SEATTLE, June 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — RealNetworks® (NASDAQ: RNWK), a leader in groundbreaking digital media software and services, today unveiled two new video innovations for consumers:

• StarSearch™ by Real® is a powerful and entertaining browser extension that enables consumers to instantly identify celebrities and public figures in any video streamed from YouTube, Netflix, and soon other popular sites.
• RealPlayer® 20/20, is a redesigned, AI-powered PC media player that provides one-click video downloads and instantly spots and identifies people in videos, the scenes where they appear, and organizes media libraries by people.

“In 1995, RealNetworks introduced RealAudio and created the commercial streaming industry,” said Rob Glaser, founder and CEO of RealNetworks. “Streaming has since become a central part of society, especially in these challenging times. Using the power of AI and our SAFR computer vision platform, we’re delighted to deliver two new free consumer products today — StarSearch and RealPlayer 20/20 — that make streaming even better. We hope that millions of consumers worldwide will find StarSearch and RealPlayer 20/20 delightful and useful.”

StarSearch is a free web extension that instantly identifies celebrities streaming on YouTube and Netflix: it answers the question, “Hey, who is that?” The browser extension even shows the scenes where celebrities and public figures appear in the web’s top videos. StarSearch saves time and makes online streaming more informative and entertaining.

RealPlayer 20/20 is a redesign of the world’s beloved media player used by millions of users. Now with faster and smarter one-click downloads from thousands of sites, the free RealPlayer applies the power of AI and computer vision to your media library.  It identifies the celebrities in the videos you’re watching and automatically organizes your library by people so you can search, browse and easily find clips and scenes with the persons you want — making it more entertaining to explore and discover videos.

“StarSearch is a brand new and useful way to enhance any streaming video on YouTube and Netflix, on a PC or Mac,” said Frederick Savoye, Vice President, Consumer Media, RealNetworks. “More than 80% of consumers often ask themselves who’s on the screen they’re watching. There’s no longer a need to do a web search or reach for your phone. StarSearch identifies famous people as you watch. We’re also introducing a major upgrade to RealPlayer for Windows with a redesigned UI, faster and smarter one-click downloader, and the AI power of StarSearch to automatically organize video libraries by people — a wholly intuitive way to search and experience content in your media library.”

By simply clicking on a video that includes a famous or noteworthy person, StarSearch instantly identifies the person with a name, photo, and fun facts. Imagine the convenience of watching the Academy Awards, Late Night television, a political debate, or your favorite show with StarSearch to immediately skip directly to the people you care about.

Perfect for fans who want to keep the fun going and prefer to download content, RealPlayer 20/20 for Windows integrates StarSearch technology to scan, organize, search, and browse videos sorted by people, bringing the power of artificial intelligence to local media. RealPlayer 20/20 can optionally share the celebrities or noteworthy people that appear and their timecode locations with other users of the StarSearch extension or of RealPlayer 20/20.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the streaming industry which first gave voice to the web in 1995, we are have created a website to highlight the major streaming events at: www.25yearsofstreaming.com. Twenty-five years after RealNetworks invented RealAudio and launched the industry, StarSearch and RealPlayer 20/20 are now transforming the digital video experience using Real’s AI technology that lets consumers visually search for people in the video they’re watching.

AVAILABILITY  

StarSearch by Real is immediately available as a free web extension for Mac and PC through the Google Chrome store.

RealPlayer 20/20 for Windows is now available for free in the US and Canada, with plans to expand to other regions later this year. Anyone with a Windows PC can experience RealPlayer 20/20 by downloading it at: www.real.com.

About RealNetworks   

Building on a legacy of digital media expertise and innovation, RealNetworks has created a new generation of products that employ best-in-class artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance and secure our daily lives. SAFR® (safr.com) is the world’s premier facial recognition platform for live video. Leading in real-world performance and accuracy as evidenced in testing by NIST, SAFR enables new applications for security, convenience, analytics, and powers StarSearch by Real and RealPlayer 20/20 (real.com). Kontxt™ (kontxt.com) is the foremost platform for categorizing A2P messages to help mobile carriers build customer loyalty and drive new revenue through text message classification and antispam. For more information, visit: www.realnetworks.com.

Media Contact:
Lisa Amore, Amore PR for RealNetworks
Work: 202-506-3056; Mobile: 206-954-8006. lisa@amorepr.com 

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SOURCE RealNetworks, Inc.