Review of the Orb Media Streaming Server Software

We have played with the Orb media streaming server for awhile now and it looks like we might just finally get it. When we were first playing with this free software we were intrigued for sure, but we didn't really see the major benefit to it. We have tons of devices that stream all kinds of media around our house, what does this software do that makes me want to play with it?

Well one thing it does really well is it opens up your entire media library to you anywhere you are with a net connection. After you install the software on your PC and you allow it access through your firewall you tell it where are all your media lives. It then starts indexing everything and adding it to your private Orb web page. You then just need to log into your Orb page to be able to have access to all of your favorite media.

Now you can make a playlist out of your entire collection of music at home or create a slideshow of pictures you recently took, or better yet, watch that TV show that you recorded and didn't have a chance to watch before you left the house.
Orb has done a great job making all this seem very easy for the user. There really is nothing complicated about the installation or the configuration. You can have your entire collection of media up on the web for your private enjoyment in a matter of minutes. Now you have to keep in mind that the quality of any of this will be based on your upload speed. If you are like most Americans you have a pretty crappy( sub 1000Kbs ) upload speed. So streaming HD TV across the country most likely won't be a smooth affair, but listening to music and looking at pictures shouldn't have any trouble whatsoever.

The Orb software will also act as a media streamer to any UPnP device you have around your house. The Xbox360 is a perfect candidate for hooking up to the Orb stream. So many devices these days come UPnP equipped so the Orb software will fit right in with just about any media device you have.

As for the using this externally via the web you are presented with a relatively good looking page as your Orb home page. There is a heavy does of AJAX going on, but it reminds us a little too much of those portal websites from the early web. A lot of information crammed on the main page. It isn't horrid, but it did take some time to get use to. You can configure the page to show just what you want, from random pictures, to random music titles, even to RSS feeds from your favorite websites, so it isn't a total nightmare.

All in all we have to give two big thumbs up for this software. It is a FREE piece of software that allows you to access all of your media from anywhere there is a net connection or via any UPnP device in your house. And the rate that they are going with updates you can expect the experience to get better as the months pass. If you haven't tried it yet you should run over to their site and download it. The setup takes under 10 minutes and add another 5 minutes to point it to all your media and you are good to go. The only major negative is that it is Windows only, but you can't have everything right.

Have a good use for your Orb setup? Share it will us here. We would love to hear how others are using it and what they had added on to it.

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Posted by David Ficocello at October 11, 2007 10:02 PM