Setting up your Orb system

 it's all in the green Orb icon in your system tray  

Where?  Click the Orb tray icon on your Orb PC, then Configuration to access the 4 sections of your configuration menu:

- TV/Webcams (to enable and setup your TV tuner and webcams)
- Media (to add media drives or folders in Orb)
- Advanced (a.k.a. “More info” in previous Orb versions) for various other functionalities
- Users (to add or remove user accounts)

The TV tab

1 – Enable or disable Webcams

Check this box to view your webcam remotely from another PC, PDA or mobile phone. There is no configuration for webcams in Orb: see the KB article How do I setup my webcam so I can remotely access it via Orb? for more detail on what type of webcams are supported.

You can also check the article How do I configure OrbSecure, the webcam monitoring feature, to notify me via SMS or email when it detects motion? to set up OrbSecure, the video surveillance feature of Orb, and configure Orb to to send you a notification via email or SMS when your webcam detects motion.

Click this button to launch the TV setup wizard which will guide you through the configuration of your TV tuner so you can stream your local TV channels to another PC, mobile phone or PDA anywhere.

If your TV tuner includes a set-top box (STB) you will need an Infrared Transmitter/Receiver (a.k.a. IR blaster) in order to change channels via Orb.

This is also the place to update your TV Program guide, if you have changed ZIP/Postal code or TV provider.

Orb uses by default your “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Recorded TV” to store your live TV, Internet TV and webcam recordings. Click the Change button to browse to and select another folder on a local drive, USB external drive, or network drive for these recordings.

Make sure you have the proper access rights (read and write) for the drives and folders if they are on your LAN. Also, if you select an external drive and this drive is not powered on or is otherwise inaccessible at the time of a scheduled recording, such recording will not take place as Orb will not revert back to the default folder.

The Media tab

This is where you Add or Remove media folders you want to be accessible or not in your Orb account on the Web at mycast.orb .com. You can add media folders from a local drive, USB external drive, or network drive.

You can include as many folders as you want but, if you have pretty large media library, allow more time for Orb to index these files and add them to your media database. So, it may take some time for these just added folders to be displayed in your Orb account on the Web.

Restricted access: if you have created a second and third Orb user account on your PC, and you want to restrict access for these accounts to specific media folders, see the KB article Can I restrict a user account created on my Orb PC from accessing certain files?

Note: if some files in a media folder you have just added never show up on mycast.orb.com, check and make sure that their file extension is listed in Mycast > Open Application Control Panel > [Media] > Media Extensions.

The Advanced tab
(a.k.a. "More info" tab on some older versions of Orb)

There are 4 sections on this tab:

     - The System options
     - The DirectStream ports configuration
     - The optional Add-ons
     - The MPEG-2 codecs selection

1 – System options

Enable automatic updates – we recommend you to check this box so your Orb software will be automatically updated with the latest major release available to the public. Note that Orb does not always trigger this automatic update to upgrade your system each time a new version is released. This is only done for important releases which include major bug fixes, or functionality enhancement.

If you select not to enable this feature, you can still check the Release Notes page of our Support site to see what's included in the last release, then manually download and upgrade your Orb version.

To check your current Orb version, click the Orb tray icon | About...

Start Orb when Windows starts – check this box for Orb to automatically launch each time Windows start. Remember that if Orb is not running on your home PC when you are away, you will not be able to launch Orb on your home PC and access your media from the Web interface (at mycast.orb.com). To remotely start Orb on your home PC, you will have to use some other third-party remote desktop program.

Run Orb when I am not logged in – select this option if there are other Windows users than yourself on your home PC. This will set Orb to start on your PC, even if you are not logged in Windows. Note that, for this, you will need to have a password set for your Windows login on that PC.

Debug Mode - if you encounter a problem when trying to start Orb, run Orb, or while using a major functionality in Orb, even after uninstalling and re-installing Orb again, then:

1. Check this Debug Mode checkbox

2. Stop and restart Orb

3. Repeat the actions which caused the problem you experienced to reproduce it

4. Once the problem is reproduced, stop Orb

5. Compress your entire Orb logs folder and send it via email to userlogs@orb.com.

Make sure you include in this email:

a.  your complete system specifications (OS version, Service Pack, CPU, etc)

b.  a detailed description of the problem, steps to reproduce it, and any other information you think could be relevant to this issue.

