# Explain torrents to me in the simplest possible terms.



## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I know we've had one of these before, but I'm seriously not smart. 

I just downloaded DivX. What do I do now?

Be seriously simple. And gentle with me.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

1. Download and install Azureus (bittorrent client): http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php

2. Start finding torrents. I use almost exclusively http://www.mininova.org . For TV: http://www.mininova.org/today/#tvshows

3. Click on little arrow to the left of show title in the list. Pick one that seems to have lots of "seeders" (number of avaliable sources).

4. This will prompt you to open file with Azureus. Do so - do not save the file (that file, that ends in .torrent, is not the actual media file, it's just an info file so the client knows where to get the show from).

5. When Azureus now starts it will prompt you to save the media file somewhere. Do that.

6. The download will start. When done, watch. 

/Mike


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

7. After you are done downloading, leave Azureus running so that you can act as a seeder to other poor shlubs who are also trying to download it.


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

So, is Azureus better than the Bittorrent branded client?


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## Vroomfondel (Jul 10, 2006)

An alternative to Azareus (and less resource-hogging) is uTorrent

All the other information is the same as already given.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Vroomfondel said:


> An alternative to Azareus (and less resource-hogging) is uTorrent
> 
> All the other information is the same as already given.


I use uTorrent with much success.

Either one works and the instructions are spot on.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

So what's the matter Angie, you want us to explain it to you like you're three? 

I use Azureus as the client, and get all my TV shows from www.tvrss.net. It actually links to mininova most of the time, but it's a much more organized index.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

Another vote for uTorrent. But don't let the clients confuse you. You might like one client's interface better, or it might seem like one works for you better than another, but at the end of the day, the process is still the same.

1. Install client of choice
2. Find torrents online
3. Download torrent (which should open your client of choice)
4. Pick folder on your computer to save the media file to
5. Wait

The real fun comes in when you don't have the right codec to play said media file. But hopefully that won't happen.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

don't forget that you may need to do port forwarding on the router/firewall to ensure maximum performance.

If you want to find out what codecs a video uses (on a PC), I usggest GSpot. The most common ones are DivX and XVid for the video. You may also run into AC3 for audio. Just get all of those and you'll be set for most anything.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

OK once you save the torrent on your PC, what do you play them with? WMP?


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

montag said:


> OK once you save the torrent on your PC, what do you play them with? WMP?


Sure. usually, the file you download is an AVI file. With the right codecs installed, WMP will play them. Or, you can use a different player, like VLC.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

I do all the above steps and then run it through videora tivo converter and then watch them on tivo


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

montag said:


> OK once you save the torrent on your PC, what do you play them with? WMP?


I use WMP. I've downloaded a couple of other players, but always end up back to using WMP. Just make sure you download the right codecs. The one I've found that pretty much includes everything you need is ffdshow.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

MikeMar said:


> I do all the above steps and then run it through videora tivo converter and then watch them on tivo


I usually burn it to a CD then pop it in my DVD player that is capable of playing DivX videos.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Also watching them through your XBox360 is a possibility if you can convert them to a windows media format (Video Converter)


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

MikeMar said:


> I do all the above steps and then run it through videora tivo converter and then watch them on tivo


+1

You'll find that the stuff you download, convert with Videora, and transfer to your TiVo looks WAAAAAY better than anything you record off cable/satellite with your TiVo.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

devdogaz said:


> +1
> 
> You'll find that the stuff you download, convert with Videora, and transfer to your TiVo looks WAAAAAY better than anything you record off cable/satellite with your TiVo.


I bet if you recorded it with a Series 3 TiVo off an HD channel (OTA or Cable), it would look pretty damn good. Certainly, not worse than something that's already been through additional conversions.


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## milo99 (Oct 14, 2002)

devdogaz said:


> +1
> 
> You'll find that the stuff you download, convert with Videora, and transfer to your TiVo looks WAAAAAY better than anything you record off cable/satellite with your TiVo.


hold up, whats this?? and how do you load it onto your tivo? I have a dtivo hdvr2. possible w/o hacking it?


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## milo99 (Oct 14, 2002)

jsmeeker said:


> I usually burn it to a CD then pop it in my DVD player that is capable of playing DivX videos.


do you need to do anything to the AVI file after you d/l it? Cuz i tried burning them onto a CD and popping them into my DVD player, but notta. And i'm pretty sure mine plays divx.. could be wrong though.. dont most DVD players play divx these days?


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

milo99 said:


> do you need to do anything to the AVI file after you d/l it? Cuz i tried burning them onto a CD and popping them into my DVD player, but notta. And i'm pretty sure mine plays divx.. could be wrong though.. dont most DVD players play divx these days?


Nope. I don't do anything else other than burn a data CD using Finder.

And I would say that playing DivX *isn't* super common. Double check your player. There is probably a DivX logo on the case if it DOES play them. If not, I bet it doesn't.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

I have found a modded xbox (the original) on my network to be the easiest solution for me.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

jsmeeker said:


> Nope. I don't do anything else other than burn a data CD using Finder.
> 
> And I would say that playing DivX *isn't* super common. Double check your player. There is probably a DivX logo on the case if it DOES play them. If not, I bet it doesn't.


Also, I find most of the videos I get to actually be Xvid format. This shouldn't matter, since Xvid and Divx are close cousins, but on some players it could be an issue even if they claim to play Divx.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> I bet if you recorded it with a Series 3 TiVo off an HD channel (OTA or Cable), it would look pretty damn good. Certainly, not worse than something that's already been through additional conversions.


I should have clarified that I don't have HD, so my statement was only meant to include any SD signal that you could record via cable or satellite. Most of the torrents you download ARE the HD feed, which is why the quality is so much better than SD, even after a conversion or two.


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## kdelande (Dec 17, 2001)

milo99 said:


> hold up, whats this?? and how do you load it onto your tivo? I have a dtivo hdvr2. possible w/o hacking it?


Nope, but if you hack you can use TiVoServer and it will stream Divx/Xvid files right into the TiVo via MRV that you can enable by hacking.

See The Zipper in the Underground.

KD


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

jsmeeker said:


> don't forget that you may need to do port forwarding on the router/firewall to ensure maximum performance.
> 
> If you want to find out what codecs a video uses (on a PC), I usggest GSpot. The most common ones are DivX and XVid for the video. You may also run into AC3 for audio. Just get all of those and you'll be set for most anything.


Angie, don't let this scare you. I have no idea what he's talking about (meaning I don't think I did it) and everything still works. 

That said, I really like uTorrent.


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## AstroDad (Jan 21, 2003)

I use TVTorrents.com for TV Shows. I haven't found anything more complete or more organized.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> And I would say that playing DivX *isn't* super common. Double check your player. There is probably a DivX logo on the case if it DOES play them. If not, I bet it doesn't.


You can enter your DVD player model number here to find out its features.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers


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## milo99 (Oct 14, 2002)

JETarpon said:


> You can enter your DVD player model number here to find out its features.
> 
> http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers


eh, isn't looking very likely for mine. it's a sony 5 disck changer, and the latest doesn't have it, so i doubt mine does. damn


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

MikeMar said:


> I do all the above steps and then run it through videora tivo converter and then watch them on tivo


I do that to, but to include those instructions would've been much more difficult. Baby steps...


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

milo99 said:


> eh, isn't looking very likely for mine. it's a sony 5 disck changer, and the latest doesn't have it, so i doubt mine does. damn


I have an older Sony 5-disc changer and it won't even play burned discs at all, let along DivX or XviD.


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## milo99 (Oct 14, 2002)

devdogaz said:


> I have an older Sony 5-disc changer and it won't even play burned discs at all, let along DivX or XviD.


mines about a year old and does play burned DVDs CDs, mp3 etc. - that was a requirement when i bought it  ...didn't think about xvid/divx at the time cuz, well, never did anything w/ torrents.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

I have a hacked Xbox, Xbox 360, and an Insignia DVD player/burner, which would be the easiest solution for playback?


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Ok, the Insignia DVD recorder plays DivX. Just dowload the bittorrent and burn them onto a CD-R with Nero or Windows and it will play?

Are the bittorrent files for tv show in DivX format or do you have to do some type of conversion?


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

They are usually DivX or XviD


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

montag said:


> I have a hacked Xbox, Xbox 360, and an Insignia DVD player/burner, which would be the easiest solution for playback?


I have Xbox Media Center installed on my hacked Xbox. I share a folder on my PC, have my Xbox on the network, and can stream the videos from my PC, through the network, to my Xbox and on my TV. Another option if you have a big enough hard drive in your Xbox would be to ftp the videos to your Xbox as needed, then delete them when you finish watching.

I had a DVD player that supported Divx/Xvid for a while, but for me the Xbox was better simply because playback/pause/stop/resume controls were much more slick with the Xbox.


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## Dignan (Jan 27, 2002)

montag said:


> I have a hacked Xbox, Xbox 360, and an Insignia DVD player/burner, which would be the easiest solution for playback?


I've started using Transcode 360 with Media Center to stream Divx files from the Xbox 360. It works really well, looks great too. I had been using an Oppo DVD player and burning things to DVD RW disks, but streaming is just easier.

Edit: Echo, I realize the post above said the same thing, with a few variables.


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

MikeMar said:


> I do all the above steps and then run it through videora tivo converter and then watch them on tivo


You can watch them via tivoserver with no conversion needed. A little bit of work first (hacking) but the end result is you get a very flexible system, you can flow all kinds of video through your tivo and have a consistent playback experience and control process that is immediately understood by all members of your household who are used to the tivo.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Dignan said:


> I've started using Transcode 360 with Media Center to stream Divx files from the Xbox 360. It works really well, looks great too. I had been using an Oppo DVD player and burning things to DVD RW disks, but streaming is just easier.
> 
> Edit: Echo, I realize the post above said the same thing, with a few variables.


I tried that but had no success on the 360 - worked with Windows Media Player of the PC but would not work on 360 - any hints?

I have a WME PC, wired Network and most of the files I want to play are .avi files.


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## Dignan (Jan 27, 2002)

Jebberwocky! said:


> I tried that but had no success on the 360 - worked with Windows Media Player of the PC but would not work on 360 - any hints?
> 
> I have a WME PC, wired Network and most of the files I want to play are .avi files.


I'm not doing anything special that I am aware of. You have Transcode 360 running on your Windows XP Media Center enabled PC, find the files in your video section from the Media Center display from the Xbox 360 (not the generic Video section). Once you find the file you want to stream you hit Info on your remote, then More, move down to Transcode.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

Dignan said:


> I'm not doing anything special that I am aware of. You have Transcode 360 running on your Windows XP Media Center enabled PC, find the files in your video section from the Media Center display from the Xbox 360 (not the generic Video section). Once you find the file you want to stream you hit Info on your remote, then More, move down to Transcode.


Well that's news to me - I just tried to play the movie - Thanks!!


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## Dignan (Jan 27, 2002)

Jebberwocky! said:


> Well that's news to me - I just tried to play the movie - Thanks!!


Yeah, that last part is kind of crucial.


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

Do you think the average three-year old is really going to be able to follow this thread?


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

jking said:


> I have found a modded xbox (the original) on my network to be the easiest solution for me.


Gotta say, I've been a big proponent of tivoserver, which a lot of people have recommended, in the past. I picked up a modded xbox a couple of weeks ago, though, and I am just blown away with its media capabilities. Definitely the best way to go.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

MickeS said:


> 1. Download and install Azureus (bittorrent client): http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php


What exactly should be downloaded from that page? Jar, Jar Torrent, or Source? What version?


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## BK89 (Oct 11, 2005)

uTorrent is another option (as opposed to Azureus).

http://www.utorrent.com/index.php

Just got to the Download section and download the standalone propgram.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

montag said:


> What exactly should be downloaded from that page? Jar, Jar Torrent, or Source? What version?


Latest Azureus release for Windows. http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/azureus/Azureus_2.5.0.0_Win32.setup.exe?download

/Mike


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Ok, I have Azureus open and went to tvRSS and found the episode that I want. I clicked on the episode title and it ask me what to open it with and I selected Azureus and picked the appropriate destination. Now in my Azureus application it appears to be downloading but is is slooooooow. Like only 2% after 10 minutes. Is this normal?


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

montag said:


> Ok, I have Azureus open and went to tvRSS and found the episode that I want. I clicked on the episode title and it ask me what to open it with and I selected Azureus and picked the appropriate destination. Now in my Azureus application it appears to be downloading but is is slooooooow. Like only 2% after 10 minutes. Is this normal?


Yes, the speed depends on number of seeds and peers, and the speed can often vary greatly. Sometimes it's fast, sometimes it's slow. Normally it takes a couple of hours for a show to download for me.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Cool, thanks.

I just received a pop-up message saying saying something like UPnP disconnected or something like that. It still seems to be downloading so I don't know what that meant.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

ensuring you have the port forwarding on the router setup correctly can impact performance. Also not that the rate at which you allow UPLOAD back into the stream has a significant impact on the rate at which you download.

Remember, too, that these files are very large. It WILL take time. Another thing to remember is that you may not want to give a ton of bandwidth to the bittorrent client if you still want to use your Internet connection working OK for other tasks. Like surfing the net. There is alot of tweaking you can do, limiting upload and download, etc. to achieve the balance you desire.


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## Kablemodem (May 26, 2001)

Port forwarding is very important if you are using a router and you don't get all green lights (lower right corner in Azureus). You will have a NAT problem and your downloads will be painfully slow.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

montag said:


> Cool, thanks.
> 
> I just received a pop-up message saying saying something like UPnP disconnected or something like that. It still seems to be downloading so I don't know what that meant.


http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/UPnP
/Mike


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

jsmeeker said:


> ensuring you have the port forwarding on the router setup correctly can impact performance. Also not that the rate at which you allow UPLOAD back into the stream has a significant impact on the rate at which you download.
> 
> Remember, too, that these files are very large. It WILL take time. Another thing to remember is that you may not want to give a ton of bandwidth to the bittorrent client if you still want to use your Internet connection working OK for other tasks. Like surfing the net. There is alot of tweaking you can do, limiting upload and download, etc. to achieve the balance you desire.


Easiest way to do it: right-click on the speed indicators in the bottom right of the Azureus window (up and down arrows), and select the max upload and DL speed there.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I'm pretty sure you guys have gone WAY past simplest possible terms. 

I'm going to try and set this up tomorrow.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Thanks to all! This torrent stuff is great. I got yesterday's survivor, burned it to a CD-R and just watched it on my tv with the Insignia DVD player. The quality was surprisingly really good. And no commercials? This is great. What else can I download?

Also, anyone streaming to their Xbox 360? I have mine networked can view pics and play music off my PC but the 360 won't recognize any video files. How can I get this to work?


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## Dignan (Jan 27, 2002)

montag said:


> Thanks to all! This torrent stuff is great. I got yesterday's survivor, burned it to a CD-R and just watched it on my tv with the Insignia DVD player. The quality was surprisingly really good. And no commercials? This is great. What else can I download?
> 
> Also, anyone streaming to their Xbox 360? I have mine networked can view pics and play music off my PC but the 360 won't recognize any video files. How can I get this to work?


Are you running Windows Media XP? If so can the 360 at least find them or it just won't play? You need Transcode 360 to stream Divx files, otherwise you can only watch wmv files with Xbox 360.

See my post above about how to watch. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4589233&&#post4589233


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Nope, on have XP Home. Well my laptop is XPMC but the files are stored on a XP Home PC. They are all networked but I don't know if it would work. 

I thought there was a recent dashboard update that allowed video streaming on the 360 even without Media Center.


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## Dignan (Jan 27, 2002)

The update allowed you to watch WMV files without Windows Media Center XP computers but NOT Divx. Transcode 360 is a program that works with WMC only at this point. So until someone comes out with a program to stream divx with plain old windows media connection you are out of luck (you can do it but it's pretty complicated).

Edit: You could use your networked laptop. You would need to share your files from your Home PC and then add the laptop Windows Media Center so it can find and allowed to connect to your 360 (similar to Home PC setup). When you connect to Windows Media Center on your 360 you will be able to transcode the files if you use Transcode 360 on your laptop...

It might be a better idea to just buy some RW disks and play through your DVD player.


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## Kablemodem (May 26, 2001)

YCantAngieRead said:


> I'm pretty sure you guys have gone WAY past simplest possible terms.
> 
> I'm going to try and set this up tomorrow.


Setting it up and using it is very easy. Making it work perfectly can be a little tricky depending on how your computer is set up.


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

Montag,

I have been playing with watching Torrents on my 360. Like you I have XP Home and WMP11.

BAsically, you have to transcode the files before you can watch them, ther eis no current way to do it on the fly.

At first, I found this program, River Past Video Cleaner which costs 29.95. (I could not find any free stuff googling that did not appear to be spyware riddled) Once you install it you can set file to transcode in a number of ways so doing a conversion from the xvid torrents to WMV is easy. However, it does cost $29.95 and it is slow. It took about 3 times longer than real time to transcode some sitcoms for me. You can queue it up and have it run overnight though.

Then, the next day, Joystiq posted a free transcoder and a batch file that allows you do it. Hoffer posted it in the Xbox 360 thread. http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/07/how-to-transcode-and-stream-videos-on-xbox-360/ . Not pre packaged or anything but it works and is much faster than the RiverPast program, doing it in less than real time on my machine, which is a 4 year old P4 2.0 ghz. I did a file both ways and it appears that the quality is pretty similar. I ahve not done a ton of comarison and the particular torrents I used were only DVD quality maybe, but it is worth a try because of its free-ness.


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## DaveBogart (Jan 25, 2002)

YCantAngieRead said:


> I'm pretty sure you guys have gone WAY past simplest possible terms.
> 
> I'm going to try and set this up tomorrow.


Angie, have you had any success with this? I found Mike's insturctions easy enough to understand and actually managed to get a show (The OC) downloaded. But when I tried to watch it all I got was sound. I wonder if maybe that's got something to do with these mysterious CODEC things.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

DaveBogart said:


> Angie, have you had any success with this? I found Mike's insturctions easy enough to understand and actually managed to get a show (The OC) downloaded. But when I tried to watch it all I got was sound. I wonder if maybe that's got something to do with these mysterious CODEC things.


it probably has everything to do with the codec thing. Get Xvid and DivX.


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## Dignan (Jan 27, 2002)

Yeah, do a search for K-Lite codec, it has everything you could ever need.


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## DaveBogart (Jan 25, 2002)

Ah yes. Installed codecs and am now enjoying episode 4 of season 4 of The OC. Thanks for the help, and thanks, Angie, for starting the thread.


