How does everyone automate media downloading

[JimPhreak]

I've never used utilities such as SickBeard and Couch Potato to automate my media gathering/organizing process.  I'd really love know how one uses these programs to automate the process but more specifically how you maintain quality control.  If these programs automatically search for, download and rename a particular "program" for example, can you specify what uploaders/distributors you want to limit the process to?  Like when I'm in search of a new episode of a "program" I know there are only a handful of uploaders I trust to provide the best quality.  And even then in some instances a PROPER version is released soon after if the first version had errors such as audio being out of sync, etc.

 

I've always done this manually which allows me to ensure I've got the right content and quality.  But that process is becoming quite time consuming so I'd love to automate it.

 

If you feel more comfortable speaking over PM please feel free to send me a message.  I'd greatly appreciate the info.

[bkastner]

I have a lot of the same concerns as you, but mostly when relating to movies. I used to do everything manually, and then switched to SickBeard/SAB for my TV shows. Movies I still do manually to ensure quality control.

 

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

For TV though, since you could have 10-15 different shows a day, SickBeard is awesome. It's nice to not have to manage that. Same with new shows.... If I see a commercial for something I want, or someone mentions it, it's nice to just add to SickBeard and let it download all the missed episodes, or be primed and ready for the new show when it starts.

 

Just taking the TV management out of the picture makes life a ton easier.

[JimPhreak]

I have a lot of the same concerns as you, but mostly when relating to movies. I used to do everything manually, and then switched to SickBeard/SAB for my TV shows. Movies I still do manually to ensure quality control.

 

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

For TV though, since you could have 10-15 different shows a day, SickBeard is awesome. It's nice to not have to manage that. Same with new shows.... If I see a commercial for something I want, or someone mentions it, it's nice to just add to SickBeard and let it download all the missed episodes, or be primed and ready for the new show when it starts.

 

Just taking the TV management out of the picture makes life a ton easier.

 

SickBeard only works with usenet right?  I've never used usenet so I wouldn't even know where to start let alone have the desire to pay for it.  I already have a VPN for torrenting.

[bkastner]

I have a lot of the same concerns as you, but mostly when relating to movies. I used to do everything manually, and then switched to SickBeard/SAB for my TV shows. Movies I still do manually to ensure quality control.

 

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

For TV though, since you could have 10-15 different shows a day, SickBeard is awesome. It's nice to not have to manage that. Same with new shows.... If I see a commercial for something I want, or someone mentions it, it's nice to just add to SickBeard and let it download all the missed episodes, or be primed and ready for the new show when it starts.

 

Just taking the TV management out of the picture makes life a ton easier.

 

SickBeard only works with usenet right?  I've never used usenet so I wouldn't even know where to start let alone have the desire to pay for it.  I already have a VPN for torrenting.

 

I believe there is SickRage that works with Torrents, but I am not 100%. I only use them in an emergency (i.e. I can't find what I want on usenet). If torrents are what you use, then I may not be the best help. 

[skyhawk]

I have a lot of the same concerns as you, but mostly when relating to movies. I used to do everything manually, and then switched to SickBeard/SAB for my TV shows. Movies I still do manually to ensure quality control.

 

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

For TV though, since you could have 10-15 different shows a day, SickBeard is awesome. It's nice to not have to manage that. Same with new shows.... If I see a commercial for something I want, or someone mentions it, it's nice to just add to SickBeard and let it download all the missed episodes, or be primed and ready for the new show when it starts.

 

Just taking the TV management out of the picture makes life a ton easier.

 

SickBeard only works with usenet right?  I've never used usenet so I wouldn't even know where to start let alone have the desire to pay for it.  I already have a VPN for torrenting.

SB works for both usenet and torrents.

 

Usenet is MUCH better. Also, Sonarr is much better than SB (in my opinion) and also available as a docker. Sonarr will re-download failed files, it renames, it does everything SB does, but it works better and is more user friendly (for the wife). It also has better quality controls (set your quality and preference from top to bottom). I hated SB in that I would set "the bachelorette" for the wife at standard def, but the only releases coming were high def and it would skip it. Now I just set the preference and it grabs whatever it can in the order that I set. So, more wifey proof. Less maintenance.

 

Ive never had an issue with Couchpotato. Its not perfect, but 95% of my movies are downloaded perfectly, in english, at the quality that I would expect (usually 720 is the most popular and most available).  Plus, it gives me a dashboard with new movies coming out and I can just grab whatever looks interesting. Part of the issue with cutting the cable cord is that I dont see commercials, so I never really know whats coming out that looks good.

 

Vpns are great and everything, but usenet does away with the need for one. 100% encrypted traffic. No uploads what-so-ever and I dont think ANYONE has ever gotten a letter from a studio for using it. I think I pay about $10 a month (2 index sites for $10 lifetime licenses [nmatrix.co and dognzbd]; $5ish a month for my astraweb download subscription; $20 once or twice a year for 2 bulk backup servers). Its set-and-forget and it just works.

