How-To: BroadCatching using RSS + BitTorrent to automatically download TV shows
posted November 23rd 2004 1:08PM
Over the last couple week's TiVo let slip that they're going to start adding banner ads when we try to fast-forward commercials (and to make things even more annoying, Congress is considering a bill that might make fast-forwarding through the commercials on DVDs illegal). So we've pretty much decided we're not going to use a TiVo anymore and that instead we'll go with other solutions (for now) like a Media Center PC, as well as rolling some of our own ways to download TV shows. For this week's How-To we're going to show you how you can use RSS and BitTorrent to find and download your favorite shows, automatically, using free software. There are a lot of ways to do this, we cover one example that worked well for us, and there are a couple great tutorials we spotted that are basically the same but offer other ways of downloading, other plugins and more information. You can check them out here and here. If you're already a pro, be sure to post up your set up and experiences in the comments area.
RSS and BitTorrentBefore we get started, it might be a good idea to introduce a few topics if you're not familiar with them. We'll be
using RSS and BitTorrent to look for and download TV shows.
RSS also known as "Really Simple Syndication" is a
way to publish information so other computers can read it in a simple and standard way. In the context of this How-To
there are RSS feeds that will tell another application where and when a new TV show is available.
BitTorrent is a way to transfer files over the web, instead of
download the same file over and over from a central server, which will become slow or busy with high demand, BitTorrent
uses the bandwidth of all the people downloading the file and sends parts to everyone as it downloads, so the more
people who are downloading the better, and the more you upload, the faster you get your files (it definitely ends the
free rider problem of other p2p applications). For downloading TV shows, this of course is a perfect match, the more
popular a show is, the easier it is to get.
Disclaimer
Make sure you check with your local, state and country's laws—In some cases you may be downloading (and uploading)
copyrighted material. So far, there hasn't been a legal case that we know of where broadcast TV networks have stopped
or wanted to stop BitTorrent downloads of their shows, but we have heard that pay networks like Showtime, HBO, etc.
have sent letters to some individuals for sharing recorded TV. This is all new territory for the most part, and it will
be interesting to see what happens and if the TV networks realize that this could be their future distribution
chain.
The future of TV?
While your average TV watcher is probably not going to set
up RSS feeds and BitTorrent clients, many people are, and there is a lot of interest in using these technologies solely
for the purpose of downloading and watching TV shows.
(Mr. Quirk reminding us of a possible future recently. If you remember the old Max Headroom shows TV companies were
locked in a ratings war fought in real-time, changes in viewer numbers affected the stock price and net worth. Stopping
channel hopping was vital. One company invented "blipverts" that fed the adverts at high speed. Trouble was: fat
viewers [couch potatoes] were exploding and the TV company wanted to keep that quiet.)
The future of TV isn't certain, perhaps we'll have set top boxes that do what we're about to describe, i.e. look for
shows you like, download them in a decentralized way over high speed networks, delivering high-definition picture and
sound. All the parts are here, it just needs to get simpler.
Getting started
This How-To is fairly straight forward, we're going to download a Java engine to run a BitTorrent client, along with a
RSS plugin which will look for the TV shows we tell it to look for. For our example we're going to use a PC (Windows
XP) but all of this work on Mac OS as well and possibly Linux, but we didn't have a chance to test that out on the
Linux box here.
Installing the Java Run Time Engine
The first thing we need to do is install a Java Run Time Engine, this allows you to run Java based applications on
your specific operating system, for our example, we're using Windows XP.
You may or may not have a JRE already installed, even if you do, it's a good idea to get the latest one, Java 2
Platform Standard Edition 5.0 which you can
download here. Once downloaded and installed (a reboot may be required) we need to install the BitTorrent client,
Azureus.
Installing Azureus, the BiTorrent client
Azureus a full featured bittorrent with multiple download options, queuing and priority, pause/resume seeding as well
as detailed information about your uploadind and downloading status.
Download and install Azureus from here. Run Azureus and click through the settings wizard, this will walk you through any configuration needed. For the most part, clicking through next with all the defaults will work on most systems.
Installing the RSS Plugin for Azureus
Once Azureus is installed and running, we'll now need to install a RSS plugin. The RSS plugin will watch sites and
allow you so search as well as download for specific shows you're looking for.
There are a couple RSS plugins, for our example we're going to use RSS Import, which can be
downloaded here.
Another one to try out is RSS import Feed Scanner, there's a link to a tutorial
for using this one at the end of the How-To.
Unzip the file and place the "RSSImport" folder in the plugin directory of Azureus, it's most likely located here,
where you installed Azureus.
C:\Program Files\Azureus\plugins
Now start Azureus. If Azureus is running, then close the application and start it again.
In the top menu, choose Tools > Option. On the left side expand the + box next to Plugins
Click "Activate RSS Import Plugin".
