What's the best web-media player?

[bain_sidhe]

I'd like to see some of these "streaming videos" and web-accessible ads on my 'puter, but I need to find a media player that 1) works with Opera, and 2) doesn't call home every fifteen minutes to tattle on me. (I downloaded Real Player recently, and have since blocked it from accessing the internet to prevent the "call home" feature, so it's not real useful anymore.

I don't have a huge amount of RAM, and I'm still running Windows98 because I refuse to upgrade to XP.

So, any suggestions?

[Kolesar]

1. What's the "call home" feature?

[bain_sidhe]

12. Oh, nobody answered this...

Real Player connects to the internet on its own initiative and tells "home" where you've been and what you did there.

Well, they say it's just to figure out how people are using their product so they can improve it, and *supposedly* it's not "identifiable" but there's no way to be sure it's not.

[theoceansnerves]

2. wait

does blocking the calling home affect the functionality of the program? i've disabled outgoing internet access for realplayer and media player, but i use them so little maybe i didn't notice they were affected?

[bain_sidhe]

11. It affects streaming, I think

I'm not sure, but I can't play "streaming video" - could be because I got the free version? Or could be because I won't let it access the internet... Dunno. I'm not quite tech-savvy enough to figure it out. (Actually, I'm not tech-savvy at all, but I'm not quite tech-illiterate either.)

[theoceansnerves]

13. allow it

are you using zonealarm? well..i guess it doesn't matter. allow realplayer itself to access the internet, but block tkbellexe. also, what you can do, since you're running win98 is go to start>run> then type in msconfig. when it loads click on the startup tab (far right) scroll down through the list (which are items that sort of secretly load on startup,) find tkbellexe and uncheck the box. this will prevent that app from loading and trying to access the internet.

[LTR]

14. Works until the next time you run RP

Then it adds itself back to the start list.

QuickTime does the same thing.

RP is sometimes useful, but it is an evil program.

[starroute]

3. Media Player Classic is great

http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

But you still have to have the proper codecs to be able to play Real Player content. I think as long as you have Real Player on your machine, you should be fine, as long as you can set up your browser to use Media Player Classic as a plugin.

[Nomad559]

4. Realplayer Is crap

I Really hate RealPlayer, I stopped using It months ago.
I now use Real Alternative, get It here. http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm


I also found that Media Player 9 runs very well on slower systems.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

[bain_sidhe]

6. Media Player Classic vx. Media Player 9

What's the difference? Anybody know? If there's little or no difference, I'd rather go with the non-microsoft product. I'm trying to stay as MS free as I can, in prep for migrating to Linux when I can afford a new computer.

[sir_captain]

19. Media Player Classic

is not a MS product. Go with that.

[bain_sidhe]

10. Wait, another question...

Does RealAlternative play *streaming* video and audio? Right now, I have to download the whole thing and then play it. (which means I can't see the larger stuff - shows and things like that, because I don't have enough memory) So that would be key, I think, especially since my cable system doesn't carry CSpan 3.

[starroute]

5. You can disable the call-home but not the entire Real Player

The problem involves a registry key called TkBellExe and a file called evntsvc.exe. Here are the steps to get rid of them:

-- Go to Start Menu > Run and enter "regedit." When the Registry Editor comes up, find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] and delete the TkBellExe entry.

-- Re-boot. Now evntsvc.exe won't be an active task, which enables you to find it (using Find) and delete it.

At that point you should be able to give Real Player permission to access the Net without it being able to do anything but play the content you want.

[bain_sidhe]

8. Oh, that might work too! I only have a baby HD

it's only 4 gigs, and more than half full, so I don't want to add any more software than I have to.

**edit: tyop**

[bain_sidhe]

9. Printed, and off to try it! Thank you!

Have a :beer: on me!

[IronLionZion]

7. you can disable call-home on most players

I just use the standard ones: Windows media player, winamp, etc.

download.com has a bunch of free players

[LTR]

15. Winamp 5 rules!!

Great all-purpose player, and the only one worth using for music.

[rumguy]

16. Does mac quicktime player have a call home feature?

[LTR]

17. It adds itself to your startup automatically, ala Real

It's called qttask.exe.

Infuriating!

[bain_sidhe]

18. Just a follow up thank you

I am now (after about three hours) listening to AIR AMERICA!!!!

Bad news: Real Alternative didn't work, it kept telling me I was missing a file. Ended up having to download the official "Windows Media Player." But at this point, I'm just happy I can FINALLY hear it!!!

Connected here, fyi... http://cc.liquidviewer.com/radio/standard/radioplayer.php?UID=4

Thanks to all who offered advice and links!