It was an early start to get to London for 9am but it was all worthwhile in the end…

I had to get up at 5am yesterday to get over to Solihull for a 6.30am train - what a killer! At least the roads were clear though so I got to Solihull in good time.

When we eventually got to London Marylebone, it was a 25 minute walk to The Soho Hotel - a very plush hotel snugged down a tiny road - where Real were going to try and persuade me to use their technology.

After a very nice breakfast buffet (trust me, the food and service at this place was second to none!), we sat down for an introduction the Real Networks setup, the company history, where they’re at now - all the normal gubbins you’d expect from a presentation/seminar like this. The UK company rep was selling the company, a technical representative had the know-how of all the systems and setups and there was even a developer from the Seattle office discussing the current projects and future launches. It’s amazing to think that Real media has been around for 10 years now and they are still one of the market leaders in online media. They will be launching they’re 11th generation systems later this year which has had a lot of focus on the latency of the systems, ensuring that delays and time slips don’t happen.

There was also some presentations from clients that have adopted the technology for different setups. datmedia have created a package that creates top-of-the-range Real media presentations, accomodating all three panes available in Real 10. The player allows for Real video or audio to be played in one pane with two other panes being made available to display either web content (using the Internet Explorer engine over Gecko unfortunately), Flash movies or PowerPoint presentations. Each pane can talk to each other too, allowing for interaction with the video or audio through the PowerPoint or Flash.

There was also a presentation from Learning and Teaching Scotland showing how they had setup systems that used the Helix server and Real Producer to supply educational resources to all the schools in Scotland. They have actually got the largest setup in the world using these servers and networks.

Another success story came from Thomas Telford Schools who are also using the technology for training schemes. They have had great success and have set up two more schools in the West Midlands with the profits. IMHO, the example training videos they showed weren’t very good quality - they looked like typical amateur PowerPoint presentations which to some are adequate, but as a designer I know that the target audience (kids) need something more “in-yer-face” and funky. There is definitely room for improvement but fair play to them for finding a niche market and making it work (£60m turnover in less than 5 years is certainly something to brag about!).

The highlight of the day came at the end of the seminar for me though. During the presentation, a radio was showcased that played internet radio streams directly from the Internet via a WiFi connection. Unfortunately, the WiFi connection in the hotel was slightly lacking so there was a “buffering” problem but it seemed like a potentially good idea. At the end of the seminar, they were giving the said product away to one lucky attendee from a draw. Out of the blue, they pulled my name out the bag! So I will be receiving the very first WiFi radio in Europe some time in the next month. Incidentally, I am now having to buy a wireless modem and router so the radio will work at home so if anyone has any recommendations, let me know.