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## Vito the TiVo (Oct 27, 2003)

I might be smeeking, but its wise to anonymize in azuereus or use something like Peerguardian so nobody gets in trouble. But the plus side, you dont get sued for tvshows, they just pressure your isp to shut you down.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Vito the TiVo said:


> I might be smeeking, but its wise to anonymize in azuereus or use something like Peerguardian so nobody gets in trouble. But the plus side, you dont get sued for tvshows, they just pressure your isp to shut you down.


How do you do that?

I'm downloading a show right now-I'll let you know if I have an issue, which I'm guessing I will.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Okay, I'm stuck.

It downloaded. Or at least, it shows that it did. 

But I can't figure out how to play it. Any player I use shows nothing in the folder I saved to.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, I'm stuck.
> 
> It downloaded. Or at least, it shows that it did.
> 
> But I can't figure out how to play it. Any player I use shows nothing in the folder I saved to.


Another way to go about it would be to open up Windows Explorer (My Computer), navigate to the folder and double-click the file. If it's a legit media file, whatever your default media player is should open and at least try to play it.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

That's not going to work either-I tried it.

Here's what I see in that file:


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

Ah. that file has been "rar"ed, which is an archive format that splits the file up into many parts. Useful when posting to usenet, not so useful for torrents, but occasionally you'll find one that has been split. You need an unrar program.

http://www.pewtersoftware.com/winunrar.html


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## Fool Me Twice (Jul 6, 2004)

Is there no good free unrar program out there for Windows?


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

JETarpon said:


> Ah. that file has been "rar"ed, which is an archive format that splits the file up into many parts. Useful when posting to usenet, not so useful for torrents, but occasionally you'll find one that has been split. You need an unrar program.
> 
> http://www.pewtersoftware.com/winunrar.html


Damn it.

Didn't work. Gave me an error message.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

Woops. Sorry about that. I use linux so didn't pay close attention to whether it was free or not.

Here's a free one, but it's command line. http://www.rarlab.com/rar/unrarw32.exe


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Actually, it did work. Now I just need to try and open it.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Worked!

From here on out, is there a way to tell if a file has been split up like that?


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

If you are using azureus, when you tell it to open the URL or torrent file, the 'open' window should show you what files are contained in the torrent. If it's just one, it hasn't been split.

When a torrent contains many files, with azureus (and possibly other clients) you can select which files to download if you don't want all of them. With a file that has been rar-ed you want all of them, but if you were downloading a torrent that, say, contained a full season of episodes of a show, you could select which episodes you wanted and it would only download those parts of the torrent. This can be very handy.


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## dtle (Dec 12, 2001)

To convert the files to burn them to DVD so any DVD players can play them, use VSO ConvertXtoDVD. It can convert almost all types of files (including HD) and burn them. It does take awhile for the whole process.

You can buy the program, or you can....errr.....let's just say you can use BT for more than just TV shows.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

Also, I know mininova does this, when you initially click on a torrent file, the download page that it takes you to has a tab called "detailed information" that will usually tell you what files you're going to be getting.

I use a program called IZArc for rar's. It's an all-in-one archive utility kind of like WinZIP. It's not perfect, but works most of the time for me, and it's free.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Lee L said:


> Montag,
> 
> I have been playing with watching Torrents on my 360. Like you I have XP Home and WMP11.
> 
> ...


Lee thanks for the info and great Joystiq link! I'll set this up today.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

jking said:


> Another vote for uTorrent. But don't let the clients confuse you. You might like one client's interface better, or it might seem like one works for you better than another, but at the end of the day, the process is still the same.
> 
> 1. Install client of choice
> 2. Find torrents online
> ...


Another vote for uTorrent.

Download the K-lite Mega Codec Pack. It will have everything you need to watch downloaded shows.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm

Or you can buy a DIVX-certified DVD player for under $75. (oops, I see I smeeked the smeeker!)

Then copy (no encoding, transcoding, converting, etc) the AVI file to a CDRW (yes, it should fit on a CD) and play it on your TV with the DIVX player.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

David Platt said:


> Gotta say, I've been a big proponent of tivoserver, which a lot of people have recommended, in the past. I picked up a modded xbox a couple of weeks ago, though, and I am just blown away with its media capabilities. Definitely the best way to go.


What would one look for in a modded XBOX to watch downloaded shows on TV? I have never owned any game system (since the Atari 2600).


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## bicker (Nov 9, 2003)

markz said:


> Download the K-lite Mega Codec Pack. It will have everything you need to watch downloaded shows.


Everything? My experience is that with a lot of this stuff I don't get Closed Captions. It often is different on different computers.... I'm thinking maybe it has to do with which codecs are being used. Is there a way to see which are being used in each computer, and make changes so that the "right" one is being used?


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

bicker said:


> Everything? My experience is that with a lot of this stuff I don't get Closed Captions. It often is different on different computers.... I'm thinking maybe it has to do with which codecs are being used. Is there a way to see which are being used in each computer, and make changes so that the "right" one is being used?


I am not familiar with close captioning so I won't be of much help.

I think the GSpot program that jsmeeker suggested will let you see what codecs you need. The program is installed by the mega codec pack I linked to. The link also shows you what all is installed by it.

There are also non-"mega" packs available at that site if you don't need all the capabilities.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm

I haven't messed with any of the tools that pack installs. I just installed it on someone's recommendation (I think on TCF) and haven't had any problem playing anything since. It was a simple way to play almost any AV file.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

bicker said:


> Everything? My experience is that with a lot of this stuff I don't get Closed Captions. It often is different on different computers.... I'm thinking maybe it has to do with which codecs are being used. Is there a way to see which are being used in each computer, and make changes so that the "right" one is being used?


I wasn't aware that the CC data was encoded in the bit torrent files. I assumed that it wasn't because it's never worked when I've transferred shows to my TiVo for viewing there, but I suppose it's possible that the CC data is there and that that if you watch it on your computer and have the right program to decode and display them, it could work.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

So, can someone now explain peerguardian to me? I've downloaded it, I am just not sure what to do now.


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

markz said:


> What would one look for in a modded XBOX to watch downloaded shows on TV? I have never owned any game system (since the Atari 2600).


The main mod that you would want is called Xbox Media Center-- it's basically an OS that replaces the standard Microsoft one. With it, you can access any media files from your computer. It's played any file type I've tried to throw at it-- I even have a couple of live concerts downloaded as a single long MP3 with a cue sheet in the same folder to split it up into individual songs, and the Xbox properly split it up on its own and played the individual songs.


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## montag (Mar 10, 2001)

Is downloading torrents dangerous in terms of computer virus (viruses, viri, virii, etc...)? My PC has been opening apps and just generally operating much more sluggishly since downloading a Survivor episode from tvrss. 

As a matter of fact, AVG 7.5 detected and quarantined a virus yesterday. I think I've only every had one other virus is all of my years using any PC. Also, Windows Defender identified and deleted spyware. In the year or so using Defender, it has never identified spyware on my PC. Coincidence?


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

montag said:


> Is downloading torrents dangerous in terms of computer virus (viruses, viri, virii, etc...)? My PC has been opening apps and just generally operating much more sluggishly since downloading a Survivor episode from tvrss.
> 
> As a matter of fact, AVG 7.5 detected and quarantined a virus yesterday. I think I've only every had one other virus is all of my years using any PC. Also, Windows Defender identified and deleted spyware. In the year or so using Defender, it has never identified spyware on my PC. Coincidence?


Depends what you are downloading. As someone alluded to earlier in this thread, TV shows aren't the only thing you can download from torrents. If you are downloading programs, you could get a virus or spyware.

If you are strictly downloading AVI files (tv shows & movies) I don't think you can get a virus from them. Same goes for MP3's.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

montag said:


> Is downloading torrents dangerous in terms of computer virus (viruses, viri, virii, etc...)? My PC has been opening apps and just generally operating much more sluggishly since downloading a Survivor episode from tvrss.
> 
> As a matter of fact, AVG 7.5 detected and quarantined a virus yesterday. I think I've only every had one other virus is all of my years using any PC. Also, Windows Defender identified and deleted spyware. In the year or so using Defender, it has never identified spyware on my PC. Coincidence?


I've never had any problems with virus or spyware related to torrents.


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

David Platt said:


> Gotta say, I've been a big proponent of tivoserver, which a lot of people have recommended, in the past. I picked up a modded xbox a couple of weeks ago, though, and I am just blown away with its media capabilities. Definitely the best way to go.


Where are some good places to learn about this? Don't care about games, at all, but would like to look into the xbox for the media capabilities you describe. My initial searches are turning up massive amounts of info on game-oriented mods.


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> So, can someone now explain peerguardian to me? I've downloaded it, I am just not sure what to do now.


PG is a specialized firewall that is constantly updated with the IP addresses that are known as scanners. What PG is attempting to do is block the people who you don't want to know you are downloading/uploading stuff from getting your IP address.

When you run it the first time it asks you what you want to block/filter, right?

I only put a checkmark in the P2P. One of the other ones is adware I think and something else.

There's also a box in the options for something like:

Always allow HTTP on port 80, or something like that. I have a checkmark in that as well because PG could block you from getting to some websites if you leave it empty.

Other than that just keep it updated.

Over the years I've gotten hit with 5-7 warning emails from my ISP that the RIAA/MPAA had sent to them regarding activity on my IP address.

Since I started using PG? None.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Ah. My problem was that I downloaded a "lite" version.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

Redux said:


> Where are some good places to learn about this? Don't care about games, at all, but would like to look into the xbox for the media capabilities you describe. My initial searches are turning up massive amounts of info on game-oriented mods.


+1 I am in the exact same boat. I don't care a bit about the games, but am interested in the AV aspect. Please share your knowledge with us Mr Platt (or anyone else)!


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

markz said:


> +1 I am in the exact same boat. I don't care a bit about the games, but am interested in the AV aspect. Please share your knowledge with us Mr Platt (or anyone else)!


A good place to find out more is xbox-scene.com. Gaming mods and AV mods are the same thing. Once you mod the Xbox, you have the capability to use it for both.


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

markz said:


> +1 I am in the exact same boat. I don't care a bit about the games, but am interested in the AV aspect. Please share your knowledge with us Mr Platt (or anyone else)!


Sorry I can't really help you out much-- I took the easy way out. 

I bought the Xbox on craigslist, then found somebody else on craigslist who would hack it for $60. Hopefully somebody else can post some good info!


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## cmontyburns (Nov 14, 2001)

YCantAngieRead said:


> So, can someone now explain peerguardian to me? I've downloaded it, I am just not sure what to do now.


It's worth pointing out that unless you plan to become a serial user of BitTorrent and/or doing high volume in copyrighted content, you're not likely to find PG of much value. Your needle is just too small and the haystack just too big. Especially worth thinking about since PG has itself been accused in the past of not being entirely innocuous software ("phoning home" and other questionable behaviors).

Incidentally, this is a very Windows-centric thread (which is fine, since the OP is a Windows user). For any Mac users out there who are BT-curious, though, here's a digest of what you'll need.

BT client: Try Transmission (free; I'd recommend trying the current Beta release 0.7), XTorrent (free while in Beta), or Bits on Wheels (free). 
Video player: Try VLC.
If you get a RAR file: Stuffit Expander (free; your Mac may already have it)

Enjoy.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Okay, I have a new question. Things download, but it's very slow and I get the yellow/orange face all the time (in Azureus.) How do I go about troubleshooting that?


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## TBDigital (Mar 14, 2002)

How are you connecting to the internet? What is your network setup (router, firewall, os)? What kind of speeds do you see from online speed tests?


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

What does it say at the bottom center of your Azureus window about NAT. Does it say "NAT OK"?


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

JETarpon said:


> What does it say at the bottom center of your Azureus window about NAT. Does it say "NAT OK"?


This is what I see.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

TBDigital said:


> How are you connecting to the internet? What is your network setup (router, firewall, os)? What kind of speeds do you see from online speed tests?


Oh. Also. I have a Westell router, Windows XP.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

JETarpon said:


> What does it say at the bottom center of your Azureus window about NAT. Does it say "NAT OK"?


It now says firewalled.


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

You may have NAT disabled. Somewhere in your router setup (on mine it's /Setup/Advance Routing/) you should have a choice of enabled/disabled.

It's also good to verify port 6881 is open.

Keep in mind that even when all this is done, speed will greatly depend on how many seeders there are and/or with peers that have segments of the file you need. And the speed and quality of those sources.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Angie, in Azureus, go to the menu item "Tools / Options" than click on the "Connection" item on the left. In the right-hand pane are two items... "Incoming TCP listen port" and "UDP listen port". First thing, set them to a port other than the standard Bittorrent default. Something in the high ranges. I use "49152" for both.

Now from another computer on the internet, such as having a friend/someone you know do this from their internet connection, open a command prompt window and try connecting to that port using telnet... the command "telnet a.b.c.d 49152" where "a.b.c.d" is your public IP address (you can find that at www.whatismyip.com) and "49152" is the port you specify in Azureus.

If they connect to it the command prompt window will clear and the cursor will blink like it's waiting. If it doesn't connect, you'll get some sort of error message. If the window clears, then Azureus should be connecting fine to anyone. If you get an error, then you have to figure out what else you need to configure properly on your system. Most likely it will either be a Windows Firewall (or other software firewall) item to configure, or something in your cable/DSL modem/router. If you provide the specific make/model of your modem or router we can help you with specific info for it. But generally speaking, there'll be a place you can configure "port forwarding" where traffic on a port (specifically TCP/IP and UDP port 49152 or whatever you chose as above) is forwarded from the public IP address to the IP address you've assigned to the computer running Azureus. Similarly in the Windows Firewall or other software firewall you need to permit unrestricted incoming traffic on that port, too.

The reason to use a non-standard port is that some ISPs actually just try to block or restrict flow on commonly used peer-to-peer ports.

Another thing that Azureus can do is encrypt traffic so that ISPs using fancier routing equipment that actually looks at the data to decide to throttle some kinds of traffic won't be able to identify P2P traffic... on the same Tools / Options page, go to "Connection / Transport Encryption" and check the first 3 of the 4 checkboxes. That'll force Azureus to use encrypted conenctions when it can, but will still fall back to unencrypted ones. That can help bypass restrictive ISPs.


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## tirofiban (Feb 15, 2003)

I use bit torrent to dl my favorite UK shows. But, I don't know what program I'm using and I never installed it.

That's because I use Ubuntu as my operating system. It's totally free and comes preloaded with bit torrent and lot's of other great software. Since day 1, I just click on a torrent link and my computer does the rest. When I installed Ubuntu, I used a program called Automatix to install every codec there is.

My dusty old P4 Dell desktop was dug up from the basement and thanks to Ubuntu, I get to watch my favorite UK shows on a timely basis. If you have an older spare computer lying around, consider making it your dedicated torrent computer with Ubuntu. It's really easy.

I also have a portable DIVX DVD player and regular DIVX DVD player. They play most, but not all of my torrents.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

tirofiban said:


> I use bit torrent to dl my favorite UK shows. But, I don't know what program I'm using and I never installed it.
> 
> That's because I use Ubuntu as my operating system. It's totally free and comes preloaded with bit torrent and lot's of other great software. Since day 1, I just click on a torrent link and my computer does the rest. When I installed Ubuntu, I used a program called Automatix to install every codec there is.
> 
> ...


Is Ubuntu installed on your hard drive, or are you running it from a live CD? Where did you get it?


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

If I've installed Azureus into OS X and don't want it anymore, how do I get rid of it? Is it leaving my iMac open to the Internet?


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

Graymalkin said:


> If I've installed Azureus into OS X and don't want it anymore, how do I get rid of it? Is it leaving my iMac open to the Internet?


If it's not running and doesn't have a torrent going, no.

Just get rid of it like pretty much every other OS X app. Put it in the trash.


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

Graymalkin said:


> If I've installed Azureus into OS X and don't want it anymore, how do I get rid of it? Is it leaving my iMac open to the Internet?


If you were really concerned about it, you could run something like CleanApp, then set your router back to factory settings (having written down any changes you have made for other purposes so you can re-make them).


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Redux said:


> You may have NAT disabled. Somewhere in your router setup (on mine it's /Setup/Advance Routing/) you should have a choice of enabled/disabled.
> 
> It's also good to verify port 6881 is open.
> 
> Keep in mind that even when all this is done, speed will greatly depend on how many seeders there are and/or with peers that have segments of the file you need. And the speed and quality of those sources.


Okay, take a step back here for a second.

I have NO idea how to get to router setup. Help?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, take a step back here for a second.
> 
> I have NO idea how to get to router setup. Help?


Open the manual to your router and read the instructions. Did you ever set it up? Or did you think it was a plug-in-and-go device requiring no configuration?


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, take a step back here for a second.
> 
> I have NO idea how to get to router setup. Help?


Find your router and then click on Auzereus

http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, take a step back here for a second.
> 
> I have NO idea how to get to router setup. Help?


you *probably* just open a browser to http://192.168.1.1

You probably have a passsword. Maybe a user name, too. Could still be a default


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

Once you get into your router, if you can find a place to turn on UPnP, you can turn on that, and then turn on UPnP in Azureus (I think it's under plugins) and it will automatically configure your router for the required ports.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

dswallow said:


> Open the manual to your router and read the instructions. Did you ever set it up? Or did you think it was a plug-in-and-go device requiring no configuration?


Pretty much. Plus it didn't come with a manual. 

ETA: I didn't worry too much about securing it and all, because we are literally surrounded by really, REALLY old people here at our house.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

I think we have all learned from this thread (and the other one) that there's no such thing as a "simple" explanation when it comes to torrents.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

cherry ghost said:


> Find your router and then click on Auzereus
> 
> http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm


Wow. This is a VERY helpful website.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I think once I get this port thing down, I'm probably going to have to set up a new thread about routers. I'm sort of embarrassed I didn't know all this.


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## jking (Mar 23, 2005)

YCantAngieRead said:


> I think once I get this port thing down, I'm probably going to have to set up a new thread about routers. I'm sort of embarrassed I didn't know all this.


Absolutely no need to be embarrassed. Who the heck has time for all of this? You buy a router, it's plug and play... why take the time to learn about it until you need to? No one here was born with the knowledge. We all had to learn at some point.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> I think once I get this port thing down, I'm probably going to have to set up a new thread about routers. I'm sort of embarrassed I didn't know all this.