   

An Orb Support technician will get back to you (usually within one week) via email and suggest troubleshooting steps to resolve this issue.

   

Please note that Orb does not offer telephone support.

2 – DirectStream port configuration

This section displays the Windows Media port and the Real/3GP Media port Orb will use to do "DirectStreaming", that is, streaming from your Orb-PC directly to your Orb client device bypassing the Orb stream servers.

If you click the "Check" button and get the message "Port 80 is not reachable", it does not mean that you cannot stream in Orb. It only means that Orb cannot do DirectStream via this port, as it cannot be reached from the outside. This is often the case when there is a software firewall installed on the Orb PC which blocks all incoming TCP connections. So, in such case, your options are:

   

a.    Keep port 80 as your Windows Media port, for Orb to stream through Orb stream servers (port 82); or,

b.    Change port 80 to another value, say 81 or 8080 for example, and click the "Check" button again to see if an incoming connection is allowed on that port. If it is, you are done: Orb will do DirectStream on that port.

   

It is the same thing for your Real or 3GP Media port: if 554 is blocked, try another port (like 555) and test it again via the "Check" button.

If any port you select for DirectStreaming fails the Check test, you may want to try to set up Port Forwarding on your router. Check the Network configuration section of our Support Knowledge Base for more detailed information on DirectStream, Port Forwarding, Firewall, etc., where you may find useful tips in resolving network issues with your Orb system.

Enable File Browser - check this box, if you want to be able to access the entire contents of your computer via the Web. This feature basically gives you access to all your files remotely just like Windows Explorer does when you are in front of your computer. Note, however, that all other user accounts created on your PC (see Users tab below) will also have access to all your files, as this feature is not configurable per account.

Enable UPnP AV MediaServer - this feature basically turns your Orb PC into a Media Server. If you have a Game console (Wii, Xbox, PS3, or DMA), you need to check this box if you want to be able to stream the media on your PC to your TV screen. Checking this box will enable your game console to discover your Orb PC on the network and, therefore, give you direct access to your media folders.
 

Use UPnP for DirectStream - if your PC connects to the Internet via a UPnP-enabled router (many routers are by default), Orb will automatically check this checkbox and use the UPnP functionality of your router to do "DirectStream", i.e., stream your audio and video directly from your Orb PC to your Orb client device, bypassing Orb servers (see above: 2 - DirectStream port configuration). Orb will do Directstream via the Window Media and Real/3GP Media ports entered in the DirectStream section of this Advanced panel.
 

If UPnP is enabled on your router but the "Use UPnP for DirectStream" checkbox is greyed out, Orb cannot detect the UPnP feature on your router, possibly due to an older firmware version. You may want to upgrade your router's firmware.
 

Note: If you are not able to stream at all in Orb, (because your router's firmware needs to be updated, your firewall configuration does not allow it, or your PC connects to the Internet via a proxy server, etc.) uncheck this box and try again.

Within your Local Area Network (LAN), Orb will always stream directly from the Orb server to the Orb client if it detects that both your PC and your client device share the same public IP address. You should see a significant improvement when using DirectStream on your LAN.

Enable Contact Manager - check this box to access your email contacts (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Opera, Gmail) so you can share your media with friends and family by sending links to audio and video files on your PC via email (or SMS). Note, however, that all other user accounts created on your PC (see Users tab below) will also have access to all your email contacts, as this feature is not configurable per account.

Click the Codecs button to view all the MPEG-2 codecs that are installed on your PC. The MPEG-2 codec selected in that list is the codec Orb uses for your live TV from an MPEG-2 TV tuner (tuner with onboard MPEG-2 hardware encoder), recorded TV (DVR-MS), and other MPEG-2 files, such as DVD VOBs. If you experience streaming problems when attempting to stream MPEG-2 files, change the selected codec to another one in the list, and try again.

Orb installs Dscaler and sets it as the default MPEG-2 codec for Orb streaming. It is not mandatory and, if you do have another codec in this list, you may select it instead.

Click Uninstall Dscaler to unregister this MPEG-2 codec from your system. The button will revert to "Install Dscaler" which enables you to re-register Dscaler if you want to use this codec again at a later time.

The Users tab