Top 10 Questions from Orb users

Why do I get the message: "Orb could not retrieve your login information" when starting Orb?

If you have successfully completed the Orb installation on your home PC, but the Orb tray icon remains in the "multicolor balls" state, and the above error message is displayed, it may be due to one of the following reasons:

  • Your firewall or antivirus software is blocking the Orb.exe application from exiting your home PC to connect to Orb's servers: make sure you allow this program through your firewall (Windows or 3rd-party's, and router's) and antivirus software.
  • Your OrbMedia database was not properly created during the Orb installation, or became corrupted shortly thereafter: uninstall Orb from the Add/Remove Programs option of your Windows Control Panel, and make sure you check the "Delete all user settings" checkbox before clicking the "Finish" button, then re-install Orb.
  • Your login information was not properly registered in Orb's user database: uninstall Orb as indicated in b) above, then re-install Orb and create a new Orb login and password.

Why do I get a "Trojan intrusion warning" from my antivirus software when I launch Orb?

There is no virus, malware, spyware, or otherwise malicious code in Orb. Some anti-virus software like Norton and McAfee consider it a "Trojan" behavior when an application attempts to exit a system to access the Internet. The Orb application does just that when you launch it, as it needs to connect to our servers to identify your system and know where to send your requests for streaming media when you are logging to my.orb.com from a remote location.

Why do I get the message: "Your home PC is not connected to the Orb server. Orb might not be running on your computer, or your computer might be turned off or disconnected from the Internet" when I try to log on to my Orb account?

This connection error trying to log on your Orb account may occur if:

  • Your Orb PC is not connected to the Internet
  • You are using a different Orb login than the one(s) created on your Orb PC: on your home PC, click the Orb tray icon, then Configuration, then Users tab, and verify the registered accounts.
  • Your Orb PC is connected to the Internet but went to sleep (stand-by mode): if you have properly configured Wake-On-LAN, click on the link provided on the error message to try and remotely wake up your Orb PC.
  • Orb is not properly running on your Orb PC: click on the Orb tray icon and select "Quit" then, after Orb completely exited, restart Orb, and verify that you get a green Orb tray icon.

Why do I get the message: "Your TV tuner is either not working or not configured properly or incompatible with Orb. If it is a supported tuner and it works fine on your Orb PC, please send a support request at support.orb.com" when I attempt to stream live TV in Orb?

This error message will usually be triggered by one or more of the following situations, when using an analog tuner:

  • You do not have an Orb-supported analog tuner, that is a tuner with a built-in MPEG-2 hardware encoder (also called an MPEG-2 tuner).
  • You do have an MPEG-2 tuner installed in your Orb PC, but it is in use by another PVR application and, therefore, Orb cannot access it: shut any third-party PVR application, reboot your PC, then restart Orb. Remember: a TV tuner can never be simultaneously accessed by two PVR applications.
  • You do have an MPEG-2 tuner but the tuner drivers need to be updated or re-installed as Orb cannot communicate with this tuner.
  • Your tuner is damaged or defective: verify that it works in its native or another PVR application.

How come I can get video fine but no audio at all when streaming Live TV?

This is a problem usually observed with non-MPEG-2 tuners, i.e. tuners that do encode via software (also referred to as software-based tuners). While this class of tuners is not supported in Orb at this time, many Orb users have managed to successfully use theirs in Orb. You may want to ask Orb forum users for tips and advice on the setup of your specific tuner make and model.

Why do I get a message: "Orb did not find a suitable codec installed on your home PC to stream your [filetype] file. Please go to www.orb.com/codecs to download free Orb-compatible codecs" when I try to stream certain audio or videos files or live TV?

Orb can only stream local files on your PC that can be decompressed using Orb-supported DirectShow-compatible codecs. However, because all DirectShow codecs are not necessarily supported by Orb, the best rule to determine the Orb-compatibility of your codec is to try to play such media file locally on your Orb PC in the mplayer2.exe application:

On your Windows desktop, click Start, then Run, then type "mplayer2" in the "Open:" field, and click OK: when Windows Media Player opens, fetch your media file (from File > Open).

If the file plays in this player, Orb should be able to stream it. If it does not, you do not have a suitable codec for the specific file you are trying to stream in Orb: download here a free Orb-compatible codec.

I cannot stream anything from my Orb PC. I always encounter a "Windows Media Player cannot connect to the server hosting the content that you want to play" whenever I try to stream any file via Orb.

This is a generic WMP error produced when the media player on your Orb client device cannot connect to the file on your Orb PC and streaming. This may be due to several reasons:

  • Orb is not properly running on your home PC and the Orb streaming application cannot be properly launched: quit Orb and restart Orb on your home PC, then try again.
  • Your home PC firewall is blocking the TCP ports necessary to stream media in Orb which are: TCP port 80 for Windows media and TCP ports 554 for Real media, as well as UDP ports 13398 to 13401 for 3GP media.
  • Your Orb client device is behind a restrictive corporate firewall and/or is accessing the Internet through a proxy server which blocks incoming connections on any other ports than, say, TCP port 80. If port 80 is already in use by another application (P2P app, web server, etc.) on your Orb PC, Orb will attempt to use the next available port (i.e., 81) which may then be denied connection from your proxy server.
  • Your Orb PC has too slow a CPU to re-encode video files on-the-fly for streaming, thus causing your media player to time out before the stream request is fulfilled.
  • A general network error occurred between your Orb client device and your Orb PC: try again.

I can stream to another PC, but not to my phone. How do I find out if my phone is compatible and can stream in Orb?

If you can successfully stream to another PC or PDA, but cannot stream to your phone, it may be because:

  • Your phone is not compatible, that is, does not have a media player which can stream standard .ASX (Windows media), .RAM (Real media) or .SDP (3GP media). Point your phone browser to http://test.orb.com and try streaming the sample audio and video files on this test site, at the different speeds provided, to verify the compatibility of your device. If it does not stream there, it is most likely not compatible.
  • You do not have the proper player selection in Orb: if you are not sure what media player your phone has, try changing the player to other available options in Orb Tools. Note that if you have a 3GP player, you should also try to check/uncheck the "High Quality" checkbox in this section.

The OrbChannelScan utility does not detect any TV channel during Orb TV setup when other programs (Media Center, WinTV, etc.) do find my channels fine.

If the OrbChannelScan program does not detect any TV channel at all, and you get a blank screen even when you manually enter the channel number yourself, it may be because:

  • You do not have a supported TV tuner and/or OrbChannelScan cannot communicate with your tuner.
  • OrbChannelScan cannot access your tuner which may be in use by another PVR application: close all third-party TV applications, reboot your PC, and try again to run your Orb TV configuration.
  • Orb cannot read from your TV input: try to change your TV feed connection from its Composite or S-video port input to a Coaxial input, and try again.
  • You have selected the wrong country when you started your TV configuration and therefore, OrbChannelScan does not recognize or properly translate the channel frequencies it detects.

I do not get any program guide at all and my channels in TV listings show "No program available". Can Orb use the EPG from Media Center or another program?

At this time, there is no Orb implementation of XMLTV.exe in [your country]. Unfortunately, Orb cannot use third-parties' Electronic Program Guide, as none of them (including MS Media Center) provide an API which would enable Orb to access their TV guide.