I don't understand why Bittorrents are so prevalent. I've been trying to download a documentary about Ed Wood Jr., for the last twelve hours! At times, it's flying down the wires at 80kbps and then slows to a catatonic 1kbps rate as people log on and off around the world.

Why can't the people whom upload these things, simply seed a text file, giving a location to a free download service like Rapidshare or Megaupload?

That's how I download my porn!!! It works for me. Try this website. It has porn, dramas, documentaries, music and all that. http://www.gay-torrents.net.ms/

edonkey takes FOREVER!!!! but I think that uses half that technology.

Are you sure you've got Bittorrent configured properly?

Many torrent sites have been shut down in the last 2 weeks!

Never bothered with the torrent sites, I still just use WinMX (but then I don't
have a DVD burner, so it's just CDs and AVI files for me mostly anyway).

Spookymuffin said:

Yeah - when it works, it's amazing. Maybe the files I'm downloading are a bit too obscure.

I upgraded my DVD player recently to one which could play DivX files and the difference between watching a DivX movie on your computer monitor and your television is amazing.

Some of the files I've downloaded, just plain don't work - but that's because of the way they were encoded (with XVid or missing frames), not the DVD Player. Some files have DivX coding packed inside an XviD container and you can unpack them using something called MPEG4MODIFIER - no, I don't really understand it, but it works sometimes.

I've even figured out how to code DivX files myself. I've got a few days off work soon, so I'm going to convert my 'Lovesexy Live' laserdisc to a DivX file. It'll probably take me days because my PC's so slow. I converted Madonna's 'Hung Up' video from MPEG2 to DivX yesterday and it's like six minutes long but took me 90 minutes to convert. The quality is amazing. I really can't tell the difference. I honestly can't.

superspaceboy said:

Yeah, I'm going to have to install eMule too, because I found an eDonkey link to a film that I've wanted for AGES - 'Let's Scare Jessica To Death'.

Justin1972UK said:

Holy shit! Please do this and put it on torrent sites! I've done some encoding of videos in my time, and yes it takes a while - even on my supreme computer that I built at a large cost to my bank balance, the best thing to do is leave it working overnight because doing things while it converts can lead to the sound going out of sync and all that claptrap.

Justin1972UK said:

I've read reports of certain ISP's slowing down or limiting your internet connection if they detect you are running a torrent client. When downloading torrents, it really depends on how many people are sharing/"seeding" the file - if a file is popular, especially newly released ones, your download times will probabbly be alot better. Sites like Torrentspy will also show you a little indicator bar, indicating how popular a given file is.

Also, some of the torrent programs, like BitComet, will allow you to choose a random port to connect through. I've noticed, at least on my computer, and I used RoadRunner, that as soon as I launch BitComet, if I change the default port that it uses to something else, my download rates are usually better. Also, disabling the firewall seems to help a little.

Justin1972UK said:

E-mule takes forever too. I've been trying to download a movie for fucking 2 months and it's stuck at 93%. But you can find almost anything on there.

i don't understand bit torrents. i don't like bit torrents. the name reminds me of 'the shining', and that doesn't particularly bring me great comfort. i think bit torrents would break my computer. plus, i am irrationally afraid of changes in technology. if i can't make something work by throwing a bleached bison bone at it, then i have no use for it.

Anx said:

The torrent format works out a little better than older file sharing programs because it forces you to share a file while you are downloading it. So whatever part you've downloaded so far, immediately becomes available for other people to download. With older programs like Kazaa, people would simply download the stuff they wanted, then immediately move it from their shared folder, so they wouldn't have to share it with anyone else. It was too easy to leech what you wanted without giving back.

bit torrents have been very kind to me lately. I really like tori torrents too.

what's the fun of file sharing if i can't leech?

Anx said:

Get your download and run.

Tom said:

Ah! That's the program I'm using - BitComet. I'll try that - thanks!

p.s. The 'Lovesexy Live' video files are now on my PC. It took me ages to rip the vob files, remove audio sync errors, convert to MPEG and join together. I'm starting the conversion to DivX later tonight. Wish me luck!

Well, the DivX encoding didn't go too well...

Unbelievably, it took 24 hours and 6 minutes to encode the video and audio. I sat down to watch it mux together the sound and vision and it crashed! I'd ran out of bloody space on my hard drive at the last hurdle!!!

I've had to prep all the raw files again and I'm back where I started. I think I'll try encoding it as two CDs this time though, instead of one. The preview images I saw were a little bit "Legoland", although the sound was good. Trying to squeeze 120 minutes of DVD-quality media into 700mb was a bit ambitious I suppose.

Wish me luck again.

I worked it out.

I've successfully encoded Side One of the laserdisc to one 700mb DivX file. I've put it on a CD and I'm watching it on my DVD Player now. The quality is a-maz-ing. I'm stunned. I really am.

You wouldn't believe how many failed attempts I've had. I've been working on this all week. Thank God for Google or I'd never have realised that I needed to deinterlace the video file.

I'm disappearing again for another day as I'm going to start encoding Side Two of the laserdisc.