Orb is a free Windows program that sits in your system tray and allows sharing of video, TV and photos on other computers across the web. It is often compared to the Slingbox which was my favorite gadget purchase of 2005 but does Orb really compare? Let’s look closer.

After installation and registering a new user account Orb stuck it’s green egg-like icon in the systray and then prompted me to visit my.orb.com where I logged in.

By default I noticed it used the Windows “My” folders (My Documents, My Videos, etc) to populate its database of available content. So if I wanted to share pictures on our home network with the one in our office it was a matter of logging in from the office to tap into those files on the home mothership orb machine. But not just pictures, also video and music.

To stream or not to stream
Music can even be streamed from the host orb PC which I tested by logging in from my Mac and streaming the Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven. Not my type of music, but sounded pretty darn good on the mac. I decided to rip my new Twisted Sister CD Still Hungry and see if it found it right away or I needed to relogin. By the time the CD had ripped my session in Orb had died, so I needed to relogin and there was the Twisted Sister waiting. I also noticed one way Orb is making money from their ‘free’ service:

Related music on Amazon? I sure hope they are able to build a business off that relationship because in our experience it’s difficult to make much money as an Amazon affiliate.

TV on Orb
If the computer that Orb is hooked up to has a compatible TV tuner card then users can also watch live TV, but I found this part anemic compared to Slingbox which gives me the power of watching anything on my TV, not just the channels that will come through the TV tuner on the orb-powered PC. Still, Slingbox costs $249 vs. Orb which is free. If one is only interested in the lower channels (01-99) then pushing content through the PC TV tuner makes sense. Doesn’t make as much sense to me beyond that. Perhaps with a connection to a Media Center PC it could better mimick the Slingbox experience?

Orb has built-in capability for InternetTV which is gathering a little more steam. I’m hoping InternetTV becomes more popular and gets some major sports like MLB, but so far the only way to access the sports over the internet is through direct plans with MLB, NFL, NBA, etc.

My next question was what if one wanted to hook up Orb on multiple computers, how is that handled? Looks like I’ll need to do some more research on this answer. I do see where you can add additional user accounts to access the primary computer with Orb installed but not much in the help (?) about how to handle multiple host computers or if that is even supported under a single account. Maybe a more experienced Orb user is also a reader and can clue me in on this process.

Overall I was impressed with Orb. It was easy to use, intuitive and the price is right (free). From my admittedly brief review, it doesn’t really seem comparable to Slingbox which gives me a way to access my TV remotely, not just access a computer with a TV signal. Still, Orb is worthwhile for sharing photos and streaming media from another computer. I wonder if there is some hack to be able to stream the source of a Slingbox through Orb?

Did this post make you go hmm?

Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)

• MLB makes bush league move complaining about Slingbox usage
• Burger King and AOL offer a whopper of an online music deal
• Use your Tablet PC as a TV remote and TV with Slingbox
• How to cancel Y! music?
• New Slingbox ad on Jim Rome show + new software version
• Listen to Napster streaming songs up to five times for free