Orb 2.0 streams live TV to your iPhone
By Nilay Patel 
posted Nov 20th 2008 3:14PM
posted Nov 20th 2008 3:14PM
[Via jkOnTheRun]
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One more way to suck my battery dead. How many days until incase has the case and battery pack as one? Still waiting on price.
... or you don't buy it.
I will never quite understand why some people, when given a choice that they didn't have before, only find reason to complain.
^Agreed. With the complaining part. Options are always better than no options.
This is a killer for Sling. Even though I've got a slingbox I'm going to look into setting up Orb. And, if it works great I may consider switching totally.
! want to know if that extended battery pack fits the touch or a touch version is coming?
anyways the linux version would be totally be totally perfect to watch from my eee web cam.
Nice. Can't wait for a Mac version.
The BBC are going to start streaming their channels through iPlayer, so this could become largely redundant for UK users soon. That's assuming they expose the streams to iPhone users. The only drawback is that iPlayer has to work over WiFi - given that this also works over 3G and EDGE, I'm surprised this got through to the App Store. Not a bad thing, though. By no means.
it's ok, but I want it to work with http://www.freetube.us.tc then I'll be a happy camper when I can watch the news channels on there. Otherwise I have to get to the nearest computer inbetween (given my work breaks that shouldn't be too hard).
$10!!!
It was free when you jail broke it!!!!!
y orb Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
everyone on their forums told them to charge for it, i have NO idea why but it wasnt orbs idea, they all decided on 10$ as a price at the end
$10 is a bargain, since you already pay for the bandwidth. after using it for 4 years for free, im happy to pay Orb for their hard work.
On another note, I told Engadget about this over 2 weeks ago, "Tip us on News!" Sure! I guess all the "tips" were accidentally deleted that day. You might wanna look into that.
Also noted here, check my post halfway down.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/06/apple-adds-ota-podcast-downloads-to-iphone-firmware-2-2-continu/
Pay for bandwidth? HAHHA
As long as people use WEP I refuse to pay for bandwidth.
Its their idiot tax.
You think apple made them charge for it because they supported jailbreaking?
I still don't want to pay.... someone donate $10 to me or 10 ppl donate $1 or 20 people donate 50c or 40 people donate a quater or 1000 people donate a penny....
I'll give you $10 to shut the fuck up!
Great movie reference to "the ref"
I gave their "lite" version a try since it was free... works well... takes a little while for the stream to load but once it's up it runs nicely... not sure I want to pull the trigger on the $10 app.
Yeah, I'd sure hate to pay someone for their time developing and application that actually works well....
Perhaps he meant that since the lite version appeared slow, and there's no way to demo a $10 app, he was hesitant. But by all means, let's throw money at anyone with an app on the app store.
Either you pay 10 bucks for this app or pay iTunes for each episode of tv show you watch. Plus, you don't get to watch live tv shows
Someone send a search party out for Slingbox.
And how much do you think Sling will end up charging? $30? Orb can do so much more than just TV. Video, audio, remote webcams, photos...
Still haven't pulled the trigger on the mobile app but I am a huge fan of Orb and have been using it for years.
I'd pay it. I am forced to use my cablebox. Plus my computer has a 1000w powersupply and I really don't want to leave it on all the time.
ah but Slingbox doesn't need your whole PC running all the time, neither does LocationFree
I got the LocationFree cause it was cheaper than the slingbox and I could use it with my PSP for free, Slingbox charges extra for use on mobile devices
I don't think Orb lets you change channels, and turn the devices on and off, unless you are tuning on the PC itself maybe
so while Orb is free, I don't think the $70 one time fee I payed was a big deal
@redstripe Sling is just an audio/video relay. That audio/video can originate on a PC as easily as on a TV. I've got my mac mini (running Plex) hooked up to mine, in addition to my cable box.
This has been up for a few weeks. $10 is not a bad deal IMO. It works well.
Ah yes, the first gen metal iPhone is the best. Plastic is soo cheap.
Did YOU just insult one of Apples decisions?
Next thing we know Sony will be handing out free Xbox 360s and Bill Gates will use OSx86!
I always said the 3G iPhone was cheap. And Apple did not even include the dock that you can get at Deal Extreme for $3. that means that Apple pays $0.50 for it.
1St gen iPhones are and always will be the best. My iPhone is on prepaid! I just like to look at it and use it on special occasions. Like my muscle car.
I, and most of us, still hate you.
But our respect for him went up half of a quarter of a fifth of a percent.
1 fortieth of a percent!?!? That's a small amount...
...me do fractions good....english no so good.
Love this program… used it on my jail broken phone all the time.
The only problem I had was my legs falling asleep from sitting on the toilet to long. haha
The downfall of man since the advent of the GameBoy.
If I'm not mistaken I believe theres a portable toilet app too.
the webcam feature is pretty cool. almost makes me want to get an iPhone...maybe when they upgrade the battery and my contract runs out. maybe...
