Best unlimited usenet providers?

[monkeyhanger]

Getting lots of very quick takedowns with Usenetserver right now and renewal is due with usenetserver, I'm used to paying about £60/$100 upfront for a year subscription with unlimited downloads and 20 connections/SSL encryption. I usually manage to find what i'm after reposted eventually (most of those with the most complex names seem to stay longer than those called 123456), but it's a hassle i'd like to avoid for the same cost and service.

Any suggested providers for me to check out?

[nntpjunkie]

You need another provider in addition to UsenetServer as a backup to fill in missing articles, Tweaknews and Blocknews are what I use most of the time.

[quakeremfon]

I had trouble with eweka... using extremeusenet now. works fine

[johncagala]

I also use Tweak for backup block usage, and Easynews for unlimited at 10 bucks a month. I especially like the web interface for Easynews they give for 14 day trial.

[usersname]

"The Best" is in the eye of the beholder.

Search the forums - and come to your own conclusions...

[asari]

I've been using tweaknews for ~18 month and only got a few incompletes. However since they no longer accept paypal, I've switched to usenetbucket. Been testing them for a week - so far, so good.

[JunkBarMan]

frugal seems to get a few take downs lately, more then i've ever seen before, I'm in the market for a new provider for sure.

just for the record, at least one of the providers mentioned in posts above, don't seem to offer "unlimited" plans. doing my homework right now.

[Beck38]

Takedowns, both in type, quickness, and frequency, vary widely from server/service to server/service, to include what 'type' of material you're interested in, and most obviously, the type and depth of obfuscation the poster uses (or doesn't use).

So you can continue to chase after your particular needs, maybe find some poster or site that fills that need (or not), or come to the conclusion that anything you do get is by hit or miss, or jump around from provider to provider like it appears you're doing. In short, it's a jungle out there.

However, I've said this before and it's been awhile since I've rung my particular bell, but since the dissolution of 'the matrix' some two years ago, and for several years, almost a good decade before that, and certainly back to 'day zero' on most usenet plants (i.e., Aug08 or thereabouts) I've posted at least 1TB/month (so my calculator figures some 72TB during that period), which I check the most recent pretty heavily, and the older stuff at random, to which zero (0) has ever been targeted, yet a fair amount has been on the 'hit list' at one time or the other, and those other posts have gone down the rabbit hole (while mine are still there).

So I've come to the conclusion that most posters who get targeted fail basic smarts, or are 'going after the bucks' with private websites and super-encrypted/super-obfuscated postings (you know, those 32+ nonsense character posts). Okay, that's one way to go I guess.

[sandman_1]

...which I check the most recent pretty heavily, and the older stuff at random, to which zero (0) has ever been targeted, yet a fair amount has been on the 'hit list' at one time or the other, and those other posts have gone down the rabbit hole (while mine are still there).


Are you downloading all that which you posted? Sure it will come up still on searches but that doesn't mean jack. Even checking a NZB isn't a guarantee as some servers will report that they have the article during the check when in fact it won't. Unless you are downloading everything you have posted, which wouldn't make sense anyway since you already have it, how can you go around making blanket statements like "zero takedowns ever" and be 100% sure?

My advice to people is to get 1 or 2 paid providers: 1 Euro and 1 US. Then supplement your main server(s) with free ones. I have been doing this for years and rarely have issues since I have 5 or 6 different tier one servers I am pulling from. If you run into a hiccup, sign up for a free trial with a server that doesn't use the same tier one servers that you already have to get the missing pieces. There is no such thing as "best unlimited provider" anymore, there just isn't.

[nsolutions]

I use usenet server and its works great

[sarcastico]

I use tweaknews and they have been great so far.

[copystuff]

Supernews works great for me.

[Frits]

Newsdemon $20.14(£11.79) deal every four months, auto renew. Lot of takedowns on popular stuff if you dont grab quick(not as bad as astraweb!) but by far the cheapest i have used and i have been around the block.

[chakara]

not as bad as astraweb!
Yeah well I actually switched back to AW because this popular belief is seemingly wrong. I can get Boardwalk Empire (an HBO high-profile show) fine and I'm talking about post in clear from about 1 year ago.

[Beck38]

A lot depends, as the internet is not exactly super-speedy across the globe if one is doing high speed/high capacity transfers, in where you are vrs where the usenet service servers are.

In my case, the two closest (both 'internet' wise as well as geographically) are Astra/US and Giganews/US, and it doesn't take a degree in finance as to which is 'cheaper'. I get tons of (captured) pay-TV fare off Astra/US, although in fact the series 'True Detective' (again, captures which were recoded down to 720P and about 10-20% of their original 'broadcast' size) were 'whacked' in just a few days back whenever.

But now that it's out in Blu (almost 30+ days at this point), I'm sure that in the next 30+ days or so we'll be seeing a flood of full-BD as well as BD-recodes start to flood the pipes, either obfuscated (or not), or encrypted (or not). The reviews I've read (so far) put the video and audio quality as 10+/superb, something that was hinted at in the (basically) low-grade captures that were originally posted.

[Frits]

not as bad as astraweb!
Yeah well I actually switched back to AW because this popular belief is seemingly wrong. I can get Boardwalk Empire (an HBO high-profile show) fine and I'm talking about post in clear from about 1 year ago.

