Why so many junk postings on usenet?

[Sporkk]

I'm mostly a super search user and have been finding a lot of junk items on usenet. Sometimes there are posts with no nfo and no description if the movie is pal or ntsc.

I discovered the xbox 360 can somehow play pal discs which is nice but would still rather have in ntsc.

Another thing that I have no idea is why people waste their time posting a crappy cam copy converted for dvd when the real movie is already out.
I've seen maybe 2 movies done with cams and it completely spoils everything. If they do somehow get a descent picture the sound is still horrible. Why go through all the trouble?

I also think they could be doing hd movies a lot better. Everything is posted in mkv. How many people watch movies on their computer? I would rather have a standard video than watch on my computer. Sometimes I use mkv2vob or tsmuxer to watch on my ps3 but they don't always come out right or have hardcoded subtitles.

I'm actually tempted to shut off my usenet and just do a online rental service but don't really want to give up a $11 astraweb account.

[teflon05]

I'm pretty new to usenet, & I was looking for a program on there yesterday & every one i DL'ed had a trojan in it, so i finally gave up & found it in a torrent, lol. Guess it's because i'm a usenet noob, but so far i'm not real impressed.

[UsenetGuy]

It's all about the way you search. As you become more experienced with Usenet you'll figure out how spot fake and dodgy posts, which there are quite a lot of.

By the way, a very similar thread was started earlier: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-newsgroups-79/t-whats-all-spamming-and-viruses-327798/?

[Beck38]

I'm mostly a super search user and have been finding a lot of junk items on usenet. Sometimes there are posts with no nfo and no description if the movie is pal or ntsc.

I discovered the xbox 360 can somehow play pal discs which is nice but would still rather have in ntsc.

Another thing that I have no idea is why people waste their time posting a crappy cam copy converted for dvd when the real movie is already out.
I've seen maybe 2 movies done with cams and it completely spoils everything. If they do somehow get a descent picture the sound is still horrible. Why go through all the trouble?

I also think they could be doing hd movies a lot better. Everything is posted in mkv. How many people watch movies on their computer? I would rather have a standard video than watch on my computer. Sometimes I use mkv2vob or tsmuxer to watch on my ps3 but they don't always come out right or have hardcoded subtitles.

I'm actually tempted to shut off my usenet and just do a online rental service but don't really want to give up a $11 astraweb account.

I almost cut our comment up into tidbits to... comment on, but virtually everything you bring up is absolutely true. The 'torrents are better' comments will be coming (already have?) but the fact is, that good nfo's are far more widespread on usenet than on any torrent.

You usually can d/l the first part of a rar posting, and figure out most if not all the specs; but this is why sites such as Newzbin are in so much use, as they try to do a couple of things, first the PAL/NTSC (and all the different wacky HD formats), then track down the nfo (if it exists), and get, especially in this age of double and triple and quadruple dipping of DVD titles, the proper 'real' identification of the post. That last is a lot of the time a bit of a stretch, though. You need to bring out your Sherlock Holmes kit to get an idea of what exactly you're dealing with sometimes, though.

I rarely d/l anything without an nfo (and a posted nzb for that matter), although if the size leads one to believe it's not a sloppy recode job (i.e., a dvd9), and maybe it's listed on newzbin, then I'll bite.

I totally agree about the comment on 'watching a video on a computer', even if one has a way (ps3/xbox or otherwise) to output to a decent screen. But it's one of the things I run into on other forum boards, the folks I come into contact with in my daily dealings in consumer audio/video, mostly wouldn't have a computer of ANY type connected to their systems (or even anywhre in their home), no matter how much 'potential' there is. Some folks think it's great to do so, but they are a VERY small minority.

But as far as the HD stuff is concerned, I look back on the path that SD/DVD took in the very early days (circa 1998-2002), and although the decrypting methodology is tracking much better, the duplication 'systems' have quite a bit of a way to go, from both the hardware side (burners, blanks), and the software (stream processing, etc.), side. It is enough to 'dable' in, but it's going to be another 2-3 years before it becomes mainstream.

[kappas]

You can always try to check out something like pre.scnsrc.net and search in there to see if there has been a scene release of what you're looking for. Or keep an eye out on rlslog.net or a site like it for people posting new releases, then just do a search on the filename they post.

[Sporkk]

I might have to see about getting a newzbin invite. I should start using this site for the nzb's also.

I almost always put ntsc when I look for something. If nothing comes up then I search for the item without that in the title and check every nfo. It seems if ntsc is not in the title its usually pal. I always try to get the orignal posts instead of a repost due to some of them being repacked with passwords.

Another thing thats kind of weird is that people will posts 2 different divx files for 2 cd's. How many people are still using cd's?

AnyDvd can decrypt pretty much anything including hd. I purchased the unlimited update licsense for this program. I started messing with dvd backups when dvd shrink came out. IMO dual layer media is still over priced and single layerr is still the way to go.