Under RSS Channels to import, type in a RSS feed, for our example we're going to use:
http://www.tvtorrents.net/rss.php
You may also want to try:
http://www.btefnet.com/backend.php
http://varchars.com/rss/suprnova-tv.rss
If you add more than one use a ; to seperate them (no spaces).
The "Filter for channel entries" field is where you add the names of the shows you're looking for, basically you type
the name of the show and subsitute spaces in the name with periods, like this...
viva.la.bam
malcolm.in.the.middle
australian.idol
These are "regular expressions" you can add other filters, such as SVCD oe HDTV versions. Many torrents come in
different flavors of encoding, HDTV quality, DiVx, mpeg, etc...
For our example, we're on the prowl for some good ole' Cylons action in Battlestar Galactica. So we're going
to use...
battlestar.galactica
If we only wanted the SVCD version, we'd use this
battlestar.galactica.*svcd*
Another option might be to download the HDTV PDTV or DSRip versions, to do this, use (thanks Rick).
battlestar.galactica.+([ph]dtv|dsrip)
For more on this, make sure to check out the RSS Feed Scanner forums
here.
And, if you want to learn more about regular expressions,
here is a list
of handy resources to get started. RSS Import uses this type of filter called regex (regular expressions).
As you learn these, you can test out your filters here.
Downloading
Once the TV shows your specify are discovered, they will automatically start to download.
You can check out the status as well as all the other information available as you download.
It can take hours for some to download, so many users have a computer on all the time that just downloads in the background with TV shows eagerly waiting to be seen at the end of each day.
As more portable video players hit the market, we expect to see a lot of people then transferring their TV shows to
these devices, right now converting is a little tricky, but if there's enough interest, we'll do a How-To on that as
well.
And there you go, please don't watch Desperate Housewives, that's all we ask, thanks.
Phillip Torrone can be reach via his personal site: http://www.flashenabled.com
I cannot for the life of me make the rss importer show up in the plugins area of tools/options. Always get an error loading kernal message, can anyone help. thanks. I have placed these files in evry conceivable folder.
I cannot for the life of me make the rss importer show up in the plugins area of tools/options. Always get an error loading kernal message, can anyone help. thanks. I have placed these files in evry conceivable folder.
Whoever said there are not a lot of TV shows is a complete dumbass - there's a lot more than just CSI: Miami and the West Wing - there's HBO shows, The Daily Show from Comedy Central, Chappelle's Show, the new Showtime series Huff and even more HBO stuff... a few weeks ago I got Real Time with Bill Maher... and FX shows like Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me and The Shield. If you're looking for shitty obscure shows, forget about it.
And for people to need a guide for something this simple is ridiculous. I figured all this shit out by myself rather quickly...
FYI
Thanks to your article, and it's subsequent mention on slashdot (11/26/04), TVTorrents.net had a surge in traffic and is now offline until other hosting arrangements can be made.
Thanks for fux0ring my online PVR.
When I test the port (in configuration) I get "NAT error".
Is this why nothing is happening after following setup instructions exactly?
OK, configured router to forward port, and the port test passes! But with both windows firewall and 3rd party firewall both disabled, I still see nothing happening in "My Torrents" screen.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
I succesfully downloaded a video clip, but when I open it in windows media player there is only sound and no video. In windows, the file properties say that it is a "video clip" yet there is no image. Any ideas out there?
thanks,
matt
matt
you'll need the (free) divx codec. get it here: http://www.divx.com
This is an interesting idea, however i've found a few big flaws with it...
one, rss importer doesn't have a "reload" button, so you MUST wait for the defined refresh time. Two, I can't seem to simply rid myself of filtering, so i can't see ALL of what is there, IE for testing purposes. Finally i put in a filter that couldn't possibly be missed... and the flammed thing started immediately downloading... this is BAD behavior. my machine shouldn't download until i tell it to.. rss importer doesn't have a server pulldown where you can save your various RSS feeds, and finally... is this program good for finding anything other than TV shows?
other than that it's cool.
Hey, what in the world is wrong with Desperate Housewives?? That's the reason I got INTO bittorrent!! Sorry, but that is one of the best shows ever to hit broadcast television!!
writing regex to filter for things is easy but how do i setup a regex filter that filters out torrents with "XXX" in the title?
Well I guess the TV Networks did decide to be pains in the asses. My ISP got a cease and desist order this morning on me because I had an episode of the West Wing on bittorrent. They say if they get another one on me they will cancel my service. I wouldn't mind paying a buck or something; can't we skip the lawyers instead of going through the mp3/napster debacle all over again???
I probably won't be finding this site again, but we just got a 'cease and desist' letter, saying we are sharing tv shows. My husband d/l'd a sci fi t.v. show about a week ago and now cox says they will be shutting down our service, unless we provide them with signatures, letters, etc that we agree to jurisdiction of federal court, that it was deleted and a mistake and all sorts of weird things. I didn't know this was illegal, and I think it's horsesh* when people record t.v. shows all the frigging time.
