Has Orbit Downloader turned into a liability ?

[Seeker47]

I just installed and then un-installed the current version 2.8.1.9. It killed my internet access -- "Page Load Error. Cannot connect to the server." -- while it was installed on each of two different Win boot partitions. Needless to say, this is totally unacceptable ! Although I can't completely rule out some more exotic interaction going on here, the problem disappears as soon as I uninstall Orbit 2819. I have now downgraded back to version 2814, with no issues noted so far.

This was all on top of a terrible choice by the Orbit developers a few versions ago, with that 404 redirector page "feature" that has been repeatedly criticized in their user forum. Even when you implement the suggested rules to limit it, this still winds up being a very annoying stumbling block and pain in the rear. I'm not sure whether I've backleveled far enough to get clear of that, but I don't want to deal with it anymore, even if this means using a less capable version of the program.

[jimdagys]

I never get, update or install new software unless there is some reason to do so. If something works, why mess with it?

[Bjs]

Exotic ... more likely ... just looking at your systems profile and watch out for third party firewall products if using those

No problem installing "V2.8.19" here

[Seeker47]

What such programs do to capture media for download is sort of like the "arms race" between malware and the anti-malware programs: updates are needed to keep up the capability.

My systems profile is rather out of date, and there is no software firewall operating here -- just Avast 4 Home and an anti-spyware program. Avast has been on its default of active scanning; the anti-spyware program (either Webroot's Spy Sweeper or Spybot, depending on which computer or boot partition) is set for manual scans only.

This kind of a change from 2.8.1.7 to 2.8.1.9 -- I don't think so.
We'll see what happens with the next release, but for now I'm sticking with 2.8.1.4, subject to further downgrade if that 404 redirection crap continues.

Don't be surprised if the Orbit team later issues an "Ooops", along the lines of the recent Avast fiasco.
This stuff happens more than most people realize.

[True Colors]

I agree with the original poster. It is rather irritating, to say the least, that orbit hijacks your browser and redirects you to their webpage when something goes wrong. God knows what they must have been thinking when they set that up.

In the past Orbit had been a useful tool at one time. It used to be able to sniff url streams of flash videos that other programs were incapable of finding. However, now that a lot of flash sites like hulu have managed to hide their streams by changing over to RTMPE(among other things) Orbit does not seem all that great to me. I mean seriously, what streaming video can orbit capture that the other similar apps cannot?

TC

[Seeker47]

In the past Orbit had been a useful tool at one time. It used to be able to sniff url streams of flash videos that other programs were incapable of finding. However, now that a lot of flash sites like hulu have managed to hide their streams by changing over to RTMPE(among other things) Orbit does not seem all that great to me. I mean seriously, what streaming video can orbit capture that the other similar apps cannot?

TC

You seem to have a much better grasp of what is going on with the tech landscape on this than I do, but Yeah: basically what I've been finding is that with an increasing range of video clips, if Orbit can't get it, then UnPlug, DownloadHelper, or VDownloader do NOT even see it either. There are still a few programs I haven't tried -- SDP, Net Transport, XVST. Some say an old and deliberately "disappeared" version of Replay is the ticket. But I'm thinking that -- right now -- the sites that don't want you to be able to capture their streaming video have the upper hand.