Orb brings PC multimedia to gaming consoles

Orb Networks has announced its free Orb MyCasting service which will allow households with gaming consoles to access digital entertainment on the home PC via their TV using the console as the bridge.

The company is touting MyCasting as a free alternative to the recently unveiled Apple TV.

"Because it's Apple, Apple TV will get a lot of buzz. But let's look at the scorecard," said Joe Costello, chairman and chief executive at Orb Networks.

"By the end of the year, even in a wildly successful scenario, Apple will have one million versus Orb's 25 million users who can enjoy their media on TV.

"This small community of Apple TV users will pay US$299 for a proprietary piece of hardware, while the rest of us get more media freedom for free."

Orb MyCasting lets users access all digital entertainment stored on the home PC for viewing on any device with a streaming media player and internet connection such as other PCs, laptops, PDAs and mobile phones.

The service now includes game consoles including Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Orb lets users build and organise their own 'channels' for music, photos, video, TV and documents stored on the home computer, as well as online videos from the growing source of internet TV and content sites.

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