What am I missing? Why would I watch TV on my little iphone screen while hooked up to a PC? I use Elgato now and watch on my mac on a 23" screen. I must have read something wrong, because this makes no sense.
you use your PC as a data hub for the TV tuner. from there the IPhone connects to the PC (wirelessly) and streams whatever you have on tv (through the TV tuner card) to your pc.
make sense?
I've been a long-time user of orb. I love it. Great product that just seems "to work".
couple week old news but only stream tv over wifi, jailbreak with a hack lets you watch tv ota its pretty tight!
Oki, how do you do this watch tv over the air your talking about?
This app is great - easily worth $10. I was surprised at how well it streams tv and webcam video even over edge. Video takes a little time to load, however.
You can stream with 3G, not just Wi-Fi. The latest update allows it. I have their beta version, I have no reason to upgrade right now. This thing is awesome. Especially when you add uSirius to your PC. You can add the stream channels to Orb, and stream your favorite radio stations.
Now....if only Sling would get theirs done.....Life would be 100% complete. Then I will have live HDTV as well.
I'm surprised to read that Nilay didn't use a pretentious word like "onus" on that last sentence. What a shame.
Great another thing for us potential storm owners to drool over.
Orb works with everything. That's the charm!
I use Orb to do all this on my Nokia. It's a great service. I'm a little bemused as to why iPhone users are 'taxed' though. I can use it for free.
"Sadly there's no date for the Mac and Linux versions, but Orb says they're on the way."
I find that ironic, since the iPhone is an Apple product :D, but I would bet a large user base of the iPhone use Windows.
Orb was alive years before the iPhone. Orb originated on the windows platform in 2004. It was not designed for the iphone, just catered to it.
Why would I watch TV on iPhone using the tuner card from Windows PC?? Couldn't I just watch it on m big PC screen?
Not if you are on the bus. Or in a line. Or on lunchbreak at work.
So is there a limit on AT&T's unlimited internet. If I stream for about two hours a day will AT&T shut down or disconnect my line. Thinking of switching to AT&T if it won't happen!
Umm... UNLIMITED data plan, I don't think there will be a limt hence the UN- prefix
@Sublimewulf
Ummm unlimited has been proven to be limited actually. You do not know of what you speak.
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/ATTs-5GB-Wireless-Broadband-Mystery-Cap-92746
5gb limit-ish. 2 hours a day should be fine, should only add up to a couple of GB
There are countries where the overages incurred by using this would bankrupt you. Canada used to be one of them until the iPhone 3G came along and changed data plans for the better.
The moment they have a Mac version, I'd be all over it. But since I already own a Slingbox, I hope they come out with an iPhone app soon.
The app perfectly with my vista mce tv tuner card. Watching LIVE TV on the iPhone is worth the $10 alone.
Well, the problem is that Macs really aren't that TV friendly so it stands to reason that they would develop for the many windows users who already have TV tuner cards, which are the main attraction of their product.
Suddenly Slings excuses of "It takes too long" "Apple Might not accept it." and "It's just so hard, it makes me have to go poopy." Have no bearing anymore. If a company that basically gives their software out for free can do it, then why can't a company charging $100+ for each box do it?
Personally I watch TV... on my frikkin TV.
you are not watching TV when you are streaming with orb... you are streaming shows that happen to first have been available on the Television... and now are available to other forms of viewing... I bet you do a lot of rollerblading on your rollerblades too... lol (im sure there are a few who will appreciate and understand what im saying)
Access to...
-- Live and Recorded TV
-- My 200+ DVD-quality movies
-- My entire 115+ GB music collection
-- Internet streaming radio
-- Every digital photo I own
-- Two webcams
...all available to me 24/7 from anywhere I have a connection!!! WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THIS APP?!
It's actually the first and only app I've paid for since I bought the iPhone in August... I've been waiting months for this very app! :)
It's an app?! You have to pay $10?! It's free to the rest of the world.
this app rocks, I love it
You can use an add-in and get access to Sirius streams and Howard Stern!!!!
that is well worth the $10
I've been doing this on my crappy palm centro for about a year now. I figured it was already available on the iphone.
No experience with Orb, but I do have a Slingbox, and I paid $15 for the mobile SlingPlayer App on my WinMo machine. Sooooo worth the money. Drains the battery in no time flat, so I have to be using it in my office or the car, but even with those limitations, I love this app. I can watch everything on my DVR, plus OnDemand programming. Hey, it's never going to be like watching a big screen TV, but when all I want is to watch football while my wife is in the supermarket and the kids are asleep in the carseats, its perfect. And nothing keeps the rugrats content while we eat at a restaurant like being able to watch their cartoons. My wife as a first gen iPhone, and we buy programs for them to watch, but how many times can you show them the same eps of Thomas or Sesame Street before they get bored? And if $10 or $15 gets me anything I want to watch on my DVR for free, anytime I have enough juice to power it? I will pay that any day of the week, and twice on (football) Sundays.
