About - Answer Book

Setting Up RealPlayer for FamilyClick

This paper is a tutorial describing how to set up RealPlayer from Real Networks to work with your FamilyClick Internet connection. These instructions apply only to RealPlayer installed on Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT. The setup of RealPlayer installed on other operating systems such as MacOS and variants of Unix may differ from what is described here.

What Is RealPlayer?

RealPlayer is an application provided by Real Networks that can play audio and video streams broadcast on the Internet. Using RealPlayer, you can listen to live newscasts, sporting events and music. You can also view music videos, movie and television clips as well as live concerts.

FamilyClick's filtering technology works by directing all your Internet traffic through FamilyClick servers. This allows us to help prevent inappropriate material from being delivered to your computer. In order for RealPlayer to function in this environment, some special setup instructions need to be followed.

Getting Started

The first thing you need to do is verify that the correct version of RealPlayer is installed on your system. If RealPlayer is already installed on your system, you may see an icon similar to the one shown on the right on your desktop. Or, your Start Menu will have Real Player or Real Audio entries. If RealPlayer is installed, start it. Then, on the RealPlayer Help menu, select About RealPlayer. This shoulda window similar to the example shown.

If your version of RealPlayer is version 6 or higher, these instructions apply to you. If you have an earlier version of RealPlayer, or if you have no version of RealPlayer at all, you'll need to download and install a free copy. Point your browser to http://www.real.com and click on the icon for the free RealPlayer 7 download. This web site also has a download link for a product called RealPlayer 7 Plus. This is an enhanced version of RealPlayer 7 and is not free. If you decide to download RealPlayer 7 Plus, please be aware that the configuration procedure may be somewhat different than what is described here.

Once you've downloaded RealPlayer and installed it according to the directions on the Real Networks download page, you're ready to configure it to work with your FamilyClick dialup account.

RealPlayer Preferences

Like many other applications, RealPlayer lets you set Preferences that determine how the application acts. For example, you can select whether or not RealPlayer displays pop up help messages when you select various functions. To enable RealPlayer to work correctly with FamilyClick, you need to make some adjustments to the Transport and Proxy preference settings.

If it's not already running, start RealPlayer. Then, select Preferences from the Options menu. If you are running a more recent version of RealPlayer, you'll find Preferences under the View menu instead of the Options menu. You should see a window like that shown above. You can select from various categories of preferences by clicking on one of the tabs near the top of the Preferences window. First, click on the tab marked Transport.

Transport Settings

Transport refers to the method that RealPlayer uses to connect to various sites on the Internet. Information on the net is transmitted using various formats or transports. For FamilyClick, you need to explicitly set the transports that RealPlayer will be using.

On the Transport Preferences window, make sure that the option labeled "Automatically select best transport" is NOT selected. If it is, use the mouse to unselect it. Also, make sure that "Use specific UDP ports" is unselected as well. Then, select the option labeled "Use specified transports".

Just to the right of the "Use specified transports" option are two buttons. One is labeled "RTSP Settings" and the other "PNA Settings". RTSP and PNA are the primary protocols or transports that Internet servers use to transmit audio and video information to your RealPlayer. Click on the RTSP Settings button to bring up the RTSP Transport Settings window.

In this window, make sure that "Use TCP to Connect to Server" and "Attempt to use TCP for all content" are both selected. Nothing else should be selected. The window will look like the example above when it's correct. When it's right, click on OK to get back to the previous window. Now, click on PNA Settings. You should see the PNA Transport Settings window.

You should setup the PNA Transport Settings exactly as you set the RTSP Transport Settings. Only that "Use TCP to Connect to Server" and "Attempt to use TCP for all content" should be selected. Click the OK button when you've verified that the PNA settings are correct.

Proxy Settings

You should be back to the main Preferences window now. Next, you have to set up the Proxy information. A Proxy is something that performs an action or service on your behalf. If you own any shares of stock, you're probably familiar with the concept of voting by proxy. Not all of a corporation's stockholders are able to attend the annual meeting. Normally a proxy is appointed to attend the meeting and cast votes on behalf of those who cannot attend. FamilyClick subscribers cannot connect directly to most sites on the Internet; this allows us to screen out inappropriate material. In order to visit various sites, proxy servers are used. These servers go out into the Internet on your behalf and deliver the content back to your computer.

Click on the Proxy tab to set the RealPlayer Proxy window. There are three types of proxies that must be set: RTSP, PNA and HTTP. For each, you need to supply the name or address of the proxy server as well as the Port. The address for both the PNA and RTSP proxy is ra-proxy.. For PNA, the port is 1090 and for RTSP it is 1091. Under HTTP options, select Manually configure HTTP proxy and enter proxyfilter. as the HTTP proxy address and 8002 as the port number.

Finishing Up and Testing

Once you have the proxy settings correct, click on OK to close out the Preferences window. To verify that everything is functioning correctly, try to connect to one of the Channels displayed on the left side of the RealPlayer window. Also, try to listen to one of the Audio channels under the RealPlayer Presets or Stations menu. Note that an audio or video stream requires much more bandwidth than a normal Internet connection. It is not at all unusual for some or even most of the sites to be unreachable; especially during peak hours. However, if you have everything set up correctly, you should be able to reach many of the sites.

If you're having problems and can't get to any RealPlayer sites and you've double-checked all the Preferences, make sure that you're reading a current copy of this document. Proxy server names and addresses may change from time to time. The FamilyClick home page at will always contain a link to the most recent copy of these instructions.

Further Information

Another popular product supplied by Real Networks is RealJukebox. Since RealJukebox shares some of the preference settings with RealPlayer, it should be correctly configured if it is installed before you configure RealPlayer. You can check by starting up RealJukebox and selecting Options … Preferences … Internet Settings. If it is set to use the HTTP proxy server at proxyfilter., port 8002, then it should be configured correctly.

For more information on RealPlayer or RealJukebox, please visit the Real Networks web page at http://www.real.com. This site contains support information on Real Networks products as well as lists of sites that provide audio and video content. Other sites that provide audio and video content are http://www.audionet.com and http://www.film.com.

Please be aware that the level of filtering performed for audio and video content is not currently as advanced as that provided for browsing the web. It may be possible for RealPlayer to access a site that your browser cannot access and, as a result, you may encounter some material that is inappropriate. Also, while FamilyClick is responsible for the accuracy of these configuration instructions, we cannot provide any support for RealPlayer or RealJukebox.