Long time user of astraweb(2yrs+). Then all of a sudden, basically if you didnt grab releases straight away, they were gone. Went around the block a while, same story but grabbed the newsdemon(Works out approx just £3 a month) deal. Stuff still removed if you are not quick enough. Test and trial. Still get a lot of old skool films from the eighties as they got 2000+ day retention. Depends what you are after really. Get full speed constantly(19meg a sec(on my Vm 152meg connection)) downloads SSL. Never been down for me.

[flow7]

In my opinion supernews and tweaknews are popular in terms of less takedowns.

[voldermort]

@Asari, I just switched from Tweak to Usenet Bucket. Your post is dated July 2nd. I would be interested in the rate of incompletes and dmca takedowns you are experiencing.

Any other Usenetbucket clients I would be interested in hearing your opinion as well.

Thank you

[hedgefundguy]

astraweb and usenetserver work well for me

[dcbuk]

Been using TweakNews for about a year now renewing every 3 month period and they email exclusive renew offers that are cheaper then prices offered for newbies. Never had any problems

[kalone]

Just a note, Supernews does not allow VPN or proxy connections to their servers. Could not find in any other usenet provider' TOS.

[drk]

I'm using both AstraWeb and EasyNews.

[keens]

I've always been pretty happy with Giganews.

[krispy]

UsenetServer - Cheap and reliable for me

[flash43cl208]

Hi, I am currently with newshosting and its all-in-one grabber, but it happens a lot, that files (new ones) even after 4 day age still can't be downloaded, got damn "connection issue' for each posts .. any ideas ?

[wintressdude]

Hi, I am currently with newshosting and its all-in-one grabber, but it happens a lot, that files (new ones) even after 4 day age still can't be downloaded, got damn "connection issue' for each posts .. any ideas ?

Use a Euro provider.

[DngrMs]

Just a note, Supernews does not allow VPN or proxy connections to their servers.

Well, they have to block the IP/range so that's an inaccurately broad statement.


Hi, I am currently with newshosting and its all-in-one grabber, but it happens a lot, that files (new ones) even after 4 day age still can't be downloaded, got damn "connection issue' for each posts .. any ideas ?

You need a backup provider. You also need to do some research by reading posts on this forum. Your backup account should probably be a geo-diverse block variant... research.

[dundasian]

AstraWeb... cheap and reliable for me. And been around for a while.

[motta_lunn]

Astraweb via the kleverig link.

[Jaypeace]

Try maximumusenet, been using them forever. No complaints.

[Sinda72]

I've used giganews in the past, but there were too many takedowns lately. I've changed to xlusenet.nl. It still doesn't have everything but it's better then the US alternatives.

[jenniferxp]

what is the best payserver for ziggo

[Ellios]

I dunno Astraweb has been poor recently for me, or maybe I'm just too slow at getting to the files... I hate to admit it but I've been using torrents behind a VPN!... oh the shame!!

[ragga]

i use astraweb....

[vivianutz]

I'm using NewsDemon servers and since Friday (19 Sept. 2014) I can't download anything with NewsBinPro. All bars turns red and at the logging section it says that not such article found or failed to retrieve article from server. Does anyone know what's happen with NewsDemon servers?

[Boolah]

Check your NewsDemon account to make sure it's still active. They apparently "lost" a drive with some peoples' account info. See this Reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/usenet/comments/2gawgo/newsdemon_check_your_plan_and_cc/

[motta_lunn]

Can anyone advise how Supernews compares to Astraweb ?

[2501]

same shit, everything has missing blocks

[Beck38]

same shit, everything has missing blocks

Missing 'blocks' or completely missing (DMCA'd), there's a big difference.

There's still, in this age of error checking uploaders (JBinup) way too many folks are still using creaky old PowerPost and it's variants on flacky or semi-flacky server plants that either skip (or fade) the post in their own plant, or have major distribution (propagation) problems out to other usenet servers. And then they (the posters) don't do due diligence in propagation checking to (or thru) major plants (like Asta, Giga, Unsnet-News, Blocknews).

[sandman_1]

Can anyone advise how Supernews compares to Astraweb ?

Supernews is Giganews. I would choose neither Supernews nor Astraweb. They are both bad IMO.

[Beck38]

Supernews is Giganews. I would choose neither Supernews nor Astraweb. They are both bad IMO.

Then again, one needs to figure in internet transit time and data transmission speeds into one's equations; if one is on the west coast of the US (where Astra, Giga, Super are all located at in northern and southern California) vr. other US plants on the east coast, dragging those bits cross country (from, say, UNS or Blocknews as an example, which are both located in 'telecom row' in suburban DC/Virginia) and then adding on to that potential cross-oceanic if going to Europe/Netherlands or such, means that utilizing those as a 'main' feed (rather than as occasional 'fills) really slows things down to a crawl.

So it really is more of a 'mix' of what works for one's particular situation, not a 'one solution fits all', even figuring the preponderance of obfuscated/encrypted postings that are the norm these days. Things do (and have) gotten incrementally better over the years in long-distance transfers, but it isn't quite up to wide open multi-terabit everywhere on the planet quite yet.

[usenetfreak]

Is there any provider that dont remove content ?!

[DngrMs]

Is there any provider that dont remove content ?!

Yep, I'm a member of one or two.

Most don't have web sites and as far as I'm aware they're all in the far East so you need a good grasp of a non English/Spanish/French/German language (psst - understanding Cyrillic helps).

