Orb.com internet streaming - tried it???

[Seattlite]

Saw this on a tech segment on NorthWest Cable News today... looks interesting and promising, but I haven't scoured the site just yet.

http://www.orb.com/ Apparently this is supposed to be free, and you install a client on your computer - Windows XP based.

Anyway... Its supposed to be a password protected web-based portal, and allows you internet access to your computer (as I understand it) to watch TV, recorded video, MP3s, photos, etc... on any web enabled device: Computers, Pocket PC, Phones....

...so they claim.

Has anyone played with this? Know how it handles the file shares? I'm a little hesitant to install a client with access to my files across the net although the idea is intriguing. I don't know if the company will be able to catalog what I have, or if it is inherently vulnerable to backdoor hacks?

Thoughts?

[merrypig]

orb's website appears to be keeping a catlog of your files.

That alone was a reason for me to uninstall it. I would rather run a webservice of my own on my machine directly, than use a third party for this. However, I do like what they've started.

I have deep reservations though about what their financial model is. I can't see them paying for servers and bandwidth for a 'free' service. I just haven't spent enough time to figure out the catch yet.

[Seattlite]

Originally Posted by merrypig

orb's website appears to be keeping a catlog of your files.

Hmmm, I was afraid of that... I was hoping that it just kept track of your shares, not actually cataloging files... I'll still have to play with it.

Originally Posted by merrypig

I have deep reservations though about what their financial model is. I can't see them paying for servers and bandwidth for a 'free' service. I just haven't spent enough time to figure out the catch yet.

I was thinking the same about how they could cover operating/hardware costs. I was afraid that they would stick in advertising like so much of the streaming web services do... have to endure a commercial before you can actually watch the news article. Again, I'll need to mess around with it.

With a little that I read on their site, I'm not sure if it will allow internet streaming of Live TV unless you use XP Media Center Edition. It may not be able to interface with stand alone programs like Beyond TV.

hmmmm

[Neilm]

I did try Orb, as the concept seems good, especially with mobile devices. Their financial model is that they are advertising sponsored- when you connect the remote device, you get a list of sponsors content as well as your own files.

I don't think they "catalogue" your files on their own site. The file list is kept on your PC, and the PC client keeps an up to date list, which transmits via the servers when a remote connection request is received.

It is supposed to work by dynamically compressing all media content depending on the combined upload/download connection speeds. It does work surprisingly well, especially when downloading to a WiFi PDA, but GPRS is just too slow to allow video content, and my Cable BB upload speed of 128kbps is somewhat inadequate.

So for the time being I have removed it, but may try again when my BB speed is upgraded.

[bnflaherty]

And what is the relationship to BTV -- as this disussion seems to be off-track...

[Seattlite]

Originally Posted by bnflaherty

And what is the relationship to BTV -- as this disussion seems to be off-track...

The relevance to Beyond TV, was the opportunity to use it with Beyond TV to view Live TV across the internet (beyond a local net, or subnet) if using a hardware encoder TV Tuner card, like people with Software MPEG encoder cards can do with Web Admin, Streaming Live TV, or if it was even possible. This is the tips and tricks section right?

This wasn't a commercial endorsement of any kind of competing product, if thats what you're worried about.

[opilion]

Originally Posted by merrypig

orb's website appears to be keeping a catlog of your files.

That alone was a reason for me to uninstall it. I would rather run a webservice of my own on my machine directly, than use a third party for this. However, I do like what they've started.

Should this concern me if all that I'm exposing is my BTV recording folder? What are you guys taping that you don't want logged?

op

[merrypig]

Southpark. I like to pretend I'm educated

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by opilion

Should this concern me if all that I'm exposing is my BTV recording folder? What are you guys taping that you don't want logged?

op

I don't think what I record it is anybodys business. It was actually one of the reasons why I never used Tivo

[dougrobinson]

I tried it and it's AWESOME! I love it. I can add other people, decide what they have access to (which videos, MP3s, etc., they can watch or listen to).

PLUS--and this is something I've been looking for for years--I can now watch good ol' American TV, when I'm traveling in Asia! (As long as the connection speed is up to par).

No, I don't work for them or invest in their company, etc. I'm just very impressed that someone actually created this and it's free!!

[drei]

Originally Posted by dougrobinson

I tried it and it's AWESOME! I love it. I can add other people, decide what they have access to (which videos, MP3s, etc., they can watch or listen to).

PLUS--and this is something I've been looking for for years--I can now watch good ol' American TV, when I'm traveling in Asia! (As long as the connection speed is up to par).

No, I don't work for them or invest in their company, etc. I'm just very impressed that someone actually created this and it's free!!

I totally agree that this is way awesome! I have my co-workers trippin because they can watch live TV right at there desktops. And the access account feature is a plus. Being that all my mpeg encoders are hardware based this product is a definite sell for me.

[gizak]

Wow, this is really cool. Now I just gotta figure out how to skip commercials again on the remote end hehe.

[btdown]

Yeah I'll give it a thumbs up too...As someone who couldnt get BTV Link to work on my laptop, orb works just fine. Plus its easy to use at work behind the firewall.

[DodgeV83]

Works great! Snapstream needs to be doing what this program does. This eliminates the need to showsqueeze for internet viewing! This saves harddrive space and it saves time.

The best part is that it scales to the connection speed. A showsqueezed file is always the same quality no matter what your connection is. Pick something too high and your stuck buffering on a slow connection, something too low and the quality sucks.

This isn't really a factor unless your streaming to a handheld (or very slow connection), however. In most cases it is best to simply showsqueeze to your upload limits, which is always lower than the receiving computer's download limit.

In short, this program adds 3 things to BTV.

1. Saves time, showsqueezes on the fly, and you don't have to showsqueeze 2 different quality files if using a handheld and a PC for example.

2. Saves space, doesn't have to store the showsqueezed file.

3. Allows LIVE STREAMING with a hardware encoder!

For those who are always using a broadband connection on a PC for viewing, showsqueezing to your upload limit will provide the same result, it'll just take more time.

The only thing you have to be careful about, is taking up the encoder while BTV is trying to make a recording. There will be no warning sign while doing this.

[DonK]

Closing this thread. It is not on topic and borders on advertising.