HBO's Game of Thrones

[SoCalCoug]

does that mean book 2? I thought game of thrones was 10 episodes for the entire book.

Yes, that means book 2.

[Maximus]

Anyone know of a good way tto watch online? torrents are now blocked on the network I am using.

[DapperDan]

Anyone know of a good way tto watch online? torrents are now blocked on the network I am using.

If you have HBO, you can use their service http://www.hbogo.com/?camp=GoG585#home/

Another trick is to search google for an episode and use scene numbering. For instance to search for the 3rd episode of the 1st season of a show, you'd search for "show name s01e03". You can normally find somewhere that will have it available via direct download links. Sometimes links will be in comments. Hopefully it will be a single file, but sometimes you'll have to grab multiple files.

Otherwise you could pony up for a newsgroup account.

[Maximus]

If you have HBO, you can use their service http://www.hbogo.com/?camp=GoG585#home/

Another trick is to search google for an episode and use scene numbering. For instance to search for the 3rd episode of the 1st season of a show, you'd search for "show name s01e03". You can normally find somewhere that will have it available via direct download links. Sometimes links will be in comments. Hopefully it will be a single file, but sometimes you'll have to grab multiple files.

Otherwise you could pony up for a newsgroup account.

newsgroup account? What/where?

[DapperDan]

newsgroup account? What/where?

Newsgroups, aka Usenet, is the old school way to get things. It's the source of many things that you'll find on torrent sites. Access used to come standard with internet access, but these days you have to pay for an account. A good unlimited account will run $8-$12/mo, but there are other options too like buying XX GBs worth of download "credits" that don't expire monthly.

The upside is you get to use cool programs like Sick Beard and SABnzbd to build an almost completely automated system with a little more anonymity than BT and no need to upload.

[falafel]

Newsgroups, aka Usenet, is the old school way to get things. It's the source of many things that you'll find on torrent sites. Access used to come standard with internet access, but these days you have to pay for an account. A good unlimited account will run $8-$12/mo, but there are other options too like buying XX GBs worth of download "credits" that don't expire monthly.

The upside is you get to use cool programs like Sick Beard and SABnzbd to build an almost completely automated system with a little more anonymity than BT and no need to upload.

DD, what has been your experience using usenet? I've tried it as a BT replacement, but I feel like I can't find anything on that there. The search function seems completely inefficient. The place seems like a dinosaur (probably because it is). I remember trying to find episodes of a certain TV show that had recently concluded its final season within the last few months, but I couldn't find a single one! And this was a very very popular show. All the seasons were readily available on BT. I felt like I wasted my $9.99.

[DapperDan]

DD, what has been your experience using usenet? I've tried it as a BT replacement, but I feel like I can't find anything on that there. The search function seems completely inefficient. The place seems like a dinosaur (probably because it is). I remember trying to find episodes of a certain TV show that had recently concluded its final season within the last few months, but I couldn't find a single one! And this was a very very popular show. All the seasons were readily available on BT. I felt like I wasted my $9.99.

Short version: I absolutely love it.

Long version: The place is a dinosaur, but there are modern methods that make it on par with BT for user friendliness and better.

The key feature is nzb files. They are the newsgroup equivalent of torrent files. To that end, a good nzb indexing site is important. They index the newsgroups almost like a torrent site.

Here's a basic primer on newsgroups and nzb files: http://lifehacker.com/#!5601586/how-...e-simple-steps

Now a step beyond that is setting up Sick Beard & SABnzbd+ (& CouchPotato for movies). All of those programs are web apps/sites that run on your computer and you access via a web browser. They'll run on Windows, Linux, OSX and some NAS devices. SABnzbd+ is what actually downloads files from the newsgroups. Sick Beard is like a PVR that searches the newsgroups for shows and then sends them to SABnzbd+ to download them.

For instance, for Game of Thrones I set it up in Sick Beard about two months ago. I haven't lifted a finger since then and for the last three weeks I've gotten a local copy on my hd every Sunday night by around 9pm-10pm MST.

That's not to say everything's perfect. It takes a bit of time and reading to set the programs up properly and Sick Beard is fairly new and has some bugs, but they are getting fewer and fewer (they even fixed one I found) with every version.

The other thing to keep in mind is the newsgroups are only as good as your provider and nzb indexer. If your provider doesn't have good retention or binary completion then it doesn't matter if your indexer has the nzb for what you want. And if your indexer sucks, you won't have an nzb file for something that your provider has. There are indexers that cost money, but it's like $10 for 10 years worth for a good one. So far I've gotten away with a combination of the free ones that Sick Beard supports for 99% of my needs and a few manual searches for harder to find shows.

As for availability, any currently airing show with any sort of audience you are likely to be able to get reliably. The more popular the show the more likely you can find past seasons. I've only had trouble finding HD versions of some older shows, foreign TV and obscure shows and I couldn't find some of them on public torrent sites either.

