Helix DNA is a project to produce software that can play audio and video media in various formats, aid in producing such media, and serve them over a network. It is intended as a largely
free and
open source digital media framework that runs on numerous
operating systems and processors (including mobile phones) and was started by
RealNetworks which has contributed much of the code. The
Helix Community is an open collaborative effort to develop and extend the Helix DNA platform.
Helix DNA Client is the multi-platform multi-format media playback engine.
Helix Player is a
media player that runs on
Linux,
Solaris,
Symbian and
FreeBSD and is built on top of Helix DNA Client.
Helix DNA Producer is an application that can aid in the production of media files, and
Helix DNA Server can
stream media files over a network.
Licenses
The code is released in binary and source code form under various licenses, notably the
proprietary RealNetworks Community Source License and the
free and
open source software
RealNetworks Public Source License. Additionally, the Helix DNA Client and the Helix Player are licensed under the popular
GNU General Public License (GPL) free and open source license.
Use of the
RDT, the default proprietary Real data transport, and of the
RealVideo and
RealAudio codecs requires binary components distributed under the Helix DNA Technology Binary Research Use License.
Helix DNA Client
Helix DNA Client powers many digital media applications, including
RealPlayer for MS Windows, Mac OS and Linux (since version 10), RealPlayer Mobile, and Helix Player. It is used on
Nokia,
Motorola,
Samsung and
Sony Ericsson mobile phones. According to https://helixcommunity.org, 350 million mobile phones with the Helix client have been shipped since 2004. It is also being used in embedded devices like the
Internet Tablet OS from
Nokia, which is found on the
Nokia 770,
N800 and
N810 Internet Tablets.
Cingular Video is also based on the framework. Other projects that use the Helix framework include RealNetwork's
Rhapsody online music service, the
Banshee and
Amarok music players, and MediaReady 4000. Helix DNA also manifests itself as the RealPlayer on Mobile Internet Devices (MID) and on Netbooks.
Another project that is taking advantage of the Helix DNA Client is the
One Laptop Per Child project. A group of developers from the
Open Source Lab are currently working on a media player API for the project, and will continue on using other Helix technologies to create applications for content creation and content collaboration.
Helix DNA client contains support for the following media formats:
- Audio formats: Vorbis, AAC, AAC+, M4A, MP3, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, RealAudio, WMA, a-law, u-law and audio containers AIFF, WAV, AU
- Video formats: Theora, RealVideo, WMV, H.263, H.264, VC-1, H.261, MJPEG and container formats RealMedia file format, 3GP, 3G2, AVI, ASF
Helix DNA Server
The Helix DNA Server, first released on 22 January, 2003, supports streaming of following formats:
- RealVideo, RealAudio (.rm, .ra, .rv)
It supports streaming to any device or application that supports the
HTTP,
RTSP/
RTP, TCP, UDP
unicast and UDP
multicast streaming protocols.
There is also a commercial version called Helix Server, which has more features and supports more media formats.
Helix Player
It is based on the Helix DNA Client. It is available for Linux, Solaris, Symbian and FreeBSD. For MS Windows and Mac OS X users is intended the RealPlayer, which has similar capabilities.
Helix DNA Producer
It is a media encoding engine for creating streaming broadcasts, on-demand streaming content, and downloadable audio video files. The Helix DNA Producer runs on MS Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
[Helix Community, [https://helix-producer.helixcommunity.org/Faq.htm Helix Producer Category FAQ], Retrieved on 2009-08-02]The Helix DNA Producer contains output support for the following data types:
- RealVideo 10, 9, 8, 7, G2
Developers who want
MP3 encoding can license the code from RealNetworks for a fee.
There is also an add-on package for Helix DNA Producer SDK with
AAC or
aacPlus encoding support.
Helix DNA Producer is also available in a commercial, closed-source version - RealProducer Plus for MS Windows and Linux.
See also
