI, MPG, etc. using Get Info and burrow down to your Applications/Utilities folder and select QT7. It will appear in the little box as the player. Hit the little arrow to the left of that to close and open the default box and "change all" will switch from being greyed out to active. You can then select "change all" and from that point forward all WMV (or whatever) will open with Quicktime 7.

Thank God for that. I was getting very frustrated!

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