For manual searches I use www.binsearch.info there are probably other sites that are as good or better, but I've found most everything that Sick Beard couldn't find there. For instance, Sick Beard couldn't find the Danish original of The Killing or an old BBC movie series called Prime Suspect. I found both of them via binsearch. Sick Beard had problems finding them because they weren't uploaded with any scene naming scheme and The Killing was easier found with it's Danish name, Forbrydelsen.

If anyone's interested in going this route I can put together a post with links to setup guides for the various programs, a deeper look at how they work (practical, not technical), more specific pointers and try to answer people's questions (although I'm no expert).

[falafel]

Short version: I absolutely love it.

Long version: The place is a dinosaur, but there are modern methods that make it on par with BT for user friendliness and better.

The key feature is nzb files. They are the newsgroup equivalent of torrent files. To that end, a good nzb indexing site is important. They index the newsgroups almost like a torrent site.

Here's a basic primer on newsgroups and nzb files: http://lifehacker.com/#!5601586/how-...e-simple-steps

Now a step beyond that is setting up Sick Beard & SABnzbd+ (& CouchPotato for movies). All of those programs are web apps/sites that run on your computer and you access via a web browser. They'll run on Windows, Linux, OSX and some NAS devices. SABnzbd+ is what actually downloads files from the newsgroups. Sick Beard is like a PVR that searches the newsgroups for shows and then sends them to SABnzbd+ to download them.

For instance, for Game of Thrones I set it up in Sick Beard about two months ago. I haven't lifted a finger since then and for the last three weeks I've gotten a local copy on my hd every Sunday night by around 9pm-10pm MST.

That's not to say everything's perfect. It takes a bit of time and reading to set the programs up properly and Sick Beard is fairly new and has some bugs, but they are getting fewer and fewer (they even fixed one I found) with every version.

The other thing to keep in mind is the newsgroups are only as good as your provider and nzb indexer. If your provider doesn't have good retention or binary completion then it doesn't matter if your indexer has the nzb for what you want. And if your indexer sucks, you won't have an nzb file for something that your provider has. There are indexers that cost money, but it's like $10 for 10 years worth for a good one. So far I've gotten away with a combination of the free ones that Sick Beard supports for 99% of my needs and a few manual searches for harder to find shows.

As for availability, any currently airing show with any sort of audience you are likely to be able to get reliably. The more popular the show the more likely you can find past seasons. I've only had trouble finding HD versions of some older shows, foreign TV and obscure shows and I couldn't find some of them on public torrent sites either.

For manual searches I use www.binsearch.info there are probably other sites that are as good or better, but I've found most everything that Sick Beard couldn't find there. For instance, Sick Beard couldn't find the Danish original of The Killing or an old BBC movie series called Prime Suspect. I found both of them via binsearch. Sick Beard had problems finding them because they weren't uploaded with any scene naming scheme and The Killing was easier found with it's Danish name, Forbrydelsen.

If anyone's interested in going this route I can put together a post with links to setup guides for the various programs, a deeper look at how they work (practical, not technical), more specific pointers and try to answer people's questions (although I'm no expert).

Thanks for all the info. I'm interested in giving it another try.

What provider do you use? I can't remember the name of the last one I chose, but it had pretty good retention and was cheap - $9.99 a month. I think they've since doubled retention. I want to say it was SuperNews, but I'm not sure.

[DapperDan]

Thanks for all the info. I'm interested in giving it another try.

What provider do you use? I can't remember the name of the last one I chose, but it had pretty good retention and was cheap - $9.99 a month. I think they've since doubled retention. I want to say it was SuperNews, but I'm not sure.

I'll throw something together tonight and post it in a new thread. Currently I'm using SuperNews, but I'm considering switching to a cheaper provider.

[oxcoug]

I'm all in on this thing.

There are at least 3 characters I'm totally buying (not least being the unusual dignified, charismatic and capable midget character). A lot less D & D than I was expecting after the first 10 minutes of the first episode.

[oxcoug]

Here's my one, uneasy conclusion:

HBO has done a measurably better job of this production than Peter Jackson did w/ LOTR.

I'd like HBO to redo the LOTR.

That's all.

[oxcoug]

Did.

Not.

See.

That.

Coming.

[SoCalCoug]

Did.

Not.

See.

That.

Coming.

Haven't read the books, huh?

[Borderline Divine]

Right to the end I didn't believe Ned Stark would "leave the show" so to speak. And I'm liking the dwarf better all the time. Stark's youngest daughter has a special role yet to play, I predict.

[UteStar]

Thumbs up to this series. It was absolutely terrific this season. I didn't get into it until the 8th episode (thanks to comcast for On Demand) and it was marvelous. Terrific acting, great plot and dialogue. Some brutal and shocking things and this show does not pull punches. If you have OnDemand, check it out, its worth it.