We'll be looking for that in 2008.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> you *probably* just open a browser to http://192.168.1.1
> 
> You probably have a passsword. Maybe a user name, too. Could still be a default


Okay, I'm stuck here. I tried admin/admin, and it didn't work. Help?


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, I'm stuck here. I tried admin/admin, and it didn't work. Help?


admin/<blank>
or admin/password
seem to normally work.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Sometimes a blank username and "admin" for the password.

Though this will be in the manual. 

Here's a list of default router passwords by model: http://www.phenoelit.de/dpl/dpl.html


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

I found the password, but now I'm completely stumped. I think I'm just going to have to go with what I have.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> I found the password, but now I'm completely stumped. I think I'm just going to have to go with what I have.


We've gone this far; you are hereby notified that you must continue even if it goes painfully slowly for everyone. We will solve this. 

Screen captures would help.

Or you could let one of us connect to you directly via Windows XP's Remote Assistance feature and do it for you while you watch.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

dswallow said:


> We've gone this far; you are hereby notified that you must continue even if it goes painfully slowly for everyone. We will solve this.
> 
> Screen captures would help.
> 
> Or you could let one of us connect to you directly via Windows XP's Remote Assistance feature and do it for you while you watch.


Ha. That'd be fun. Maybe I'll have to try that at some point.

Let me get some screen shots.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

This is what I get when I go to http://192.168.1.1...

I'm including two photos-one of what I see when I open it, and one of the options on the pull down menu. Please let me know if you need to see something else.


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## josh4040 (Jul 8, 2001)

Thanks for the thread angie! Just this afternoon a coworker was telling me to use bit torrent and I said nah I cant figure that sh*t out. I get home log on to the faithful tivo forum and there it is! No I can get all the stuff I want. Thanks tc


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

josh4040 said:


> Thanks for the thread angie! Just this afternoon a coworker was telling me to use bit torrent and I said nah I cant figure that sh*t out. I get home log on to the faithful tivo forum and there it is! No I can get all the stuff I want. Thanks tc


Me too, just slowly.  It's not something I'll use a lot-we have two TiVos, so we're okay on that front. But occasionally things get missed-this evening I missed Criminal Intent because I forgot to check the TiVo, for example.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

It'll be helpful to have the model number and full part number of your modem so I can make sure to use the right manual, but using one that seems to match up with your screen captures, I found this: http://www.westell.com/content/sales/vlg_userguide.pdf

This is described on page 59/60:

First, go to Configuration / Services. If the UPNP checkbox isn't checked already, check it and then save your configuration and reboot the router when prompted and try Azureus (there's a corresponding UPNP option in Azureus you also need to enable... we talked about it here earlier); if nothing changes, follow the rest of these instructions to manually port forward the proper ports.

Specifically look on page 127 at port forwarding.

1) You'll go to Configuration / Services then click on the "Define custom services" button.
2) Select "Port forwarding ranges of ports" and press "next"
3) Enter a descriptive name like "Bittorrent" in the "service name" field; enter the port number you've configured in Azureus in both fields of the "Global Port Range" items as well as the "Base Host Port" field; check TCP/IP; press "next"
4) Press the "add" button and repeat these steps but selecting "UDP" instead of TCP/IP (in other words, we're creating two otherwise identical entries, one for TCP/IP ports and one for UDP ports. You can give each a unique name (like "Bittorrent UDP" and "Bittorent TCP/IP" if you prefer.
5) After adding both, press "close" to accept the changes you made.

The following is described beginning on page 66:

Now on the Configuration / Services page you need to select each of the 2 services you added click on the "enable" button; a window will pop up asking "Host service?" where you should click on OK. Then you'll get another window where you select your computer from the drop-down box labeled "host device" (or enter the private IP address of it in the IP Address box -- if your PC is configured for DHCP you should select from the Host Device drop-down); then click Done. Repeat this for the second Bittorrent service you added.

That should do it. Let us know how it goes and if you have any troubles following this, just ask. Again, the specific model as you choose on this page will help us: http://www.westell.com/pages/support/dropdown.jsp


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Downloading by way of torrents was a time consuming and painful experience until I found out about port forwarding (on this forum) and spent a couple of hours monkeying around with settings on Azureus and my router. Once I got it right, my download speed increased dramatically.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

dswallow said:


> It'll be helpful to have the model number and full part number of your modem so I can make sure to use the right manual, but using one that seems to match up with your screen captures, I found this: http://www.westell.com/content/sales/vlg_userguide.pdf
> 
> This is described on page 59/60:
> 
> ...


Okay, I've finished all this, and this is what I've gotten with Azureus:


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Nevermind, I figured out the issue.

ETA: I think I have everything figured out. NAT appears fine, but I don't think it's downloading any speedier. Go figure. 


Wait a second, though. Should I start a new thread on what a person should do when getting a router? I mean, the stuff I should have done anyway?


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Oh, and... 

Can I save the files to CDR and replay by transferring back to the computer, should I find something I want to save? I don't have a DVDR with this computer.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

One tip for you Angie. You can set your share ratio and have it stop automatically after that. I have mine set for 2.0, which means that after I've uploaded twice as much data as I received for that particular torrent, I stop sharing. I figure that's more than fair, since I'm giving twice as much as I'm receiving, and it doesn't keep me connected and sharing forever. Looking at your screenshot, it appears you've shared many of your files 4+ times, one of them nearly 8 times. You are free to do that, but I don't think there's any reason to.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Oh, and...
> 
> Can I save the files to CDR and replay by transferring back to the computer, should I find something I want to save? I don't have a DVDR with this computer.


Yes, the files are (usually) simply .avi files and can be saved very easily on a CD-R. Keep in mind that most hour-long shows are about 700 MB so you wouldn't be able to fit more than one show per disc, but it can definitely be done.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

devdogaz said:


> Yes, the files are (usually) simply .avi files and can be saved very easily on a CD-R. Keep in mind that most hour-long shows are about 700 MB so you wouldn't be able to fit more than one show per disc, but it can definitely be done.


Actually, most hour long shows (with commercials removed) are 350MB and you can fit two of them on one CDR.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

devdogaz said:


> Yes, the files are (usually) simply .avi files and can be saved very easily on a CD-R. Keep in mind that most hour-long shows are about 700 MB so you wouldn't be able to fit more than one show per disc, but it can definitely be done.


And if you have a DIVX-certified DVD player (less than $75) you can watch those AVI's right on your TV.

Instead of CDR's, I burn them to CDRW's. Then I can watch them, erase, them, and use them again and again!


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

What do I need to play most of the TV show files on Mac OS X?
Can I straight burn them to CD and my late model DVD player will probably be able to play them?


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

wdave said:


> What do I need to play most of the TV show files on Mac OS X?
> Can I straight burn them to CD and my late model DVD player will probably be able to play them?


Well neither of those worked. I downloaded the pilot episode of Heroes, which is in some type of avi format. Neither Quicktime, nor my 1 year old DVD player knows how to play it. Any pointers on either front?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

wdave said:


> What do I need to play most of the TV show files on Mac OS X?
> Can I straight burn them to CD and my late model DVD player will probably be able to play them?


You need to install the DivX codec from www.divx.com. Amongst the download options is a free player/codec. Then you can just use Windows Media Player. If you want to play it on your DVD player, you need one that's DivX comaptible or you need to convert it to a standard DVD using some software (and having the DivX codec installed on your computer).


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## cmontyburns (Nov 14, 2001)

wdave said:


> Well neither of those worked. I downloaded the pilot episode of Heroes, which is in some type of avi format. Neither Quicktime, nor my 1 year old DVD player knows how to play it. Any pointers on either front?


I posted some Mac pointers earlier in this thread, here. Should tell you what you need on the Mac side. See Doug's post, above, for the DVD player side.



dswallow said:


> You need to install the DivX codec from www.divx.com. Amongst the download options is a free player/codec. Then you can just use Windows Media Player.


WMP on Mac OS X is a fairly poor app (plus, MS has discontinued it), so I'd recommend either of the apps I linked to in my post referenced above over it (no codec install needed). As an aside, the DivX player was fairly unstable in its early OS X releases (no idea how the current release performs), so it may not yield the best experience either.


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

cmontyburns said:


> I posted some Mac pointers earlier in this thread, here. Should tell you what you need on the Mac side. See Doug's post, above, for the DVD player side.


Thanks! Somehow I missed your earlier post. The VLC player seems to work great on Mac OS X, even with the HR HDTV files with AC3 sound.

Now to tackle the DVD player route. Can anyone suggest a player, assuming I'm willing to go that route to get this working on my big TV? Also, any chance the PS3 can play these files off a burned DVD and output in HD? I haven't bought one yet, but it's on my tobuy list.

My ultimate goal is to be able to play the HR HDTV files in HD on my big set.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

wdave said:


> Thanks! Somehow I missed your earlier post. The VLC player seems to work great on Mac OS X, even with the HR HDTV files with AC3 sound.
> 
> Now to tackle the DVD player route. Can anyone suggest a player, assuming I'm willing to go that route to get this working on my big TV? Also, any chance the PS3 can play these files off a burned DVD and output in HD? I haven't bought one yet, but it's on my tobuy list.
> 
> My ultimate goal is to be able to play the HR HDTV files in HD on my big set.


Any Divx-certified player should play most AVI files. Mine is in my signature. I think I paid about $55 delivered from Amazon IIRC.

ETA: Oops. Won't play AVI's in HD. I don't know if there is an HD DIVX-certified player yet. Probably.


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

Thanks, markz. So that's my next question...

What DVD players will play the HR HDTV divx files in HD and AC3 to its component video and digital audio outputs?

Anyone know if the Oppo player will? Any other cheaper options that will? And what about the PS3?

(I'm still researching, but thought I'd ask here if anyone knows some of these answers)


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

wdave said:


> What DVD players will play the HR HDTV divx files in HD and AC3 to its component video and digital audio outputs?


http://www.divx.com/products/hw/browse.php?c=7


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

Thanks, Doug. I missed that link on divx's website. I need to slow down and pay more attention as I surf and read. That's twice now I've missed important content due to my carelessness.

Wow, some of those players will play the divx file directly off a networked PC (or Mac!). No burning to DVD required.

Something tells me we're on the cusp of lots of differnet consumer electronics that have this capability, with these DVD players, gaming consoles, and Apple's upcoming iTV only the beginning.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

wdave said:


> Wow, some of those players will play the divx file directly off a networked PC (or Mac!). No burning to DVD required.


According to http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/AVLP2_SW.php#SW the LinkPlayer2 can even play TiVo content from *.ty files on the PC.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

I picked up the LinkPlayer2 at CompUSA today to see just how well it works in practice.


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

Great. Please report back. I see it's available from www.macmall.com for $201. I may do it if your report is favorable.


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

The LinkPlayer2 has been out for about 2 years now, with lots of software updates keeping it fairly current (straight to the player over the net via a menu choice!). My research today has also turned up a new device, the Ziova CS505, which also looks interesting, but I can't find a price anywhere.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

wdave said:


> I can't find a price anywhere.


http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=10417


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

While I await Doug's review of the Linkplayer2...

Can I hook up a Mac Mini via DVI to my HDTV (using the TV as a monitor), and watch my HD torrents that way? Any aspect ratio issues? Any dangers to the TV or Mac with such a connection? Using the Mac Mini would seem a convenient short term solution. If watching HD torrents becomes habit, only then would I need to invest in a LinkPlayer2 or similar box.


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## cmontyburns (Nov 14, 2001)

wdave said:


> Can I hook up a Mac Mini via DVI to my HDTV (using the TV as a monitor), and watch my HD torrents that way? Any aspect ratio issues? Any dangers to the TV or Mac with such a connection? Using the Mac Mini would seem a convenient short term solution. If watching HD torrents becomes habit, only then would I need to invest in a LinkPlayer2 or similar box.


Yes you can, although it may take a bit of tweaking depending on what connections your TV offers and a few other variables. _Macworld_ has covered this quite a bit; head there and search for "Mac mini HDTV" and you should find several articles. Here's one that should be useful.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

wdave said:


> While I await Doug's review of the Linkplayer2...


It was gonna be a piss poor review including a next-day return to CompUSA until I found third party server software that was far, far better. It's now earned a reprieve through the weekend to see whether or not I like it. More later.


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## wdave (Jul 16, 2000)

Update on using the Mac Mini for viewing HD torrents on my big screen HDTV...

It's awesome! I gotta give it to Apple. The Mac Mini is itself already a media center PC out of the box. All I had to do was add the divx codec for Quicktime and I was all set. I hooked it up to my HDTV via the DVI output to my TVs HDMI input. For now I'm feeding the audio via USB to the USB audio input on my AV Receiver. I think I need a special cable for the digital audio output jack on the Mac Mini. That will then give me Dolby Digital.

The Mac booted right into 720p intelligently. The Monitors setting also showed a specific entry for 1080i, so it seemed to know what my TV was capable of and gave me the right options. It also came up in overscan mode, so it also seemed to know it was a TV intended for video output rather than a computer monitor.

I pressed the Menu button on the remote that comes with the Mac Mini, and Front Row came right up. I used the remote to navigate to Movies, and chose one of my HD torrent files, and it just worked. The HD torrent video was quite impressive. There's occasional compression artifacts noticeable from the higher divx compression used for these torrent files, but it still looks great, and certainly better than DVD quality. Front Row is also network aware and provides a menu choice for all the movie trailers on Apple's website, which played great also.

The only tricky part was calibrating the monitor/computer for color, contrast, etc. I went through Apple's ColorSync calibration process and wasn't completely satisfied with the results -- as a photographer, I'm picky! I got out my monitor calibration hardware and did a calibration with the TV as the monitor, and created a new ColorSync profile for my TV on the Mac Mini. Ahh, much better, even better than a Video Essentials calibration, I think, since it's hardware calibrated perfect.

This has turned into more of a Mac Mini review, but based on this experience, I think Apple will have a hit on their hands with their upcoming iTV product.


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

devdogaz said:


> One tip for you Angie. You can set your share ratio and have it stop automatically after that. I have mine set for 2.0, which means that after I've uploaded twice as much data as I received for that particular torrent, I stop sharing..


I have looked all over in Azureus for this option and I for the life of me can't find it. I swear I have seen it before.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Markman07 said:


> I have looked all over in Azureus for this option and I for the life of me can't find it. I swear I have seen it before.


I had to look for it too. 

Tools, Options, Queue, Seeding, Ignore Rules

In the box next to "Ignore torrents that have a share ratio of ____ :1" I put 2.0, but you could put anything you want there. It works well, just stops seeding and puts it back in the queue once the ratio is reached.


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## kbohip (Dec 30, 2003)

I use uTorrent and like it a lot. I've tried Azereus and just didn't like it as much. I play back my Divx avi's on a Toshiba DVD player that plays Divx files. I love being able to just burn a data dvd and pop it in the player.

I also put shows on my Creative Zen Vision W. They turn out great on it and I can then watch my shows whenever and wherever I want :up:. It even has a tv output so I can use it like a tiny DVD player. I like it a lot more than the video Ipods because of the much greater amount of codecs it supports, plus the screen is much better.

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=210&subcategory=211&product=15752


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Okay, I broke something. 

I uninstalled some stuff yesterday, and now when I open anything I downloaded, I get sound, but now picture.

One of the things I uninstalled was DivX. Is that the problem?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, I broke something.
> 
> I uninstalled some stuff yesterday, and now when I open anything I downloaded, I get sound, but now picture.
> 
> One of the things I uninstalled was DivX. Is that the problem?


Yes. DivX is the primary video codec that you'll find used amongst downloadable videos/movies. You need it.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

dswallow said:


> Yes. DivX is the primary video codec that you'll find used amongst downloadable videos/movies. You need it.


I learned that. 

Not sure what I was thinking when I deleted it.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Hey guys.

I wanted to give an extra thanks to everyone who helped me figure this out. We've been without cable since Thursday and I'm not expecting it back any time soon, thanks to an inch of ice that we got Thursday night.

I am SO glad you stuck with me. I can now download Studio 60 and Ugly Betty.


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## sptnut (Sep 1, 2003)

Well I've tried to follow the instructions without much luck so far. Most of the time when I lookup a show on on www.tvrss.net or www.mininova.org, the show is listed but once i click on it says torrent doesn't exist. Why would it be listed if it doesnt exist.

Second problem, when I find a link, I get an error message when it tries to start download (see screenshot attachment). What am I missing?


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

If you're getting a "Torrent doesn't exist" message on mininova, it's either been taken down or moved. This happens regularly as the torrents get older and don't have anyone up/downloading them anymore. If it's a recent show, you shouldn't have any problems. If it's older than a few weeks, YMMV.

As for the error you're getting, it looks like you saved the file and then tried to open it. You shouldn't do that. When you click on the link in the browser, it will bring up the dialogue box to Open, Save, Cancel. Choose Open, and then it will automatically open Azureus and start downloading.


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## sptnut (Sep 1, 2003)

devdogaz said:


> As for the error you're getting, it looks like you saved the file and then tried to open it. You shouldn't do that. When you click on the link in the browser, it will bring up the dialogue box to Open, Save, Cancel. Choose Open, and then it will automatically open Azureus and start downloading.


This isn't the problem, I am selecting Open. I still get the error message.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Is there any place where older torrents are more common?


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Is there any place where older torrents are more common?


The nature of torrents is that it takes a large population of people to be both down/uploading them at the same time. As a show gets further from its original air date, it's less and less likely that there's a large population of people out there looking to acquire it. Therefore, I doubt there's some site or community where older torrents are more popular, simply because the older the show is, the less likely it is that there are people looking for it. you also run into the problem that even if there are people looking for it, there aren't a lot of people who have it already that are still uploading it. This is why you'll occasionally get a torrent that stalls out at a level somewhere under 100%. It's because all the people sharing the file have that same 75% (or whatever amount) and nobody has the pieces needed for everyone to complete it.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

sptnut said:


> This isn't the problem, I am selecting Open. I still get the error message.


What is that "Open Torrents" dialog box that's under the error message? I've never seen that. Perhaps it has something to do with that.

Have you had them work before and this is something that's just started happening?


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## sptnut (Sep 1, 2003)

devdogaz said:


> What is that "Open Torrents" dialog box that's under the error message? I've never seen that. Perhaps it has something to do with that.
> 
> Have you had them work before and this is something that's just started happening?


I don't know what it is, it just automatically opened up. I've never used torrents before, just something i thought i would try when i saw this thread. Not having much luck so far.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

sptnut said:


> Well I've tried to follow the instructions without much luck so far. Most of the time when I lookup a show on on www.tvrss.net or www.mininova.org, the show is listed but once i click on it says torrent doesn't exist. Why would it be listed if it doesnt exist.
> 
> Second problem, when I find a link, I get an error message when it tries to start download (see screenshot attachment). What am I missing?


