TV posts

[StN]

Originally Posted by drac0s

huh? how does the speed of your line affect news groups.

I watched bits of "Good Copy, Bad Copy" yesterday, and was amused by one of the Pirate Bay supporters wearing a t-shirt that read "FTP". I couldn't work out if he was advocating a direct form of data access, or had issues with the constabulary.

[cryocore]

True Blood is here at all the usual places

[Nothing]

Originally Posted by crocos

Torrents? LOL. Newsgroups &/or Rapidshare is where it's at.

Just checked rapidshare out (had never heard of it before). Probably won't be using it, the 200mb limit for non premium customers is too restrictive, and I'm definitely not going to pay. As for newsgroups, I don't think I've ever used one of those. IIRC they can be read using email clients, is that right? How does a newsgroup facilitate file transfers? Please excuse my ignorance...

[chiQ]

Originally Posted by Nothing

Just checked rapidshare out (had never heard of it before). Probably won't be using it, the 200mb limit for non premium customers is too restrictive, and I'm definitely not going to pay. As for newsgroups, I don't think I've ever used one of those. IIRC they can be read using email clients, is that right? How does a newsgroup facilitate file transfers? Please excuse my ignorance...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgro...ary_newsgroups

[Azmodan]

Season finale breaking bad is out hoooooboy

[verve_rat]

^ And what a fucking great episode that was. Great ending to a great season.

[fidgit]

Originally Posted by fidgit

Also I think Persons Unknown has started.

So it's actually been out for a week or so.

It was, I dunno... It's hard to see where they'll actually take the story. At the moment, it's pretty much exactly as advertised - people in a "Ghost Town" being watched by cameras, except other people show up from the "outside" (Chinese restaurateurs, the night manager for the hotel). If they're going to keep filling up the town with people that aren't them but won't help them, and at the same time the woman who wants nothing more than to get free to see her daughter keeps going 'oh nah we should be nice to them rather than force them to tell us what's what', it's going to get tedious real quick.

Other things: so far the characters are pretty boring. Mysterious Guy who wont tell us his past will no doubt get an episode or two of exploring Who He Is, Ditzy Drunk Blonde will probably turn out to be a rocket scientist or some thing. Army Guy better stop calling everyone Sir too, that's already old, and entirely unrealistic (yeah he's in a uniform, doesn't mean he's going to treat every single person as his superior. Well every single guy, I don't recall him cowtowing to any women).

I guess the big issue is that, without any indication of what the show's actually going to be about, it's going to be dropping viewers pretty quick, leading to the 'hiatus-re-tool-cancel' that so many shows run through before they fade off into the setting sun of TV Sci-Fi.

[Azmodan]

Originally Posted by verve_rat

^ And what a fucking great episode that was. Great ending to a great season.

Agreed, epic stuff! can't wait for next season!

How is Treme going? worth picking up now that everything else is slowing down?

[Fx.]

Originally Posted by cryocore

True Blood is here at all the usual places

good ep too, was that the first vag shot we've had ?

[Azmodan]

^^ also true, good ep! season 3 of Anna Paquin's titties is shaping up nicely

[Fx.]

but with what happened i dont know if we'll be seeing those in a while

[drac0s]

Originally Posted by chiQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgro...ary_newsgroups

People download from newsgroups using NZB files. Very similar to torrents in that browse to a site i.e. piratebay etc... search for file you want, click the link and then it'll load into a client and start downloading. No one actually leeches by browsing through news articles, I don't even have a traditional news reader on my computer just the NZB client. Downloading exactly the same effort involved as torrents as in click a link.

The downside is you have pay to get access to a news server with binaries, ~$10 a month. Maybe more if you leech a lot, depending on plans etc...

Upside of news is no uploading, keeping ratios (for cool people), can get encrypted SSL traffic. At the moment ISPs don't seem to really filter against news like they do p2p. no searching for seeds etc... if the file is there you can get it at full speed for retention date of the server (about 1-2 years at most places).

Dunno feel like a mini crusader for news, but the full speed always, no uploading/ratio crap and long retention make it worth the money for me.

[Azmodan]

Originally Posted by Fx.

but with what happened i dont know if we'll be seeing those in a while

Looks like we'll at least be seeing a whole lot of man tittay : /

[Rince]

Originally Posted by Azmodan

How is Treme going? worth picking up now that everything else is slowing down?

the wife and I enjoy it - it's paced about the same as The Wire, so you do need to get to know the characters... the music's fantastic from the start, though

[Markh]

For newsgroups the easiest is the well named www.easynews.com
Download directly from HTTP - can't be easier.
US$10/Month for 20GB/month
US$15/Month for 40GB/month
The monthly allocation rolls over too, if you download 10GB out of your 20GB for this month then you could download 30GB next month. If you use up your entire allocation in 2 weeks and want more then you can pay another US$10 (or 15) and have another 20GB (or 40).

