Recently I've discovered a few TV series that I now enjoy but never saw the pilots or earlier seasons of. I caught up on some online via the various video sites out there. I'm not real keen on watching them on my pc so I did hook up an old pc to my tv but it's a hassle. Instead of doing that I'd like to get one of the little media players I see that feed avi or divx files into your tv via flash drives or sd cards. My only worry here is downloading the files instead of streaming them. I really don't want a letter from my internet provider or the copyright police banging on my door. It's probally still illegal to just plain watch them from most of the sites out there. I'm thinking only if the network sites themselves have them is it legal & they don't have past seasons. Yea, I know you can buy dvd's of just about everything now but there is so much video content on the web it's incredible. We've pretty much all watched or downloaded something "illegal". Should I be concerned with this or should I avoid it all together & not open up this can of worms ?

If you are using torrents, just set encryption on your client and use a private tracker.

Then, the only thing you have to do is make sure you don't go over your monthly limit if you have one.

-_-

[This message has been edited by Xerces_Blackthorne (edited 09-05-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Synthesis: If you are using torrents, just set encryption on your client and use a private tracker. Then, the only thing you have to do is make sure you don't go over your monthly limit if you have one.

How does piratebay and utorrent fit in? Are those big risks?

quote Originally posted by fierobear: How does piratebay and utorrent fit in? Are those big risks?

Pirate Bay is, uTorrent is a good client.

quote Originally posted by Synthesis: Pirate Bay is, uTorrent is a good client.

Does Peer Guardian help?

I thought torrents were kind of a red flag to illegal P2P file sharing. In fact I found this post in one of the forums for torrents: (This is not mine but it's what I want to avoid)

"I am in the Metro Detroit area and just switched from Comcast to WOW for HSI. I hadn't been using it before but just decided to do some Torrent Downloads this week. Well... my wife logged on and got a message in the browser talking about WOW's Terms of Service and that it had been detected that illegal file sharing had been going on and how evil it is, etc. And as part of it they basically said that they'll give us the benefit of the doubt this time but if it's detected in the future, our service could be cancelled without notice." Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_...580480#ixzz0yiQb1QXF

Anyway, I'm talking about the steaming sites such as StageVu, Novmov, Veehd, etc. They have links to just about anything .

Well, peer 2 peer technology IS generally used for illegal purposes, but it also has legal purposes.

If you use encryption on your torrent client and force all traffic to be encrypted, the ISP will be able to see traffic, but not what you are actually transferring.

I received a letter from Charter on Saturday for hitting 150 gigs of transfer in a little over 14 hours.
Their warning was nothing more than a "Hey, you are using more than your fair share" message.

Peer Guardian can help as well.

If you use a private tracker, there is less likely a chance of having a copyright watchdog company involved in the transfer process.

quote Originally posted by Xerces_Blackthorne: Red, let me put it this way: Ive been bit torrenting and downloading episodes of shows for the past 10 years or so. Not once have I gotten an email/letter/cease and desist order, etc. from the ISP. IMHO, I dont see an issue with it. I'm not distributing it and making money off of stuff that I've "pirated", so what is the big deal? Some of the stuff I've downloaded, I'd have never been able to get without bit torrent (60's doctor who, etc).

Dude, your stupidity never ceases to amaze me!

Is there anything you don't steal? Oh wait... in your eyes, your not doing anything wrong. Just like stealing parts from the junk yard.

I can't stop you from doing what you do but answer me this... Why the hell must you brag about it all the time? The whole reason people get caught is because they don't know how to keep their mouth shut! Dumbass.

I love your blank mind... I'm going to commit a crime and then get online and brag about breaking the law.

When your sorry ass is sitting in jail and you are wondering how you got caught committing the "perfect crime", i'll be sitting here in the comfort of my home laughing my still virgin ass off at you.

[This message has been edited by JimmyS (edited 09-05-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Synthesis: Well, peer 2 peer technology IS generally used for illegal purposes, but it also has legal purposes. If you use encryption on your torrent client and force all traffic to be encrypted, the ISP will be able to see traffic, but not what you are actually transferring. I received a letter from Charter on Saturday for hitting 150 gigs of transfer in a little over 14 hours. Their warning was nothing more than a "Hey, you are using more than your fair share" message. Peer Guardian can help as well. If you use a private tracker, there is less likely a chance of having a copyright watchdog company involved in the transfer process.

Could you explain about a "private tracker"?

quote Originally posted by Xerces_Blackthorne: Red, let me put it this way: Ive been bit torrenting and downloading episodes of shows for the past 10 years or so. Not once have I gotten an email/letter/cease and desist order, etc. from the ISP. IMHO, I dont see an issue with it. I'm not distributing it and making money off of stuff that I've "pirated", so what is the big deal? Some of the stuff I've downloaded, I'd have never been able to get without bit torrent (60's doctor who, etc).

I know one member on here that had Comcast at his house, watching him delete program files. Then they forced him to "secure" his router, and basically scared the crap out of him.

He is computer literate, but didn't have the proper blocks he should have. Lesson learned And no, it was not me.

Brad

quote Originally posted by JimmyS: Dude, your stupidity never ceases to amaze me! Is there anything you don't steal? Oh wait... in your eyes, your not doing anything wrong. Just like stealing parts from the junk yard. I can't stop you from doing what you do but answer me this... Why the hell must you brag about it all the time? The whole reason people get caught is because they don't know how to keep their mouth shut! Dumbass. I love your blank mind... I'm going to commit a crime and then get online and brag about breaking the law. When your sorry ass is sitting in jail and you are wondering how you got caught committing the "perfect crime", i'll be sitting here in the comfort of my home laughing my still virgin ass off at you.