There are some fairly complicated methods for backing up blu discs to regular dvd. They come out looking nearly as good as the original disc. With a dual core it still takes around 10 hours. The disadvantages are that they can be movie only and you loose the hd audio track. I'm surprised these arent more common on usenet. They are called bd-(5,9) or avchd. The few that are on there usually have dutch subtitles hard coded on them. I'm going to wait for a program thats more refined before I mess with it.

I've always wondered how most of you watch mkv files. I know of a few other options like building a htpc or using something like a sage media extender but thats even more trouble.

[EyeBaller]

I've always wondered how most of you watch mkv files. I know of a few other options like building a htpc or using something like a sage media extender but thats even more trouble.

Laptop -> VGA output to LCD HDTV and sound goes to 5.1 system via usb soundcard

I have now retired that laptop so its now just a media pc and bought a new one as my main computer now.

Having a separate computer is so much easier.. all downloading can be done on that one too, permanently linked to external usb hdd. Well worth it IMO.

[xuxoxux]

I'm mostly a super search user and have been finding a lot of junk items on usenet. Sometimes there are posts with no nfo and no description if the movie is pal or ntsc.

I discovered the xbox 360 can somehow play pal discs which is nice but would still rather have in ntsc.

Another thing that I have no idea is why people waste their time posting a crappy cam copy converted for dvd when the real movie is already out.
I've seen maybe 2 movies done with cams and it completely spoils everything. If they do somehow get a descent picture the sound is still horrible. Why go through all the trouble?

I also think they could be doing hd movies a lot better. Everything is posted in mkv. How many people watch movies on their computer? I would rather have a standard video than watch on my computer. Sometimes I use mkv2vob or tsmuxer to watch on my ps3 but they don't always come out right or have hardcoded subtitles.

I'm actually tempted to shut off my usenet and just do a online rental service but don't really want to give up a $11 astraweb account.

Don't give up your account.
Check out ConvertXtoDVD:
http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/

It is the best IMO when it comes to taking movies and making them ready for burning.

[jbloggs]

Best to use indexing site and read comments from others.

[Sporkk]

So is newzbin the best then?

I also use convertx to dvd. Great program. Sometimes I don't even use discs. I just use a flash drive and play the divx/xvid or vobs directly on my ps3.

It would certainly be silly of me to leave usenet. I think I would miss it to much even thought at times its a hassle.

[EyeBaller]

I also have used DVDFlick (http://www.dvdflick.net/)to convert to vob. Fast and open source.

[chitlinpita]

Laptop -> VGA output to LCD HDTV and sound goes to 5.1 system via usb soundcard

I also use a VGA output to LCD HDTV, but the audio input to go with the VGA is only a headphone jack type plug. Is there another way to route sound so that I get good surround sound, or at least stereo sound?

[Sporkk]

you could use a 1/8 jack that splits into the red and white audio cables and plug them into your home stereo. Radio Shack has them.

[EyeBaller]

you could use a 1/8 jack that splits into the red and white audio cables and plug them into your home stereo. Radio Shack has them.

Yep, just get a 3.5mm headphone cable -> RCA, that can connect to pretty much any stereo system. Like this http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2453699

[Beck38]

There are some fairly complicated methods for backing up blu discs to regular dvd. They come out looking nearly as good as the original disc. With a dual core it still takes around 10 hours. The disadvantages are that they can be movie only and you loose the hd audio track. I'm surprised these arent more common on usenet. They are called bd-(5,9) or avchd. The few that are on there usually have dutch subtitles hard coded on them. I'm going to wait for a program thats more refined before I mess with it.

I've always wondered how most of you watch mkv files. I know of a few other options like building a htpc or using something like a sage media extender but thats even more trouble.

Not trying to hijack this thread, but AVCHD is a VERY mainstream HD format, in fact, most HD camcorders use it, and there are hardware boxes out there (the Hauppauge HD-PVR H.264 box is among the most popular), but you're right about 'dumbing down' the audio, 'standard' Dolby is about all you get.

I've hacked and hacked on the mkv stuff, every couple of months I try another 'run' at it. I believe until a major commercial HD s/w player handles it (maybe in the last 'couple of months' one has), it will continue to be too wacky to be usable.

I have a quad-core machine I built a bit ago to 'play around' with the HD stuff, but like I said, I thing it's going to be a couple more years before things come together. But I have d/l'ed some Blu-Ray stuff that looks REALLY good output to a decent HD display. But don't have either a BD burner, and, there isn't any decent commercial s/w to hack at the stream out there yet; a bit of pd s/w, but I went through all that with standard DVD's (the full doom9 set of tools) years ago.

It'll have to be really good for that road to be followed yet again.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program..!