That's very odd behavior. Did anything strange happen when you went through the installation of Azureus?

From within Azureus, go to Tools / Options, then click on Interface. At the bottom of the window is a button labeled "Reset" that will reset Windows Explorer file associations; press that and see if then that helps.

If you still experience trouble, save the *.torrent file onto your hard drive and then try to open it directly from within Azureus using the File / Open / Torrent File... option.

If the program is listed on mininova.org, there's always a torrent file; there might be no seeders with the content being shared, but there's always a torrent file. So there's something odd in your configuration we need to track down.

Do you have anything meant to "protect" you such as internet security or download manager programs installed that might interfere with normal download links in Internet Explorer?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Is there any place where older torrents are more common?


For TV Shows, you'll find a huge archive of older stuff, especially full season collections, at www.tvtorrents.com; but you will need to do a little extra work to activate an account there; you can't download anything with a new account. You'll have to find an identical file somewhere else, download it, then start sharing it via tvtorrents.com, then you can start downloading. They make you go through a few hoops to prevent leechers from leeching. It's easy enough to do, just using a current show; you can download it via mininova or isohunt, etc., then start sharing it via tvtorrents. You'll just need to look at file sizes and full names initially to find something that's in both places.


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## Mabes (Jan 12, 2001)

dswallow said:


> For TV Shows, you'll find a huge archive of older stuff, especially full season collections, at www.tvtorrents.com; but you will need to do a little extra work to activate an account there; you can't download anything with a new account. You'll have to find an identical file somewhere else, download it, then start sharing it via tvtorrents.com, then you can start downloading. They make you go through a few hoops to prevent leechers from leeching. It's easy enough to do, just using a current show; you can download it via mininova or isohunt, etc., then start sharing it via tvtorrents. You'll just need to look at file sizes and full names initially to find something that's in both places.


That's a good tip. I know those other sites but I'll have to _investigate_ this one, maybe do a little _eavesdropping_ on the board. Maybe that way I can find a good quality version of a certain first season. I have one now but it's not very good.

I don't understand the last sentence, though. Why do you need to find the file in both places if you are going to get it from, say, iso and upload to tvtorrents?

edit - I get it now, you actually want it to be the same, that way you are helping others. I was thinking you had to contribute something new.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Mabes said:


> edit - I get it now, you actually want it to be the same, that way you are helping others. I was thinking you had to contribute something new.


You got it; they want you to help seed an existing torrent; their tracker is private, but many of the files -- especially current episodes -- exist elsewhere via other trackers/torrents, too.


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## catcard (Mar 2, 2001)

OK so if I do NOT have a router, I can follow these steps:

1. Install client of choice
2. Find torrents online
3. Download torrent (which should open your client of choice)
4. Pick folder on your computer to save the media file to
5. Download / install codecs

I don't need to do anything about a port if I don't have a router?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

catcard said:


> OK so if I do NOT have a router, I can follow these steps:
> 
> 1. Install client of choice
> 2. Find torrents online
> ...


As long as you have nothing blocking the port such as a software firewall, you should be OK.


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## catcard (Mar 2, 2001)

Cool! Thanks!
I will try to set this up tonite!


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## Mabes (Jan 12, 2001)

Well it's not working for me. It's been running all night and nobody has uploaded anything. Now there is a message "Announce too fast. Just wait and this will resolve itself." Hasn't resolved itself all night. It's probably some NAT thing. Don't understand it because I am able to upload on other sites.


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

dswallow said:


> For TV Shows, you'll find a huge archive of older stuff, especially full season collections, at www.tvtorrents.com; but you will need to do a little extra work to activate an account there; you can't download anything with a new account. You'll have to find an identical file somewhere else, download it, then start sharing it via tvtorrents.com, then you can start downloading. They make you go through a few hoops to prevent leechers from leeching. It's easy enough to do, just using a current show; you can download it via mininova or isohunt, etc., then start sharing it via tvtorrents. You'll just need to look at file sizes and full names initially to find something that's in both places.


Just wanted to say thanks for the concise explanation, Doug. I'd heard of tvtorrents before, but never bothered looking into it too much since it sounded too complicated to get into for me, even though I get stuff from other torrent sites all the time. With your explanation, though, I'm already up and going on it. I can't believe the sheer amount of stuff they have available there!


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## dcheesi (Apr 6, 2001)

Some ISPs filter incoming requests, so even if you have everything set up correctly, uploads still won't work.


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## Figaro (Nov 10, 2003)

Does anyone here use Charter for their ISP? If yes, do you have any problem getting torrents? I tried using Azureus last night, and even though I got all my nat and firewall things to check out ok I had almost zero luck downloading. After about 2 minutes of downloads my normally peppy 3 meg cable modem slows to a crawl and needs to be rebooted. I did what the directions suggest by limiting my max number of uploads and my number of downloads but that didn't help. In 12 hours it only got about 45% of an 87 meg file. That's just downright pathetic.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I've been evaluating the uTorrent client since last night. I may switch to it from Azureus. I like Azureus but uTorrent seems simpler and less of a resource hog.


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## catcard (Mar 2, 2001)

Thanks for all the good info on doing this. I installed uTorrent and downloaded some shows from mininova. The downloads went fine and I am able to watch the shows with no problem. However, I have some questions:

How long does my computer stay connected for seeding? After my shows finished downloading, my DSL modem is still showing activity - what is going on? Will this stop or do I have to do something to end the connection? Is there "torrent etiquette" that requires that I stay connected for a specific amount of time after I download something? I don't have a router so I have a direct DSL connection.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

catcard said:


> How long does my computer stay connected for seeding? After my shows finished downloading, my DSL modem is still showing activity - what is going on? Will this stop or do I have to do something to end the connection? Is there "torrent etiquette" that requires that I stay connected for a specific amount of time after I download something? I don't have a router so I have a direct DSL connection.


Etiquette dictates that you'd seen until your upload / download ratio is 1. More than likely the time it takes to download is much, much less than it will take you to upload the same amount, so while you are able to watch the program you've downloaded you'll need to leave your client running and continue seeding quite a while longer.
With one torrent site I use in the UK I often get download speeds of 300KB/s+, while my upload speed is 15KB/s. It takes a long time for those to balance out.

It's not possible for everyone downloading to exceed a ratio of 1.0, but since there are many people who stop seeding as soon as they've downloaded it's necessary for others to share for a longer time. If this wasn't the case bittorrent wouldn't work.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

As discussed earlier in the thread, I have Azureus set to seed until the ratio reaches 2. This means I've shared twice as much as I've downloaded. I think it's a fair way to go, and when I download a show, I usually come back the next morning and the downloading and seeding are done so it didn't hurt me to keep it running that extra time.

I'm not sure if uTorrent allows you to set the ratio, but you definitely have to do something to actively stop the seeding if the client doesn't have a setting.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Idearat said:


> Etiquette dictates that you'd seen until your upload / download ratio is 1. More than likely the time it takes to download is much, much less than it will take you to upload the same amount, so while you are able to watch the program you've downloaded you'll need to leave your client running and continue seeding quite a while longer.


I wish that was the case. Whenever I use bit torrent it seems that after I've gotten a reasonable bit of the file to share my upload is about 3.5x faster than my download even though my actual connection's download is 2.5x faster that the upload..

Azurius usually manages to keep the upload pegged to the max upload speed limit I set (normally 80% of theoretical max. If set higher the upload speed gets choppy and the average speed slows down) while download rarely comes close to that level, much less the much higher download speed limit (again 80% of theoretical max)

I think I've got Azurius programmed to stop seeding at a 4.00 share ratio (unless there are less than 4 seeders, in which case it continues to seed). I've seen that rule stop it seeding the moment its hit 100% downloaded.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

Jonathan_S said:


> I wish that was the case. Whenever I use bit torrent it seems that after I've gotten a reasonable bit of the file to share my upload is about 3.5x faster than my download even though my actual connection's download is 2.5x faster that the upload..
> 
> Azurius usually manages to keep the upload pegged to the max upload speed limit I set (normally 80% of theoretical max. If set higher the upload speed gets choppy and the average speed slows down) while download rarely comes close to that level, much less the much higher download speed limit (again 80% of theoretical max)


I'm no expert on settings, but I use Azureus on my Mac Mini and I've never had a torrent finish with a share ratio above 1 ( which it would have to be if your upload were faster than your download ). There might be something wonky with your setup
I don't throttle mine at all in either direction, so my surfing is hindered quite a bit if there is an active torrent. The Mac is my media machine, so I leave it running and generally start a torrent when I'm leaving for work or going to bed, letting it take all the bandwidth it wants.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Yeah, even when I have my upload set to unlimited, the download is almost always faster by far. My share ratio is usually less than .50 when it finishes downloading.


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## wmm_16 (Jul 10, 2003)

I didn't read the entire thread, but have any of you turned on port forwarding? I had the same symptoms as you guys. After setting up port forwarding they went really fast. It's kind of a pain with Tivo's and all, but it was worth it.


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## Figaro (Nov 10, 2003)

wmm_16 said:


> I didn't read the entire thread, but have any of you turned on port forwarding? I had the same symptoms as you guys. After setting up port forwarding they went really fast. It's kind of a pain with Tivo's and all, but it was worth it.


Torrent newb here so if this is a dumb question just tell me. Why would port forwarding interfere with TiVos?


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

devdogaz said:


> Yeah, even when I have my upload set to unlimited, the download is almost always faster by far. My share ratio is usually less than .50 when it finishes downloading.


For whatever reason, most torrents I download rarely get above 65 KB/s (about 0.5 Mbit/s) download. (I've seen higher, but usually only as an aggregate when downloading multiple things at once.)

But my upload is max is set in Azurius at 200 KB/s and once it gets going the upload just sits locked at that limit line. (Got to love the FIOS).
[Download max is set at 600 KB/s].


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## goblue97 (May 12, 2005)

does anyone know the site that provides feedback for torrents? For instance, "don't download this file or that file" or "this is a good copy".


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

goblue97 said:


> does anyone know the site that provides feedback for torrents? For instance, "don't download this file or that file" or "this is a good copy".


Most sites do as part of the torrent posting page.

For example this page has a tab labled "comments"
http://www.mininova.org/com/449509

This one has the good comment:

_7.On Oct 27 2006 @ 01:12 L8Hatter wrote:
Aye. Don't bother downloading this as it cuts off before the end._​


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## wmm_16 (Jul 10, 2003)

Figaro said:


> Torrent newb here so if this is a dumb question just tell me. Why would port forwarding interfere with TiVos?


Just that I had to go in and assign IP's for all of my computers and Tivos. One computer is a laptop and I travel all of the time, had to re-configure it all of the time. I guess the Tivo's aren't the worst part of it all.


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## goblue97 (May 12, 2005)

goblue97 said:


> does anyone know the site that provides feedback for torrents? For instance, "don't download this file or that file" or "this is a good copy".


I found the one I was thinking of. It's vcdquality dot com


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## Mabes (Jan 12, 2001)

Does anyone have a problem with your internet connection being lost, and if so, has anyone fixed it? Sometimes it happens after a few mintues, sometimes after a few hours, sometimes not at all. 

I've used Peer Guardian, which some have said helps, but it doesn't seem to matter in my case.


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## goblue97 (May 12, 2005)

Mabes said:


> Does anyone have a problem with your internet connection being lost, and if so, has anyone fixed it? Sometimes it happens after a few mintues, sometimes after a few hours, sometimes not at all.
> 
> I've used Peer Guardian, which some have said helps, but it doesn't seem to matter in my case.


I've been having this issue ALOT lately. All I do is power off the router and then power it back on. That seems to correct things. I also have to make sure my ports are forwarded properly after that because IP addresses get reallocated sometimes. It's a pain but I figure it's the price you gotta pay.


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## The Flush (Aug 3, 2005)

Are the torrent of most TV shows in high definition or standard def? I don't have an HDTV and would rather download a smaller file, if it makes any difference.


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

There are a mix of files out there depending on the capture and conversion methods, some say HDTV, but most are closer to DVD quality.


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## Mabes (Jan 12, 2001)

I find that the HDs are about halfway between DVD and true HD. But for less than 1 GB for a TV show, that's pretty good.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

The Flush said:


> Are the torrent of most TV shows in high definition or standard def? I don't have an HDTV and would rather download a smaller file, if it makes any difference.


They are mostly created from the digital HD broadcast but they're generally reduced in resolution to about 624x352.

There are high resolution versions of many shows out there, and they're becoming more commonplace, which usually are about 960x544.

Even the lower resolution versions are usually much better than the SD broadcast.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

dswallow said:


> They are mostly created from the digital HD broadcast but they're generally reduced in resolution to about 624x352.
> 
> There are high resolution versions of many shows out there, and they're becoming more commonplace, which usually are about 960x544.
> 
> Even the lower resolution versions are usually much better than the SD broadcast.


For comparison, non-HD DirecTiVos are 480x480. Many of the Torrents I download are as good, if not better than what I watch on my DirecTiVo.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

I've always been very pleased with the quality of the video I download, then watch on my TV using a DVD player that is capable of playing DivX video inside AVI files.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

jsmeeker said:


> I've always been very pleased with the quality of the video I download, then watch on my TV using a DVD player that is capable of playing DivX video inside AVI files.


That's the way I do it and am very pleased with it as well.


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## Regina (Mar 30, 2003)

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
My HR10-250 froze up and I didn't get "My Name is Earl" Thursday night...but I just downloaded it...except now, after 4 hours of figuring out how to download and what program to use, I'm too tired to watch it!  
I guess I'll watch it later !
YOU GUYS ROCK! :up: :up: :up:


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## Fl_Gulfer (May 27, 2005)

I been trying to get copies of Torchwood and a few seasons of Star Trek Voyager and all the d/l won't start It says I have to seed first, I have a great deal of music to share but I can't see how to set up shares with torrent.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

I'm having problems...here's a cut and paste of something I posted elsewhere, to see if anybody here has any advice...



> I've been using uTorrent without any problems for about 6 months now, but over the past 3 days or so, I've had nothing but trouble.
> When I start it up it will not log in to DHT. I've followed the other threads (deleted both dht.dat files and the settings file, patched TCPIP.SYS, tried older recommended betas, done the depthstrike thing)...sometimes it will eventually log into DHT, but even if it does it is only until I shut the program, and usually even if it does log in, my download speeds will absolutely crawl, if they do anything at all.
> I have not changed anything at all recently. I have UPnP enabled on my router, my firewall settings are corrent (like I said, I've been using uTorrent without problems for several months). I use NOD32 and PG2.
> For example, it will show Seeds 0(726) and Peers 0(14407)...why am I not connecting? It is a public torrent...my completed torrents are also not seeding despite plenty of peers.
> ...


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

Fl_Gulfer said:


> I been trying to get copies of Torchwood and a few seasons of Star Trek Voyager and all the d/l won't start It says I have to seed first, I have a great deal of music to share but I can't see how to set up shares with torrent.


Where are you downloading the torrents from?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Fl_Gulfer said:


> I been trying to get copies of Torchwood and a few seasons of Star Trek Voyager and all the d/l won't start It says I have to seed first, I have a great deal of music to share but I can't see how to set up shares with torrent.


If you're downloading from tvtorrents.com trackers then you have to find a torrent elsewhere of the same content they also have; download it elsewhere, then download the torrent from tvtorrents.com so that it begins sharing that content. You'll need to compare file sizes and file names closely, but it's not hard to find, especially among the major network series episodes. Once you get going with one, you're set. They do this just to ensure you are configured properly and thus will be sharing content in the future as you download.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

dswallow said:


> If you're downloading from tvtorrents.com trackers then you have to find a torrent elsewhere of the same content they also have; download it elsewhere, then download the torrent from tvtorrents.com so that it begins sharing that content. You'll need to compare file sizes and file names closely, but it's not hard to find, especially among the major network series episodes. Once you get going with one, you're set. They do this just to ensure you are configured properly and thus will be sharing content in the future as you download.


I signed up for tvtorrents a while ago. It seems that most, if not all, of their torrents were originally released elsewhere. So I don't see the point of going through all the hassle of getting download credits when you can get the same torrents from Mininova, Demonoid, etc.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

sync said:


> I signed up for tvtorrents a while ago. It seems that most, if not all, of their torrents were originally released elsewhere. So I don't see the point of going through all the hassle of getting download credits when you can get the same torrents from Mininova, Demonoid, etc.


Things are kept alive far longer on tvtorrents.com; current releases are usually available from many places, but try to find a 5-year-old season of something not a top-10 hit.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

I've been to tvtorrents before, but I'm not a big fan...
IMO the only trackers you really need are Mininova, IsoHunt and Demonoid...they're all essentially the same, Demonoid will tend to get things slightly faster, and it's private...
There's also one other tracker I use, but I don't think I'm allowed to discuss it's niche here (no, not pron)...
If anyone has any advice about my question on the previous page, I'd be greatly appreciative...

*EDIT:* In case anyone was scoring at home...
One of the mods at the uTorrent forum helped me out last night.
Turns out the fix was that...for reason still unknown to me...I needed to enable Protocol Encryption.
6+ months without it, but for some reason, apparently now I need it.

On a side note...I also bumped up my maximum ports, under IP Filter Settings way up...am I making myself more vulnerable to something there? It seems to add a decent increase to my browsing speed. Sorry for my ignorance on this.

Thanks for the advice.


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## The Flush (Aug 3, 2005)

I downloaded a torrent of Friday Night Lights that was in Ipod mp4 format instead of the avi that I normally get. When I try to play it in quicktime, I can get any error saying it is not a movie file. Nero says it is either corrupt or not compatible. What do I need to do to play this file?

Normally I would use Tivoserver to transcode on the fly to my DTivo.


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## The Flush (Aug 3, 2005)

Nevermind. My problem was operator error.


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## raiders (Feb 10, 2002)

btw if you want to avoid burning of avi files to DVD to watch them on a TV there have been additional announcements of wireless devices that stream media from PCs to a HD TV. I'm sure CES will have announcements of more such devices available this year

for example Bittorrent and Netgear announced one this week
http://netgear.com/About/PressReleases/en-US/2007/20070107.aspx


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

raiders said:


> btw if you want to avoid burning of avis to DVD there have been additional announcements of wireless devices that stream media from PCs to a HD TV
> 
> for example Bittorrent and Netgear announced one this week
> http://netgear.com/About/PressReleases/en-US/2007/20070107.aspx


I would love one of those if the price was right.