You'll find the necessary assistance on IRC if you're persistent enough.

Edit: but you don't really need to go this far - my .ru block account has downloaded <1MB in the last month (against >2TB) because my .com and .eu primaries are more than sufficient.

[meatball]

My understanding is usenetserver was one of the mass highwinds/UNS holdings acquisitions that have taken place over the last few months. They auto-dmca is under 90 (same as giganews, and now readnews (not acquired but using the HW backend system so essentially the same).Giga and readnews don't go to such lengths to hide their subsidiaries whereas highwinds does. They ate up a huge portion of europe this past summer.

Edit- readnews is officially owned by highwinds

[Wolfenstein]

Having been a usenet user for decades, I would not touch highwinds again with your bargepole, let alone mine. I tried them as a pay service, and gave up after a few months. I then had teh horrible experience of my ISP handing over their usenet services to highwinds, at which stage it quickly became next to useless.


I used giganews and astraweb for a year or two and both services delivered all that should be expected.
I dropped giganews on cost basis and continued with astraweb to this day which has US and EU POPs and very responsive support on the odd occasions they have been needed.

[meatball]

I wouldn't use them for a number of reasons, not the least is your point. Secondly they are quietly doing the same thing as comcast. Highwinds is working towards owning newsgroups entirely and have just successfully eliminated a huge portion of the european competition.

[Hn66]

Is there any provider that dont remove content ?!

I'll believe it when I see it. lol


My understanding is usenetserver was one of the mass highwinds/UNS holdings acquisitions that have taken place over the last few months. They auto-dmca is under 90 (same as giganews, and now readnews (not acquired but using the HW backend system so essentially the same).Giga and readnews don't go to such lengths to hide their subsidiaries whereas highwinds does. They ate up a huge portion of europe this past summer.

Besides EuroAccess, who else did they acquire?



Is there any provider that dont remove content ?!

Yep, I'm a member of one or two.

Most don't have web sites and as far as I'm aware they're all in the far East so you need a good grasp of a non English/Spanish/French/German language (psst - understanding Cyrillic helps).

You'll find the necessary assistance on IRC if you're persistent enough.

Edit: but you don't really need to go this far - my .ru block account has downloaded <1MB in the last month (against >2TB) because my .com and .eu primaries are more than sufficient.

Since you've disabled pm, could you offer any additional clues? Search results aren't turning up much.

[DngrMs]

Edit: but you don't really need to go this far - my .ru block account has downloaded <1MB in the last month (against >2TB) because my .com (primary) and .eu (block backup) are more than sufficient.

Since you've disabled pm, could you offer any additional clues? Search results aren't turning up much.

I've highlighted the important part of my post above. If I need to be explicit I'd follow the advice in many, many threads here and get an Astraweb unlimited account and a Tweaknews (or similar) block account to set as backup. It's not exactly what I use but close enough (I also have a tertiary block provider but as quoted above it's not normally required).

If you can't get what you want then I'd post specific questions about specific NZB's because the above combo will service 99% of the needs of 99% of the population (and I know this with statistical certainty because I know everything).

[Hn66]

Since you've disabled pm, could you offer any additional clues? Search results aren't turning up much.

I've highlighted the important part of my post above. If I need to be explicit I'd follow the advice in many, many threads here and get an Astraweb unlimited account and a Tweaknews (or similar) block account to set as backup. It's not exactly what I use but close enough (I also have a tertiary block provider but as quoted above it's not normally required).

If you can't get what you want then I'd post specific questions about specific NZB's because the above combo will service 99% of the needs of 99% of the population (and I know this with statistical certainty because I know everything).

I consider myself fairly informed when it comes to NNTP. What peaked my interest was not your discussion of Cambrium (Tweak) or Search Tech (Astraweb), those systems I know, but rather your mention of the existence of .ru providers. I've actually put in some time researching .ru forums and .ru webhosts looking for a free or paid soviet provider that sells NNTP services carrying alt.binaries hierarchy, but so far have not found such a provider. You seem to know of some systems, existing in either .ru .ua .lv .lt .ee . I can't find a paid provider in that region carrying binaries, just the known pubs like neva.ru that just carry text groups. This is where I was looking to you for insight and I assume if there are some established providers that do exist this is better kept private knowledge unless you want it shared publicly.

PM is preferred, but IRC is ok too if you can connect to oftc.net (tor supported)

Thanks for the reply

[UsenetDude]

I use Eweka (dutch usenet) http://www.eweka.nl/en/home/ for my main.

For backup Block account http://perm.ly/dmca Because they have this:

We combine a multitude of different Usenet providers into one single, easy to use service to ensure that your articles and completion rates are up to scratch - nothing but the best is good enough. We are the only Usenet provider in the world having this unique feature and it ensures that we are able to retrieve your articles, even when they may have been removed or DMCAed at other providers.

Dont use high speed account because you dont get full speed! 20mbit is fine or block account.

[meatball]

I use Eweka (dutch usenet) http://www.eweka.nl/en/home/ for my main.

For backup Block account http://perm.ly/dmca Because they have this:

We combine a multitude of different Usenet providers into one single, easy to use service to ensure that your articles and completion rates are up to scratch - nothing but the best is good enough. We are the only Usenet provider in the world having this unique feature and it ensures that we are able to retrieve your articles, even when they may have been removed or DMCAed at other providers.

Dont use high speed account because you dont get full speed! 20mbit is fine or block account.


