Looking for info

[Tenth]

I have been reading about newsgroups for awhile now and i finally decided to jump in yesterday. So I downloaded alt.binz and joined giga with a 3 day trial.

The only problem is I have no idea what I am doing! I have alot of experience with computers as well as with file sharing but I can't figure this out.

I think my problem is figuring out the alt.binz ui. I have downloaded a few nzb files but I want to browse the newsgroups and I can't figure out how to do that.

Also I have not found a good site that is easy to search and navigate for nzb files.

I would appreciate any info the community could offer. As it stands now I think I may just go back to torrents. :(

[Daniel]

First off, if you want to "browse the newsgroups", then alt.binz is the wrong tool for you. What the application does is offer you an easy start with newsgroups because it has all that you will need at the beginning and it does so more comfortably than other news-downloaders.

To speak clearly: alt.binz does not allow you to download header information you can later search through (searching headers directly is a possibility but that's not important for now).

After you have opened the application you'll see several tabs (Binsearch, NZBIndex, Yabse, beta.binaries.nl and more) that use the respective web-indexes like www.binsearch.info, www.nzbindex.nl, www.yabse.nl and offer you its results in a clearly arranged list that also lets you add items directly to your queue. These configurable search options are easier and quicker to work with than their web-indexes and in most cases your searches will be successful. There are of course items that don't make it into those indexes and only then another newsreader will be necessary.

To make it easier once more: try out this forum's nzb-collection and open the .nzb files with alt.binz: voilá. In case you want to go nzb-hunting off-site, there are already lots of threads in this forum with some recommendations. Personally, my second option is NZBs'R'US (http://www.nzbsrus.com/), but their premium rates are way too high.

[r77]

you can browse newsgroup with alt.binz via binsearch.info search engine(tab binsearch)>Fetch>Browse.But if you want to browse directly try newsbin pro this program is very lite and show headers in compact view

[Broken]

download and install grabit (http://www.shemes.com/)
you will need to go into server properties to enter your password, user name, server address and number of connections.


you can download nzb files from this very site
fst nzb index (http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/nzbindex.php)

when you download a nzb open it with grabit to download.
or just tell windows to associate grabit the nzb files and always open them with grabit.

the latest built of grabit will un-rar and check the download for errors using the pars.
you may need to have winrar installed. it's never been an issue for me because it's always been installed.


If you are happy with the listings you find in the nzb section you may never need more skills than those above.
easy hu?

[Tenth]

I have been messing around with alt.binz for a few hours now and things are going much better. I probably should have tried a little harder to figure things out on my own but I can be a little impatient sometimes.;) I think I will stay with alt.binz for now but at some point I will definitely want to browse the groups directly.

Once again hank you guys very much for all the help.
-Tenth

[avominex]

I am pretty new to Newsgroups myself. But in about 3 weeks, I have learnt so much about it, I am myself amazed. Patience, as you rightly said, gets a lot of things done.

Torrents are a thing of past to me unless I need something super special. :yup:

I made a list of things to learn on Newsgroups and the following things are remaining:

1. Post a request (there is a special etiquette I believe)
2. Upload a group of files that can be found as a NZB by others. Need to learn about the ramifications.
3. Predominantly, I am using Binsearch.info to search for NZB files, but I have to find out if there are websites that are better than binsearch.info.

I get very good speed 820kB/Sec for my line. I always use Alt.BinZ SSL for downloading. For browsing headers, I use GrabIT as it does not have support for SSL.

[Tenth]

I haven't tried to many sites for NZBs but I did use NZBsRus to find a few things that I could not find with the search, you have to register but it is free.

I am at the point where I can find pretty much get anything I want with the exception of some lesser know music.
Overall I am very happy with my experience using newsgroups.

Only thing I want to work on now is using the newsgroups themselves instead of NZBs.

[psxcite]

I started out with Grabit as well. Alot of people do. But, once you get more experienced, you may want to upgrade to a better newsreader. Newsbin Pro or Newsleecher are the two best readers available.

The options available will make it worth the learning curve - which isn't high at all.

[cubbyche]

I haven't tried to many sites for NZBs but I did use NZBsRus to find a few things that I could not find with the search, you have to register but it is free.

I am at the point where I can find pretty much get anything I want with the exception of some lesser know music.
Overall I am very happy with my experience using newsgroups.

Only thing I want to work on now is using the newsgroups themselves instead of NZBs.

If you like to browse newsgroups try Agent Newsreader I think its the best newsreader there is with Agent you can read the text messages and reply if you like...I remember the days when there was no such thing as NZB sites Pars where just starting out most people posted with no Pars you can you just imagine the frustration people were constantly asking for repost's ...its much easier now... I must say what you see in the NZB sites is only the tip of the iceberg there is a lot of stuff you will never see on P2P sites not to say that you cant find stuff on Bittorent (i still use it occasionally) but for large files nothing beats Usenet...
Agent -> http://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.php
check out this very informative site http://www.binaries4all.com/index.php
Have fun ... :)

[avominex]

Just a fyi...