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## murdoc158 (Jul 20, 2005)

For those of you running Azureus I'd recommend reading this . Follow this guide and you will get much better download and upload speeds with the seeders that are available.


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## dtivouser (Feb 10, 2004)

Has anyone been able to find "Engineering an Empire" on a torrent site? tvtorrents doesn't have it...


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

dtivouser said:


> Has anyone been able to find "Engineering an Empire" on a torrent site? tvtorrents doesn't have it...


http://www.isohunt.com/torrents/?ihq=engineering+an+empire


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

So, what are the chances I'm going to get pinched for doing this? Our cable company recently dumped ABC over a contract dispute, so now I'm forced to download anything from ABC that I want to watch.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

Use PeerGuardian 2. The chances of getting "pinched" are slim.
And what sort of complete idiot decides to dump ABC?


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

MasterOfPuppets said:


> Use PeerGuardian 2. The chances of getting "pinched" are slim.
> And what sort of complete idiot decides to dump ABC?


It's a contract dispute between Mediacom, which is our cable company, and Sinclair Broadcasting, the company that owns the ABC station. It's not going to get resolved any time soon, I don't think.

Our cable company is giving out free antennas, but that doesn't do much for me with the TiVo. 

And it really wouldn't bother me much except that I watch Ugly Betty.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> It's a contract dispute between Mediacom, which is our cable company, and Sinclair Broadcasting, the company that owns the ABC station. It's not going to get resolved any time soon, I don't think.
> 
> Our cable company is giving out free antennas, but that doesn't do much for me with the TiVo.
> 
> And it really wouldn't bother me much except that I watch Ugly Betty.


Well if you're really paranoid about it, you can watch on abc.com. Personally, I wouldn't be worried.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

dswallow said:


> Well if you're really paranoid about it, you can watch on abc.com. Personally, I wouldn't be worried.


Why should you be worried about what happens in Illinois


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

MasterOfPuppets said:


> Use PeerGuardian 2.


I installed this yesterday but I can't update their lists. Apparently the IP address for my Internet provider is on their block list.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

sync said:


> I installed this yesterday but I can't update their lists. Apparently the IP address for my Internet provider is on their block list.


You could go in and allow your ISP IP address (List Manager -> Add)
I also only have the P2P List on "Block", everything else seems to make surfing a pain.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

MasterOfPuppets said:


> You could go in and allow your ISP IP address (List Manager -> Add)
> I also only have the P2P List on "Block", everything else seems to make surfing a pain.


My understanding is that the update web site is blocking me from accessing their site.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

I started downloading some shows that I can't get. I had my laptop hooked up to a 27" crt tv. The video looked fine but using Windows was difficult on a low resolution tv. I used that as an excuse to get a 37" lcd hdtv.

Windows looks great on the new tv but now I find I have a new problem. I can either watch videos at their original resolution, which looks good, but only uses 1/3 of the screen or I can zoom then to fullscreen and watch blurry video.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

sync said:


> I started downloading some shows that I can't get. I had my laptop hooked up to a 27" crt tv. The video looked fine but using Windows was difficult on a low resolution tv. I used that as an excuse to get a 37" lcd hdtv.
> 
> Windows looks great on the new tv but now I find I have a new problem. I can either watch videos at their original resolution, which looks good, but only uses 1/3 of the screen or I can zoom then to fullscreen and watch blurry video.


1. Get yourself a cheap DIVX-certified DVD player (around $60 or so)
2. Burn the AVI file you downloaded to a CDRW (burn as a data file. No conversion needed)
3. Watch the show in their original resolution which. Looks great!
4. Reformat the CDRW when you are done to reuse for the next show. You can fit about 2 hours worth of show on one CDRW (yes, CDRW. DVD not necessary for the AVI file)


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

markz said:


> 1. Get yourself a cheap DIVX-certified DVD player (around $60 or so)
> 2. Burn the AVI file you downloaded to a CDRW (burn as a data file. No conversion needed)
> 3. Watch the show in their original resolution which. Looks great!
> 4. Reformat the CDRW when you are done to reuse for the next show. You can fit about 2 hours worth of show on one CDRW (yes, CDRW. DVD not necessary for the AVI file)


What would be that advantage of that? I can watch shows already from my laptop.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

sync said:


> What would be that advantage of that? I can watch shows already from my laptop.


maybe some folks would perfer to watch their big screen TV rather than the small screen LT?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

sync said:


> What would be that advantage of that? I can watch shows already from my laptop.


Convenience; being able to watch shows on your main living room/home theater/big-screen display/sound system.

Actually real convenience would be just getting something like the LinkPlayer2. Screw the CD. And it supports HD.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

I generally use Videora Tivo Converter to convert all of my files to the Tivo-friendly mpeg and transfer them to my Tivo to watch on the TV.
Other than the few times that I just don't feel like extracting from an iso or a bin/cue.


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## cheerdude (Feb 27, 2001)

MOP - Ditto Except for the fact that it is now going to a 4:3 TV instead of the 16:9 (S2 vs. S3), works and looks fine.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

If I had to convert everything I downloaded before watching I'd go bonkers. I went the Mac Mini route and love it. It does all that the "new" AppleTV will do ( with hacked FrontRow on it ) but will play DiVx, xVid or any of those formats as well as DVDs.

Since it's my media machine it also does all the bittorrent duties, downloading while I'm at work or sleeping and not tying up my "normal" PC. With external drives attached it's the home server for video, music, photos and such.

The $600-$700 price isn't cheap, but a wide screen LCD TV isn't either. You can't spend all your money on the TV and not consider content. I have a lowly 27" floor model LCD that together with the Mini cost me less that many of the bigger bucks TVs out there.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

dswallow said:


> Well if you're really paranoid about it, you can watch on abc.com. Personally, I wouldn't be worried.


I forgot about that. Still, I probably download one or two things a month that are from ABC that I can't get, so I still wonder.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

cheerdude said:


> MOP - Ditto Except for the fact that it is now going to a 4:3 TV instead of the 16:9 (S2 vs. S3), works and looks fine.


I convert mine to 4:3 as well...don't own a HDTV yet...and yes, everything looks and sounds good.


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## Mabes (Jan 12, 2001)

dswallow said:


> Convenience; being able to watch shows on your main living room/home theater/big-screen display/sound system.
> 
> Actually real convenience would be just getting something like the LinkPlayer2. Screw the CD. And it supports HD.


I've got one. Works great. Terrible for playing music if you want to create playlists, but very good picture.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

sync said:


> What would be that advantage of that? I can watch shows already from my laptop.





Jebberwocky! said:


> maybe some folks would perfer to watch their big screen TV rather than the small screen LT?





dswallow said:


> Convenience; being able to watch shows on your main living room/home theater/big-screen display/sound system.
> 
> Actually real convenience would be just getting something like the LinkPlayer2. Screw the CD. And it supports HD.


Exactly what they said...

I can watch the show on my 42" widescreen in the correct aspect ratio, through my sound system, with other people watching too. It used to suck when the wife & I had to sit in fron of the laptop to watch something we downloaded.

It's cheap, it's easy, and it's good quality.


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## bsnelson (Oct 30, 1999)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Our cable company is giving out free antennas, but that doesn't do much for me with the TiVo.


Actually, as I recall, you have a standalone TiVo, so you could re-run GS to tell it you have both cable and antenna as sources.

Brad


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

bsnelson said:


> Actually, as I recall, you have a standalone TiVo, so you could re-run GS to tell it you have both cable and antenna as sources.
> 
> Brad


Well, the other issue is that we live so far out in the middle of nowhere signals don't generally reach us in any shape. So even if I set it up, it'd look like crap.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Okay, new problem.

I want to uninstall Peerguardian, but can't figure out how the heck to do it. Help?


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, new problem.
> 
> I want to uninstall Peerguardian, but can't figure out how the heck to do it. Help?


Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

sync said:


> Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs


Doesn't work. It tells you to quit PG, but you can't.

I've been reading up on this on various websites and it appears to be a common problem.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Doesn't work. It tells you to quit PG, but you can't.
> 
> I've been reading up on this on various websites and it appears to be a common problem.


As in it thinks it's running so it won't let you uninstall?

If it runs as a service, stop the service by going into Computer Management / Services. Otherwise, open Task Manager, look at the processes screen and kill the process that's PeerGuardian (you'll have to look for program names that match).


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

dswallow said:


> As in it thinks it's running so it won't let you uninstall?
> 
> If it runs as a service, stop the service by going into Computer Management / Services. Otherwise, open Task Manager, look at the processes screen and kill the process that's PeerGuardian (you'll have to look for program names that match).


Ah yes. Why didn't I think of that. I'll give that a try.

ETA: That worked! Thanks. Still don't know why I didn't think of it.


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

I tried downloading a torrent and got the following error message. 
Connection to tracker refused: You have no credits start seeding and wait for update. Also I'm download this from tv torrents.com if that makes a difference.


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## Idearat (Nov 26, 2000)

ufo4sale said:


> I tried downloading a torrent and got the following error message.
> Connection to tracker refused: You have no credits start seeding and wait for update. Also I'm download this from tv torrents.com if that makes a difference.


TV Torrents requires a membership, there are also FAQs on the site to tell you how it works.


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

I'm just look at that now. Thanks.


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

In addition, you must be seeding or uploading files to the TVtorrents.com tracker to gain credits. Any torrents seeding or uploading to other sites will not count toward your credits on TVTorrents. 

How do I know if my torrent is going through TVtorrents tracker?


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

ufo4sale said:


> In addition, you must be seeding or uploading files to the TVtorrents.com tracker to gain credits. Any torrents seeding or uploading to other sites will not count toward your credits on TVTorrents.
> 
> How do I know if my torrent is going through TVtorrents tracker?


Did you download a show from somewhere else and now you're trying to seed it at TVtorrents?


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

cherry ghost said:


> Did you download a show from somewhere else and now you're trying to seed it at TVtorrents?


Yes. I can't download anything on that site because I have zero credits. In order for me to get credits I have to seed a show but I can't due that because I have no credits.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

ufo4sale said:


> Yes. I can't download anything on that site because I have zero credits. In order for me to get credits I have to seed a show but I can't due that because I have no credits.


You need to find a torrent available elsewhere that is also being offered via tvtorrents.com. Download it from elsewhere, then download the same torrent from tvtorrents.com allowing it to use the file downloaded from the other source so it begins seeding right away. Once that's seeded for a short while, your credits will be building up and then you can download directly from tvtorrents.com.

Most any of the popular TV series current episodes should be easy to locate in both places. Just compare file names and reported file sizes and you should be able to find one that's the same in both places.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

ufo4sale said:


> Yes. I can't download anything on that site because I have zero credits. In order for me to get credits I have to seed a show but I can't due that because I have no credits.


You need to find a show somewhere else that is identical to one at TVtorrents, download it from the other site and then seed it at TVtorrents. Try Isohunt and look for some of the popular shows like 24 and Heroes.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

The easiest thing is to donate a few dollars and get download credit to get you started.


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

Are there certain extentions that I have to use for tvtorrents in order to seed?


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

ufo4sale said:


> Are there certain extentions that I have to use for tvtorrents in order to seed?


As long as the file you downloaded elsewhere is the same as one on TVtorrents, seeding should work.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Okay, I need help again.

Azureus isn't working for me again. This is a screenshot of what I'm seeing.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Okay, I need help again.
> 
> Azureus isn't working for me again. This is a screenshot of what I'm seeing.


I assume the Ugly Betty download is the one you are asking about. I don't use Azureus but it looks like you haven't connected to any seeders or peers yet for that torrent. It can take a while sometimes.

Has it started dwonloading yet?


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

Another possiblity is that you are trying to download from a tracker that requires you to be registered with them.

If you can post a screenshot like this one:
http://azureus.sourceforge.net/doc/Azureus User Guide.htm#_Toc93175498

for that torrent, then it will show what the problem is.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Well, yes and no. Basically I just wanted to know why I'm firewalled again.


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## logic88 (Jun 7, 2001)

So does anyone have a spare Demonoid invite?

Thanks.


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## coldtoes (May 29, 2002)

I just want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread! I just got started with this and have had no problems thanks to your help.

I chose uTorrent as some people suggested it was less of a resource hog, and it seems great for a newbie - when you first install it it automatically directs you to portforward.com, so I was able to get my router configured correctly right off the bat, and then it tests it for you and tells you if you've done it right. I've never tried Azureus but uTorrent seems great.


MikeMar said:


> I do all the above steps and then run it through videora tivo converter and then watch them on tivo


I downloaded this (it's free!) and it transcoded my first download (a 60-min show) in a mere 20 minutes, then I pulled it to my wireless S2 DT in like 1/3 or 1/4 realtime and watched it. Awesome! Videora is great and easy - I am a person who would never watch shows on my PC so this was what I needed to make bittorrent work for me.

You guys are the best, as always.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

coldtoes said:


> I downloaded this (it's free!) and it transcoded my first download (a 60-min show) in a mere 20 minutes, then I pulled it to my wireless S2 DT in like 1/3 or 1/4 realtime and watched it. Awesome! Videora is great and easy - I am a person who would never watch shows on my PC so this was what I needed to make bittorrent work for me.
> 
> You guys are the best, as always.


Now your next step is to give Tivo.net a try. It transcodes and transfers at the same time and will save you that "mere 20 minutes."


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

cherry ghost said:


> Now your next step is to give Tivo.net a try. It transcodes and transfers at the same time and will save you that "mere 20 minutes."


Please elaborate. I've never heard of this.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

devdogaz said:


> Please elaborate. I've never heard of this.


Here's the thread. It's a work in progress and works better for some than others.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=337822&page=1&pp=30


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## coldtoes (May 29, 2002)

cherry ghost said:


> Here's the thread. It's a work in progress and works better for some than others.
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=337822&page=1&pp=30


Wow, that sounds awesome! Thanks for the tip. I have spent too much time this week messing around with bittorrent but once I have managed some billable hours testing out TiVo.net will be next on my list.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

I decided to give torrents a try tonight because my darn cable company went dark on NBC so the TiVo didn't record Grease tonight. I downloaded Azureus and I'm searching for the torrent.

My question is this - how soon after a show is a torrent usually available? I can't seem to find tonight's episode.

BTW, this was a great thread! Very informative! Thanks for starting it, Angie!


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

Hot4Bo said:


> I decided to give torrents a try tonight because my darn cable company went dark on NBC so the TiVo didn't record Grease tonight. I downloaded Azureus and I'm searching for the torrent.
> 
> My question is this - how soon after a show is a torrent usually available? I can't seem to find tonight's episode.
> 
> BTW, this was a great thread! Very informative! Thanks for starting it, Angie!


For a show like Grease(no offense intended), I wouldn't expect to find it until the next day.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Darn! I know it's not real popular but a few of the girls at work and I all watch it and I know they'll be talking about it tomorrow.

Thanks!


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I tried to find it this morning for my wife and it wasn't there yet. Some shows are there within an hour or two. I'm in the mountain time zone and I've even found things online before they even air in my timezone. But as cherry ghost said, something like Grease isn't that popular and might not show up for a bit.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

At least I know I'm not doing something wrong now since I still can't find it.

Episode 7 (last week) seems to be really popular. I still can't find Episode 8 anywhere and I'm getting frustrated.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

OK, it's been 24 hours. Does it really normally take this long for someone, somewhere to post a torrent of a TV show?


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

I'm not a fan of the show, but I just checked over at http://www.nbc.com/Grease/episodes/ (Possible spoilers) and the latest episode recap is for episode 7.
Are you sure that an episode 8 has aired?


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

Yep, there have been eight episodes, according to www.epguides.com


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Yes, episode 7 was shown on 2/25. Yesterday (3/4) was episode 8.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

It so figures that it's now 48 hours. The first time I ever even try to do this and the one show that I want doesn't exist. Amazing!


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

All I can recommend in this case would be going to some sort of Grease fan forum and asking them if they know of any links.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Thanks. I'll try that.


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

Hot4Bo said:


> It so figures that it's now 48 hours. The first time I ever even try to do this and the one show that I want doesn't exist. Amazing!


I don't know what's going on with that episode-- a really reliable site I visit has every episode, but not that one.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Just my luck!


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

FYI for anyone else who's looking for it, it's going to be on Bravo on Thursday night and Friday night. I don't have Bravo (I have a really, really bad cable company) but I'm sure some of my family must have it.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

According to http://tvrss.net/search/?show_name=Grease+Youre+the+One+That+I+Want&show_name_exact=true, episode 8 hasn't been posted yet, and episode 5 never showed up either. I guess this show a) isn't really the type of show people want to watch days later, and b) it's not that popular.


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## tlrowley (Jun 10, 2004)

I have a copy of Grease Episode 8 - it still has commercials in it - it was recorded from OTA digital then compressed to 1G for the hour. If you want to figure out some way of getting it (maybe Pando?) let me know. (I'm not interested in seeding a torrent - I'll get eaten alive for having commercials and I have no way of removing them). 

Tracey


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Episode 8 of _Grease: You're the One That I Want_ is available at www.tvtorrents.com now: http://www.tvtorrents.com/loggedin/show.do?id=637


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Thanks for the link. 

I actually got the show on *gasp* a VCR tape from my mom who has Bravo (they repeated the show yesterday). 

I did try the link though just because I've never done a torrent and figured I'd try it. It doesn't work for me because I have no credits. How do they expect you to get credits if you've never done this before? I'm going to go back and re-read this thread because I seem to recall reading about this before.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Hot4Bo said:


> Thanks for the link.
> 
> I actually got the show on *gasp* a VCR tape from my mom who has Bravo (they repeated the show yesterday).
> 
> I did try the link though just because I've never done a torrent and figured I'd try it. It doesn't work for me because I have no credits. How do they expect you to get credits if you've never done this before? I'm going to go back and re-read this thread because I seem to recall reading about this before.


You have to work a bit for it; we've talked about it several times in this thread. But the basics are that you get a popular torrent download from another site that's identical to one on tvtorrents.com (there are many), download it via the other tracker, then start the tvtorrent tracker version and point to the previously downloaded file; it'll start seeding it and you'll start earning credits.

Another way is for an existing member to issue an invite to you and transfer some of their credits to kick off your account.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

You can also donate a couple dollars via paypal to started. That is what I did.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

You can get that episode here
http://www.mininova.org/get/613462
and you won't need credits.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

You can also download it from EZTV
EZTV is another TV torrent website, but it doesn't require credits. It's also where the Mininova torrent originated from.


