Using Newsgroups to obtain movies

[tstretch]

I highly recommend using newsgroups (usenet) to obtain excellent videos. I have been using Forte' Agent newsreader for about 3 years and have had success downloading episodes of "Family Guy" And some Music videos then transferring them to my nx70 and watching them at work.

You may download a trial version of "Agent" from www.forteinc.com and hopefully your ISP will provide a free newsgroup service (I think this is generally the case). Two other programs I would recommend are "smartpar" with is available as freeware (just do a net search) as well as "winrar" which is an unzipping tool popular in newsgroup posting.

I will not get into how to use Newsgroups as it is quite complicated, my advice is to play around with it a bit and there is much info on the Web on usage (try search on "usenet f.a.q.")
Most of the movies are in newsgroups with the word "binaries" in their title, Binaries are simply newsgroups that allow the posting of larger files (.mp3, .mpg, .avi). and appear as "alt.binaries.familyguy.multimedia"

Any questions about this please post to thread, happy to assist. :cool:

[GeekGod]

Most ISP local news servers are usually pretty lame. Low capacity and very poor retension so you end up missing files. Then you have to waste time & bandwidth begging for reposts.

Anyone serious about getting involved in usenet should subscribe to a premium news service. Prices vary depending on service, but there are services available for well under $10/month. The better ones can run quite a bit more, but give access to loads of servers and massive bandwidth.

It all depends on what you are looking for. If you just want MP3s and pictures, then your ISP server may be adequate. If you want stuff like TV episodes and compressed movies, then a better news service will save you a LOT of time and greif. If you want VOBs and ISOs then you will need a premium service.

If you do subscribe to a service that offers multiple servers, then NewsRover is a better package than Agent. A bit tricky to set up, but much more powerful and really fast once you get the hang of it.

Just a few tips from a long time usenet geek.

[Edlin]

Newsgroups are good, but p2p programs like kazaa lite are mucher easier to use, and can search for want you want.

ps: for a good news group reader, gravity news reader is now free.

[xen]

Just got my nx73 in Japan, not sure about converting though... isn't the format conversion very limited for the sony software? I have lots of stuff in divx and xvid, but I'm not sure if I can use it on the clie yet since I recall it was only like mpegs and one other file format that were convertable by sony software.

[tstretch]

As you will find mentioned in some of the other video forums about the best and easiest format to convert is quicktime (.mov)
reason being is sony's movie player format is the same as quicktime they have only changed the extension to .MQV.

A little experiment to try is to first make sure you have quicktime installed on your computer (it comes with your clie' install software). Then turn on your clie and use movie recorder to make a short movie make sure you are saving to the memory stick, when you are done recording put your clie in the cradle and connect to your computer using ms import or data import. Using Windows Explorer or My Computer on your desktop find your memory stick which should now show up as a drive, open this drive on your computer and follow the following file path:

MQ_ROOT / 100MQV01 / you should see a file in here called something like "MOV0001.MQV" this is your movie file. Simply drag and drop this file onto your desktop then right click on it and rename it something like 123.mov and the icon for it should change into a quicktime movie icon. now just double click 123.mov and it should play on your desktop as a quicktime file.

:cool:

[tstretch]

I agree with you about kazaa lite I've used it and definately find it more user friendly but lately with this RIAA scare in the States I've found just like when they busted Napster the amount of users in p2p has dropped dramatically, and in contrast Newsgroup posting to be at it's highest ever.

I guess my advocacy of Newsgroups is based upon the following:

1. A more stable download environment especially large files(someone doesn't go offline when you get to 190mb of a 200mb file)

2. yenc encoding - I am not sure how this works but sure makes multimedia files (mp3, mpg, avi) smaller and quicker to download.

3. validity of file - as newsgroups are a community similar to cliesoure forums if someone posts an erroneous file they are barred from the group.

4. files usually remain in the group for 3-4 days and are generally fragmented into smaller parts so for larger files you can download part of it one day and return for the rest the next day :)

[xen]

No wonder it encoded a mov file so quickly. ^^

Still leaves me with trouble when it comes to divx/xvid files. Anyone have any suggestions? Regardless of what you use to download (my personal favourite is BitTorrent) movies are rarely in mov/mpeg1 format so getting it on the clie is difficult.

[Squirrel702]

I appreciate everyone's postings. I was going to start a new thread today (after I searched, of course) but already, I have the info to begin my foray into nowsgroup 'binaries'. Thanks guys.

[Matt_Helm]

The best free News reader out there for downloading stuff is Grabit http://www.shemes.com/ It will allow you to download multiple threads at one time. I always pull down 4 files at once maxing out my cable modem at about 350KB/s. SOOOO that means that I can grab something like a full movie VERY QUICKLY. If your wondering if my cable provider has a KICKBUTT news server.... it doesn't =) I pay for a premium news service from www.usenet.com. $160 per year and I can download 12gb per day across 18 news servers. The fact that it's incredibly fast and I have a 12gig daily limit is well worth the $160 IHMO.


helm

[tstretch]

I Tried "Grabit" works very well especially considering its freeware

[]{night[]wl]

I know i must sound like a broken record but I still beleave IRC is the best option, Here's why
1 Quantity: hundreds of files availible
2 Friendly: If you have a problem chances are someone is around to help you
3 Realtime: unlike a news group, FTP, or P2P system IRC is a real time enviroment, not only do we share the videos we have but we chat and help each other out. We have a core of regulers in the channel now and although there aren't to many people there we do have fun and have a good amount to offer
Maybe i'm biast about IRC haveing used it for over 6 years now but i have tried other meens of file shareing and haven't found anything that offers as much for the user as IRC duz

[Matt_Helm]

I'd camp in your channel 24/7 if it was on a Efnet server =)

[]{night[]wl]

i would use EF net if it was secure. but no services script kiddys galore and the fact that it's so well know for such things.
Nope channel will never be on EF i'll goto dalnut befor that

[Matt_Helm]

The efnet is as secure as your botnet ;) It is a "do it yourself" kind of thing =P

Don't blame you a bit! Come check out #oldwarez sometime =)

helm

[]{night[]wl]

not likely to happen seeing i wount go withing 10ns of EF