Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Converting Real Media Video to Other Formats

I had a RealMedia (.rm) file.  I wanted to convert it to .avi or some other format that I could edit in Adobe Premiere Elements.  I heard that Super © was useful for this purpose.

The first recommended step was to download and install the Real Alternative Lite codec.  Next, using Internet Explorer (not Firefox), I downloaded and installed Super C.  In Super C, I dragged the .rm file over from Windows Explorer to the open area at the bottom of the window.  Then, under "Select the Output Process," I chose the radio button that did not say "Join Format-Identical Files"; that is, the one I chose said "Select the Output Container," and gave me a choice among many formats.  I chose FLV/SWF (Flash).  Then, at the bottom of the screen, I clicked on Encode (Active Files). This gave me "An ERROR has occurred.  Click to read more."  I briefly tried to troubleshoot that, and tried various recommended settings, but had no luck.

I considered alternatives.  Video Cleaner Pro by River Past provided a free trial with too many restrictions.  Someone recommended Helix DNA Producer, and that led to Easy RealMedia Tools.  I downloaded both, opened the former, and installed the latter.  Both seemed to be designed to create RealMedia files, without the ability to export to other formats.  I downloaded the free trial of AVOne Video Converter.  It required an installation of RealMedia Player, which I had already done.  Due to restrictions on the free trial version, it wouldn't convert my 10-minute, 835kb .rm file.

I tried another approach.  I set up CamStudio to record the playback of the .rm file.  CamStudio was having trouble with audio recording, though, so I installed NCH's Debut Video Capture Software.  [Some weeks go by at this point.]

Some time has passed at this point, so pardon me if my recollection is mistaken, but at any rate Debut has proved useful for screen capture.  I have not found Super (C) to be very useful.  For Real Media specifically, I belatedly discovered that Real Player itself now comes with a converter, so that solves the original problem.  I have also used Oxelon to convert video easily from the Windows Explorer context (right-click) menu.

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