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

dswallow said:


> Another way is for an existing member to issue an invite to you and transfer some of their credits to kick off your account.


That's a good bit of info to know-- I didn't realize you could do that! I've got so many credits built up that I could never use them all.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

David Platt said:


> That's a good bit of info to know-- I didn't realize you could do that! I've got so many credits built up that I could never use them all.


I'd be happy to take some of those off your hands. I always get my stuff from mininova (via tvrss.net) but the Grease thing this week threw me off since it never showed up there (until after it re-aired on Bravo). I'd like an additional place to check for shows.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

devdogaz said:


> I'd be happy to take some of those off your hands. I always get my stuff from mininova (via tvrss.net) but the Grease thing this week threw me off since it never showed up there (until after it re-aired on Bravo). I'd like an additional place to check for shows.


Anyone here who'd like an invite to tvtorrents.com can just send me their email address in a PM and I'll send off an invite. The invite is good for one week; it's usuable either for a new account or to activate an existing account, though for existing accounts you have to email the invite on to the tvtorrents.com admins who'll manually transfer the credits, and that can take a couple hours.

Make sure any spam filtering you have will allow email from @tvtorrents.com.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Thanks everyone for all your help. I'm going to try downloading again when I get home tonight just to see how this works for me. 

Thanks again!


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

dswallow said:


> Anyone here who'd like an invite to tvtorrents.com can just send me their email address in a PM and I'll send off an invite. The invite is good for one week; it's usuable either for a new account or to activate an existing account, though for existing accounts you have to email the invite on to the tvtorrents.com admins who'll manually transfer the credits, and that can take a couple hours.
> 
> Make sure any spam filtering you have will allow email from @tvtorrents.com.


The same offer goes for me. I'll send anybody who wants one an invite with 1GB of credits so you can start downloading immediately.

Please note that I reserve the right to rescind this offer at any time if the response is overwhelming and I don't have enough credits to give out.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

David Platt said:


> Please note that I reserve the right to rescind this offer at any time if the response is overwhelming and I don't have enough credits to give out.


Having more than 500GB of credits, I'm not particularly worried.


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

OK, I must have done something wrong. I went to the mininova link and downloaded the torrent there. It finally just finished and I double-clicked on the file in Azureus. It opened my WMP and started to play but there's no video, only audio.

Did I screw this up?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Hot4Bo said:


> OK, I must have done something wrong. I went to the mininova link and downloaded the torrent there. It finally just finished and I double-clicked on the file in Azureus. It opened my WMP and started to play but there's no video, only audio.
> 
> Did I screw this up?


You probably need to install the DivX codec... www.divx.com


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## Hot4Bo (Apr 3, 2003)

Thanks, Doug. I'll try that.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

So I downloaded my first show from tvtorrents.com last night (Thanks Doug). I was shocked at how fast it came. It was a one hour show (the pilot of "The Riches) and it finished downloading in less than 8 minutes. However, for some reason my seeding of that torrent has been horribly slow. After 30 minutes connected, my share ratio was .001. Nearly ten hours later, my share ratio is .387. Usually when I download something from mininova, it doesn't come down quite as fast, but I seed much faster and I usually hit my self-imposed share ratio of 2.0 within 8 hours or less. 

So my question for you tvtorrents pros: Is there anything I can do to speed up my seeding? Is it just this particular file that just doesn't have a lot of people looking for it? Under Peers in Azureus, it says 0(2). My NAT OK light was green, but now it's yellow because it says there haven't been any incoming connections for such a long time. Am I doing something wrong or is this particular file just an anomaly?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

devdogaz said:


> So I downloaded my first show from tvtorrents.com last night (Thanks Doug). I was shocked at how fast it came. It was a one hour show (the pilot of "The Riches) and it finished downloading in less than 8 minutes. However, for some reason my seeding of that torrent has been horribly slow. After 30 minutes connected, my share ratio was .001. Nearly ten hours later, my share ratio is .387. Usually when I download something from mininova, it doesn't come down quite as fast, but I seed much faster and I usually hit my self-imposed share ratio of 2.0 within 8 hours or less.
> 
> So my question for you tvtorrents pros: Is there anything I can do to speed up my seeding? Is it just this particular file that just doesn't have a lot of people looking for it? Under Peers in Azureus, it says 0(2). My NAT OK light was green, but now it's yellow because it says there haven't been any incoming connections for such a long time. Am I doing something wrong or is this particular file just an anomaly?


It's probably just an anomaly; especially if there's a lot of other seeders. You do earn credit simply for being connected as a seeder for a torrent, too... you don't actually have to be uploading to someone at the time; as long as the tracker knows you're there and available.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

dswallow said:


> It's probably just an anomaly; especially if there's a lot of other seeders. You do earn credit simply for being connected as a seeder for a torrent, too... you don't actually have to be uploading to someone at the time; as long as the tracker knows you're there and available.


Ah, cool. So how do I know when it's OK to stop seeding if I'm not actually seeding, but still getting credit? If my credits now are higher than when I started, does that mean I'm good to go?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

devdogaz said:


> Ah, cool. So how do I know when it's OK to stop seeding if I'm not actually seeding, but still getting credit? If my credits now are higher than when I started, does that mean I'm good to go?


There's no hard and fast rule to worry about. Overall you earn credits when you seed and you spend credits when you download. If you don't earn credits to cover your downloads, you won't be able to download.


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## logic88 (Jun 7, 2001)

devdogaz said:


> So my question for you tvtorrents pros: Is there anything I can do to speed up my seeding? Is it just this particular file that just doesn't have a lot of people looking for it? Under Peers in Azureus, it says 0(2). My NAT OK light was green, but now it's yellow because it says there haven't been any incoming connections for such a long time. Am I doing something wrong or is this particular file just an anomaly?


I noticed the same thing with tvtorrents torrents. Perhaps their server is underpowered and can not track that many torrents. Even with 23 peers and only 4 seeds, my upload rate for one particular torrent ranges from 2K to 25K at any particular time. With torrents from other sites, my upload speed is almost always pegged at max.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

Anyone want to help me again? I'm getting firewall/NAT reachability status unknown. And about 7k per second.

It's been that way for a while and I can download, but it's just very, very slow. I'm not sure what changed because it was working just fine.


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## rawbi01 (Oct 13, 2005)

/subscribe


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Anyone want to help me again? I'm getting firewall/NAT reachability status unknown. And about 7k per second.
> 
> It's been that way for a while and I can download, but it's just very, very slow. I'm not sure what changed because it was working just fine.


Not knowing anything about how you are setup (static or DHCP assigned IP for instance) my first guess is that your IP address changed so now the port forwarding you setup in your router is not set to the proper IP.

That's a WAG though.


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

That is probably a very good guess.

portforward.com is a good place for info on how this should be set up


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Anyone want to help me again? I'm getting firewall/NAT reachability status unknown. And about 7k per second.
> 
> It's been that way for a while and I can download, but it's just very, very slow. I'm not sure what changed because it was working just fine.


I had this problem over the winter with uTorrent 1.6, but supposedly 1.6.1 addressed the problems that they were having...then again, I have no idea if you're even using uTorrent.
Also, if you set up your router to only do port forwarding, enabling UPnP is really the way to go if it's supported.
Or, as SeanC stated, perhaps your IP changed if you don't have a Static IP.
Another possibility is that you got throttled by your ISP.

Really just stabbing in the dark here.


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## rambler (Dec 3, 2005)

I quit HBO a while ago, but with Sopranos and Entourage starting up again, I had to do something.....so I have done the bittorrent thing for the first time ever. 

I am experiencing sync problems on 2 of the 4 shows I DL'd. The other 2 look magnificent. Can I assume the issue is with the torrents and not my PC? Is this common where a file might be distributed far and wide even though it is crummy quality?

EDIT - it was the torrents that were the problem. I DL'd others that worked fine. Also have verified that Videora works fine to modify the torrent file for the Tivo. Also have burned the original torrent file to dvd, with free programs called Avi2Dvd and ImgBurn. So I learned a lot this week! Biggest problem is no closed captions are available - which I like so as not to have the volume cranked at night, disturbing my sleeping kids.


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## Montana Man (Aug 16, 2005)

Best thing to do is download the K-lite Mega Codec pack. With this pack you will have all the possible codecs you will need to view everything. Also the VLC player will usually play any video you download. Both are free and easy to find on the web.

Also DigitalHive.org is a VERY good place to find any torrent you may be looking for. They may have gone to invite only however. I usually pull upwards of 800kb/s from them on most torrents. I will have tv shows in less than 10 minutes usually and most movies/video games in under 2 hours.


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## Rugged (Sep 6, 2003)

Need some torrent newbie help.

first of all thanks for the tutorial here. I was up and running in just a day and have downloaded countless torrents. I even downloaded the right codecs to watch them on my PC with WMP10. The problem I have is that I want to watch them on my DVD player but my Sony DVD doesn't support DivX...what options do I have. 2nd--I heard that my playstation 2 might support DivX...anyone know how I find that out. Finally, I tried to use WMP10 to burn the AVI files to my DVD-R and I got an error message--Code C00D1199.

I appreciate your help.


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## rambler (Dec 3, 2005)

Run the .avi thru a free program called avi2dvd. It will take some time, I usually have the PC do it while I sleep. You will need to rename the source file beforehand to something short and simple without a lot of punctuation marks or you will get an error message.

Then take the .iso file, and burn it to dvd with another free program called imgburn.


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

Rugged said:


> Need some torrent newbie help.
> 
> first of all thanks for the tutorial here. I was up and running in just a day and have downloaded countless torrents. I even downloaded the right codecs to watch them on my PC with WMP10. The problem I have is that I want to watch them on my DVD player but my Sony DVD doesn't support DivX...what options do I have. 2nd--I heard that my playstation 2 might support DivX...anyone know how I find that out. Finally, I tried to use WMP10 to burn the AVI files to my DVD-R and I got an error message--Code C00D1199.
> 
> I appreciate your help.


I use ConvertXtoDVD. After the download is complete I just drag it to ConvertX, drop a blank DVD in the computer and hit Convert. It takes a while, but it's really easy to use. There's a free trial, and I think it's $40 to purchase it. If you're going to be doing this a lot, it's worth the investment.

*edit* I just saw on-line that the free version leaves a watermark.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

For $40 (actually for less than $40) you can just buy a DVD player that supports DivX directly.

Or get a network media player that can play DivX and eliminate the need to even burn it to DVD or CD.


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

dswallow said:


> For $40 (actually for less than $40) you can just buy a DVD player that supports DivX directly.
> 
> Or get a network media player that can play DivX and eliminate the need to even burn it to DVD or CD.


I've actually been considering a network media player. I'm looking for one that upconverts to HD. Can you recommend any?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

PJO1966 said:


> I've actually been considering a network media player. I'm looking for one that upconverts to HD. Can you recommend any?


Avel LinkPlayer2 (typically $200-$230) and SwissCenter software (free). Supports HD DivX and has component output.


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

dswallow said:


> Avel LinkPlayer2 (typically $200-$230) and SwissCenter software (free). Supports HD DivX and has component output.


Ooh! Shiny! Time to start saving my pennies. Thanks.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

PeerGuardian 2 has been available in a Beta release for Vista for a little while now...in case anyone has been waiting and would like to give it a try.
Fetch


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## ChickenCheese (Sep 8, 2003)

MasterOfPuppets said:


> PeerGuardian 2 has been available in a Beta release for Vista for a little while now...in case anyone has been waiting and would like to give it a try.
> Fetch


What exactly does PeerGuradian do?


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

For playing .avi movies on your TV, I am currently using my Zen Creative Vision W - picture looks as good as it does on the PC.










There is an output to the three RCA colored plugs - and with the optional remote control, you can control the movie (pause, FF, RR . . .) just fine. The best part is that it doesn't require any conversion (most of the time)

It doesn't work with all movies, but it can convert many to the proper format (I converted some windows media movies) but it is not a quick process.


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## wes000 (Apr 5, 2004)

Ok I have tried this to view torrents on my 360 but it seems the link no longer works to dl the zip file or whatever. I was able to dl the player but now how can i set this up to covert things for my 360? I know Montag was able to do this but that was like 7 months ago.


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## dtle (Dec 12, 2001)

ChickenCheese said:


> What exactly does PeerGuradian do?


It prevents you from sending anything (especially torrent packets) to sites known to collect info about you.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

ChickenCheese said:


> What exactly does PeerGuradian do?





dtle said:


> It prevents you from sending anything (especially torrent packets) to sites known to collect info about you.


If you're downloading torrents, you should absolutely be using PG.
Some people will take shots at PG and say "Well, it only blocks known domains and doesn't block your IP address from showing up".
That is true, but it is much...much better than using nothing at all.
Think of yourself as a safe sex advocate, and PG as your condom. :up:

Plus your IP showing up doesn't prove that you're sharing/downloading anything.


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## lodica1967 (Aug 5, 2003)

Quick question. I bought the Philips DVD player that plays avi files. In theory it looks like I could fit 12 episodes of an hour long tv series on each blank DVD, right? I am not converting them to dvd format first.

Is there any loss in the quality of the avi files by putting that many on there. Should I put few episodes per disc for better quality. Since they are data files does it matter?

Burning dvd's is pretty new to me so be gentle. Thanks all!


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## David Platt (Dec 13, 2001)

The files you burn to the disc are exactly the same quality as what you have on your computer. It doesn't matter how many you stick on a disc; the only thing limiting how many you can put on there is how much data the disc will hold. Go ahead and fill it up!


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## lodica1967 (Aug 5, 2003)

Cool. Thanks! 

I tried loading 12 episodes and the audio was way off when I played it. I thought maybe I had put too many shows on a DVD! I will start looking for other answers to my audio glitch.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

Some burning programs will automatically compress your files if you go over the disc limit, so keep an eye out for that.
I convert all of my files to mpeg2 format...don't usually burn them to disc, but I can fit tons of a certain series onto 1 disc.
Victory!


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

What player /codecs should I use with Vista in order to watch shows on my computer?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

ufo4sale said:


> What player /codecs should I use with Vista in order to watch shows on my computer?


Generally most common TV episode and movie torrents are provided in a form that either the DivX or the XviD codecs can decode.


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## Mike10 (Mar 1, 2006)

yah most shows require divx/xvid they are basically the same thing but if you dont want to download any codecs you could just use a program like mediaplayer classic, VLc player or Mplayer


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## MiakioAmy (Oct 2, 2002)

Torrents have been working great for me. I haven't missed a show yet - everything is available within a day or two, and most by the time I get home from work the next day. It is 10pm Wed night (9am eastern) and I already have Bones, House and NCIS from last night. :up: 

I now have an etiquette/safety question. How long should I leave the torrent and file on my machine and seed it? I have been watching most stuff right away, and would like to go ahead and delete most of them. 

I still have some disk space available so that isn't a problem. 

I don't want to just be a leecher, but am I exposing myself by keeping uTorrent running? I know what I am doing is not legal, and I am downloading shows daily. Advice?


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## sync (Sep 6, 2000)

I don't think anyone has ever been prosecuted for downloading tv shows. The worst I've heard of is losing ISP service. And I've only heard of that happening within the USA.

slyck.com is a good place for learning more about this.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

amtsuchida said:


> I now have an etiquette/safety question. How long should I leave the torrent and file on my machine and seed it? I have been watching most stuff right away, and would like to go ahead and delete most of them.


It's polite to at least let the upload ratio get back to 1. (You've uploaded as many mb as you'd downloaded).

I think I set up some slightly more complicated rules in Azureus, something like: automatically stop sharing at upload ratio 2.0 unless there is less that 3 seeders online.


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## MiakioAmy (Oct 2, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> It's polite to at least let the upload ratio get back to 1. (You've uploaded as many mb as you'd downloaded).
> 
> I think I set up some slightly more complicated rules in Azureus, something like: automatically stop sharing at upload ratio 2.0 unless there is less that 3 seeders online.


Rules! I didn't realize I could do that. I will check to see what uTorrent can do. Thanks.


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## MiakioAmy (Oct 2, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> It's polite to at least let the upload ratio get back to 1. (You've uploaded as many mb as you'd downloaded).
> 
> I think I set up some slightly more complicated rules in Azureus, something like: automatically stop sharing at upload ratio 2.0 unless there is less that 3 seeders online.


Wow. If uTorrent is correct, my ratio for some files is really high. I have some Psych episodes showing a ratio of 18 and 19!


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## MiakioAmy (Oct 2, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> It's polite to at least let the upload ratio get back to 1. (You've uploaded as many mb as you'd downloaded).
> 
> I think I set up some slightly more complicated rules in Azureus, something like: automatically stop sharing at upload ratio 2.0 unless there is less that 3 seeders online.


I can stop sharing when the ration hits a certain number, but uTorrent doesn't let me specify number of seeders. Instead I can specify the seeding time. I can have it continue to seed if the seeding time is less than 5 hours, for example. I don't know what a good number is for that so I just picked one. Once I set the preferences to 200% ratio or seeding time is less than 3 hours - uTorrent marked some files as Finished instead of Seeding. I guess I can go ahead and remove those.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Jonathan_S said:


> It's polite to at least let the upload ratio get back to 1. (You've uploaded as many mb as you'd downloaded).
> 
> I think I set up some slightly more complicated rules in Azureus, something like: automatically stop sharing at upload ratio 2.0 unless there is less that 3 seeders online.


I have the same rules set up. I upload twice as much as I download. It's my way of feeling productive even though I never contribute to any of the sites or developers, and never provide any content to be seeded.


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## PacMan3000 (Sep 23, 2003)

I have a question...how many seeders is needed to get a quality download? If I want to download a file-be it 350 MB or 1 GB--how many seeders is "enough" so that I know I can get the file?

I see files that I'd want, but there's only 3 seeders. Or six. Is that far too many? If I tried to download that file, what would happen?

What's a good number of seeders to allow for a properly downloaded file?


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

1 seed is all that is necessary. The more seeders the faster it will download though, so more is better.


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## phox_mulder (Feb 23, 2006)

SeanC said:


> 1 seed is all that is necessary. The more seeders the faster it will download though, so more is better.


Only if that one seed has the entire file.