Eeweka is a highwinds company. You'd be better off using a local reseller of theirs as at least you'd get better speeds. But I'd definitely recommend moving away from highwinds or their resellers altogether

[meatball]

usenet server=Highwinds

[nopt]

SO what are the current recommended servers to get?

[eman916]

anyone tried Thunder News?

www.thundernews.com

[crkfc]

I like NewsDemon. $12/mon for unlimited.

[incaved]

Since you've disabled pm, could you offer any additional clues? Search results aren't turning up much.

I've highlighted the important part of my post above. If I need to be explicit I'd follow the advice in many, many threads here and get an Astraweb unlimited account and a Tweaknews (or similar) block account to set as backup. It's not exactly what I use but close enough (I also have a tertiary block provider but as quoted above it's not normally required).

If you can't get what you want then I'd post specific questions about specific NZB's because the above combo will service 99% of the needs of 99% of the population (and I know this with statistical certainty because I know everything).

I'm happy with Astraweb EU and TweakNews just as described above. Tweaknews as fill and it's been working fine for over a year now.

[happydude]

What is easynews like?

[g1za]

Using Eweka which was great up to 6 months ago and now I'm seeing a lot of takedowns similar to Astraweb.
Can anyone suggest an alternative?

[Beck38]

Using Eweka which was great up to 6 months ago and now I'm seeing a lot of takedowns similar to Astraweb.
Can anyone suggest an alternative?

Complain to the posters for being so obvious that they DO get taken down (but most are relying on 'auto-downloaders' to quickly distribute); either that, or perhaps give up on pro-wrestling/organized crime kinda stuff.

Like a lot of folks, I use Astra/Blocknews 'combo' and haven't run into anything 'taken down' in years; and I post almost 24/7 (~20TB+ per year) and have NEVER had anything targeted (and it all still exists back to AUG08/day zero), even 'stuff' that had been nailed every which way from Sunday just a week or two previously.

[shadowrom]

easynews is good but you need to track thing you like everyday

[vortecks]

I'm happy with UNS, but I don't know why there's 1100 + day retention when everything's gone in 24 hours :wacko:

[mpj220]

I have been happy with Newsdemon for years

[Beck38]

I'm happy with UNS, but I don't know why there's 1100 + day retention when everything's gone in 24 hours :wacko:

Define 'everything'. Of course, if your entire worldview is pro-wrestling, then perhaps you may be correct. I did a quick check of UNS and everything I've leeched and posted in the last couple months at least were all there.

I haven't looked back that '1100 days' but that is actually a pretty minimal number compared to the more than double that (back to Aug08) of other top providers, but perhaps good enough depending on the cost.

[bikeboy24]

Ive been using frugalusenet for ages now. Retention is quite short, but you can't beat the price. EU and US servers.

[tripnip]

Ive been using frugalusenet for ages now. Retention is quite short, but you can't beat the price. EU and US servers.

I used to think that as well and I had their $40/yr Black Friday deal. This past BF I discovered usenetbucket which is also unlimited but 1100 days retention for around US$29/yr. I get quite a few "connection closed, retrying in 10 seconds" error messages but it hasn't affected my ability to complete downloads. If I get the same or better deal next BF I'll stick with them, otherwise frugal's the next best.

[vortecks]

[QUOTE=vortecks;3758005]Define 'everything'. Of course, if your entire worldview is pro-wrestling, then perhaps you may be correct. I did a quick check of UNS and everything I've leeched and posted in the last couple months at least were all there.

I haven't looked back that '1100 days' but that is actually a pretty minimal number compared to the more than double that (back to Aug08) of other top providers, but perhaps good enough depending on the cost.

I don't even look at pro-wrestling. I'm constantly getting takedowns of latest releases after 24-48 hours and even one of my obscure posts has been taken down in a week or two. I've been with UNS for many years........ Maybe it's time for a change!

[madjock]

Sickbeard, then it matters not if it gets taken down in a day or whatever. Set it up and when its posted it gets grabbed as soon as its available.

[Beck38]

I don't even look at pro-wrestling. I'm constantly getting takedowns of latest releases after 24-48 hours and even one of my obscure posts has been taken down in a week or two. I've been with UNS for many years........ Maybe it's time for a change!

Maybe (apparently) not obscure enough. Bad hide technique? I took some time to run a test back several months on UNS/US on posted items (almost 50, ~5TB+) and found exactly one (1) article missing (works out to .0000001% if my math is okay).

That's well within any kind of propagation/transmission problems any plant could have, and obviously zero takedowns. I'd say that you need to rethink how your posts are failing in hiding/password techniques.

These 'auto grabbers' (i.e. Sickbeard et. al.) are only effective if one knows in advance what the filename(s) are, which generally means one needs to get on with a 'pay walled' site that give one a 'heads up' in advance, or you simply grab everything that xxx uploader (who uses a specific 'key' in their file header) in which case you grab everything they post whether you actually want it or not.

[piercerseth]

Sickbeard, then it matters not if it gets taken down in a day or whatever. Set it up and when its posted it gets grabbed as soon as its available.

Then it becomes an arms-race. And you're beholden to your indexer to catch the release.

[madjock]

Sickbeard, then it matters not if it gets taken down in a day or whatever. Set it up and when its posted it gets grabbed as soon as its available.

Then it becomes an arms-race. And you're beholden to your indexer to catch the release.

