Use Orb to stream media on any device with internet access

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 11, 2007
Updated • May 21, 2018
Internet
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Orb is a free software program and service that turns your PC into a streaming server for media. If the Orb software is running on the PC, every other device with Internet access, such as the Nintendo Wii, a notebook or PDA can connect to a website and view any media file that is shared on the streaming server.

The setup is really simple. Download the Orb software and install it on the computer that you want to use as the server.

The next step is to create an account at mycast. When that is done you can start configuring the service on the server. Right-click the icon that appears in the system tray after you run Orb, and select Configuration.

Select the media tab and add folders of videos, music, photos and documents that you want to access with another internet device. You may add other users who are allowed to view your media files as well there.

Once everything is set up you simply open the mycast.orb.com website and login. After that you can browse the content that the server streams, and watch it on the other device provided that it has Internet access and a web browser.

A real simple but effective system. I was able to watch movies using my Wii that way. You can also stream TV if you have a video card that supports it. I don't think it makes that much sense to stream TV to my Wii but it would be nice if you are using a notebook for instance.

Take a look at the following YouTube video which demonstrates orb used by a Nintendo Wii.

Please note that you need a broadband connection to do this kind of things. Some folders are automatically added (my documents). If you do not want this make sure to remove them from the configurations menu.

Update: It seems that Orb is now concentrating on selling hardware or smartphone apps that go along with the streaming solution. While it is still possible to use mycast to stream from your own PC, the solution does not appear to have been updated in the last two years. Some links on the site link to pages that are no longer available.

Update 2: Orb technology and services are no longer available. The company was acquired in 2013 by Qualcomm Connected Experiences Inc.

Summary
Use Orb to stream media on any device with internet access
Article Name
Use Orb to stream media on any device with internet access
Description
A review of the media streaming solution Orb which turns your PC into a media server that you can access from any Internet connected device.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
    Reply

    Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 4, 2012 at 7:57 pm
      Reply

      Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.

    2. Leonidas Burton said on September 4, 2023 at 4:51 am
      Reply

      I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
      http://www.google.com/saved

  2. VioletMoon said on August 16, 2023 at 5:26 pm
    Reply

    @Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!

  3. Karl said on August 17, 2023 at 10:36 pm
    Reply

    @Martin

    The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
    https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/

    Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.

  4. Anonymous said on August 25, 2023 at 11:44 am
    Reply

    Omg a badge!!!
    Some tangible reward lmao.

    It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.

  5. Scroogled said on August 25, 2023 at 10:57 pm
    Reply

    With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.

    1. lollmaoeven said on August 27, 2023 at 6:24 am
      Reply

      This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)

  6. El Duderino said on August 25, 2023 at 11:14 pm
    Reply

    Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.

    And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.

  7. John G. said on August 26, 2023 at 1:29 am
    Reply

    First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[

  8. Kalmly said on August 26, 2023 at 4:42 pm
    Reply

    Yes. Please. Fix the comments.

  9. Kim Schmidt said on September 3, 2023 at 3:42 pm
    Reply

    With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.

    Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.

    The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.

    If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.

    And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.

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