Most of the newsreader suggested newsbin pro, agent etc. do cost $$$. And it is not cheap !! $25 or more !

[cubbyche]

Xnews is free http://xnews.newsguy.com/

[MXFileSharing]

Never had experience using usenet. it seems that this forum really telling me that, no doubt, usernet is better than any private torrent trackers most especially on downloading huge files like DVD5/dvd9 videos.

what are the other differences between usenet & torrents (private trackers) aside from cost? This is what i expect from usenet and may be the difference between the two: downloading through bitorrent is convinient, which is also one of the advantage of torrent, judging from few posts i read... while usenet, well, downside is u have to pay but i expect that usenet offers more files and some files are unique/special that u can not find them in bittorent trackers since u have to pay, am i right?
Everytime i encounter this word "retention" my mind tells me that files in usenet has time limit shorter than files in private tracker servers, correct me if i am wrong.
I am not expert i am also totally new with terminology being used in below-the-ground filesharing network, like torrent trackers. Like the word "Pre-time", i first encounter this word in one of irc channel/network back in 2003 all i know is that "pre-ing" files is like timestamping the file the moment it hits its rightful place in file-sharing networks other people say the time that scene releases it. ok whatever, but the word "Pre" gave me the right direction and became a member of few private trackers and most especially meet new friends and of course leech/seed scene releases.... well, i want to know also the pre-times in usenet, since u are also paying, does it follow that usenet releases files much earlier than private torrent trackers? or may be i am expecting much...

Just curious though but I want to try usenet, cause it's pain to maintain ratio in private torrent trackers for DVD5/DVD9 videos and other huge files. and i want to try joining private tracker as an uploader that's why i want to know also the pre-time release in usenet...




forgive my ignorance, a long road ahead...

[MultiForce]

Everything I have downloaded have been available pretty fast but I cannot compare it to private trackers as I've never used it. I have a couple of accounts on different FTP's, and those FTP's gets the files just an hour or so, before they start uploading to usenet, witch I think is pretty good.
You are downloading as fast as your internet connection allows and you don't have to seed/share or whatever.
The retention (the # of days a file stays on the server) is 200 days on Giganews. I don't know what torrent trackers have but I don't think it's bad at all.
You'll also see that most of the content (especially the popular and very rare releases) will be re uploaded many times before/after the 200 days mark.

The only thing I use when it comes to P2P is eMule. I only use it when I need old releases (5+ years) and cannot find them on usenet. Games, movies, series and other stuff is usually found on usenet anyway.

Heres what I do (to explain how simple it can be):
I have one folder I download NZB files to, on my server. Alt.Binz grabs the NZB files and downloads the releases. Alt.Binz then checks the files for errors, unpack it to a folder with the same name, and deletes the compressed files.

[Daniel]

Never had experience using usenet. it seems that this forum really telling me that, no doubt, usernet is better than any private torrent trackers most especially on downloading huge files like DVD5/dvd9 videos.
There are quite a few things on Usenet I'd never be able to afford with my present connection like 1080p encodes from tv that are 15GB+ large or even full hddvd's/bluray's. In that regard, the Usenet has the large advantage that you don't need to seed anything back.


what are the other differences between usenet & torrents (private trackers) aside from cost? This is what i expect from usenet and may be the difference between the two: downloading through bitorrent is convinient, which is also one of the advantage of torrent, judging from few posts i read... while usenet, well, downside is u have to pay but i expect that usenet offers more files and some files are unique/special that u can not find them in bittorent trackers since u have to pay, am i right?
First off, you don't pay for the content but for the access to a Usenet server. As there are some ways to gain access to the Usenet binary groups without the need to pay, there's little distinction between what's available there or elsewhere. You will however find yourself to be pleased with some communities in the Usenet - for example, I love the lossless classical music I can get from there that was previously difficult to find.
There are many groups that offer mostly scene stuff you'd find at many trackers but in between, you will discover some rarities if you know to look for it. Be aware though that the Usenet takes more time to discover all its depths but if you don't want that or cannot afford so much effort, there are many nzb-sites out there (like FST has a great one also) that make downloading from newsgroups as easy as using a bittorrent client.



Everytime i encounter this word "retention" my mind tells me that files in usenet has time limit shorter than files in private tracker servers, correct me if i am wrong.
If you had written that a year ago, I would've agreed with you. Nowadays a good Usenet access provider can keep the content for up to 200 days - that's a bit above 6 months. The largest advantage of downloading this way is your guarantee of availability and speed: even if something is not popular you'll still be able to access it with some megabit/s speed half a year from now. The bittorrent concept raises (and falls) with its peers and many torrents are lost within a few weeks only. What you find after a torrent survived for 6 months is usually very few seeders and thus a slow speed - of course there are some 'archive' trackers that can keep files alive longer.