Eh ? Of course, so when the releases get released in American time, Sickbeard can catch them before the takedowns, how is that a disadvantage ?

[piercerseth]

Eh ? Of course, so when the releases get released in American time, Sickbeard can catch them before the takedowns, how is that a disadvantage ?
I was just thinking out loud.

If I'm a copyright agent, what's to stop me from giving Dog et. al a couple bucks and using their infrastructure in the same way for enforcement purposes? Better yet, I could run my own indexing setup with the fancy de-ofuscating regexes and watch the groups in real-time and start forwarding takedowns faster than your head could spin.

[madjock]

Well I think they already do.

Hence why releases like Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory to name a few are only up for hours.

Thats when password sites come into their own, and why days of non passworded usenet uploads of Bluray series are at an end. Not much use for Sickbeard, but it is the way it is going. I also work away from home, so can't be at my computer 24/7 grabbing downloads, at least with SIckbeard, I just have to use Password sites for 1 or 2 shows to catch up.

[Beck38]

Well I think they already do.

Hence why releases like Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory to name a few are only up for hours.

Thats when password sites come into their own, and why days of non passworded usenet uploads of Bluray series are at an end. Not much use for Sickbeard, but it is the way it is going. I also work away from home, so can't be at my computer 24/7 grabbing downloads, at least with SIckbeard, I just have to use Password sites for 1 or 2 shows to catch up.

I tried watching your two 'favs', lasted about 10min max on both of them. Blech. Sorry.

But I did do some tests on a couple heavily targeted series and they managed to stay up about a month, so not quite as 'quick on the trigger' as one would think, again, using fairly minimal obfuscation. All of these 'tv' programs are available by rental (both on SD/DVD and HD/Blu) so if one is a 'fan' they can be quite easily processed (unless one is really lazy I guess).

I've yet to have a real 'movie' targeted, unless it was a long (LONG) time ago, as I have a 'test' routine that checks things out heavily back a month or two, and then eventually back several months/years.

I tend to think that anything that relies upon some 'private' web site is doomed to getting hacked, as has been mentioned.

[madjock]

Haha no problems, each to their own.

What I have also found recently, is once you get 720P/1080P WEB-DLs nowadays, there is no great rush for Bluray rips of TV series.

I have tried a lot of the European servers, and for the most, things get taken down a few days after anyone else at best, I am never in that much of a rush to mess with block accounts, as usually in the cases of Remuxes you can hunt thru Binsearch and find what you want if you know what size and where to look.

Films like you say get away for the most, especially if an effort is made to hide.

[piercerseth]

is once you get 720P/1080P WEB-DLs nowadays, there is no great rush for Bluray rips of TV series.
On the subject, DIM's recent 1080p encodes are truly something else. Superior to the WEB-DLs. The only thing comparable would be CtrlHD or DON's releases, but those take hours/days longer to show up obviously.

[renzz]

On the subject, DIM's recent 1080p encodes are truly something else. Superior to the WEB-DLs. The only thing comparable would be CtrlHD or DON's releases, but those take hours/days longer to show up obviously.

I've always wondered where DIM get their source from - logo free, great quality. I watched the 1080P Elementary last week and it had DTS sound...

[piercerseth]

I've always wondered where DIM get their source from - logo free, great quality. I watched the 1080P Elementary last week and it had DTS sound...

That's the $64,000 question isn't it? Some magical pre-air backhaul only they're privy to perhaps. It was apparent when they pred those huge ass Mad Men caps last year. There was a little kerfuffle a month or two back when a BTN user alleged they were providing sources to p2p groups.

[TeeLex]

I've used newshosting for years and has been great

[cardboardbox]

Haha no problems, each to their own.

What I have also found recently, is once you get 720P/1080P WEB-DLs nowadays, there is no great rush for Bluray rips of TV series.Bluray releases are drying up. I dont know if sales are poor or if the studios would simply rather stream everything but quite a few of the shows I watch did not get a bluray release for their last season. Really disappointing to me at least.

[madjock]

Haha no problems, each to their own.

What I have also found recently, is once you get 720P/1080P WEB-DLs nowadays, there is no great rush for Bluray rips of TV series.Bluray releases are drying up. I dont know if sales are poor or if the studios would simply rather stream everything but quite a few of the shows I watch did not get a bluray release for their last season. Really disappointing to me at least.

Not sure about that, more like no group releases it, or they have not been posted.

What show you talking about ?

[Dameatball]

I've highlighted the important part of my post above. If I need to be explicit I'd follow the advice in many, many threads here and get an Astraweb unlimited account and a Tweaknews (or similar) block account to set as backup. It's not exactly what I use but close enough (I also have a tertiary block provider but as quoted above it's not normally required).



If you can't get what you want then I'd post specific questions about specific NZB's because the above combo will service 99% of the needs of 99% of the population (and I know this with statistical certainty because I know everything).



I'm happy with Astraweb EU and TweakNews just as described above. Tweaknews as fill and it's been working fine for over a year now.


Tweaknews=high winds
Should be avoided at all costs

[Dameatball]

I'm happy with UNS, but I don't know why there's 1100 + day retention when everything's gone in 24 hours :wacko:


High winds dmca's in under 60 min now and now own s huge portion of the euro providers (now resellers) Cambrium is the latest. Very quickly becoming a monopoly.

