Use Orb to watch your favourite TV shows anywhere you go

If you’re away from home, say, on a business trip, perhaps out of the country, then it’s easy enough to get Windows Media Center to record your favourite programmes. But why wait until you get home to watch then?

Install the free software package Orb and you can log on to your home PC from almost anywhere in the world, via just about any web-enabled device: PC, laptop, PDA, even mobile phone. You’ll see the video files Media Center has recorded and be able to watch any you like, as well as view your digital photos and play anything in your MP3 collection. With the right kit you can even stream live television across the internet.

1. Get Started

Launch Orb, click Create an account, and enter your email address, a login name and password. These should be easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess (you don’t want anyone else able to access your PC)

2. Select Content

Choose what you want to access online by checking the relevant boxes for Audio, Photo, Video, TV or Documents. If you’re not sure, leave everything checked right now: it’s very easy to change your settings later on.

3. Stream It

If you have a PC TV tuner and want to stream it online, then leave the I don’t have a set-top box option selected and click Next. Use the tuning window to find and save all your TV channels, closing it when you’re done.

4. Go Green

Click Finish and Orb will place an icon in your system tray. When this turns green it means the program has contacted its server and is ready to be used (you should see a similar Alert message, too). Time to try it out.

5. Log In

Go to another internet-enabled PC, laptop, PDA, or anything else with a browser and media player. Point it at mycast.orb.com, enter the Login and Password you created earlier, then click the Log In button to get connected.

6. Explore

And now you should have access to all the media on your PC. Click Video > Browse Folders to view videos, for instance, Audio to explore everything in your Music folder and Photos to see your digital images – it’s as easy as that.

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