Best block account

[Duron]

What is the best block account? Looking for one to fill some gaps with astraweb unlimited plan

So far I have seen usenet news and blocknews

http://usenet-news.net/index1.php?url=get
http://www.blocknews.net/

Prices are nearly the same

I think I read somewhere that an eu block provider is better due to less DMCA's?
UN is a uk-based company http://usenet-news.poohnix.co.uk/index1.php?url=about

Not sure about BlockNews

Which others would you recommend? Which is the best from these two?

[hdjunky]

Usenetnews may be UK but the company they sell Highwinds is not and they will and have been taking down stuff. I really do not know to be honest how much but reading on nzbmatrix has people saying they are in second place behind giganews as far as takedowns. I personally use Blocknews with a hint of Usenetnow when i get access to a fast connection. Plus they are a bit cheaper.

[c0ld]

blocknews.

[Beck38]

reading on nzbmatrix has people saying they are in second place behind giganews as far as takedowns

Went to nzbmatrix and can find no mention of any takedowns with usernet-news/highwinds. About the only thing of note is a lot of discussion about nzbmatrix indexing takedowns.....

[DSLFreak]

I've been using Blocknews for awhile now and am satisfied with them.

[hdjunky]

reading on nzbmatrix has people saying they are in second place behind giganews as far as takedowns

Went to nzbmatrix and can find no mention of any takedowns with usernet-news/highwinds. About the only thing of note is a lot of discussion about nzbmatrix indexing takedowns.....

They are there. In the Newshosting thread and also the Usenetserver one it is talked about. There is a thread talking about Trueblood and one from several weeks ago about some Wii games being bad but complete on others that isnt giganews and highwinds. Heck, here is a thread on this very site: http://filesharingtalk.com/threads/421056-Announcement-for-Giganews-and-NewsDemon-Users-Please-Read I know it mentions Newsdemon but Usenet-news sells the same exact service as newsdemon.

[Stinson]

Blocknews is definitely a great deal

[Radon0r]

What about NewsDemon? Their block accounts are similarly priced.

[TopKill]

http://www.newsgroupservers.net/Usenetserver_newshosting_Highwinds_review

Newsdemon resells highwinds. Correct me if wrong. And they have a 1 year limit, blocknews doesn't expire.

[zot]

Besides Usenet-News.net and Blocknews.net, another block account provider to consider is Dutch provider GebruikHet.Net

https://www.gebruikhet.net/bestelformulier.php

Retention-wise, here's (approximately) how they currently stack up:

Blocknews.net: ---- 700 days (and growing)
Usenet-News.net: - 600 days
GebruikHet.Net: --- 500 days



What about NewsDemon? Their block accounts are similarly priced.
NewsDemon sells two types of accounts: monthly subscriptions and yearly subscriptions. They do not sell real block accounts as they claim. Instead, they deceptively try to pass off their yearly subscriptions as block accounts.

Be aware that NewsDemon's yearly account subscriptions (mislabeled as "block accounts") are self-renewing and will automatically charge you again (and delete your unused gigs) when the year is up - year after year. (I suspect that they might also automatically renew when all download amount is consumed) The block accounts sold by Usenet-News, Blocknews, and others are a one-time purchase that does not automatically renew and never expires.

[Duron]

ok and do I set it as backup server in sabnzbd?

also sabnzbd often says that pieces are missing but 99% of the time it can be fixed with pars

if it can be fixed with pars I would like it to dl the pars from astraweb and fix it rather than dl the missing pieces from blocknews

and then only if it can't be fixed with pars to dl the missing parts from blocknews - is this possible?

[c0ld]

and then only if it can't be fixed with pars to dl the missing parts from blocknews - is this possible?
That's not how it works unfortunately. Ask the devs at Sab for it as a new feature, as it's a good idea.

[zot]

ok and do I set it as backup server in sabnzbd?

also sabnzbd often says that pieces are missing but 99% of the time it can be fixed with pars

if it can be fixed with pars I would like it to dl the pars from astraweb and fix it rather than dl the missing pieces from blocknews

and then only if it can't be fixed with pars to dl the missing parts from blocknews - is this possible?


Go to the server settings and click the arrow and a pulldown box will appear that allows you to set the priority of each server.

No you can't set up a secondary server to only get activated after a failed par-recovery operation. I don't know why anyone would prefer such a "feature" - as it would typically only save you a megabyte or two of block account usage per incomplete file. It seems like you might be trying to really shave pennies. :D

[Duron]

OK I understand

I signed up for blocknews

I downloaded a file that I knew failed with astraweb - it failed
then I added the blocknews server and ticked backup server in sabnzbd - and tried to dl the same file - it has stopped at 50MB and speed has gone to 0 - don't know what's happening!

had to disable the astraweb servers to get sabznbd to use the blocknews one...

which arrows do you mean? I don't see any or any mention of priority

[zot]

@Duron: The word "priority" does not appear, but when you chose "backup server" that's what I meant by 'set the priority'.

Since you already downloaded the (incomplete) file, you don't need to re-download the entire file a second time, but only the incomplete rar files.

I suggest doing this:

Open up Windows Explorer (or other file manager) and look at the rars. Sort them by size. Most will be the exact same size. (except for the last one, all should be the exact same size if they are complete) Notice which ones are the smallest: these are the most incomplete (and the main one's preventing the file from being par-fixed).

Reload the same NZB and download just the smallest rar files (not the entire set) over again using BlockNews. Replace those original (small) rar files with the new (larger) rar files you just downloaded.

I'm not sure if Sabnzbd can be made to re-parcheck the partial download, so you can do this manually instead:

Run Quickpar on the set and that should fix any remaining missing articles. Then run Winrar and un-split the file.

[Duron]

thanks zot

yes I know I don't have to re download but did it anyway just to test how it works on a full release in sabnzbd