2xAV Frequently Asked Questions

Enounce 2xAV is a software program that adds variable-speed playback capability to Windows Media Player and RealPlayer, the streaming media player from RealNetworks. With the 2xAV SpeedBar, you can increase or decrease the speed of audio and video streams. Using a slider, you can change the playback speed of almost any media format supported by either Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. Playback speed can be varied moment to moment during playback. Best of all, there is no pitch alteration, so there’s no ‘chipmunk’ effect with increased speed, and no ‘Darth Vader’ effect with decreased speed.

2xAV for Microsoft Windows Media Player is not supported on the Vista operating system. Vista users who wish to view Windows Media content must install RealPlayer 10.5 (not RealPlayer 11) and set RealPlayer as the default player for Windows Media content.

Although 2xAV for RealPlayer works on Microsoft Windows Vista, it is not officially supported. To use 2xAV for RealPlayer on Windows Vista you must upgrade 2xAV to version 3.11 or later. Note: If you upgrade your player, you will likely need to reinstall 2xAV. You can download these free players from the Microsoft Windows Media Player website or the RealNetworks website.

At this time, 2xAV only works with the products mentioned above. It does not work with other third-party players.

Recently RealNetworks released RealPlayer 14. This latest release is not compatible with the 2xAV Plug-In for RealPlayer. To continue to use the 2xAV Plug-In for RealPlayer you must not upgrade to version 14; please continue to use RealPlayer SP (or lesser version) which is still available from RealNetworks here:
http://real.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8976/kw/previous%20versions/p/9%2C17

We are currently looking to add support for RealPlayer 14 and will let you know when more information is available.

On a Windows Vista platform, WMA and WMV files will not load when using RealPlayer 11.

Although the 2xAV Plug-In for RealPlayer works on Microsoft Windows Vista, it is not yet officially supported. To use the 2xAV Plug-In for RealPlayer on Windows Vista, you must be running 2xAV Plug-In version 3.11 or later.

The 2xAV Plug-In for Microsoft Windows Media Player is not supported on Vista. If you need to view Windows Media Content while running Vista, you must install RealPlayer 10.5 (not RealPlayer 11) and set RealPlayer as the default player for Windows Media content. See Where can I find previous versions of RealPlayer? to find these earlier versions.

Previous versions of RealPlayer are available at the Real Legacy Software Archive

2xAV is not yet supported on the Mac OSX platform.

No, you don’t need to provide us with your credit card information to use the free 7-day trial. The free trial will cease working 7 days after you download it. To continue using the program after that time, you’ll need to purchase it with either a credit card or via PayPal.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 moved the Autoexec.NT file, causing havoc for the Installshield program. InstallShield makes use of 16-bit Windows technology, which requires a valid AUTOEXEC.NT file to be present in the system. This file, which is part of the Windows 16-bit subsystem as it ships with Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, normally resides in the "System32" subdirectory of the Windows installation directory.

Installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2 on an otherwise "healthy" Windows XP system may delete the AUTOEXEC.NT file. As a result, when trying to run certain applications that make use of 16-bit technology, an error message like the following may be displayed:

After clicking on the install icon, I received a message saying "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate application."

The error message can be misleading, because it is displayed even if the AUTOEXEC.NT file is actually missing.

To verify whether you have the file, Click Start->Run, type "%windir%/system32/", and click the "OK" button. If there is no AUTOEXEC.NT file proceed as follows:

1. Browse to "%windir%/repair/" (usually "C:\WINDOWS\repair")
2. Right-click and copy the AUTOEXEC.NT file
3. Browse to "%windir%/system32/" (usually "C:\WINDOWS\System32")
4. Right-click inside the window and paste the file.

The error condition may also be the result of corruption of the AUTOEXEC.NT file, in which case the above procedure may be helpful to restore a valid file.

See also:

• Microsoft KB article 324767 - Error message when you install or start an MS-DOS or 16-bit Windows-based program
• AUTOEXEC.NT error after installation of Windows XP SP2

RealPlayer versions after RealPlayer 8 no longer have an icon toolbar. Instead, go to the menu and select Tools > 2xAV to launch the 2xAV SpeedBar.

The menu option doesn’t appear until your selected file is loaded.

By default, 2xAV is in "docked" mode, which attaches it to the bottom of RealPlayer. If RealPlayer fills the screen, then 2xAV will not be visible. Simply resize RealPlayer so that it doesn’t fill the whole screen. If you want to undock the 2xAV control bar, just drag it away from RealPlayer.