Edit: Nevermind. I'm going to keep my mouth shut on this one, seeing as I have nothing nice to say, and I refuse to crap someone else's thread.

[This message has been edited by Xerces_Blackthorne (edited 09-05-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Xerces_Blackthorne: Edit: Nevermind. I'm going to keep my mouth shut on this one, seeing as I have nothing nice to say, and I refuse to crap someone else's thread.

OMG mark this day in history. Xerces_Blackthorn Finally realized when to STFU!

No, I just don't see the need to stoop to your level. Its not worth my time or the effort.

[This message has been edited by Xerces_Blackthorne (edited 09-06-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Xerces_Blackthorne: No, I just don't see the need to stoop to your level. Its not worth my time or the effort.

Thats hiliarious.. A thief worried about stooping to "my" level. My level is a vast improvement over yours. Your a lowlife thief plain and simple.

quote Originally posted by JimmyS: Thats hiliarious.. A thief worried about stooping to "my" level. My level is a vast improvement over yours. Your a lowlife thief plain and simple.

Thanks for validating my point.

Regardless what I post, all you will do is try and turn it around and use it against me. You are nothing more than a judgmental, self righteous, holier-than-thou prick, as I've stated before. Keep your damn snide f8cking comments to yourself for once. I don't jump all over your posts when I disagree with them, I'd expect the same courtesy in return.

[This message has been edited by Xerces_Blackthorne (edited 09-06-2010).]

2 words

Hotspot Shield and Vuze

http://hotspotshield.com/
http://www.vuze.com/

I didnt just get finished watching 2012 and it didnt take me under 30 minutes to download it.

quote Originally posted by Xerces_Blackthorne: Thanks for validating my point. Regardless what I post, all you will do is try and turn it around and use it against me. You are nothing more than a judgmental, self righteous, holier-than-thou prick, as I've stated before. Keep your damn snide f8cking comments to yourself for once. I don't jump all over your posts when I disagree with them, I'd expect the same courtesy in return.

I have no problem with someone disagreeing with me. I'm not perfect by any means. The big difference between us is... I'm smart enough to "not" make posts bragging about the crimes I may or may not have committed. All i'm asking is... use some freaking sense! This is not the first time you have "confessed" your crimes on this forum.

quote Originally posted by MidEngineManiac: I didnt just get finished watching 2012 and it didnt take me under 30 minutes to download it.

LMAO

quote Originally posted by MidEngineManiac: 2 words Hotspot Shield and Vuze http://hotspotshield.com/ http://www.vuze.com/ I didnt just get finished watching 2012 and it didnt take me under 30 minutes to download it.

Not at all impressive. Less than 8 minutes on usenet and if you have XBMC you can start streaming it within 30 seconds...

[This message has been edited by ls3mach (edited 09-06-2010).]

quote Originally posted by ls3mach: Not at all impressive. Less than 8 minutes on usenet and if you have XBMC you can start streaming it within 30 seconds...

All depends on bandwidth, compression, filesize, etc...

quote Originally posted by Shill: All depends on bandwidth, compression, filesize, etc...

True...but hence the glory of usenet. Your entire actual connection speed is your download speed. Got a decent connection? You're all set.

Some browser plug-ins let you save streamed videos. I believe GetGo does and some others. You would have to research it. One the plus side, you won't have to worry about getting caught using a P2P.

If you absolutely have to use a P2P and you don't want to ever get caught, then just pay $10/month for VPN service to a foreign country. I know of a few European VPN providers. You connect to your VPN, then do all the P2P that you want. All traffic will be encrypted. If any law enforcement wants to get the server logs of the VPN provider, they will have to get it across international boundaries which is highly unlikely. In addition to that, I know of some VPN providers that specifically do not keep any logs at all. All Internet traffic will be encrypted. The only thing your local ISP (or anyone else for that matter) will be able to see is your bandwidth usage.

The main drawback to VPN is that it often limits your bandwidth.

Just be careful on torrents, its gets addictive, I downloaded over 500gb last month. I went a bit crazy, downloading "packs" of shows like all 7 seasons of West Wing, all 5 seasons of Ally Mcbeal, 145gig of Top Gear. (did ya know they are into season 15 right now and James May was not even in the 1st season) and a bunch of others. 40gig here and 60 gig there, 150gig seasons ads up quick, especially if you have a really fast connection and fast trackers to pull from like torrent day, and demonoid seems to be really good right now.

I find Utorrent on a dedicated rig with a dedicated connection to the net works the best. If you rISP allows for 2 ip's, run you modem into a switch, run the torrent server direct from the switch to the cable modem so it bypasses the router. This keeps the server and lack of security on a separate network from your home PC's. It also adds a fair bit of speed as most routers choke out when you have 25 torrents running pulling 2MB constant inbound. I run a stripped version of windows 7 as the OS for the torrent rig. Oh add a 2nd nic to the torrent rig, so you can so you can hook up a gigabyte cable direct from it to your main PC then use the Main PC to stream video to any computer / laptop in the house as well as any TV that can accept Wifi via one of the set top boxes.

I know this is way over the top for what you are asking, but we have 12 computers in the house. 2 media servers, and 2 media center style PC's, with the rest of the computers being used as desktop machines or laptop machines. (plus the PS3 makes a great media machine if you install PS3 media server on your host machines that have all your videos..

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85GT Soon to be 87GT,93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.

[This message has been edited by Capt Fiero (edited 09-08-2010).]