[trickyrat]

I'm happy with UNS, but I don't know why there's 1100 + day retention when everything's gone in 24 hours :wacko:


High winds dmca's in under 60 min now and now own s huge portion of the euro providers (now resellers) Cambrium is the latest. Very quickly becoming a monopoly.

I'd love to see how this is affecting their business, though? Surely the more you "pull", and the more quickly, then the more quickly you lose customers...

I mean, from a customer perspective, what's the point of being on Usenet, if all you want is legal content? All of that stuff is freely available from multiple other sources.

Kinda wonder how much life is left in Usenet..?

[Beck38]

Kinda wonder how much life is left in Usenet..?

You just aren't being 'tricky' enough, 'trickyrat'.

The amount of traffic on usenet (there are several traffic analysis sites out there) is larger than ever. You kinda have to 'pick your poison' on which hoops you're willing and able to jump through to get what you want.

[Dolfan-Neil]

Tweaknews is now owned by Highwinds, but I haven't seen their DMCA enforcement yet. Time will tell, but I've already signed up for another European host that currently isn't affiliated with Highwinds. There isn't many left.

[madjock]

Tweaknews is now owned by Highwinds, but I haven't seen their DMCA enforcement yet. Time will tell, but I've already signed up for another European host that currently isn't affiliated with Highwinds. There isn't many left.

Really I think I left them the other year just for that. But I personally think it matters not where you get stuff from, if its 1 or 3 days, its gone. If its not its more to do with the show or movie itself.

I used to look for xxx days, this means nothing nowadays really, unless its passworded and pretty safe, but now I just go for the cheapest at 120 Mbit and that does. The majority of stuff gets reposted.

I find myself downloading German releases TV and Movies and remuxing the audio to just English, as they seem to post a lot more.

[Dolfan-Neil]

But I personally think it matters not where you get stuff from, if its 1 or 3 days, its gone. If its not its more to do with the show or movie itself.

I used to look for xxx days, this means nothing nowadays really, unless its passworded and pretty safe, but now I just go for the cheapest at 120 Mbit and that does.

Sickbeard in my experience is extremely reliable, so as I have it set to check hourly, I tend to get TV shows within an hour of being indexed, so I don't usually have any issues.

Movies are another story. I prefer to download SD DVD images and Couch Potato hasn't exactly been the most reliable so I find that even with the automated searching hourly, I still occasionally have to manually download a movie and I only do that once every 24 hours, so it could be a day since the movie was indexed that I download it. Tweaknews (I used to buy 250GB blocks) used to be dependable for downloading that content, but I was afraid this Highwinds takeover would impact that, so I've jumped on a deal for a year of unlimited with another European provider that isn't owned by Highwinds.

Actually as a result of being on the unlimited provider and have a larger 320GB ISP cap (used to be 80GB), I have switched the TV shows to High Def instead of SD. Plex and my Chromecast used to upscale it so that the video looked good, but by doing the HD, I don't need to do the upscaling anymore and the audio is better.

[trickyrat]

Kinda wonder how much life is left in Usenet..?

You just aren't being 'tricky' enough, 'trickyrat'.

The amount of traffic on usenet (there are several traffic analysis sites out there) is larger than ever. You kinda have to 'pick your poison' on which hoops you're willing and able to jump through to get what you want.

Care to elaborate?

We have the NZB section here on FST, and a small number of other sites mentioned in this thread: http://filesharingtalk.com/threads/457620-usenet-crawler-down-any-similar-index-sites.

I'm prepared to "jump through a few hoops", but that's kinda difficult when you don't even now what they are... :)

Apart from the sites mentioned above, I've no idea how people get past the obfuscation and password protection that seems to be prevalent on a lot of content on usenet these days. Any help appreciated.

PM me if you don't want to give advice publically.

Cheers.

[Zoidbort]

I have always loved Astra but lately I am getting evenings where my download speed, regardless of the server, is going on 350kb/s vs the usual 6.6MB/s.
Anyone else?

[Beck38]

I have always loved Astra but lately I am getting evenings where my download speed, regardless of the server, is going on 350kb/s vs the usual 6.6MB/s.
Anyone else?

Going the Amsterdam will be slow 24/7 from your location (I'm right across the water from you). The San Jose server (US) is slow in anything other than during the day. BTW, the submarine bandwidth to Vancouver Island is a bit constricted, if the Canadian Government had pushed for allowing FLAG to build a trans-pacific landing station on the western shores of the island some 10+ years ago, it might have improved things quite a bit as they would have build a new multi-terabit cable from Vancouver B.C. to Victoria feed into it. But it was 'not to be'.

Try setting up your system to d/l in the early morning to afternoon and you'll get better speeds.



Care to elaborate?


There are about as many schemes as there are sands on the beach. Okay, maybe not THAT many, but there are tons,

And there are lots of postings that have virtually no 'hints' whatsoever as to who posted them, and how to figure out how to obtain the passwords (if they are passworded). They are simply 'private' groups that want to stay that way,

Otherwise, one has to glean whatever one can, from the file-name (maybe the group or poster has a 'hint' there?), or perhaps has used the rename function to hide the actual name, or some other wacky thing.

You just have to beat on it until it 'yields' the trick, IF it will at all (like I said, lots are simply locked up tight and there is no way to get it unless one gets some kind of way into the 'private club').

But there is a lot of material right out 'almost' in the open that one can get, either from one of the indexing sites or from trolling any of the major binary newsgroups. It's not like the 'old days'.

