Real Alternative 2.0.2

I note that Real Player has now got into bed with AOL so I have had to look at Alternative to rid myself off the infernal AOL advertisement that Real Player now supports

I can't give it a 5-star rating because when you install it, if you have RealPlayer already installed, it will tell you that you should uninstall it before proceeding and then asks you if you want to uninstall it now?

When you click yes, it fails to remove all the garbage left over by RealPlayer, and then after it proceeds to the installation of Real Alternative, it fails to install the core components. Now some would argue that it uses RP's uninstall data so it isn't RA's fault. But I say then why does it check for things that RP leaves behind? Version 1.90 does not.

They either should not check or do the final bit of house cleaning of RP trash before attempting to install. Not a good install routine on 2.02. The following was my journey to resolve this on my own:

I am running Windows XP SP3. I have been using Real Alternative for years and never trusted RealPlayer after I saw how horrible it takes over your system.

About 4 or 5 months ago, I installed Google Chrome because IE v.9 does not support XP and v.8 is buggy. Chrome installed RealPlayer as a BHO while I was asleep at the wheel and then I started having problems playing .smi .rp and .rm files from my computer.

I uninstalled RealPlayer (BHO my @$$, RP had installed the whole program), but it left a lot of stuff behind after the uninstall (d@mn those people, Real jerks). My MPC wouldn't play Real files at all (MPC - "unable to render file").

I uninstalled MPC and tried to reinstall Real Alternative 2.02, but it wouldn't allow me to select the core components for RealPlayer during installation.

After searching a bit on the internet, I found advice that directed me to go into my Program Files and Documents and Settings folders and delete the subfolders associated with RealPlayer, and also use a registry cleaner to try cleaning up what RealPlayer left behind. This did not work for me either and I was still unable to install the core components for Real Alternative 2.02.

The only solution I have found was to install K-Lite Mega Pack 7.8 and install the MPC Home Cinema v.1.5, then intall Real Alternative 1.90 into the same folder where Home Cinema is located, but I unchecked the MPC player during the install and just let the drivers install into the MPC Home Cinema folder. Apparently, version 1.9 of Real Alternative does not look for RealPlayer garbage left behind as 2.02 does. But that wasn't all...

Then I had to go into MPC Home Cinema "options" and install the external filters for RealAudio, RealMedia, and RealVideo. Finally, I had to associate the formats with the MPC player. All that works and I can play Real files now, but I just can't install the updated core components in RA version 2.02.

Anyone else experiencing this issue? I am sure there is some RealPlayer crap hiding somewhere on my computer but so far I am unable to find it. There is a registry entry that some have found by searching "WoW64" which is thought to be a leftover by RealPlayer after an uninstall, but this value or key is not in my registry.

UPDATE: I was using jv16 Power Tools and used its Registry Manager which has an Add/Remove menu utility... I scanned down the list in that and saw RealPlayer 12.0 still showing up there, so I deleted it and voila! I can now select the core components on the Real Alternative 2.02 installation. That alone probably wouldn't have solved the problem but along with all the other housekeeping I had to do to get RealPlayer off my system, it all finally worked.

Uninstalled it once, can't reinstall the core components the option in the setup stays gray and can't select it pls help

Excellent program. I found only one glitch. It won't self terminate with Replay Radio at the end of a broadcast. Otherwise it streams just fine and works beautifully

This worked great for me. But I sure could use a similar fix for Windows98!

Thanks for the RA package. I've been using it on and off for years now. However, I still have problems receiving streaming RAM files with RA from a seemingly busy/high-traffic site:

http://www.democracynow .org

System:

Windows XP
Celeron 256k
DSL

After approx 1 min 30 sec, RA shuts down and the following message appears:

"Connection to server has timed out. You may be experiencing network problems."

On a separate computer with Real Player installed, this is not a problem.

Otherwise, other streaming sites seem to work with RA.

Please fix this.

If you encounter the msg "cannot render the file" when trying to play real media in Media Player Classic, rename the extension of the downloaded file .ram by .smil

Hope this is the right place to post a suggestion. Posted this in relivant areas

I've been using RA, QA MPc and VLC and G-Spot and Audio Identifier for some time now, ever since i came accross them eons ago. With this tools I am able to watch and listen to, I would say 95% of all formats (mainstream).

Is it possible to save a single installer for these items with option to pick and choose? Especially with QA and RA as I have noticed they both duplicate MPc (but in RA MPc is one version behind. VLC is a bonus as is the two codec identifiers.

RA Real Alternative
QA QuickTime Alternative
MPc Media Player Classic
VLC VideoLAN Client

Thanks

Well i like it a lot, it's definetly better than real player but why only mpc?
mpc kinda $uck$, i have to "fight" the pc for hours to get it to work on a level i actualy enjoy.
Is there any way to get it to work for any other player like vlc?

I'll make it rating 5:Excellent, or even rating 6: Awesome if i know how to turn the my the movie upside down...
It's showing most of my movies upside down!!
Can anyone help?

Good alternative to the adware loaded Real One Player, but it stops the screen saver from working (necessary for security) in Windows 2000. Can anyone help ?

Good job fellows! Working fine.
To all the ones complaining about wmp, media player classic etc.:
This is just the codec ppl, nobody cares what player you use!

Still won't stream RAM files. I always get a message saying:

"Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file."

Great program. Nice to be able to ditch the invasive RealWhatever, like freakin' kudzu. It would've gotten five stars, except I can't use it to listen to Real samples on Amazon .com. I have to use the dread WMP 10 for that.

It works fine for me except I couldn't get the ram files embedded in the web-pages to play. Media Player comes up and says "cannot find the specified file.." I tried downloading the ram file but had the same problem.

To answer lilboy's question down there, this download is *not* a "program", it is *not* a player that "looks" like Windows Media Player.. it's a codec which allows you to play RealPlayer files *in* Media Player. You have the option of installing Media Player 6 with the codec, but I prefer to use MP 9 (10 $uck$). So I de-selected that option. And as for "overlapping and overwriting issues" well there are none. It's a codec. Just like DivX is a codec. Same thing, but for RealPlayer files. Got that? Good.