[Tan Truong]

There is a way to convert real media to DV, although the setup is a bit involved and it’s not done with just one program. I got help from a Real Networks codec engineer to do this but unfortunately, my notes are a bit sloppy so what follows below may or may not work. At the very least, you’ll be a step closer to your goal.

Before you get started you need a PC running Windows! An Intel Mac will do as well.

1. Download Real Player and install it. I believe this step is necessary as it installs the codec. Use this link to skip all the ads: http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=d9

2. Download and install VirtualDub
http://www.virtualdub.org

3. Download and install Real Alternative. Google for ‘realmediasplitter.ax’ if you can’t find it. The installation instructions are usually on the site that you get it from, but essentilally you use the command line like so: ‘regsvr32 realmediasplitter.ax’

I have to admit, step 3 may not be necessary as the Real codecs are already installed in Step 1. Still, I don’t think it hurts to proceed with step 3.

4. Download and Install AviSynth. The current version seems to be 2.5.
Again, I apologize, but I don’t remember if this is necessary or whether it is installed by VirtualDub.

After everything is installed, you will be using VirtualDub to do the conversion. VirtualDub by itself can convert many video formats but it cannot do Real media by itself. This is where AviSynth comes into play.

You will need to write an AviSynth script to show it how to convert Real media files. Don’t worry, it’s only 2 lines of text. Use Notepad or whatever Windows text editor you prefer:

video=DirectShowSource(“movie.ram”,fps=29.97)
return video

Save this file as text (of course) and name it with an .avs extension, e.g., moviefile.avs. Note ‘movie.ram’ above. That’s the name of your Real media file. All of your Real files have to have that name. The alternative is to edit this .avs file each time you do a conversion, but you probably don’t want to do that. Also note the fps above. Change that as appropriate to match the source video. You’ll get funky results if you don’t.

Save this moviefile.avs script into the VirtualDub folder. Place your movie.ram Real media file inside the same directory.

Now we’re ready to roll. Launch VirtualDub. Go to the File menu and select Open video file. Look for your moviefile.avs script and open it. It will run the script and open your Real file. Scrub through the timeline to make sure it has done so. To do the conversion to AVI, go to the File menu and select Save as AVI. Copy the resulting file to your Mac. If you can open this file with Quicktime player on your Mac then just export it and you’re done.

I’ve found that sometimes the files that it creates cannot be opened with any Quicktime-based apps. This is where MPEG Streamclip comes into play. You’ll need at least version 1.9b1 for this to work. It seems to open these odd AVI’s fine. Ironically, it’s Export to DV function results in a big red render bar for the audio track when I put this kind of file into my timeline. I use Export to Quicktime and set the codec to DV. If you end up doing this a lot, save this setting as a preset.

I hope this works for you and if anyone can streamline this process, please share.