...or I could save $10 AND use a phone that can actually send MMS!
I've been using Orb on my WinMo phone for the past year or so and it is quite nice. I can also watch any of my home cable TV channels or Media Center recorded TV on my work PC now that I have a tuner at home. Orb is free on other platforms. I don't know why they charge you iFolks $10 to do what the rest of us have been doing for free.
excuse my naivete, but does a comcast HD DVR contain a tv tuner card? Can I just hook my PC up to the DVR, download ORB and start streaming?
it does but i believe the programs are locked to its hard drive. the tuner card will let you use your pc as a dvr.
It was free when I installed it on my daughters touch last week. It also works on just about any device that has a web browser. I've been using it on my Nokia N800 for the last 2 years and even on my Nokia 6256i cell phone for the last 3 years.
No but you can drop a $20 tv tuner card in your pc and then watch it anywhere with Orb.
I think Oki's talking about a jailbreak 'app' (i think its called voipover3g) that tricks the iphone into thinking the 3g/edge connection is wifi.
So apps like fring and orb etc - that are only meant to work via wifi - now work over 3g/edge.
I guess this will allow downloading larger than 10mb apps via appstore over 3g/edge too.
I used to stream live tv to an HTC 8525 over EDGE and had no problems, so those with a 3G iphone should have a really good experience, granted you have a decent internet connection at home . I have 9mb/s down 500kb/s up and live in an area with good EDGE/3G coverage .
With orb I was able to change channels on my Satellite set top box, watch recorded tv and check in on my webcam monitoring my puppy. I like how orb would detect the available bandwidth each time I logged in from my mobile and adjusted the quality of the stream accordingly.
I've been using Orb since it was in beta 1. I am not an iPhone user, so I was curious if someone could help me out with understanding why there needs to be an application in the first place. You set up the small Orb application on your PC, configure the folders with your audio, video, picture files you want to stream/access (there may be some network tuning needed as well), and then point any web browser to mycast.orb.com. After logging in, you stream away. If you want live TV, just install a TV tuner from the list of Orb supported tuners, configure Orb in order to scan the channels and then select the channel you want to watch from the Orb web interface. It works in Firefox for the PC and Mac, as well as IE on the PC and Safari on the Mac. You CAN also remotely change channels if you connect the TV tuner in the PC to your set top box by using an infrared receiver/transmitter (a USB version, not the 1/8inch stereo plug-type version which I could never get to work). Bingo, now you're able to access all 200+ channels from your PC and/or mobile device. Obviously, the PC needs to be on all of the time.
Still, why the need for an iPhone-specific application? Does it not work on the iPhone browser?
On most devices it is just a web interface that makes it open in a media player. Does the iphone have a media player that can play the normal streams? If not, this may be the reason. Also I've noticed that most things iPhone follow the marketing strategy of charging for convenience. I'm sure plenty of people who have iPhones and buy all the latest apps will have no problem paying $10 for this single app that lets you connect to your computer and stream within the app. I don't know that iPhone is capable of having a browser launch a streaming video player anyway. Aren't they pretty limited when it comes to multitasking?
Could you not stream before? They've had Android support for a while now just using their web interface.
Nice! I wonder how long it will be before someone figures out a way to stream Hulu via Wifi to this viewer (after the requisite Flash for iPhone release of course.)
Anyone want to speculate on a date?
Peter Steinberg
http://www.FlashlightWorthyBooks.com
Recommending books so good, they'll keep you up past your bedtime. ;)
So, question. I have orb on my windows media system. And I did use the jailbroke version, although my phone is now no longer jailbroken. Anyway, when using it I found it very annoying that I couldn't fast forward through commercials on recorded shows, and if I lost the stream it would always make me go back to the beginning, which, when you cannot fast forward or skip ahead very well, made the whole experience frustrating.
Has that gotten any better with this new version?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Just in case nobody knows this but Sling has been trying to release there app in the app store for months now. Apple wont even respond to them or give them a reason why not accepting it. Sounds like Apple will probably deny it write the same app and release it and call it there own like they did with the podcast app or charge a monthly fee for tv. like mobitv.
OrbLive is worth it's price.
For those of you who don't wish to pay, probably you should try OrbLive ( free ) version. It's free and you can download it from Apple's App Store.
$10 Iphone tax sucks...
Own a G1 (Google phone) ?
You can get TV streamed to it for free using Orb.
http://forums.tmonews.com/index.php?topic=5439.0
Gotta love Free. ... free.... free.... free.....
-stile
$10 isn't bad, though who watches live TV these days? Now if I can access my pre-recorded shows sitting on my DVR at home, I'd be impressed!