Orb (software)
Encyclopedia
Orb is freeware
streaming
software that enables users to remotely access all their personal digital media files including pictures, music, videos, webcams and television. It can be used from any Internet-enabled device, including laptops, pocket PC
, smartphones, PS3, Xbox 360
and Wii
video game consoles.
It is now edited and controlled by Oakland, California
based Orb Networks.
or Media Center
PCs. Users create an online account to remotely access their computer.
The current version of Orb can be used as a replacement for Microsoft
's Windows Media Connect
software for computers running the Windows
operating system. This allows the Xbox 360
or Playstation 3
consoles to access the videos, audios, and images on the computer with Orb installed, natively. This allows the user to also watch videos not in the Windows Media Video
format without having previously re-transcoded their videos. Orb will transcode the video files from the computer on the fly as they are requested as long as the computer running Orb has the correct codec
for doing so.
installed on that PC, live TV is also available for streaming. Furthermore, Orb offers a DVR
functionality, like a Tivo
. One can schedule TV recordings and stream the recorded video files remotely via the Web-based interface.
The same is true for a webcam
(there is also a webcam surveillance feature).
, Real Player, 3gp
and Flash
format, supporting a wide range of 3G
cell phones, including the iPhone
.
For example on the Nokia N80
, Orb will use the native web browser and Real Player
When the device used to connect is on the same local network as the PC where Orb is running, it will connect directly to the stream from the PC without going through the Internet (provided no firewall blocks the connection). This provides a much higher bit rate and quality when streaming inside a LAN
.
-based and offers a home page similar to Google
Personalized Homepage or netvibes
. It is organized into tabs, with each tab containing user-defined modules, such as TV guide, personal media files, RSS
/Atom
feeds such as YouTube
videos, the local weather forecast, etc...
, which does not require a PC, but comes with its own hardware.
Another similar solution for remote access is ifunpix, which additionally includes tools to create and upload content to a personal mini-site support video as well as audio and music. Unlike Orb, iFunPix uses a proxy storage server between the user and the home computer which can help prevent attacks on the source computer. iFunPix is not able to stream live television.
There is also TVersity
, another freeware program, much like orb. CyberLink Live is available on a paid subscription versions.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
software that enables users to remotely access all their personal digital media files including pictures, music, videos, webcams and television. It can be used from any Internet-enabled device, including laptops, pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
, smartphones, PS3, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
video game consoles.
It is now edited and controlled by Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
based Orb Networks.
What it does
Orb is available for Intel Macintosh, WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
or Media Center
Windows Media Center
Windows Media Center is a digital video recorder and media player developed by Microsoft. It is an application that allows users to view and record live television, as well as organize and play music and videos...
PCs. Users create an online account to remotely access their computer.
Access to videos, audio, images
All the music, pictures and video files stored on a home computer are made available for streaming, provided that the computer is connected to the Internet. The media files are transcoded and streamed directly from that PC, or available for download with the use of a file explorer plug-in.The current version of Orb can be used as a replacement for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Windows Media Connect
Windows Media Connect
Windows Media Connect is a UPnP AV server from Microsoft for Windows XP and later Windows operating systems, to share and stream media on a Windows computer to WMC clients. The first two releases of WMC were made available as stand-alone software, and included a client as well...
software for computers running the Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating system. This allows the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
or Playstation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
consoles to access the videos, audios, and images on the computer with Orb installed, natively. This allows the user to also watch videos not in the Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
format without having previously re-transcoded their videos. Orb will transcode the video files from the computer on the fly as they are requested as long as the computer running Orb has the correct codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
for doing so.
Access to a tuner card or Webcam and Web-based DVR
If there is a TV tuner cardTV tuner card
A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the Tivo digital video recorder does.-Variants: The interfaces for...
installed on that PC, live TV is also available for streaming. Furthermore, Orb offers a DVR
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
functionality, like a Tivo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
. One can schedule TV recordings and stream the recorded video files remotely via the Web-based interface.
The same is true for a webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
(there is also a webcam surveillance feature).
Sharing
Orb also allows the user to share photos and videos without having to upload them to an online service. To do that, one has to select the files one wants to share, and enter the email address of the person that should have access to that data. That person will receive an email with a link to view the files.Supported mobile phones
Orb supports streaming to Windows MediaWindows Media
Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.The Windows Media SDK...
, Real Player, 3gp
3GP
3GP is a multimedia container format defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project for 3G UMTS multimedia services. It is used on 3G mobile phones but can also be played on some 2G and 4G phones....
and Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
format, supporting a wide range of 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
cell phones, including the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
.
Adaptive streaming inside a LAN or to a mobile phone
Orb will detect the type of device being used, and adapt the stream according to your player availability and the network quality.For example on the Nokia N80
Nokia N80
The Nokia N80 is a multimedia 3G smartphone made by Nokia with support for high-speed UMTS/WCDMA connections. Features include a 3.1 megapixel camera with built-in flash , another camera for videoconferencing, Wi-Fi , Universal Plug and Play , FM radio, Bluetooth 1.2, digital music player...
, Orb will use the native web browser and Real Player
When the device used to connect is on the same local network as the PC where Orb is running, it will connect directly to the stream from the PC without going through the Internet (provided no firewall blocks the connection). This provides a much higher bit rate and quality when streaming inside a LAN
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
.
New features in Orb 2.0
Orb 2.0 beta is AjaxAjax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
-based and offers a home page similar to Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Personalized Homepage or netvibes
Netvibes
Netvibes is a personalized dashboard publishing platform for the Web including digital life management, widget distribution services and brand observation rooms.-History:The company was founded by Tariq Krim and Florent Frémont in 2005.-Technology:...
. It is organized into tabs, with each tab containing user-defined modules, such as TV guide, personal media files, RSS
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
/Atom
Atom (standard)
The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol is a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating web resources.Web feeds allow software programs to check for updates published on a...
feeds such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
videos, the local weather forecast, etc...
Similar products
A similar solution is SlingboxSlingbox
The Slingbox is a TV streaming media device made by Sling Media that encodes video into the VC-1 format for transmission over the Internet and provides an infrared blaster. The video encoding and IR blaster can both be operated remotely over the Internet...
, which does not require a PC, but comes with its own hardware.
Another similar solution for remote access is ifunpix, which additionally includes tools to create and upload content to a personal mini-site support video as well as audio and music. Unlike Orb, iFunPix uses a proxy storage server between the user and the home computer which can help prevent attacks on the source computer. iFunPix is not able to stream live television.
There is also TVersity
TVersity
TVersity Media Server is a software package that allows a personal computer to stream content to UPnP devices, such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, regardless of the limitations of the device. For example, the Xbox 360 does not support most codecs or Internet videos such as YouTube...
, another freeware program, much like orb. CyberLink Live is available on a paid subscription versions.