Comments on: Downloading TV Shows – There Has to Be an Easier Way

By: Matt Brett » Downloading TV Shows - Network Sharing Goodness

Matt Brett » Downloading TV Shows - Network Sharing Goodness — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:14:03 +0000

[...] few months ago I wrote about downloading TV shows, and the steps I take that allow me to watch them in the living room on the main TV. I was taken [...]

By: Chris Erwin

Chris Erwin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:04:41 +0000

This write and all the comments inspired me to change the way I watch TV and I recently ditched the cable company.

I just did a write up about our current setup which consists of a Mac Mini running Plex, Hulu, and SABnzbd+ for Usenet downloads. The whole thing is pretty seamless and far cheaper than cable.

Check out the full details here:
http://chriserwin.com/blog/post/cutting_the_cable…

By: Keith S.

Keith S. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:20:30 +0000

I've been happy with my PopcornHour (http://popcornhour.com) Network Media Tank. It doesn't come with a hard drive, but you can put any size drive you want into it, and after that, you can do torrent and Usenet downloads directly to the device, and it plays just about every format under the sun.

The price wasn't completely horrible ($240ish after shipping to Winnipeg) for the A-100 model, but if you want to use SATA hard drives, you'd need to bump up to the A-110. Both models have internal wired ethernet, and the company also offers an 802.11n USB adapter. I can't speak for the wireless performance, but wired is more than enough for 1080p content.

By: kevL0CK

kevL0CK — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:03:10 +0000

1) warez-bb.org, the best place to get files (it's not working at the moment, but i swear this is rare. you just have bad timing haha)

2) Rapidshare, 50GB downloads every 5 days i think

3) iGetter, just rip it off, it's a download accelerator/manager

4) FlashGot, plugin for Firefox which let's you highlight a bunch of rapidshare links and press a shortcut key to send them all to iGetter

5) Connect360, you already have it so you know it's golden

the downside? that whole mkv business. connect360 doesn't support it so you can get rips that come from HD sources that look pretty damn good.

you can get the TV shows about 20-40 minutes after they air (depending on how popular the show is)

…. all i need is a way to watch mkv through connect360 so i can watch 720p rips. but the rest works pretty fuckin' solid.

By: Blake Johnson

Blake Johnson — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:42:16 +0000

MKV, AVI, and MP4 are all different containers that can house several video and audio formats. If you are getting your video in an MKV container but it is encoded using any of the formats that the Xbox 360 or PS3 can decode, you should be able to just re-wrap the file and stream from your iMac. For Windows users that want to do the same thing, there is the MKVBoxer tool available from the doom9 forums. Streaming MP4 files to a Xbox360 with Windows Media Player is possible, but it requires a couple of extra tools and registry tweaks. This is already less of a hassle in the version of Windows Media Player in the new Windows 7 beta.

By: Brett Deaton

Brett Deaton — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:46:23 +0000

I have been doing the whole Rapidshare account for a good year now. There are a few sites out there that list next to everything (I was even watching Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, mind you) just a few hours after they are aired. The money you are paying a month for Giga, is around the same amount you will be paying for Rapidshare.

I used Torrents for years, but now Vuze never runs unless the aforementioned sites have been checked.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:16:36 +0000

@ chad – Whilst you can playback mkv files I've heard that it's not all that stable a solution. Most use handbrake (or someother app) to convert to apple tv (and retain 5.1 audio) but that can take some time.

I've found Plex and Sabnzb works great with a C2D macmini and a 5.1 system. For mkv playback on a mac you'll want to kit it out with ram.

If you write a few bash scripts for Sab it can then organise and/or convert your files and update the plex library giving you a fully automated service.

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:27:09 +0000

I vote for XBMC running on whatever you have. I have it on an XP laptop and an Apple TV pulling over a G wireless network from ripped DVD VIDEO_TS folders. I have just been lazy in converting the VIDEO_TS to single MP4 or AVI and I havent decided on what format either.

The G network is fast enough to keep up with 4-6 GB streamed movies. The Apple TV is well worth 229$ with the XBMC Boxee hack. The picture quality is amazing and it plays every format I have thrown at it. I have used Front Row, Media Portal and others and my Apple TV with a skinned XBMC is by far the best. The XP laptop is great if you want to sit outside, drink a beer and watch a movie.

I have not used MKV files yet, so still need to explore that. I hope the Apple TV can handle that…

By: ÃƒË

ÃƒË — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:14:06 +0000

A HTPC should not necessarily set you back that much. The following (using Norway prices) would cost about 400-450 U$D (I am sorry if that is considered an investment).

- AMD 4850e CPU

- microATX motherboard with 780G chipset

- 2GB RAM

- 1 TB hard drive

- case

- DVD/Bluray (optional)

- Wireless adpater (optional)

- Almost any Linux distribution with VLC

This should give you a lot of space, enable you to download and watch tv shows in HD quality (1920*1080). The Popcorn box someone else mentioned is also a good and cheaper option according to a friend of mine.

Ps! My first post here. I enjoy reading your blog

By: Aaron Bassett

Aaron Bassett — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:34:53 +0000

I used Paul's guide to downloading from newsgroups with hellanzb and it works a treat.

I was using it on Ubuntu but it supports OS X as well.

And with a bit of fiddling you can even get it to automate the conversion/encoding for you as well