I am not expert i am also totally new with terminology being used in below-the-ground filesharing network, like torrent trackers. Like the word "Pre-time", i first encounter this word in one of irc channel/network back in 2003 all i know is that "pre-ing" files is like timestamping the file the moment it hits its rightful place in file-sharing networks other people say the time that scene releases it. ok whatever, but the word "Pre" gave me the right direction and became a member of few private trackers and most especially meet new friends and of course leech/seed scene releases.... well, i want to know also the pre-times in usenet, since u are also paying, does it follow that usenet releases files much earlier than private torrent trackers? or may be i am expecting much...
If you're expecting to get everything faster from the Usenet, then you'll be disappointed for sure. Of course you'll find some content that's available there earlier but with very low pre-times of a few trackers (below 5 mins) it's difficult to win or even compare such a race. What's important here is that you don't take nzb postings as an indication for available content because that is just one more delay, the same goes for newsgroup indexers like Binsearch. If you retrieve headers from newsgroups, then you'll get everything as early as it's available.


Just curious though but I want to try usenet, cause it's pain to maintain ratio in private torrent trackers for DVD5/DVD9 videos and other huge files. and i want to try joining private tracker as an uploader that's why i want to know also the pre-time release in usenet...
That wholly depends on the tracker you think of uploading to. Most trackers who have users with direct scene (or at least site) access will also have seedboxes to gain another advantage over you. All of that means you'll never be able to beat them on pre-times, with or without Usenet access. You certainly can support already uploaded torrents by seeding it also but in the time of very fast pre-times on a couple of trackers and many more seedboxes I wouldn't suggest you give that much hope ;)

The Usenet has a fine collection of content and its concept brings many advantages but it's not perfect. You won't find everything you search for, you won't always have the best pre-times and there is some special stuff you won't ever find on the Usenet (or if you do it's heavily delayed). But all torrent trackers compared to the Usenet, I certainly don't mind paying those few Euros because this way, I can focus on what I really want and need (high quality hd movie rips from HDBits, for example).

[MXFileSharing]

thanks daniel for clearing it up ;)

i give up my seedbox before because it's half useless if there's no good source, but not really my intention to race i know i can't compete with those uploaders who has direct access. i'll wait for my time.

[Tenth]

Well I am loving usenet now that I have figured it out. I still use bit torrent for some rare or older files but I always check usenet first.

The only thing I miss about the trackers is the feeling of community and discussions from the forums.

I am sure there are some great usenet groups out there I just haven't found them yet.

[MultiForce]

Well I am loving usenet now that I have figured it out. I still use bit torrent for some rare or older files but I always check usenet first.

The only thing I miss about the trackers is the feeling of community and discussions from the forums.

I am sure there are some great usenet groups out there I just haven't found them yet.

You'll find many interesting groups if you click through these pages:

http://groups.google.com/groups/dir

I guess you didn't talk about binary groups?

[cubbyche]

(high quality hd movie rips from HDBits, for example).
-----------------------------------------------------
Very good explanation... What can you find at HDBits, that you cant find in the Newsgroups just wondering because there not open for Sign up thanks!

[Daniel]

(high quality hd movie rips from HDBits, for example).
-----------------------------------------------------
Very good explanation... What can you find at HDBits, that you cant find in the Newsgroups just wondering because there not open for Sign up thanks!
I have come to love their custom encodes, be it from groups like ESiR or CtrlHD that mainly operate on this tracker or from single persons like NWO or H2 for example.

Most highdef content on the Usenet is naturally scene stuff, that's not always a bad thing because I'm downloading that as well, but more often than not you can find a higher quality encode elsewhere and that is always HDBits. I'm certainly not a highdef maniac like some people there seem to be, but I like a good visual quality. You'll notice some of those encodes (ESiR mainly) can be found elsewhere, that may be BiT-HDTV, HD-bits.ro or even the Usenet. What you won't see without a HDBits account is how delayed they are, because the stuff is sometimes available for days or weeks already before it is spread out.

[Tenth]

Thanks for the link Multiforce. I gotta start browsing now. ;)

@ Daniel Someone was gonna give me an invite to HDbits but they told me the user limit was maxed. Are invites open yet?

[Daniel]

Yes, invites are available. Not considering a short period of time where the invite script was either not working or disabled back in summer, the tracker was always giving out invites to their users faithfully. It is however true that invites are disabled as long as the user limit has been reached - and that's most of the time. There should be a daily window to both send out an invite and to register an account when inactive users are pruned - this is roughly around 6pm GMT +/- a few hours. If your possible invitee can keep an eye on the tracker around that time, he'll be able to send you an invite. From what I've observed, the tracker will be full again before the end of the day; it's a popular place after all ;)

[Tenth]

thank you again Daniel.