Ever see an actor and wonder who he or she is or where you've seen them before? Or did you want to find a specific family member or friend in your personal video collection?

Real Networks claims that its two facial recognition products, being launched today (June 3), can find the face, using the Secure Accurate Facial Recognition (SAFR) software developed by a subsidiary unit. Initially the visual search technology will be available for shows on Netflix and YouTube; Real Networks Founder/CEO Rob Glaser told Multichannel News that the company is exploring relationships with other streaming video service to enable the Real browser plug-ins to support "as many platforms as possible." He declined to identify the next target systems or a timetable.

The new cloud-based products are StarSearch, which can identify thousands of actors in films and TV shows and provide pop-up information about them, and RealPlayer 20/20 to identify videos of personal friends/family.

An additional new feature can identify public figures who are in the news. Real's Discover web destination indexes popular news videos across the web, providing up-to-date information on the current events. It allows users to explore content through people in the news, as exemplified by this link to an MSNBC program on Tuesday night (June 2).

StarSearch is a free web extension that instantly identifies celebrities appearing on Netflix and YouTube programs and can pinpoint the scenes where celebrities appear in movies and TV shows. RealPlayer 20/20 is a redesign of the company's media player which uses a similar facial recognition algorithm to identify individuals, thus enabling consumers to browse, search, organize, and watch downloaded or local videos from their media collection.

According to Real Networks' research, more than 80% of consumers frequently ask themselves, "Who’s on the screen they’re watching" and often turn to a web search to figure out who it is.

StarSearch identifies famous people with one-click, using a redesigned RealPlayer user interface and downloader. The information and links appear on the viewing screen. The updated AI system enables viewers to organize video libraries by people, "a wholly intuitive way to search and experience content in your media library," according to Real executives.

Real Networks' facial recognition system is the latest in a series of efforts to use AI to help viewers do customized personal visual searches. Amazon’s X-Ray, available on Prime Video, similarly lets viewers get bios, filmographies, facts, trivia, character backstories, photo galleries, bonus video content by recognizing images during a program. X-Ray only works with Amazon Prime content - not on other platforms.

Related: FTC Issues Guidelines for Facial Recognition

Real Networks says it developed StarSearch and RealPlayer 20/20 as it was seeking to productize its SAFR research, which has been underway for several years. The computer vision technology scans and indexes videos for faces, and Real applied it to create a celebrity database, which automatically tags and labels personalities found in videos thus making video libraries searchable.

The company acknowledges that the search feature may be more valuable on YouTube and other services which feature programs with long-established stars with extensive on-screen credentials. Since many of the programs on Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services feature young performers, the library of performances may be less extensive, hence with fewer links to video database references.

For Real Player 2020, the system will recognize faces and list them altogether; users will have to identify and label the family member or friend on at least one image, and the AI will then match the face to other videos in the collection; the systems will gather all the videos in which that person appears.

The company says that both systems can process factors such as age changes, which would enable to find movies with a "younger" and "older" performances of the same actor or videos of a child as a kid or a grown-up son or daughter. Glaser said it could also identify, for example, a bearded or clean shaven young or older actor such as Brad Pitt.

Converging Video and Data Applications

Real Networks declined to identify how many celebrity images are in its initial database - and the split between familiar stars and interesting character actors. The search process starts with clicking on a video frame that includes a visible face, which triggers StarSearch and RealPlayer 20/20 to identify famous people with a name, photo, current age, and "fun facts."

Real Networks says that its SAFR AI technology "has one of the lowest rates of bias" for skin tone and gender, according to National Institute of Standards and Technology tests of more than 100 algorithms. It also notes that SAFR has "99.87% accuracy [and] is three to five times faster than competing facial recognition algorithms, according to a July 2019 NIST analysis. 

SAFR can detect a face moving through live video, and then recognizes it, in under 100 milliseconds.

StarSearch by Real is available as a free web extension for Mac and PC through the Google Chrome store. RealPlayer 20/20 for Windows is available for free in the US and Canada, with plans to expand to other regions later this year.

Rob Glaser has been appointed permanent CEO of RealNetworks, shedding the “interim” tag he’s carried for about two years at the company he founded in 1994.

As RealNetworks' permanent CEO, Glaser will try to complete the company’s transition and turnaround, which includes a heavier emphasis on cloud-based, multi-device products and the revitalization of the Rhapsody subscription music service.

“Rob is the best person to complete Real’s turnaround and to lead the company into the future,” said Dominique Trempont, lead independent director of the RealNetworks board, in a statement. “The Board greatly respects his leadership, vision, and the excellence of the team Rob has assembled.”

“I’m honored to be named Real’s CEO. In the 2 years I’ve been interim CEO, we’ve made tremendous progress revitalizing Real’s leadership team and products,” Glaser added, noting progress with products such as RealPlayer Cloud, LISTEN and the upcoming Slingo Adventure, a game that will look to put a new spin on the slots/bingo mix.

The company announced that RealPlayer Cloud has more than 5 million registered users, up from 2 million three months ago. RealPlayer Cloud users now now upload more than 4.5 terabytes of content each day on an aggregate basis, it said.  Rhapsody International , in which RealNetworks holds a 45% stake, recently surpassed 2 million paying subs.

Glaser originally served as CEO until January 2010. He’s served that role on an interim basis since July 2012. RealNetworks’ previous CEO, Thomas Nielsen, was named  SVP of products at Brightcove last year.

Also on Wednesday, RealNetworks reported second quarter revenues of  $40.8 million, down from $49.9 million in the year-ago quarter, and a GAAP net loss of $21 million (59 cents per share), widened from a year-earlier $18.5 million, or 52 cents per diluted share.

"While our transition plan will take time to complete and will require more capital than originally anticipated,  I'm very confident that we are on the right track and making progress that is setting us up for a return to long-term growth and profitability," Glaser said.

As of June 30, 2014, the company had $195.0 million in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, compared to $226.2 million as of December 31, 2013. It expects to post third quarter revenues in the range of $33 million to $36 million, and a loss of between $18 million to $20 million.