 

Lifehacker has a few great articles that will get you up and going.

[JimPhreak]

I have a lot of the same concerns as you, but mostly when relating to movies. I used to do everything manually, and then switched to SickBeard/SAB for my TV shows. Movies I still do manually to ensure quality control.

 

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

For TV though, since you could have 10-15 different shows a day, SickBeard is awesome. It's nice to not have to manage that. Same with new shows.... If I see a commercial for something I want, or someone mentions it, it's nice to just add to SickBeard and let it download all the missed episodes, or be primed and ready for the new show when it starts.

 

Just taking the TV management out of the picture makes life a ton easier.

 

SickBeard only works with usenet right?  I've never used usenet so I wouldn't even know where to start let alone have the desire to pay for it.  I already have a VPN for torrenting.

SB works for both usenet and torrents.

 

Usenet is MUCH better. Also, Sonarr is much better than SB (in my opinion) and also available as a docker. Sonarr will re-download failed files, it renames, it does everything SB does, but it works better and is more user friendly (for the wife). It also has better quality controls (set your quality and preference from top to bottom). I hated SB in that I would set "the bachelorette" for the wife at standard def, but the only releases coming were high def and it would skip it. Now I just set the preference and it grabs whatever it can in the order that I set. So, more wifey proof. Less maintenance.

 

Ive never had an issue with Couchpotato. Its not perfect, but 95% of my movies are downloaded perfectly, in english, at the quality that I would expect (usually 720 is the most popular and most available).  Plus, it gives me a dashboard with new movies coming out and I can just grab whatever looks interesting. Part of the issue with cutting the cable cord is that I dont see commercials, so I never really know whats coming out that looks good.

 

Vpns are great and everything, but usenet does away with the need for one. 100% encrypted traffic. No uploads what-so-ever and I dont think ANYONE has ever gotten a letter from a studio for using it. I think I pay about $10 a month (2 index sites for $10 lifetime licenses [nmatrix.co and dognzbd]; $5ish a month for my astraweb download subscription; $20 once or twice a year for 2 bulk backup servers). Its set-and-forget and it just works.

 

Lifehacker has a few great articles that will get you up and going.

 

Thanks for the reply.  I've heard a lot of good things about Sonarr so I'll definitely check that out.  I think I just need to figure out which usenet groups I can join since it seems a lot of the good ones have closed registrations and then I can start figuring out the whole process.

[binhex]

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

moviegrabber is of course awesome :-), i did build a separate python script that i will at some point (when docker support calms down) start grafting into moviegrabber, what it does is automatically strips out unwanted audio and subtitles from matrosko containers, ive run it for some time now and it works really well, thought it might be of interest to you bkastner, i did post about it on the forum, its called videoslimmer https://github.com/binhex/videoslimmer

 

you might think this is going to take a long time to work its way through a large collection of movies, well not really, i have over 1000 movies and first pass took probably 5-6 hours, subsequent passes are extremely fast, taking typically 5-10 mins max to scan the entire library, im rather pleased it with it and its def going in moviegrabber to further my end game, which is a totally automated movie collection application, that picks up movies using people power :-) (aka imdb ratings).

 

 

[JimPhreak]

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

moviegrabber is of course awesome :-), i did build a separate python script that i will at some point (when docker support calms down) start grafting into moviegrabber, what it does is automatically strips out unwanted audio and subtitles from matrosko containers, ive run it for some time now and it works really well, thought it might be of interest to you bkastner, i did post about it on the forum, its called videoslimmer https://github.com/binhex/videoslimmer

 

you might think this is going to take a long time to work its way through a large collection of movies, well not really, i have over 1000 movies and first pass took probably 5-6 hours, subsequent passes are extremely fast, taking typically 5-10 mins max to scan the entire library, im rather pleased it with it and its def going in moviegrabber to further my end game, which is a totally automated movie collection application, that picks up movies using people power :-) (aka imdb ratings).

 

This sounds awesome.  I look forward to testing that out once I get more familiar with usenet.

[ijuarez]

Binhex has a docker MovieGrabber that is supposed to give more control than CouchPotato does for exactly these situations, however I have not invested the time to figure it out. For me, movies will always be somewhat manual as I check each movie to ensure English is the default language, I strip the other languages and subtitles and I ensure only forced-subtitles are turned on by default. There is nothing (I know of at least) that will automate all of those, so manually pulling the movie down is just a small part of my overall process.

 

moviegrabber is of course awesome :-), i did build a separate python script that i will at some point (when docker support calms down) start grafting into moviegrabber, what it does is automatically strips out unwanted audio and subtitles from matrosko containers, ive run it for some time now and it works really well, thought it might be of interest to you bkastner, i did post about it on the forum, its called videoslimmer https://github.com/binhex/videoslimmer

 

you might think this is going to take a long time to work its way through a large collection of movies, well not really, i have over 1000 movies and first pass took probably 5-6 hours, subsequent passes are extremely fast, taking typically 5-10 mins max to scan the entire library, im rather pleased it with it and its def going in moviegrabber to further my end game, which is a totally automated movie collection application, that picks up movies using people power :-) (aka imdb ratings).