[Zoidbort]

Yeah usually in the evenings I use the Euro SSL servers and get great speeds.
During the day I use the US or generic SSL but once every few weeks it gets throttled back on all servers and if I leave it, it slowly climbs over time.
My speed test is right on point consistently to Van so something is wonky on their end.
Cheers

Great, now Astra just charged me $15US on the 2nd of Feb and on the 5th for the 2 month service.
They are having some issues...

[nitilism]

supernews - never had a problem

[khull]

+1 for newshosting. Quite reliable and I supplement with Astra

[demod8698]

Astraweb - only had a hand full of problems for years.

[knightmire]

Just switched from tweaknews to bucket. I'm have a great deal more luck with retention with bucket. They're priced about the same, similar plans anyways. :) Just my 0.02

[cubbyche]

What server would be better complementary (second server) with Astraweb ? To fill in the blanks when the pars can't do the job.

[Beck38]

Blocknews, without a doubt. Use only what you need, pay for only what you use. Doesn't expire, I have a block that I've been nibbling on for 6+ years. Supurb reliability.

[Hypatia]

Blocknews is highwinds now though. So one should keep that in mind.(fast DMCA etc)

Also, buying anything from Highwinds one contributes to the downfall of usenet.

Personally, I'd rather not download this or that release from usenet (in case it's broken) and get it from torrents instead than pay highwinds.

[Beck38]

"Put on the broken record"....

If you want a usenet firm that doesn't play 'by the rules', then I suggest putting your money into a server plant in orbit.

Anyone who posts something that is taken down at this moment in time, YEARS after the handwriting was on the wall, deserves to be taken down.

Posting over the past 10+ years (well over 100TB), still batting 1000 as in ZERO take-downs. If what you want is being targeted, then the folks posting it need to....

Their fault, no one else.

[Hypatia]

You conveniently ignored the main problem with buying anything from highwinds and the great danger to usenet industry and to the future of usenet itself this corporation presents .

fast dmca is just annoyance, nothing more.

[Beck38]

So, you're afraid of free enterprise? Socialist/Communist? All industries go through some sort of consolidation, are you saying that the highwinds folks are squashing free speech, or that they are willy nilly deleting postings (or allowing others to do so) without so much as a by your leave? Articles that having nothing whatsoever to do with DMCA retractions and are completely available on other servers (say Astra/Giga)?

Now if the 'combined' operation of all these smaller companies mashed together into one (under the tentacles of big bad highwinds) takes say, a superbly run operation like Blocknews and turns it into something worse than UNS, then you might have a point. I've yet to see that at all, and I'm sure that if we do, we'll know about it pretty quickly.

[Gribley]

Blocknews, without a doubt. Use only what you need, pay for only what you use. Doesn't expire, I have a block that I've been nibbling on for 6+ years. Supurb reliability.

I have the same kind of setup with Astraweb primary $96 a year and Tweaknews (same backend provider now I guess as many others). Tweaknews works well for me (0 day when needed)

100/1000+ stuff I find I don`t need fill server anyway

Apart from some very 'iffy short periods then Astraweb hasn`t really let me down

[Burton]

Newsgroup direct (newsgroupdirect.com) works for me. Don't need too much space so usually 2Tb blocks get my job done. I paid like $70 for them and have been very satisfied with the results.

[hdjunky]

You conveniently ignored the main problem with buying anything from highwinds and the great danger to usenet industry and to the future of usenet itself this corporation presents .

fast dmca is just annoyance, nothing more.

I think the time to worry about that was several years ago, you know, like before they started buying everyone. Now it seems they will just buy anyone they need to or buy anyone who is willing to sell that is. So you go to torrents instead? Wow ya that will help Usenet. By the way highwinds isn't the fastest anymore so I think the others take that crown although not that it affected anyone anyways with the automated stuff.


Newsgroup direct (newsgroupdirect.com) works for me. Don't need too much space so usually 2Tb blocks get my job done. I paid like $70 for them and have been very satisfied with the results.

Newsgroup direct sucks man. They cancel people on "unlimited". Support better business practices.

[meatball]

So, you're afraid of free enterprise? Socialist/Communist? All industries go through some sort of consolidation, are you saying that the highwinds folks are squashing free speech, or that they are willy nilly deleting postings (or allowing others to do so) without so much as a by your leave? Articles that having nothing whatsoever to do with DMCA retractions and are completely available on other servers (say Astra/Giga)?

Now if the 'combined' operation of all these smaller companies mashed together into one (under the tentacles of big bad highwinds) takes say, a superbly run operation like Blocknews and turns it into something worse than UNS, then you might have a point. I've yet to see that at all, and I'm sure that if we do, we'll know about it pretty quickly.


Lol epic post. 'Socialism' had me in tears.
Unfortunately this is a good example of why uns is murdering Usenet.
Fyi- blocknews is highwinds

[meatball]

You conveniently ignored the main problem with buying anything from highwinds and the great danger to usenet industry and to the future of usenet itself this corporation presents .



fast dmca is just annoyance, nothing more.


This.
Fast takedowns isn't the issue as we can still vote with our wallets (not much longer at this pace). The issue is monopolization in any vertical, will leave the consumer f*ed every time.