I got a cease & desist letter from my ISP (Charter) as well...not as nasty as the one that Janine got from Cox, but still not nice either. The letter I got specifically pointed to an episode of Battlestar Galactica.
Great Article, I had this same idea myself almost a year ago regarding the decentralized bitorrent network that would allow faster download of more popular shows. (im sure others have as well) Im not very technical but I told my buddy and he said it was possible...didnt pursue it much further....cool to see htat you figured it out! great job....
random question : anyone know how to setup replaytv so that you can download your saved programming to a computer on the network...i am currently set up with a G-wireless router and have the 5000 series replay tv. thanks, if you could email, kkmoney@gmail.com that would be great
Ok, I can't get the Importer to actually download anything, I and using Azureus 2.2.0.0. The program will find a torrent compare it to my fileter, but not download it. And (although it won't display correctly because of html tags) the exact quote is below... If anyone can help I'd be very grateful!
Torrent http://w2.tvtorrents.net:8081/bt/ncis.s02e10.hdtv-lol.torrent found.
Compairing filter "west.wing.*hdtv; enterprise.*hdtv; law.and.order*hdtv; csi*hdtv; ncis*hdtv; joan.of.arcadia*hdtv; the.oc.*hdtv; medical.investigation*hdtv; without.a.trace*hdtv; survivor*pdtv; jack.and.bobby*hdtv; lost*hdtv; alias*hdtv;24*pdtv; deadwood*hdtv; battlestar.galactica*PDTV; battlestar.galactica*HDTV; lax*hdtv; that.70s.show*pdtv; drawn.together*DSrip; south.park*DSrip; smallville*hdtv; stargate*pdtv; desperate.housewives*hdtv;" to "NCIS 02x10 (HDTV LOL) http://w2.tvtorrents.net:8081/bt/ncis.s02e10.hdtv-lol.torrent Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:05:19 +0000"
Filter prevented torrent http://w2.tvtorrents.net:8081/bt/ncis.s02e10.hdtv-lol.torrent from being downloaded.
THANKS!
i've succesfully downloaded a bittorrent file but it stays as a torrent file. its supposed to be an avi file. i dont know wat is wrong with it. plz help!!!
thanks
Jen: What bit torrent program are you using? Are you new to Bit Torrent? If you need more immediated responses, email me geek2.0@gmail.com
Having problems with azureus and rss feeds 1.1 cannot update to 1.2 as site http://rssfeed.zyth.net/ appers to be down, Have set filter of battlestar.galactica.+([ph]dtv|dsrip) as regular expression set to rss on url http://www.tvtorrents.tv/rss.php however nothing is getting picked up, any suggestions
Further to my earlier post I cannot get regular expressions to work at all the only auto downloads on the RSS feed happen when i set it to search link or title tried regular expression battlestar.galactica and nothing happened
I'd be interested in knowing how applications like PEER GUARDIAN can prevent the networks and yoru ISP from seeing what shows you've torrented, etc.
So with the cease & desist letters from some of ISP is this still legal to download TV shows?
When I test the port (in configuration) I get "NAT error". I use a router for the internet connection. What should I put in the "incoming TCP listen port" in the Connection menu. Currently it has 6881
Hi everybody,
if you are interested in downloading .torrent files using RSS feeds, you can give a try to my own software : TvMistress -> http://darkar.free.fr/tvmistress/.
It's really simple to use and it's available for Win32.
For any questions -> darkar@free.fr.
cya
Darkar
I'm not a very computer literate guy sitting over here in China trying to get this set up. I follow you all the way to installing the plugin. But after that I'm a little lost. I can't seem to activate the plugin. I followed your directions down to typing in Battlestar.galactica, but nothing happens. There is not "go" or "enter" button to push. So when I switch over to the "RSS Importer" it tells me that my plugin is deactivated. What am I missing or doing wrong? I appreciate whoever can help me.
I'm not a very computer literate guy sitting over here in China trying to get this set up. I follow you all the way to installing the plugin. But after that I'm a little lost. I can't seem to activate the plugin. I followed your directions down to typing in Battlestar.galactica, but nothing happens. There is not "go" or "enter" button to push. So when I switch over to the "RSS Importer" it tells me that my plugin is deactivated. What am I missing or doing wrong? I appreciate whoever can help me.
when i run the RSS Importer in the Plugins menu I get a warning that I haven't chosen a default dir. I don't see that option in the Tools-Options-Plugins-RSS Importer area. Is there somewhere else I should be looking?
Thanks
F
If you want to *publish* easily from Azureus, check out my Blog posting plugin for Azureus at http://writtorrent.sourceforge.net/ ... It makes it simple to blog any running torrent on your weblog.
with the latest Azureus, its possible to install the RSS Importer plugin with the plugin manager somewhere in the menus.