In most cases the 2xAV Plug-In for RealPlayer will work with all versions of RealPlayer, but changes to RealPlayer are not in our control and Enounce can’t guarantee that 2xAV will work in all cases.

When upgrading RealPlayer, the new version may be installed in a different install directory than the previous version. As a consequence, 2xAV files will not set up properly. In this case, uninstall 2xAV and then reinstall the latest version, which can be downloaded from our website.

The user interface of 2xAV will change after upgrading to recent versions of RealPlayer. The 2xAV SpeedBar will no longer appear automatically when starting RealPlayer as it did with the RealOne Player. Additionally there are no longer any third-party icons on the RealPlayer as there were in RealPlayer 8. 2xAV must be launched by selecting 2xAV from the RealPlayer tools menu.

2xAV is loaded by the RealPlayer core audio architecture. The RealPlayer core audio architecture is itself a RealPlayer Plug-In and is not loaded by RealPlayer until the media format has been determined, which is why the 2xAV menu choice will not appear in the RealPlayer tools menu until you select your media file. For most of the media formats that RealPlayer is capable of playing, RealPlayer will load the default audio architecture (which then loads 2xAV). However, for some media formats, such as MPEG4 and Windows Media (WMA, WMV), RealPlayer must use a different architecture and thus never loads 2xAV. For example, for the Windows Media format, RealPlayer loads the Windows Media Directshow architecture to decode and simply wraps the RealPlayer user interface around the presentation. In this case, if you have installed a licensed copy of 2xAV for Windows Media Player, then you would still get the 2xAV functionality since 2xAV for Windows Media Player is loaded by the Windows Media Directshow architecture.

2xAV is loaded by the RealPlayer core audio architecture. The RealPlayer core audio architecture is itself a RealPlayer Plug-In and is not loaded by RealPlayer until the media format has been determined, which is why the 2xAV menu choice will not appear in the RealPlayer tools menu until you select your media file. For most of the media formats that RealPlayer is capable of playing, RealPlayer will load the default audio architecture (which then loads 2xAV). However, for some media formats, such as MPEG4 and Windows Media (WMA, WMV), RealPlayer must use a different architecture and thus never loads 2xAV. For example, for the Windows Media format, RealPlayer loads the Windows Media Directshow architecture to decode and simply wraps the RealPlayer user interface around the presentation. In this case, if you have installed a licensed copy of 2xAV for Windows Media Player, then you would still get the 2xAV functionality since 2xAV for Windows Media Player is loaded by the Windows Media Directshow architecture.

Upgrade to the latest version of 2xAV. Versions before 2.0x did not work with the version of RealPlayer or Windows Media Player that is embedded in most web pages.

For RealPlayer: 2xAV is not an independent program. It is an "add on" to RealPlayer or RealPlayer Plus. Once you have installed 2xAV, click the "2X" button on the RealPlayer toolbar, and the 2xAV SpeedBar will appear. Move the slider on the SpeedBar while playing audio or video material to control playback speed.

For Windows Media Player: 2xAV will appear as a floating toolbar whenever media is being played. When the media clip has finished, 2xAV will disappear until you restart it or play another clip.

When the SpeedLimit box is checked, 2xAV will attempt to play media as fast as you request, so long as that speed doesn't cause gaps. Gaps can occur if you have a slow Internet connection or if your computer is underpowered.

In SpeedLimit mode, playback speed will be slowed if gaps are detected. The speed slider "thumb" will remain where you set it, but the blue "thermometer" in the center of the slider will shorten when the SpeedLimit has momentarily lowered playback speed to avoid gaps.

Please see the questions and answers on processing gaps, prevent rebuffering, and computer resources for more information.

The Playback Quality slider controls the amount of computation used to modify the material you are playing so that it runs faster or slower. When the slider is moved to the left (higher quality), more detailed computations are performed, and the resulting output quality may be perceptually higher. When the slider is moved to the right (lower quality), less detailed computations are performed, and playback is more efficient, using fewer of your computer's resources.

The Enounce Time Scale Tailor algorithms are very efficient, and typically use less than 10 percent of a computer's resources when the Playback Quality slider is near the middle of the scale. However, keep in mind that playing streams faster - especially video streams - puts an additional burden on your computer. See the FAQ on computer resources for more information.

• Normal: Playback speed is controlled by the slider on the SpeedBar.
• Off: In this mode 2xAV is inactive, and material is always played at normal speed.
• Chipmunk: This mode - just for fun - causes media to speed up and slow down “the dumb way.” It replicates the effect you get when altering the speed of a turntable with a finger. Voices sped up sound like chipmunks, and voices slowed down sound like Darth Vader.

