[dmix]

I use torrents heavily despite subscribing to 4 different streaming services because I live in Canada and we don't yet have Hulu or HBO Max. Plus I also like watching some older movies via 2160p bluray rips and torrents are just the easiest option to do so. That plus it has everything.

I use Transmission for torrents and then https://airflow.app/ to cast movies from my Macbook to my Firestick/Chromecast, which I find just as easy as using a streaming service.

When I a) can't find it on streaming and b) don't feel like waiting for torrent d/ls (even on fiber connection) I just use https://soap2day.id/ and mirror via Chromecast casting, which seems to have every movie/TV show ever. Quality is pretty good, usually 1080p or 720p.

[xwowsersx]

Yeah, streaming has become such a mess. In the beginning, it felt liberating to cut the cord and the promise was, at least in theory, that you could get just what you wanted with a couple streaming services. But now you have to have 5 or 6 and when combined they are more than cable used to be! Even if those services are available where you live, you might not want to subscribe to yet another streaming service just to catch one episode or one show, especially since a many of the streaming services aren't exactly filled with tons of great content that justifies the permanent subscription.

I hadn't heard of Airflow, thanks for the link. Out of curiosity, if my TV is already AirPlay-enabled, what does Airflow do for me that I can't get by just clicking on my Mac to watch on that screen (although I often just end up connecting my Mac via HDMI because that seems more reliable, at least on my TV)?

[dmix]

I'm not sure re: airplay. I personally use a Firestick 4k Max, which I replaced my more custom Android TV box (w/ Plex) because it has a fast CPU and Wifi 6 and was <$50 (vs $75+ for a decent custom android box and >$100 for Apple TV).

Honestly I'm not even sure which protocol Airflow uses to connect with my Firestick + TV, I use an app (AirReceiver) which says "AirPlay, Chromecast, and DLNA" and it works every time so I don't really care :)

[leovander]

If you want quicker speeds, look into usenet. Have to pay for a decent news hosting and indexer, but after some tweaking you can download new releases so much quicker without worrying about vpns and ratios.

At this point I have Plex and Overseer hooked up to Prowlarr, Sonarr, Lidarr and Radarr, with Prowlarr connected to my nzb client and server (it was easy to cut over from transmission, using the secure ports to talk the news hosting and client accounts). Everything is spun up in docker using the linuxserverio images.

I might be mixing up some terms there, but that setup has made downloading content so much easier and quicker.

My current setup:

Plex (Media Content Manager, desktop, mobile, tv apps. Local and external) - https://www.plex.tv/

Overserr (Allows users to request content) - https://overseerr.dev

Prowlarr (Configure your torrent/usenet indexers, Radarr, Sonarr, Lidarr point to Prowlarr) - https://prowlarr.com/

Radarr (Movies) - https://radarr.video/

Sonarr (TV) - https://sonarr.tv/

Lidarr (Music) - https://lidarr.audio/

NZBGet (nzb download client, configure nzb newhosting site, Radarr, Sonarr, Lidarr point NZBGet to download content. I pay for one newshosting site and two separate indexers) - https://nzbget.net/

[derefr]

I don't think I've ever found torrent download speed a limiting problem. I've much more often had problems finding peers to enable downloading 100% of the file at all, because most of what I download is stuff that's old enough (in time since the torrent was created) that mostly the torrent isn't being actively seeded any more. How long do files generally "stick around" on Usenet?

[ornornor]

Theoretically, for ever.

In practice most servers offer over 2000 or 3000 days of retention (and growing). It used to be a problem many years ago because shortage wasn’t as cheap as now, but it feels like Usenet will also keep things forever now.

[arp242]

Last week I downloaded a torrent of a rather obscure series that I ripped from DVD and uploaded 16 years ago (I no longer have the DVD).

I was rather surprised to find my old torrent still hanging around. I thought it was pretty neat.

[pixxel]

"configure nzb newhosting site"

What's good these days? I used GigaNews back in the day. From memory, there was a content decrease as newsgroups were getting hit hard for take downs. I think I'm remembering this correctly.

[SSLy]

eweka

[2Gkashmiri]

is there something for books and audiobooks in particular?

i am hoping for a audible-like experience which can easily be created using booksonic and other servers but the retrieval part is the most troublesome imo.

movies and tv shows have the best experience

[ornornor]

There is: https://lazylibrarian.gitlab.io/

Libgen has almost everything I need and when it doesn’t I can usually find it in #bookz on undernet. If all else fails, bookfinder.com usually knows about used copies. I don’t have the luxury of an English speaking public library where I live.

[kab0b]

There is also Readarr, which has a similar interface to the other *arr software.

It was in it's pretty early stages last time i checked it out, but that was a couple years back now.

[2Gkashmiri]

niether do i. i did manage to get a libby account so that has helped me by a lot but still....

does LL support audiobooks search from torrents? nice. i might have to give this a look afterall

[throwaway_mam]

If you want audiobooks, nothing beats myanonamouse.net.

They're a semi-private tracker, registration is open, but you have to actually read the rules, go on IRC and answer a few rules-related questions. It takes a few hours, but it's definitely worth the effort IMO. The amount of content they have is pretty staggering, and I don't think I found a single unseeded torrent so far.

They also offer ebooks, but Anna's Archive and Libgen have a bigger selection of those.

[2Gkashmiri]

ah.... that brings back old memories.

i've beem a MaM user since 2017. you can't automate it i think. i used a seedbox back when to get a bunch of points so yeah i get your point

[ornornor]

Which indexers do you use?

[timothevs]

Quite a few people I know use https://nzbs.in/login/ and swear by it. The admins of that site try to masquerade it as another WordPress site. Ingenious. But it is by far the biggest, and the best I am told.

[bobleeswagger]

Seems their start was less than savory. Dog and Slug are the usual starter pair and cover 99% of folks' use cases.

https://old.reddit.com/r/usenet/comments/20v5es/so_apparentl...

[cassianoleal]

It's so well masqueraded that there doesn't even seem to be a way to sign up!

[pixxel]

https://nzbs.in/register

Disabled.

[eggsome]

I never torrent for ethical reasons, but I just jumped onto soap2day to check if they had something that I've been on the lookout for (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail) and they don't have it.

[dmix]

Yeah, not everything, but between torrents + paid streaming + soap I dont have a problem.

I google'd "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail", the full thing is (legally) on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPa4OIVN4U

But geo-locked to US only. You can still download it using any YT downloader @ 1080p (851mb), for ex:

https://offeo.com/download/youtube-downloader/#url=https://w...

[m-p-3]

you could also watch it through an Invidious instance located in the US.

[nishs]

s/torrent/pirate?

context for unaware: torrents are more general. for example, official releases of open source operating systems, such as debian [1], are available via torrents.

[1]: https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/bt-dvd/

[dmix]

I'm pretty sure HN users know what torrents mean. Context does the rest.

[sltkr]

All the more reason not to conflate copyright infringement with the BitTorrent protocol.

[BonoboIO]

Boy, airflow looks the GOAT. Never knew such things existed. Thought Airplay was bandwidth limited and just thing for easy watching 1080p.