They also give bonus loyalty GB for each year you have been with them - 1GB more per month on the $10 plan or 2GB per month on the $15 plan for each year you have been with them. i.e. if you have been a member for over 9 years and pay US$15 per month then you would get 40GB + 18GB = 58GB per month. Depending on how many TV programs you d/load 20GB may easily be enough, on the 350MB files that would be around 60 eps per month.

[Azmodan]

A mere 9 years! that rules.

I suppose it evens out in terms of cost really, are all releases scene releases?

[Markh]

Originally Posted by Azmodan

A mere 9 years! that rules.

I suppose it evens out in terms of cost really, are all releases scene releases?

Cost: If you maintain a 1:1 ratio with torrents then most internet plans at over $1/GB will work out dearer than if you used newsgroups instead. I never used torrents until the start of this year and then only because I had moved to Telecom Big Time and had no data limit. Easynews is still my favourite source of TV programs and whatever you guys see on the torrents is the same as what is posted in the newsgroups.

With US$15 buying me 58GB per month I can pretty much download whatever I am interested whenever I want, I have also built up a Gig bank of over 400GB which means I could download 100GB per month for several months if I wanted. I can use download managers with the ability to pause & resume downloads. What airs on a Monday night in the US is ready for me to download tonight from around 3-4pm or so - that would make it within a couple of hours of airing that it is available for download.

[Azmodan]

Yeah, there's no doubt it's a good option - I didn't realise the allowance rolled over, might look into it one of these days..

[Nothing]

Originally Posted by Markh

Cost: If you maintain a 1:1 ratio with torrents...

Maybe this makes me a c*nt, but, who said anything about maintaining a 1:1 ratio with torrents? Screw that. TBH I'm okay with being a c*nt on that one.

[Spink]

Another (more expensive) option is a seedbox (google/wikipedia it!) but it does guarantee fast downloads and good rep on torrent sites. If you can find someone who already has/uses one and find a way to borrow it that's double choice. That's if exclusive torrent sites that require a good ratio have better content than newsgroups idk?

[Markh]

Originally Posted by Nothing

Maybe this makes me a c*nt, but, who said anything about maintaining a 1:1 ratio with torrents? Screw that. TBH I'm okay with being a c*nt on that one.

On 'Go Large' or 'Big Time' or any similar plan then there is no reason not to be generous with the upload (I uploaded about 700GB in 5 months) to have a VERY good ratio - I have about a 20 to 1 ratio with IPTorrents. But with the limited plans or ones that charge per GB (Xnet) then obviously you would not want to be so generous. If even maintaining a 40% ratio is hard to do without blowing the cap on you internet plan then newsgroups is a good option - no upload required, good speeds and cheaper than stepping up to a bigger plan with most ISPs.

[Azmodan]

Originally Posted by Spink

Another (more expensive) option is a seedbox (google/wikipedia it!) but it does guarantee fast downloads and good rep on torrent sites. If you can find someone who already has/uses one and find a way to borrow it that's double choice. That's if exclusive torrent sites that require a good ratio have better content than newsgroups idk?

Yeah I actually looked into this a while ago, the only NZ discussion I could find was on the now defunct (as far as I know..) Elements tracker. I remember there was also some discussion on DTTSK but that was a long time ago.. any ideas? Should also mention what I did find was prohibitively expensive

[Spink]

It all looks prohibitively expensive tbh the cheapest ones have like 8gb of storage but cost ~15-20 GBP or Euros per month which is assrape - best bet is to find someone already using one or share one.

[Fx.]

few mates go in on a $30/month one iirc

works out well for them

[Fx.]

:O:O:O BREAKING BAD :O:O:O

[fidgit]

Regarding torrents, if (like me, or Nothing) you're a cunt and don't care about limiting hard, and also can handle waiting till the day after a show comes out, what's the issue? Speeds for anything new are fast enough (200-400k), and for anything older, there's usually still enough people seeding if it was a decent enough show that you'll get it eventually (and if you're waited a year, what's another few days?).

I've not seen anyone mention privacy as the main concern, and for sure public torrents can get watched by pirate trackers, but even the most secure private trackers can be too. (I don't remember enough about newsgroups, but I'm sure that'll be 'watchable' too).

Just not seeing why you're all so keen on spending extra money...

[StN]

Originally Posted by fidgit

... for sure public torrents can get watched by pirate trackers, but even the most secure private trackers can be too.

Probably easier to pick off the fish in a smaller pond too.

[dylan]

Originally Posted by fidgit

Regarding torrents, if (like me, or Nothing) you're a cunt and don't care about limiting hard, and also can handle waiting till the day after a show comes out, what's the issue? Speeds for anything new are fast enough (200-400k), and for anything older, there's usually still enough people seeding if it was a decent enough show that you'll get it eventually (and if you're waited a year, what's another few days?).

I've not seen anyone mention privacy as the main concern, and for sure public torrents can get watched by pirate trackers, but even the most secure private trackers can be too. (I don't remember enough about newsgroups, but I'm sure that'll be 'watchable' too).