[EyeBaller]

I've hacked and hacked on the mkv stuff, every couple of months I try another 'run' at it. I believe until a major commercial HD s/w player handles it (maybe in the last 'couple of months' one has), it will continue to be too wacky to be usable.

You're right...Western Digital have a hardware player that plays HD content from mkv files, and it's on sale at bestbuy right now for only $99
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8993217&st=8993217+&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218008588808

More info on buy.com here http://www.buy.com/prod/wd-tv-hd-media-player-usb-2-0-hdmi-composite-a-v/q/loc/101/209975073.html


Media Formats
MPEG 1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4,Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H264), JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG
MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA

[rippinitup4fun]

You're right...Western Digital have a hardware player that plays HD content from mkv files, and it's on sale at bestbuy right now for only $99
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8993217&st=8993217+&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218008588808

More info on buy.com here http://www.buy.com/prod/wd-tv-hd-media-player-usb-2-0-hdmi-composite-a-v/q/loc/101/209975073.html


Media Formats
MPEG 1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4,Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H264), JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG
MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA

There is also the 'Popcorn Hour' by far the most advanced of the bunch and modestly priced. This thing handles all of it...literally. There is nothing this thing cannot play. It handles 99.999% of all formats/bitrates/audio and has many, many more features.

I went with the A110 model as it has on-board decoding/pass through of: DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=catalog&task=info&item_id=6&main_id=0&category_id=

I have thrown every imaginable HD video at it and it plays it without a single hiccup or snag. Even 1080p videos with bitrates as high as 40+ MB/s, all played networked VIA MYihome or SMB/NFS shares. Hell the thing even has built in usenet downloader and torrent downloader provided you install an HDD in it (not necessary though).

There is also the A100 model that does everything the A110 does except the HD audio decoding/passthrough
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?module=onlinestore&pluginoption=catalog&task=info&item_id=5&main_id=0&category_id=

[Beck38]

There is also the 'Popcorn Hour' by far the most advanced of the bunch and modestly priced.

YEP. Have had this in my sights for a long time, that new model (the A110) looks great, I'm just thinking that maybe I haven't jumped on it due to STB (set-top box) fatigue. But it has component outputs and I haven't taken the plunge on a HDMI switcher yet, particularly as the hi-end HD set in my home theater (formerly the "living room"), is component only, waiting for the next generation of decent (OLED?) displays. But I already have HDMI to component conversion, however.

Again, all these boxes. I think they're next step is to support all the streaming services from Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon, et. al. One quickly gets up to speed with the "fatigue".


FYI, yet another STB made it's appearance today, the "MOXI" from Diego (Paul Allen's company). Will have to wait on any decent reviews of it; unfortunately, in doing a quick scan of it's specs, is VERY cabletv centric. Yuck.

What, there's about 10+ "stand-alone" STB's on the market now, some do one thing, others yet more, but isn't it all just ridiculous..

[Sporkk]

Looks very similar to the sage tv media extender that I tried. It would freeze up a lot and didn't seem to work very well. I have been interested in a good alternative.

Does it do a better job at playing mkv files than a ps3 using mkv2vob?

[rippinitup4fun]

Looks very similar to the sage tv media extender that I tried. It would freeze up a lot and didn't seem to work very well. I have been interested in a good alternative.

Does it do a better job at playing mkv files than a ps3 using mkv2vob?

Dont know as I do not have a PS3. I have thrown 50+ 1080p/720p movies at it and a few full blu-ray and not had 1 problem, playback is smooth.

[EyeBaller]

Hell the thing even has built in usenet downloader and torrent downloader provided you install an HDD in it (not necessary though).

Where do you see the information on the usenet downloader? I see FTP and torrents.

[cooldude75ph]

I really like the advantage of downloading torrents and nzbs by using Popcorn Hour and other similar NMTs.

EybeBaller, check out http://www.networkedmediatank.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=64

[link2009]

I've always wondered how most of you watch mkv files. I know of a few other options like building a htpc or using something like a sage media extender but thats even more trouble.

Laptop -> VGA output to LCD HDTV and sound goes to 5.1 system via usb soundcard

I have now retired that laptop so its now just a media pc and bought a new one as my main computer now.

Having a separate computer is so much easier.. all downloading can be done on that one too, permanently linked to external usb hdd. Well worth it IMO.

You do realize VGA has a max TRUE resolution of 720 right? How are you going to watch 1080p on that?

[EyeBaller]

I really like the advantage of downloading torrents and nzbs by using Popcorn Hour and other similar NMTs.

EybeBaller, check out http://www.networkedmediatank.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=64

Thanks!



You do realize VGA has a max TRUE resolution of 720 right? How are you going to watch 1080p on that?

Yes I do.. and the quick answer is.. I don't watch 1080p. I only download 720p releases for a couple of reasons:
1. I'm only watching on a 27" LCD TV so no need for 1080p anyway
2. The laptop I'm using probably won't be able to play 1080p content