I've had a couple downloads that took days because there were no seeders with 100%.

phox


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## AstroDad (Jan 21, 2003)

phox_mulder said:


> Only if that one seed has the entire file.
> 
> I've had a couple downloads that took days because there were no seeders with 100%.
> 
> phox


If he doesn't have the entire file he isn't a seed, he is a peer


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## phox_mulder (Feb 23, 2006)

AstroDad said:


> If he doesn't have the entire file he isn't a seed, he is a peer


Got my seed and peer mixed up.

phox


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## PacMan3000 (Sep 23, 2003)

Is there any danger in seeding? Does it leave you open to have people connecting to your computer to give you viruses or steal your information, or just be spied upon?


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## PacMan3000 (Sep 23, 2003)

Not sure if anyone would know, but..

How do you burn a downloaded Video Ts folder so you can watch it on dvd (I'd much rather put the shows on dvd rather than watch on my computer screen)?

I have Ulead for my dvd buring software, but it doesn't seem to have to ability to burn these folders.

The Video TS folder is 4.28 GB, so what do i need to use to burn it and what are the steps I would need to take to burn it successfully onto dvd?

Thanks.


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## Shawn95GT (Oct 7, 2005)

I open it with shrink and roll it up into an ISO.

Nero etc should be able to import it as-is though.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

This thread is very helpful...I just joined tvtorrents (thank you IDSmoker!) and I have some basic questions (and boy, getting everything to work was not easy!)

1. I just downloaded a torrent (using utorrent)...is it automatically there for seeding to others or do I have to do something special (I want to be give back)?

2. my wife will kill me if the internet is slow...how do I set utorrent to cede the resources for any request from computers on the network?

3. I don't want to put a limit on giving back (others here have mentioned that they set the limit to twice what they take, I don't care about that)...how do I set it for that?

4. anyone know if PS3 will play .mkv files or do I have to transcode it to something else? my ideal situation would be to copy the file to the PS3 and just play it...


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

/standing back and waiting.....


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I just started fooling around with using torrents and am using uTorrent. This brings me back to the days of Napster/Morpheus/Limewire. I had a couple of questions:

1) What makes this any more legal than the song downloading we used to do on those file sharing platforms that have been either shut down or sued?

2) The couple of shows I d/l seemed to take forever on my fast cable connection. One show took about a full day to get. Is this normal?


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Anubys said:


> 1. I just downloaded a torrent (using utorrent)...is it automatically there for seeding to others or do I have to do something special (I want to be give back)?
> 
> 2. my wife will kill me if the internet is slow...how do I set utorrent to cede the resources for any request from computers on the network?
> 
> 3. I don't want to put a limit on giving back (others here have mentioned that they set the limit to twice what they take, I don't care about that)...how do I set it for that?


1) By default utorrent will automatically seed once the torrent is complete.

2) No specific way to do that. But I'd advise setting bandwidth limits, especially on upload. Setting upload to no more that 80% of your real upload ability seems to leave the internet feeling fairly snappy. (And oddly, can make your bittorrent download _faster_)
Also, you could use the scheduler to throttle way back during hours your wife is likely to be useing the network and only run full speed when she's likely asleep or out.

3) By default utorrent doesn't set any max upload ratio. It'll keep seeding until you manually stop it.

Edit: One last tip. If you choose to set up your router to port forward incoming bittorrent connections, I'd advise finding the checkbox in utorrent's menu for 'Limit local peer bandwidth' and checking it. (Otherwise it seems to think your router is a local peer and doesn't limit connects that appear to originate there. And that pretty much defeats the purpose of setting bandwidth limits)


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

make sure to run peer guardian 2 (if that's still the best and works) 

I just setup bittorrents at night to run when sleeping, well on my crappy slow DSL


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

MikeMar said:


> make sure to run peer guardian 2 (if that's still the best and works)
> 
> I just setup bittorrents at night to run when sleeping, well on my crappy slow DSL


do you still need peer guardian for a private network?


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

Jonathan_S said:


> 2) No specific way to do that. But I'd advise setting bandwidth limits, especially on upload. Setting upload to no more that 80% of your real upload ability seems to leave the internet feeling fairly snappy. (And oddly, can make your bittorrent download _faster_)
> Also, you could use the scheduler to throttle way back during hours your wife is likely to be useing the network and only run full speed when she's likely asleep or out.


perfect...I'll try to do that tonight when I get home...I hope I can figure out how to do what you just said


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## Shawn95GT (Oct 7, 2005)

Anubys said:


> do you still need peer guardian for a private network?


Yes...


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

MikeMar said:


> make sure to run peer guardian 2 (if that's still the best and works)
> 
> I just setup bittorrents at night to run when sleeping, well on my crappy slow DSL


What is peer guardian?


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

Steveknj said:


> What is peer guardian?


lousy explanation because I'm an idiot...but it's a software that hides you from software that is going around the internet trying to catch people who share files...


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## wouldworker (Sep 7, 2004)

Peer Guardian has a list of IP addresses that are known or suspected to belong to companies (HBO, NBC, etc.) or groups (the MPAA, RIAA, etc.) that want to prevent peer-to-peer trading of copyrighted content. Peer Guardian stops you from trading with people from those IP addresses so that they can't catch you. The list isn't foolproof, so there's still a chance you can get caught.

The way HBO, for example, tries to catch you is by joining in the trading themselves. When your computer sends them a chunk of one of their own shows, they log your IP address. They then tell your ISP what you're up to and your ISP sends you a letter threatening to cut off your service if you don't straighten up. 

After you get the letter, you do a search and find out that if you install Peer Guardian you're unlikely to ever get another letter from your ISP. They might as well tell you about Peer Guardian in the letter.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> I just started fooling around with using torrents and am using uTorrent. This brings me back to the days of Napster/Morpheus/Limewire. I had a couple of questions:
> 
> 1) What makes this any more legal than the song downloading we used to do on those file sharing platforms that have been either shut down or sued?
> 
> 2) The couple of shows I d/l seemed to take forever on my fast cable connection. One show took about a full day to get. Is this normal?


1) It's not. That's why you have to be careful what you get. The difference between the old filesharing models and torrents is that there is not one centralized server that's distributing the file. There's just a tracker that knows how to put all the pieces together, and then there are hundreds or even thousands of pieces being streamed in every direction from all over the globe. Because of this structure, it would be difficult to prove in a court that someone distributed anything using this method.

2) Because you're getting little pieces of the files from all over the globe, you're at the mercy of who has those pieces, is online, and is allowing them to be uploaded (seeded). Generally speaking, the more seeders, the faster the download. I've had 1 hour TV shows finish in less than 10 minutes, and I've had them take several hours. It just depends on how popular the file is and how many people are seeding. If you're getting popular TV shows in the first day or two after they air, there are usually plenty of seeders. After the show has been out for a while, or if you're getting something that's weeks/months/years old, it's really a crapshoot whether there's going to be anyone seeding that particular file or having the pieces you need. And if you get lucky and there is someone seeding, it could be only one person and their connection might be slow.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

you might need to open up your port for the one utorrent uses

Mine goes from like 5k/sec to 50k/sec when I open the port on my router


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

I have a problem...my PS3 sees the .mkv file, but it can't play it...it says the data is corrupted...I tried to have TVersity play it and send it to the PS3, but that didn't work, either...the file plays fine on my computer...

any ideas? I hate watching things on my computer...

also, I went to the bandwidth section of utorrent, and it says the max upload is 72...is that good? my max on my crap DSL is 124...so I assume that's low enough, right?


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> 1) It's not. That's why you have to be careful what you get. The difference between the old filesharing models and torrents is that there is not one centralized server that's distributing the file. There's just a tracker that knows how to put all the pieces together, and then there are hundreds or even thousands of pieces being streamed in every direction from all over the globe. Because of this structure, it would be difficult to prove in a court that someone distributed anything using this method.


I'm surprised, considering that these downloads are illegal that this is discussed openly in a public forum like this. I think I'll probably stick with Hulu or the network websites if I need to watch anything, or get the DVDs from Netflix. That's for the explanation. It's not that I care so much if it's legal or not, it's just that these types of place are ripe with trojans and other malware. I've seen too many people get them from limewire and such over the years. I am just not sure it's worth it anymore when there's so many other ways to get content that is legal and safer.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

wouldworker said:


> After you get the letter, you do a search and find out that if you install Peer Guardian you're unlikely to ever get another letter from your ISP. They might as well tell you about Peer Guardian in the letter.


Do you actually know anybody who has gotten such a letter? I'm not trying to be rhetorical. I would just like to hear first hand evidence that indeed does happen.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

DeDondeEs said:


> Do you actually know anybody who has gotten such a letter? I'm not trying to be rhetorical. I would just like to hear first hand evidence that indeed does happen.


a few people on here have, it was a year or more ago


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I'd be curious if anyone has gotten a letter for downloading TV shows. I know the RIAA was suing individuals for a while, and I know the MPAA has tried the more diplomatic route of getting the ISP to cut off service. But I've never heard anything, even anecdotally, about people being sued or even receiving C&D letters for downloading/sharing TV shows.


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

Over the course of my downloading history I have gotten..... mmmmmm I dunno.... near 10 I think? Certainly more than 5.

I've gotten them from 4 different service providers, 2 dsl companies and 2 cable companies. One dsl company cut me off until I called in and confirmed that I was no longer sharing the file in question.

I only ever got one letter since I started using peerguarding, and that was the one time I forgot to run PG while seeding overnight.

I no longer use peerguardian, I just load the block list directly into utorrent.

Not sure if it was ever over a TV show, definitely movies and music though.


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## wouldworker (Sep 7, 2004)

DeDondeEs said:


> Do you actually know anybody who has gotten such a letter? I'm not trying to be rhetorical. I would just like to hear first hand evidence that indeed does happen.


I received one from Comcast about three years ago. It was very threatening and I was almost scared. I got caught by HBO downloading the first episode of Lucky Louie. I installed Peer Guardian and subscribed to HBO to watch it instead of risking actually having Comcast cancel my account (my wife would have cried if that had happened).


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Anubys said:


> I have a problem...my PS3 sees the .mkv file, but it can't play it...it says the data is corrupted...I tried to have TVersity play it and send it to the PS3, but that didn't work, either...the file plays fine on my computer...
> 
> any ideas? I hate watching things on my computer...
> 
> also, I went to the bandwidth section of utorrent, and it says the max upload is 72...is that good? my max on my crap DSL is 124...so I assume that's low enough, right?


Try http://www.videohelp.com/tools/mkv2vob. It's not doing any sort of recompression -- it just remuxes the video and audio streams, so there's no quality loss, just packaging it into a form the PS3 can play.

(I've not really played with MKV's myself -- I just have stuck with the normal HD-source-to-modest-size-AVI/DIVX which still looks pretty decent)


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## Sherminator (Nov 24, 2004)

Anubys said:


> I have a problem...my PS3 sees the .mkv file, but it can't play it...it says the data is corrupted...I tried to have TVersity play it and send it to the PS3, but that didn't work, either...the file plays fine on my computer...
> 
> any ideas? I hate watching things on my computer...
> 
> also, I went to the bandwidth section of utorrent, and it says the max upload is 72...is that good? my max on my crap DSL is 124...so I assume that's low enough, right?


Dump TVersity and go with PS3 Media Server. OK, it's Java, but it handles all of the .MKV's that I have thrown at it, and it also allows you to set options from the PS3 itself without going to the computer the server is on.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

wouldworker said:


> I received one from Comcast about three years ago. It was very threatening and I was almost scared. I got caught by HBO downloading the first episode of Lucky Louie. I installed Peer Guardian and subscribed to HBO to watch it instead of risking actually having Comcast cancel my account (my wife would have cried if that had happened).


Wow that's crazy! Guess i'll get peer guardian  Also that would've sucked to get in all of that trouble over a show like "Lucky Louie".


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

Explain _PeerGuardian_ to me in the simplest possible terms. Please.


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## Sherminator (Nov 24, 2004)

Peerguardian blocks communication between the computer that it is installed on & a list of addresses of known & presumed parties involved in the detection of copyright infringement, known spyware sources, internet advertising servers, government addresses, educational institutions, and/or any address that you enter yourself.


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## fred2 (Jan 20, 2006)

SeanC said:


> I no longer use peerguardian, I just load the block list directly into utorrent.
> 
> Not sure if it was ever over a TV show, definitely movies and music though.


Where do you get the block list and appropriate format to load into utorrent. PeerGuardian does not work well (at all?) with Vista. Thanks in advance


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## Sherminator (Nov 24, 2004)

fred2 said:


> Where do you get the block list and appropriate format to load into utorrent. PeerGuardian does not work well (at all?) with Vista. Thanks in advance


What version of PG2 are you using? There is RC2 out for Vista & W7.


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## fred2 (Jan 20, 2006)

Sherminator said:


> What version of PG2 are you using? There is RC2 out for Vista & W7.


I believe I tried that version - there are still problems with it. It stops working and/or updating the lists.


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

Yeah, the problems with Vista and PG is what motivated me to look for another solution. Having utorrent do the blocking has the added benefit of meaning I'll never forget to have it running while I'm using utorrent.

http://www.mininova.org/tor/535093

The block list it uses is the same one PG uses.


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## ewolfr (Feb 12, 2001)

DeDondeEs said:


> Do you actually know anybody who has gotten such a letter? I'm not trying to be rhetorical. I would just like to hear first hand evidence that indeed does happen.


I stupidly got caught by HBO for downloading Entourage from mininova.org a couple years ago. In fact when I went back to look at the comments on the torrent there were several others that said they had gotten nastygrams as well.


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

DevdogAZ said:


> I'd be curious if anyone has gotten a letter for downloading TV shows.


I did torrent music but I've stop that and use now use Rhapsody. I still download "other" things and I've never got a letter from anyone to stop(knock on wood).

I think the thing the MPAA and the RIAA need to understand(And the RIAA has done good with Rapsody and Napster) is that costumers want things now at a reasonable price. For instance I missed BB11 today, the only way I can get it today is to torrent it. Or I want to watch a new movie coming out the only to watch it is to go to the theater or wait 6 months to watch it on DVD(in the life of a movie that's forever).

I like what the Daily show and the The Colbert Report are doing, they offer the shows a few hours after airing(Free with ads). All TV shows should be doing that.

And with Movies, if movie studios started to offer all movies same day as theater release I bet 99% of all movie torrent downloads would stop(Of courses there are cheap people who would never stop, but my guess is they are few).


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

Sherminator said:


> Peerguardian blocks communication between the computer that it is installed on & a list of addresses of known & presumed parties involved in the detection of copyright infringement, known spyware sources, internet advertising servers, government addresses, educational institutions, and/or any address that you enter yourself.


Warning: complete dummy aboard....
Would my ISP allow me to "block" communication with them?


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

jilter said:


> Warning: complete dummy aboard....
> Would my ISP allow me to "block" communication with them?


Block communication with your ISP? If you do that, you're not getting access to the internet, since it's your ISP that provides you that access.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

dswallow said:


> Try http://www.videohelp.com/tools/mkv2vob. It's not doing any sort of recompression -- it just remuxes the video and audio streams, so there's no quality loss, just packaging it into a form the PS3 can play.
> 
> (I've not really played with MKV's myself -- I just have stuck with the normal HD-source-to-modest-size-AVI/DIVX which still looks pretty decent)


I came on this morning to crow about finding this on my own and that it worked! I should have known that the answer would be here already 

I just watched the first Torchwood (Children...) in glorious HD and uncut :up:

my only problem now is that I have downloaded 4.5 GB and only uploaded 6.5 MB...at the rate I am seeding, I will lose my credit in another week or so...the files I have are available for seeding, I'm just barely uploading a 1 KB/s (I set the bandwidth for automatic, which increased it to 2 KB/s)...


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

SeanC said:


> Yeah, the problems with Vista and PG is what motivated me to look for another solution. Having utorrent do the blocking has the added benefit of meaning I'll never forget to have it running while I'm using utorrent.
> 
> http://www.mininova.org/tor/535093
> 
> The block list it uses is the same one PG uses.


I had no idea utorrent did that...that's a much better solution than installing PG2...now that I have PG2, I'll do both!


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Enrique said:


> I did torrent music but I've stop that and use now use Rhapsody. I still download "other" things and I've never got a letter from anyone to stop(knock on wood).
> 
> I think the thing the MPAA and the RIAA need to understand(And the RIAA has done good with Rapsody and Napster) is that costumers want things now at a reasonable price. For instance I missed BB11 today, the only way I can get it today is to torrent it. Or I want to watch a new movie coming out the only to watch it is to go to the theater or wait 6 months to watch it on DVD(in the life of a movie that's forever).
> 
> ...


I agree with your point about TV shows should be available a few hours later rather than the next day, and I'd say, why not use cable/satillite On Demand for that. Much better picture as well. As for the movies, that will not happen. Having movies available via other means than the theater will be the death knell to the theater industry (which many movie studios have a piece of). So that makes NO sense really. Now HDNet shows a few movies prior to theater opening on a one night basis (but I believe they own the production company for those movies), and then they go to theaters. That's a much better model. But still, all of this really doesn't justify getting your shows on torrent because you WANT it. Just because I want that Farrari, doesn't mean I'm going to go steal it. Believe me, I used to be the biggest proponent of d/l stuff off Napster for free years ago, but that was back when there were really no other options than buy the CD. But these days, there are places I can get stuff like this, TV or even movies cheap or free. I can wait a day if I have to to stream it off Hulu, or rent the DVD when the movie comes out from Netflix. It's just not worth the nastygrams that it seems a lot of you are getting.

And torrents, like Napster, limewire, etc. are ripe with trojans and othe rmalware. Invariable my customers who have malware have gotten it from illegally downloaded music/video.


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

Steveknj said:


> But still, all of this really doesn't justify getting your shows on torrent because you WANT it. Just because I want that Farrari, doesn't mean I'm going to go steal it.


I understand that argument, but that still doesn't let the Movie and TV studios off the hook. My guess is when the next generation(My generation) start to come of age(30,40,50) and take over for the current CEOs that it will happen.

It's kinda sad when one Generation holds back another because they just don't get its technology.

It's very frustrating when you want to pay for something and the rights holders just don't offer it to you in a convenient way.

And I don't think the answer is to bad or that will never happen(Because it has to if the studios don't want to go the way of the newspaper).


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

Enrique said:


> I understand that argument, but that still doesn't let the Movie and TV studios off the hook. My guess is when the next generation(My generation) start to come of age(30,40,50) and take over for the current CEOs that it will happen.
> 
> It's kinda sad when one Generation holds back another because they just don't get its technology.
> 
> ...


my argument is a little different...I'm still pissed that I have to buy the same songs over and over again because they keep improving the format...LP becomes CD...itunes for 99cents? buy it again for 1.29 without DRM...

