Real Claims Consumers Prefer RealVideo over Windows Media, 16 to 1
Reprinted from a RealNetworks press release:
SEATTLE, June 17, 2002 — RealNetworks, Inc., the global leader in Internet media delivery, today announced the results of a recent independent test conducted by KeyLabs, indicating that consumers prefer the company’s latest RealVideo technology to Windows Media by an extraordinary 16 to 1 margin. According to tests administered by KeyLabs, RealVideo provided smoother motion, sharper image quality and an overall stronger viewer preference than Windows Media. Even when allotting 50% more bits to the Windows Media file, RealVideo was still preferred by a 3 to 1 margin. Microsoft announced in December of 2001 that the next version of Windows Media codecs will have a 20% increase in quality over the current iteration. Additionally, end of 1st quarter data from Singingfish*, which maintains the largest index of streaming content in the world, shows that content in RealNetworks formats is available on 54,000 unique websites in their web sample, compared to 16,500 for Apple QuickTime and 14,000 for Windows Media.
KeyLabs surveyed more than 70 consumers in 100 tests to gather their opinions of real-life video content such as news footage, music videos, movie trailers, and ISO compliant content. The testing compared the most recent and publicly available codecs from RealNetworks and Microsoft at a variety of bandwidths. In addition, KeyLabs added 50% more bits to the Windows Media files for some of the side-by-side tests in order to account for the claimed 20% improvement in Microsoft’s future Windows Media release. More information and Key Labs’ full test report can be found at http://www.keylabs.com/results/realnetworks/videocomparison.shtml. KeyLabs is the IT industry’s premier technology assurance solution provider.
Introduced in April 2002, RealVideo 9 brings broadcast quality video to broadband users while giving dial-up users a subscription quality video experience — reducing storage and delivery costs by 30% over RealVideo 8. Combined with RealAudio Surround, RealVideo 9 delivers a home theatre-like experience, but requires only a small fraction of the storage space used by DVD.