Just not seeing why you're all so keen on spending extra money...

i'm totally with fidgit on this one. i already pay for my internet connection - a fucking ridiculous amount, by global standards - i really don't have any inclination to pay more ON TOP OF THAT for the benefit of, what, getting things a tiny bit earlier?

I don't have any problems with speed, am on 10 mbit telstra cable and torrent at ~1meg / sec on popular torrents, which tbh is usually too fast fo rme anyway, i'm usually like oh crap that shit downloaded so quick, i'm not finished what i was doing when i chose it :P

[Markh]

Originally Posted by fidgit

I've not seen anyone mention privacy as the main concern, and for sure public torrents can get watched by pirate trackers, but even the most secure private trackers can be too. (I don't remember enough about newsgroups, but I'm sure that'll be 'watchable' too).

Newsgroups are definitely MUCH harder for the pirate trackers to 'watch', if fact they can't watch them in the way that they can watch the torrents. The only way to track what you download from newsgroups would be to serve a court order on the usenet provider, but they would need some evidence first to get a court order, but it is hard for them to get evidence without the court order. Do you see the problem here? The people in the USA that got done for pirating music were caught downloading from public torrents - they are the 'easy target'.

Of course private torrents are a lot safer than public torrents and if the 'easy targets' are targeted first then most of us will be pretty safe on private torrent sites, at least for now.

[Markh]

Back on topic, tonight's Lie To Me was another interesting episode - always an enjoyable watch.

[herp]

Breaking Bad was sick. I love how he's morphed into Heisenberg over the season, especially ending with the hat. He's got balls old Walt!

[Nothing]

In some ways I think it would be better if everyone simply pirated as brazenly and openly as possible. Hiding it is almost like an admission that you're doing something wrong, which is what the RIAA and other anti-piracy groups want you to think. In case you hadn't already guessed, I really don't buy the line that piracy is wrong in any way at all.

Edit: Disclaimer: I refer solely to digital piracy of course, and in no way does this mean that when I find something worth my money I don't pay up. I would not support the high-jacking of mercantile vessels by pirates on the high seas. Yarrr Matey!

[dylan]

Originally Posted by fidgit

So it's actually been out for a week or so.

It was, I dunno... It's hard to see where they'll actually take the story. At the moment, it's pretty much exactly as advertised - people in a "Ghost Town" being watched by cameras, except other people show up from the "outside" (Chinese restaurateurs, the night manager for the hotel). If they're going to keep filling up the town with people that aren't them but won't help them, and at the same time the woman who wants nothing more than to get free to see her daughter keeps going 'oh nah we should be nice to them rather than force them to tell us what's what', it's going to get tedious real quick.

Other things: so far the characters are pretty boring. Mysterious Guy who wont tell us his past will no doubt get an episode or two of exploring Who He Is, Ditzy Drunk Blonde will probably turn out to be a rocket scientist or some thing. Army Guy better stop calling everyone Sir too, that's already old, and entirely unrealistic (yeah he's in a uniform, doesn't mean he's going to treat every single person as his superior. Well every single guy, I don't recall him cowtowing to any women).

I guess the big issue is that, without any indication of what the show's actually going to be about, it's going to be dropping viewers pretty quick, leading to the 'hiatus-re-tool-cancel' that so many shows run through before they fade off into the setting sun of TV Sci-Fi.

watched the first two eps (and thus, 2 eps worth of spoilers hereafter, be warned), and pretty much agree with you here. they need some decent development in the next few episodes to reel people in.

the hint of ... the supernatural (?) when they tried to escape with the van was odd.

i'm guessing the next few will be about fleshing the characters out more while slowly drip feeding clues (or red herrings) about what they're all doing there. they've obviously started laying the foundations for each of the captives to have at least a little bit of an interesting background (" i can hotwire a car", the scene with the blonde chick at her dad's party, "i'm a psychiatrist...oops i mean mental patient" and of course jack...i mean joe and what he is all about) so I am expecting a Lost-style show at this point where things plod along quite slowly and interspersed with revealing more about the key characters.

Who knows, perhaps this will be the Next Big Thing for Xpandingpants?

[Fx.]

Originally Posted by herp

Breaking Bad was sick. I love how he's morphed into Heisenberg over the season, especially ending with the hat. He's got balls old Walt!

hadn't really considered that but yeah thats def what happening!

[Caesar]

Season 7 of Top Chef airs tonight in the US...
Cool.

[Bandalador]

Yeah, had Hell's Kitchen to get from yesterday now TC new season.. Nice.

[Warrick]

there's some fruity cunts on hell's kitchen. makes me lol how psycho that ugly white chick with the shoulder length hair is.. she's Gordon's #1 fan.

[Bandalador]

Scary bitch that one. Last season had some awesome personalities, don't know if this new bunch can top them.

[drac0s]

Assume the Top Chef watchers also watch TC Masters? depending on how you find your shows, maybe doesn't show up on the radar for some.

[Bandalador]

Deadliest catch S06E10, what the fuck Jake? Way to help put your dad in his grave.