Note: Changes to the 2xAV Engine mode take effect the next time you start playback.

Chipmunk mode demonstrates the simplest, and least satisfactory, way to change playback speed. In the old days, you could change the "playback" speed of a record by putting your finger on the phonograph platter and making it go around faster or slower. More recently, you could achieve the same effect by putting your finger on the supply reel of a tape recorder and forcing it to move faster or slower. In either case, the most dramatic effect was a change in the pitch of the audio signal. When you sped up you got a "chipmunk" effect, and when you slowed down everyone sounded like Darth Vader. Chipmunk mode on 2xAV exactly duplicates that effect. It's a lot of fun to play around with, but you wouldn't want to get your market or weather reports from chipmunks on a steady basis!

The 2xAV engine is capable of slowing down or speeding up almost any form of media, either from local files stored on your computer or "streaming media" being delivered to your computer over the Internet.

Rebuffering pauses occur when RealPlayer is streaming media, and your Internet connection - or the server from which the media is coming - can't deliver media as fast as you want to play it. The player may be forced to pause from time to time as it "rebuffers" - in other words, while it collects a few more seconds of material to play. When the player has finished rebuffering, it will continue playing. It may be possible to prevent this by changing your connection settings. See prevent rebuffering

If rebuffering becomes too frequent, select a lower speed. Unfortunately, because of the way RealPlayer works, rebuffering pauses are often invisible to 2xAV, so the SpeedLimit function will not help you select the optimal speed. (SpeedLimit works better at preventing processing gaps.)

Many forms of media are stored and delivered to your player in an encoded format. The process of decoding media requires varying amounts of computing power. If you are trying to play an encoded media stream twice as fast as normal, your computer has to process twice as much data every second. If your computer is not fast enough, there may be gaps, or short silences, in the playback.

For best results, don't request a speed that is significantly faster than your player can manage.

To prevent rebuffering when playing streaming media at speeds greater than 1.0, you may have to change your RealPlayer Connection speed settings. RealPlayer and RealServer technologies support streaming media at speeds faster than the encoded bitrate through the RTSP protocol. RealPlayer will cap the connection speed at the 'Normal' setting however, thus causing rebuffering when playing faster than normal. If you get rebuffering, you might want to increase your connection speed settings. To do so:

1. Start RealPlayer
2. Pull down the View Menu, choose Preferences
3. Click on the Connection tab
   1. Set your Maximum bandwidth as high as it can go (10 Mbps LAN)
   2. Increment your Normal bandwidth up one notch from its current position. For instance, if you were at 56Kbps Modem, try 112Kbps Dual ISDN, or 256 Kbps DSL. Be careful with this setting however, because if you set it too high, RealPlayer may initially choose a higher bandwidth encoding which could be beyond your connection's actual bandwidth. RealPlayer does have the ability to change the encoding bitrate on the fly however, and so even if this was set too high, the player would adjust to your actual bandwidth.
   3. On the Buffered Play group box, choose 'Buffer entire clip up to available memory'
   4. Continue to adjust these settings to suit your needs
4. Click on the Performance Tab
   1. On the Clip Cache button, make sure it is enabled and at least 4 MB in size
5. Click on the Transport Tab
   1. Click on the Auto Configure button to setup the transport settings
   2. When that is done, click on the RTSP Settings... and ensure that HTTP is NOT selected.

The Enounce Time-Scale Tailor algorithm employs patented digital signal processing techniques to speed up and slow down media streams. These algorithms are quite efficient, and typically require anywhere from 2 percent to 10 percent of your computer's processing power. (You can control the amount of computing power the Time-Scale Tailor algorithms use by changing the Playback Quality setting on the 2xAV property page.)

Chipmunk mode demonstrates the simplest, and least satisfactory, way to change playback speed. In the old days, you could change the "playback" speed of a record by putting your finger on the phonograph platter and making it go around faster or slower. More recently, you could achieve the same effect by putting your finger on the supply reel of a tape recorder and forcing it to move faster or slower. In either case, the most dramatic effect was a change in the pitch of the audio signal. When you sped up you got a "chipmunk" effect, and when you slowed down everyone sounded like Darth Vader. Chipmunk mode on 2xAV exactly duplicates that effect. It's a lot of fun to play around with, but you wouldn't want to get your market or weather reports from chipmunks on a steady basis!