RealNetworks announces Helix Player project for Linux

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 7 Aug 2003 at 11:07

RealNetworks has set up a project to build an open-source media player based on its Helix technologies for Linux, Unix and Solaris.

'We are thrilled to now build, in collaboration with members of the Helix open source community, the best media player for Linux, as yet more evidence of our longstanding commitment to Linux,' said Nagesh Pabbisetty, vice president, Helix Products and Solutions, RealNetworks, at Linux World yesterday in San Francisco.

A fully open-source media player will further Linux's march towards desktop acceptance. The Helix Player will be built upon RealNetworks' Helix DNA Client technologies, which includes support for a wide range of media formats, including MPEG-4, MP3, H.263 and 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).

Xiph also announced it will integrate its Ogg Vorbis royalty-free audio format and codec into the Helix DNA Client.

Open-source it may be, but RealNetworks will still reap some revenues in distribution licensing for the Helix DNA Client. Distribution of the Client without the RealAudio or RealVideo binaries costs $0.10 per unit after the first million which are free. Including the Real formats costs a bit more, although a $1m annual cap is set for Linux and other non-Windows-based platforms.