Orb on the Titan

[bradleyem]

Ok, this thread is all about using Orb (or possibly other streaming media applications) on your Titan.

I currently use Orb 2.0 to stream all of my media (pictures, music, movies, videos, documents, etc) to my Titan. It works pretty well, but Windows Media player is the default player, and it's somewhat choppy and a resource hog. Some people have reported good results using TCPMP for playing media with Orb. I also use Pocket MVP for movies from my storage card, so I was wondering if that may be a good alternative as well.

My question is...what Codec is used by default to stream media?

What file associations do I need to change in TCPMP (or any other media player)?

What other codecs work, and how well (flash, etc.)

So far I have been unable to get Live TV to work through Orb, but I believe that may be a problem on the desktop app side.

With EVDO and RevA speeds getting better all the time, this is quickly going from a frustrating experiment (try watching a 2 hour movie with it stopping every 3 minutes to cache data)...to a very good replacement for having to store huge amounts of media using precious memory on your device.

[FZ1]

I only have experience using TCPMP so I can't comment on Pocket MVP, but it works great and my be able to replace Pocket MVP for your sd card movies.

I use TCPMP v0.72 RC1 (attached below).

I check all the file type associations in TCPMP except picture files.

I set the "Manual A/V offset +/-" to -400 msec to fix A/V sync.

I change the video driver to "GDI".

Orb streams .asf files by default but if you're using WM6 or WM6.1 you'll need to copy the WM5 WMV9 codecs (also attached) to your pda's \Windows directory for Orb's .asf's to play. Be sure to restart TCPMP after this.

When TCPMP is used with the latest FlashVideoBundle (also attached) it also allows the playing of YouTube (and other) videos from pie. Just run the .cab from \My Documents, soft reset, and click a YouTube vid.

Not sure what your Orb live TV issue is, but remember only one application can have control of a capture card at a time.

[bradleyem]

Cool, thanks. I think that I figured out my TV issue. I set it up to use the ATI MPEG encoder thats built into my All-In-Wonder Video card, and it works. I'll just have to see how that works with Divix and MPEG movies, but I would think that it should be better since its a dedicated hardware encoder vs software.

[blakksmiff]

I just began using Orb yesterday and it is great!!! My car stereo has built in bluetooth, so as long as Im in an EVDO area, I have access to my entire mp3 collection on the road now.

[bradleyem]

So, how well does the bluetooth work for you for stereo? With all of the bluetooth issues, I had put off buying a pair of stereo headphones....but there have definately been some improvements. At least now I can use Voice Command with some reliability :D

[ktjensen]

Well this looks very interesting as a solution. Does anyone have PIE remembering the password for ORB? I can not get my Titan PIE to remember the password no matter what I do, so I was thinking I need to switch to a different browser.

[Total_Lag]

These aren't free, but you can try them and see if you like them:
(These solutions are for if you don't like using PIE to access ORB)

PocketStream Server:
This program comes with a GUI (although a bit choppy) for the phone, so all you need to do is connect to your computer with the app and it lists all your music/video files. It is streamed with TCPMP.

LobsterTunes:
This is what I use. Currently it only supports streaming music. It is a uPnP (Universal Plug&Play) app that can connect to any media server that supports uPnP (Orb, WMP11, TVersity). It auto sets up for you so you don't need to input anything. Just load it up and it will auto search for your computer networked sharing folder. The GUI is a lot faster than PocketStream, but it uses WMP as a backend to stream music (not changable).

[ktjensen]

Will Lobstertunes support the Internet Radio Stations under my ORB account, and thus stream them? I am all for trying something else that will work more efficiently with ORB (or any other pnp server software - as long as it works with all modalities of the pnp software).

[Zenoran]

wow... glad I came across this thread... lobster sounds EXACTLY what I was looking for... streaming media in car just isn't viable... the funny thing is, evdo is MUCH faster than streaming bandwidth but you never take advantage of that extra bandwidth when you're streaming...

this looks awesome.. it downloads your songs in the background so no skipping between towers!

[Total_Lag]

Lobstertunes does support radio stations, but I'm not sure if it *sees* the ORB radio stations. Best thing to do would be to create a playlist with the radio station on it. I haven't tried it before because I use TCPMP for radio.

this looks awesome.. it downloads your songs in the background so no skipping between towers!

That's one thing I like about it. It always downloads half your available storage memory, so when it reaches that threshold, it will just overwrite previous files so you don't have to worry about wasting space.


I also came across this software:
http://www.pocket-tunes.com/

and it looks pretty slick lol, but I'm not sure if it'll work on the Titan. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime tonight. I'm looking for something to replace LobsterTunes because although it works, it's still a little slow in my opinion.

[SKullman]

I've been using ORB since the mogul came out and previously on my Treo 700wx.

I do have to admit my 4 year old has used it more than I have...the quality while traveling on the interstate is quite impressive.

I do have to try the tcpmp, maybe it will put it over the top.
My only failure with ORB 2.0 and the old version is neither will record for me, but I'm sure it's my fault.

[Zenoran]

orb is good... I like it.. I just wish there was a software front-end for it for the ppc..

I was really excited to get lobstertunes a try but it simply does not work on my device... not quite sure why but it crashes during the login process. :(

[Total_Lag]

orb is good... I like it.. I just wish there was a software front-end for it for the ppc..

I was really excited to get lobstertunes a try but it simply does not work on my device... not quite sure why but it crashes during the login process. :(

I found that error too, one way to fix it is to open up lobsterconfig.txt from within the install directory on your PPC and edit the line from /localtest=false to /localtest=true

Don't have the config file on your phone? There should be one in x:\program files\ElectricPocket\Lobster just edit the line and transfer the file to your PPC.