It is the media player on your client device that determines to which format will Orb transcode the file you want to stream before sending it to your device (another PC, PDA, or phone) player. So, if you want to stream to a:

• Windows media player, Orb will transcode your file to a Windows media format and send an .ASX stream to your device via the default Windows media port TCP 80. If port 80 on your Orb PC is used by another application (like Skype, for example), Orb will automatically try to use the next port available, i.e., port 81.

• Real player (like Real One on a mobile device), Orb will transcode your file to a Real media format and send a .RAM (or .RM) stream to your device via the default Real media port TCP 554. If your device is a mobile phone, it will also use UDP 13398.

• 3GP player (Quicktime, 3GP mobile players), Orb will transcode your file to a 3GP media format and send a .SDP stream to your device via TCP 554. If your device is a mobile phone, it will also use the following 4 additional ports: UDP 13398, 13399, 13400 and 13401.

These are the ports Orb uses by default to stream from your PC to your device.

You should not need to open them on your router as these are either the default media ports (TCP 80 and TCP 554) or they are ports your router should open when requested by your Orb PC (UDP 13398 to 13401).

If the needed communication port is blocked, the media player on your client device will never indicate “buffering…” (as it does when it starts receiving the firsts stream packets) but instead may display a “server time out”, “cannot connect to server” or “network error” message within 30 seconds after it is launched.

If your Orb client device is a PC or laptop which has WMP, Real player and Quicktime, a good test to do is to change the streaming format to cause Orb use another communication port. You can do this as follows:

a)   Log on to your Orb account with that client

b)   Navigate to Open Application > Control Panel > General (pulldown menu) > Streaming Formats and select another streaming format

c)   Verify on your client PC that the streaming format you select is associated with the correct player. Note however that Windows format, Winamp format and Flash format, all use TCP port 80, so changing from one to the other will have no impact when testing for ports.

When all the above fails…

If your Orb client media player still does not receive the stream packets (i.e., does not buffer at all) uncheck the box Use UPnP for DirectStream on your Orb PC (Orb tray icon > Configuration > Advanced (or More info, on older Orb versions)) to disable DirectStream and force your Orb PC to send all streams through TCP port 82, and try again.

If this works, it must be because the other ports are blocked by your firewall. Check both your PC’s software firewall and your router’s hardware firewall.

Note: Streaming of .ra, .ram Internet TV / Internet Radio URLs are not supported in 2.5x series.