[Beck38]

Nothing is stopping anyone with a fair (and not as big is in years past with the current cost of drive/cloud/hosting space at current rock-bottom levels) pile of cash getting into the business. And I don't see them trying to buy out either Astraweb or Giganews any time soon (both of those being the current low-ball and high-ball price leaders).

Certain not as 'bad' a situation as US Broadband/HSI, as far as companies buying each other at a rapid pace.

[Dolfan-Neil]

I moved away from Tweaknews after they were bought out by Highwinds and haven't used them since. I know there was a notice about some downtime and I am assuming that was when they made the actual backend change.

How is their DMCA takedown time now? Are they just a typical Highwinds with those speedy takedowns?

[shaina]

You conveniently ignored the main problem with buying anything from highwinds and the great danger to usenet industry and to the future of usenet itself this corporation presents .

fast dmca is just annoyance, nothing more.

I can't understand why you are still complaining ??
What is being done here is not all above board , I am trying to figure out what you are trying to accomplish??
Who cares Highwinds or anyone else , Usenet will never die , it is a communication highway. And what we do is a fart in a windstorm in revenues compared to the big corporate companies that do use there servers for legit information and file storage . For them to say we are offering you 6 years of storage for usenet. Those servers could have files from corporate companies from 15 years or more . Who cares !! I think the big problem is the interpretation of a DCMA or takedown. If Giganews or Astraweb , which are very popular providers are told to remove the access , they have no choice but to do that. And are they wrong ? Not a chance !! , and I am pissed about it too. But to use the words takedown is not what you think. The files are still there you just cant get access because the NZB becomes blocked for that provider. Now offshore laws (not as strict )are not the same as north America when it comes to usenet . And I have proven this for myself .
Example... The other day I was trying to download GET SMART tv series , now it was back about 4 years , so first I tried Giganews which is supposed to be the Mercedes of Usenet , I clicked on the nzb and all I got was air. Now was it DMCA or corrupt ?? If that is your only provider , that would have to be your assumption. Now I deleted the folder it made , and did a cleanup on Altbinz. Then I changed my Usenet to my offshore account , clicked on the same nzb , and holy shit its a miracle it was downloading the files. They were not Corrupt and they was not a DMCA or a takedown on the offshore account. The bottom line is Do your do diligence and search around and read the feedback on other Usenet providers. Highwinds or anybody else doesn't care what we do , they will make less money if you leave but they are not going broke. And complaining about these big companies is not going to solve your problem. You have to do it yourself.


So, you're afraid of free enterprise? Socialist/Communist? All industries go through some sort of consolidation, are you saying that the highwinds folks are squashing free speech, or that they are willy nilly deleting postings (or allowing others to do so) without so much as a by your leave? Articles that having nothing whatsoever to do with DMCA retractions and are completely available on other servers (say Astra/Giga)?

Now if the 'combined' operation of all these smaller companies mashed together into one (under the tentacles of big bad highwinds) takes say, a superbly run operation like Blocknews and turns it into something worse than UNS, then you might have a point. I've yet to see that at all, and I'm sure that if we do, we'll know about it pretty quickly.

Fuck your good!!
Not only do you give great information , and suggestions. You really make it entertaining da boot
Keep up the great work Beck
Your Admire
Shay

[cardboardbox]

I moved away from Tweaknews after they were bought out by Highwinds and haven't used them since. I know there was a notice about some downtime and I am assuming that was when they made the actual backend change.

How is their DMCA takedown time now? Are they just a typical Highwinds with those speedy takedowns?
I have no other highwinds account to compare to but so far its working fine. 95% of what I get has been posted in the past 3 days or less and those are pretty much 100% available on Tweak. I also have a Usenetbucket account and maybe half of what I grab is gone from there already.

[duyduc]

what is the best payserver for ziggo

[MokomanMan]

Usenet.net for me 2357 days of retention, with 30 connections, and no speed cap. If you go through usenetreviewz, they charge you only 9.99 for lifetime fee. For vpn I go with IPVanish. Ipvanish is a wicked fast VPN and they mask your usenet, internet and BT traffic online. They don't keep any logs, or share your info with 3rd parties. With this setup I find all my media needs are more than met. Pretty happy with both services. I also download through fileshare sites via Real-Debrid, IPVanish hides that traffic as well.

[sajin]

I had Giganews for years, but once credit card expired, I decided to look into other alternatives. Not because of downloading issues, but price. Some reading lead me to believe Supernews is basically the same thing, without the fancy stuff bundled with the Giganews options. I signed up last week. It's going pretty good for me so far.

[sleeeves]

I've had good success with Astraweb. Thanks for the tip to look through usenetreviewz for good deals with other providers.

[vettmann]

Thanks, some good info here

[liveon2legs]

Newshosting but remember to use ports 443 not 563

[Brass]

I use Newsleechers all in one package.

[dgrad04]

I use usenet server and its works great $99 a year

[stangvert]

I have been using usenetserver for over 5 years. Fast, but take downs are pretty fast lately. I am trying tweak to fill.

[userb]

was using newshosting but just switched to usenet farm

[thulli14]

I use SuperNews and it has been working great for me. I do wish I had a few more connections. I have 30 right now.

[turbo111]

I switched to usenetserver a few months ago due to incomplete issue with astraweb. If you want to post binary uploads with usenetserver, you have to ask for permission after a day or 2.

[jak64950]

Usenetserver yearly plan is pretty good. It's about $8/month with free VPN. I've had it a few months and downloaded ~6TB no problems.