DVD? how about the same thing on blu ray?

it's crap...Torchwood is on BBCA for free but only in SD...it's being broadcast in HD for free but my provider doesn't carry the HD channel...if I want to watch it in HD, I have to pay for it by buying the blu ray? why the frak is that?


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Anubys said:


> my argument is a little different...I'm still pissed that I have to buy the same songs over and over again because they keep improving the format...LP becomes CD...itunes for 99cents? buy it again for 1.29 without DRM...
> 
> DVD? how about the same thing on blu ray?
> 
> it's crap...Torchwood is on BBCA for free but only in SD...it's being broadcast in HD for free but my provider doesn't carry the HD channel...if I want to watch it in HD, I have to pay for it by buying the blu ray? why the frak is that?


Of course the argument is, switch providers and you can have it in HD. You go to a supermarket and they don't have Blue Bunny Ice Cream and you LIKE Blue Bunny Ice Cream, what do you do? If it's that important you get BB Ice Cream you got to a market that carries it. You can't have it all. And hey, if you have The Police on LP, for $99 you can buy a turntable that hooks up to your PC and burn the LP to MP3. No need to buy the song again. There are work arounds to everything. This all comes back to NEED vs. WANT. Just because you WANT something, doesn't mean that you can get it. But if enough people WANT it that way, it will happen. Ten years ago, you had ONE option, now you have many. And it improves constantly.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Enrique said:


> I understand that argument, but that still doesn't let the Movie and TV studios off the hook. My guess is when the next generation(My generation) start to come of age(30,40,50) and take over for the current CEOs that it will happen.
> 
> It's kinda sad when one Generation holds back another because they just don't get its technology.
> 
> ...


Except your definition of convenient is not always a way to make a profit. So, would you say, pay $5 to watch Big Brother the same day? Why SHOULD they give it to you right away? How does that help their bottom line? Until online streaming is as profitable as broadcast, you won't see it. As for the movie studios, until their becomes a point where they can sell you a movie at theatrical release that would be more profitable than showing it in the theater, it won't happen.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

Steveknj said:


> Of course the argument is, switch providers and you can have it in HD. ...


sure...I can do that...and the makers of Torchwood would not get one extra dime of profit...and I would get to watch it in HD...

so by getting the torrent, I am switching providers...and have not stolen anything that is not given away for free...I simply took the more convenient way of getting what I want...


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Anubys said:


> I came on this morning to crow about finding this on my own and that it worked! I should have known that the answer would be here already
> 
> I just watched the first Torchwood (Children...) in glorious HD and uncut :up:
> 
> my only problem now is that I have downloaded 4.5 GB and only uploaded 6.5 MB...at the rate I am seeding, I will lose my credit in another week or so...the files I have are available for seeding, I'm just barely uploading a 1 KB/s (I set the bandwidth for automatic, which increased it to 2 KB/s)...


When you speak of credits, I assume you're talking about TVTorrents.com. From what I understand, as long as you're connected and making the files available for seeding, you're getting credits. It's not your fault that there's nobody out there that wants the file at the moment. Check your account balance and I'll bet you're not as far in the hole as you think.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

DevdogAZ said:


> When you speak of credits, I assume you're talking about TVTorrents.com. From what I understand, as long as you're connected and making the files available for seeding, you're getting credits. It's not your fault that there's nobody out there that wants the file at the moment. Check your account balance and I'll bet you're not as far in the hole as you think.


you're correct on both counts...I was talking about TVTorrents...and my credit is 8.17 (started with a gift of 10 G) and I have downloaded 4.5 GB; so I would have thought I should be at 5.5...

question: do I need to stay logged on to the site while utorrent is downloading? the FAQ doesn't say...


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Anubys said:


> you're correct on both counts...I was talking about TVTorrents...and my credit is 8.17 (started with a gift of 10 G) and I have downloaded 4.5 GB; so I would have thought I should be at 5.5...
> 
> question: do I need to stay logged on to the site while utorrent is downloading? the FAQ doesn't say...


No. Once you've downloaded the tracker from their site, it takes care of making sure you get credit. You'll find that the site will log you out after a relatively short period of inactivity and it would be a major pain to have to keep logging in just to maintain you ability to earn credits.


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## IDSmoker (Apr 11, 2004)

Anubys said:


> my only problem now is that I have downloaded 4.5 GB and only uploaded 6.5 MB...at the rate I am seeding, I will lose my credit in another week or so...the files I have are available for seeding, I'm just barely uploading a 1 KB/s (I set the bandwidth for automatic, which increased it to 2 KB/s)...


If you are having trouble maintaining a positive balance (I had the same problem in the beginning), you can download a show from other sources and upload/seed it using the TVTorrents tracker. You can find the details on doing this in their FAQ.

Has anyone ever heard, and have proof, of a person being convicted in a court of law (as opposed to just being extorted by a corporation) for having downloaded, via P2P network, a television show that had previously been broadcast over the public airwaves? I don't think this has *ever *happened. I don't think it ever *will *happen.

The MPAA, RIAA, and their ilk have to be *very *careful about creating precedents that involve Fair Use since those precedents could be used to let people do whatever they want with the entertainment they've already paid for once before, without requiring them to pay for it multiple times.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

IDSmoker said:


> If you are having trouble maintaining a positive balance (I had the same problem in the beginning), you can download a show from other sources and upload/seed it using the TVTorrents tracker. You can find the details on doing this in their FAQ.


that was a product of me being an idiot...I didn't understand "seeding", I thought someone has to actually get the files from me in order to get the credit...now I understand that it's just making it available!


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## jschuur (Nov 27, 2002)

Anubys said:


> that was a product of me being an idiot...I didn't understand "seeding", I thought someone has to actually get the files from me in order to get the credit...now I understand that it's just making it available!


Seeding does mean making it available, that is true, but in order to get credit if you're using a tracker that has ratios, you do need to actually have people download content for you. To get a positive ratio, people have to download from you as much as you've downloaded from the cloud.

Not all torrent sites use the ratio system though.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

SeanC said:


> Yeah, the problems with Vista and PG is what motivated me to look for another solution. Having utorrent do the blocking has the added benefit of meaning I'll never forget to have it running while I'm using utorrent.
> 
> http://www.mininova.org/tor/535093
> 
> The block list it uses is the same one PG uses.


How do you verified that this worked? I downloaded and installed this, clicked on the desktop icon, watched it do stuff and nothing's different that I can see, not that I was expecting any big difference. I was hoping that one of utorrent's option setting would indicate that it's doing PeerGuardian's job. What should I check to see that utorrent is doing the blocking?


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## SeanC (Dec 30, 2003)

I don't know I guess I take it on faith that when uTorrent says that it's using the ip filter I have to believe it.

I've been using it for almost a year and have not gotten any nasty grams since I switched to this method, tough to prove a negative though.


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## Mispelld (May 6, 2009)

cheesesteak said:


> What should I check to see that utorrent is doing the blocking?


I have seen many IPs shown as "banned" in uTorrent's logger tab. You might want to check there. Of course, if no banned IPs are listed for a particular torrent it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not working. 

I've downloaded tons of stuff over the past years via torrent and have never received a nasty gram from either of my service providers - Road Runner and now, Verizon FIOS. Have never used PG. I've probably just been lucky.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

SeanC said:


> I don't know I guess I take it on faith that when uTorrent says that it's using the ip filter I have to believe it.


Where does it say that it's using the ip filter? I flipped a switch from false to true per the instructions. I guess I expected to see some notice to the effect of "Now using the ip filter located at c:\blah\blah\blah"


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

cheesesteak said:


> Where does it say that it's using the ip filter? I flipped a switch from false to true per the instructions. I guess I expected to see some notice to the effect of "Now using the ip filter located at c:\blah\blah\blah"


After flipping the switch, close and reopen, then look at the logger tab.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

something strange is happening...I have 10 files that I am seeding using utorrent to tvtorrents...all were green from the time I downloaded them (latest was 10 days ago)...the last 2 days, the two files for Kings (ep1-2 and ep3) are both red and tvtorrrents says I'm only seeding 8 files...

I've tried to force a start on the two Kings files...they remained red and not available...I did not touch the computer since they were active...a reboot left the same situation...

any idea why this would be?


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

DeDondeEs said:


> Do you actually know anybody who has gotten such a letter? I'm not trying to be rhetorical. I would just like to hear first hand evidence that indeed does happen.


Thread bump, because I just got one of those letters. Well, actually an email, from TWC. It received a complaint from the MPAA about my "distribution" of copyrighted content. In looking at the submitted complaint from the MPAA, specifically the timestamp, it appears that what dinged me was the "sharing" that Vuze does of files that I had already downloaded a few weeks ago.

The email was a cease & desist type from TWC, attaching the complaint (not a legal complaint, i.e. pleading, but just a listing that had my name, address, IP address, date, timestamp, and file at issue) with a link to some "helpful" info from the MPAA about supporting copyrights, etc.

So, it appears that I need to use PeerGuardian or somesuch - is that still the way to go? I only DL TV shows, and in this case, they were shows that I had just lost on a HDD that went bad. Maybe I should switch from Vuze to a different client, like uTorrent? Advice?


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

The thing with Peerguardian and ipfilter.dat is that they only block known IP addresses of the MPAA. Some of those known IP addresses are still live so they do protect you, but not as good as you would think. I've used Peerguardian before and found it more annoying than it helped.

If you're really anal about it the best route is using a proxy or something. The only problem is that it will definitely slow down your downloads.

TOR is probably the easiest to setup and it's free. If you don't know what it is but find the name familiar it's what Iranians used not long ago during the protests and riots that were going on and their government was actively block communication with the outside world. There are guides on the internet on how to set it up.

I've been experimenting myself for the past few months on securing my actions when using bittorent. However most of what I do only makes sure my ISP has no clue what I'm doing, and does little to prevent MPAA from joining a swarm and finding my IP.

I always make sure the ipfilter.dat is updated
I have *Enforce Encryption* enabled.
I blacklisted all the popular trackers from my hosts file so I can no longer communicate with them and instead I'm relying on DHT and only use magnet links.
I useYahoo Pipes for RSS feeds instead of actual sites.


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## jpcapili (May 13, 2009)

how about downloading the .avi files directly and not through torrent applications? Would my ISP be able to detect it and is it somewhat okay to do since I dont share anything?


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

Where would you DL the .avi files directly from though?


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

robojerk said:


> The thing with Peerguardian and ipfilter.dat is that they only block known IP addresses of the MPAA. Some of those known IP addresses are still live so they do protect you, but not as good as you would think. I've used Peerguardian before and found it more annoying than it helped.
> 
> If you're really anal about it the best route is using a proxy or something. The only problem is that it will definitely slow down your downloads.
> 
> ...


What torrent client do you use?

Do you use private sites, or the public ones? I didn't know the difference until recently - I just used whatever came up on my Vuze searches, with the best typically being KickAss Torrents.


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## Fleegle (Jan 15, 2002)

DreadPirateRob said:


> Thread bump, because I just got one of those letters. Well, actually an email, from TWC. It received a complaint from the MPAA about my "distribution" of copyrighted content. In looking at the submitted complaint from the MPAA, specifically the timestamp, it appears that what dinged me was the "sharing" that Vuze does of files that I had already downloaded a few weeks ago.
> 
> The email was a cease & desist type from TWC, attaching the complaint (not a legal complaint, i.e. pleading, but just a listing that had my name, address, IP address, date, timestamp, and file at issue) with a link to some "helpful" info from the MPAA about supporting copyrights, etc.
> 
> So, it appears that I need to use PeerGuardian or somesuch - is that still the way to go? I only DL TV shows, and in this case, they were shows that I had just lost on a HDD that went bad. Maybe I should switch from Vuze to a different client, like uTorrent? Advice?


I use a proxy service. btguard.com. $7/month or $20 for 3 months. The swarm will only see btguard's IP address, (Outside the US), and yours will never show.

If you REALLY want security, lease a Seedbox.


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

I use µtorrent.

Deluge is also pretty good. There is also some new program called Tixati that is getting decent reviews, but I haven't touched it yet.


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

Just switching clients wont change your exposure in the swarm. I don't use a proxy, but have been lucky enough to not get on anyone's radar. If you do use a proxy, read how to configure your client and firewall correctly.

Here's some links you should look at.
Protect Your Privacy When Downloading (Lifehacker is an awesome site)
Anonymize BitTorrent Transfers with BTGuard
Make BitTorrent Transfers Anonymous With BTGuard
Bittorrent over Tor isn't a good idea (This refutes my earlier recommendation about TOR)


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## Fleegle (Jan 15, 2002)

Tea, TOR has some well know exploits that lets your IP address become visible. I haven't had any warnings from my ISP since I switched to using BTGuard.


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## ewolfr (Feb 12, 2001)

Peerguardian is useless. If you can see the list of IPs being blocked so can anyone else that downloads the program as well which would include the MPAA, RIAA, etc. But there are a few ways to hide yourself. 1) Use a VPN service. 2) Usenet 3) Rent a seedbox.


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## Fleegle (Jan 15, 2002)

ewolfr said:


> Peerguardian is useless. If you can see the list of IPs being blocked so can anyone else that downloads the program as well which would include the MPAA, RIAA, etc. But there are a few ways to hide yourself. 1) Use a VPN service. 2) Usenet 3) Rent a seedbox.


4) use a proxy.


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## ewolfr (Feb 12, 2001)

But you have to trust the people running the proxy. Doing a Google search for "public proxys" and then picking one at random just wouldn't work for me. If someone insists on using torrents I think a VPN or seedbox is really the only way to go.


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

My 2 cents: Forget torrents. I imagine the original files torrented come from the encoding groups (Dimension/Momentum/CTU/etc) on usenet. Usenet is download only, so you don't participate in any re-distribution of the content. I've been lucky and had ISPs that partnered with dedicated news services like SuperNews or Giganews, so completion, retention and speed may be influencing my opinion.


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

Is there a place you like I could learn about Usenet for torrents.
I do not understand how this works at all.
Thanks,
Jill


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

Google Usenet Vs Bittorrent

A Beginner's guide to Bittorrent
Bittorent's Future: DHT, PEX, and Magnet Links Explained
Setting up RSS feeds in µTorrent for EZTV
Bittorrent Tools & Tricks (extra info, might not be useful to you)

BitTorrent vs. Usenet
File-sharing showdown: Usenet vs. Bittorrent

How To Use Usenet, A Beginners Guide
How To: Download with Newsgroups
How To: Kick Your Torrent Addiction With Usenet

10 Reasons Why You Need a Seedbox

A Bittorrent Seedbox vs Usenet: 10 Reasons Why a Seedbox is a Waste of Money


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## ewolfr (Feb 12, 2001)

orangeboy said:


> My 2 cents: Forget torrents.


For some things I just can't. Wit an expat in the house I need to grab Coronation Street, Eastenders, etc. Those are shows I have very rarely if ever seen on usenet. So to get those I need to use torrents.


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

Thank you, I realized I misphrased my question.
I appreciate the links very much.

Jill


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

ewolfr said:


> For some things I just can't. Wit an expat in the house I need to grab Coronation Street, Eastenders, etc. Those are shows I have very rarely if ever seen on usenet. So to get those I need to use torrents.


Found both those titles in alt.binaries.british.drama and alt.binaries.teevee, respectively.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

If you are going to be downloading stuff from USENET infrequently, and your ISP doesn't have a good server, instead of subscribing to a per month provider, you might want to look at a block provider like blocknews.net


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## Fleegle (Jan 15, 2002)

ewolfr said:


> But you have to trust the people running the proxy. Doing a Google search for "public proxys" and then picking one at random just wouldn't work for me. If someone insists on using torrents I think a VPN or seedbox is really the only way to go.


As I said before, btguard is trustworthy and fast. Server's in Canada, so no DMCA crap, and they don't keep any logs.


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## bruab (Nov 16, 2001)

Fleegle said:


> As I said before, btguard is trustworthy and fast. Server's in Canada, so no DMCA crap, and they don't keep any logs.


 BTguard requires you to turn off all incoming connections, which isn't great for torrenting. It also uses a non-changeable reserved port number (<1024) so it won't work with tvtorrents.com.

I use a VPN service, which doesn't have those restrictions, and costs about the same.


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## Fleegle (Jan 15, 2002)

bruab said:


> BTguard requires you to turn off all incoming connections, which isn't great for torrenting. It also uses a non-changeable reserved port number (<1024) so it won't work with tvtorrents.com.
> 
> I use a VPN service, which doesn't have those restrictions, and costs about the same.


I use it with tvtorrents just fine, and I've been able to seed normally as well. I used their pre-configured version of uTorrent. I'm at work right now, so I can't check their site or how my uTorrent is configured, but I'll check when I get home tonight.


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## ewolfr (Feb 12, 2001)

orangeboy said:


> Found both those titles in alt.binaries.british.drama and alt.binaries.teevee, respectively.


Let's put it this way. There are still other shows that I can only get at thebox.bz or uknova.com that will never show up on usenet. Nice to see that those are on there. But I've already got an RSS feed setup to my seedbox and they are autodownloaded for me each day.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

ewolfr said:


> Let's put it this way. There are still other shows that I can only get at thebox.bz or uknova.com that will never show up on usenet. Nice to see that those are on there. But I've already got an RSS feed setup to my seedbox and they are autodownloaded for me each day.


I would be curious what shows those are.


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## ewolfr (Feb 12, 2001)

innocentfreak said:


> I would be curious what shows those are.


Graham Norton (sometimes on usenet, sometimes not), gameshows (All Star family fortunes, the cube), BBC documentaries as we usually prefer Attenbourogh's narration over whatever Discovery will choose, Jools Hollands weekly Friday show. Those are just a few there are several others. Like I said before, while some stuff may show on usenet there is lots more that I can only get via torrent. And with the seedbox for 10euros a month I only tie up my internet connection at night while grabbing it all via FTP.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

I was more curious than anything in case there was a show i was missing I should check out.


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## bruab (Nov 16, 2001)

Fleegle said:


> I use it with tvtorrents just fine, and I've been able to seed normally as well. I used their pre-configured version of uTorrent. I'm at work right now, so I can't check their site or how my uTorrent is configured, but I'll check when I get home tonight.


That would be interesting. I sent them a question about it via their website but got no response. This was about 4-5 months ago.

I do like my setup now, I run uTorrent in a Windows VM over a VPN. I control it remotely using the web interface, or by dropping torrent files into a special watched Dropbox folder. I can launch a torrent from literally anywhere using my iPhone and Goodreader to save the torrentfile to Dropbox.


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