 

I like couch potato because it was much simpler and not as many functions as moviegrabber.  however im a reaching the 1000 mark movies and will be installing movie grabber and configuring it so it cleans my movies and makes more organized than CP.

Also bin-hex dockers are simple to configure and on point.

[jowi]

I'm not using couch potato, if i want a movie, i'll 'get' the complete, full bluray. There are (gated!) communities where the best usenet material is 'spotted'. Get invited.  I only use usenet, no torrents etc.

 

Fot tv series, i've adapted sickbeard so at first it will get web-dl's (usually the best quality) in 1080p or 720p, if not it will ook for ts files, if not it will look for x264. So first i look for the best quality, if i cant find it i'll take less etc If there is no HD material it will resort to dvd quality. I've added some extensive pre- and post scripting in python to sabnzbd as well, so the downloaded episode will get renamed properly using data from thetvdb( all i need is the series name and episode number, and thetvdb provides me with the right title for the episode etc), and placed in the correct (sub) folder/season folder on the unraid tvseries usershare. At one point it even crawled the web for subtitles so that was downloaded and renamed as well so it would form a perfect match. If sabnbzd is finished i get an email (on the ipad/iphone), in the email is a link to the episode + some info on the unraid nas, if i click that, my Dune player will start, and play the episode

 

So basically it is fully automated

[JimPhreak]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

[ijuarez]

you can still use your vpn software, just dial in and setup

[JimPhreak]

you can still use your vpn software, just dial in and setup

 

I meant my VPN service (AirVPN) not my private VPN network at home.

[binhex]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

 

You do realise unless your a tin foil hat type of person then SSL connection to your Usenet connection is generally accepted as secure enough remember Usenet is not p2p, if however you want the extra protection then something like sabnzbdvpn might be of interest to you, shameless plug there :-)

[JimPhreak]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

 

You do realise unless your a tin foil hat type of person then SSL connection to your Usenet connection is generally accepted as secure enough remember Usenet is not p2p, if however you want the extra protection then something like sabnzbdvpn might be of interest to you, shameless plug there :-)

 

SSL is enough for me, I'm just not familiar enough with how usenet works yet to understand that the only connection I'm making is from my server to the usernet server.  I wasn't sure if you needed to also secure your connection to the indexers.

[binhex]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

 

You do realise unless your a tin foil hat type of person then SSL connection to your Usenet connection is generally accepted as secure enough remember Usenet is not p2p, if however you want the extra protection then something like sabnzbdvpn might be of interest to you, shameless plug there :-)

 

SSL is enough for me, I'm just not familiar enough with how usenet works yet to understand that the only connection I'm making is from my server to the usernet server.  I wasn't sure if you needed to also secure your connection to the indexers.

 

The only reason you may want to VPN tunnel to your Usenet provider is if your ISP is throttling the traffic, that's really the only scenario. As a side note, a decent Usenet provider will not log uploads or downloads so no concern from that angle either.

 

[JimPhreak]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

 

You do realise unless your a tin foil hat type of person then SSL connection to your Usenet connection is generally accepted as secure enough remember Usenet is not p2p, if however you want the extra protection then something like sabnzbdvpn might be of interest to you, shameless plug there :-)

 

SSL is enough for me, I'm just not familiar enough with how usenet works yet to understand that the only connection I'm making is from my server to the usernet server.  I wasn't sure if you needed to also secure your connection to the indexers.

 

The only reason you may want to VPN tunnel to your Usenet provider is if your ISP is throttling the traffic, that's really the only scenario. As a side note, a decent Usenet provider will not log uploads or downloads so no concern from that angle either.

 

 

Thank you for that clarification, I appreciate the explanation.

 

Do you know of any good posts/threads regarding the configuration of specific dockers (Sonarr for example) for use with a usenet server?  For a noob with regard to usenet that is .

[Perforator]

Don't use AstraWeb. I used them for a while but they were having major problems with incomplete articles. I switched to newsleacher all in one service, you pay for the software and unlimited downloads for like 9 a month. Haven't had any problems with incompletes and they have good retention and the super search service.

[ijuarez]

you can still use your vpn software, just dial in and setup

 

I meant my VPN service (AirVPN) not my private VPN network at home.

 

1+ for airvpn, i use it.

[JimPhreak]

Don't use AstraWeb. I used them for a while but they were having major problems with incomplete articles. I switched to newsleacher all in one service, you pay for the software and unlimited downloads for like 9 a month. Haven't had any problems with incompletes and they have good retention and the super search service.

 

Oh really?  A few different people had pointed me to Astraweb.

[ijuarez]

Don't use AstraWeb. I used them for a while but they were having major problems with incomplete articles. I switched to newsleacher all in one service, you pay for the software and unlimited downloads for like 9 a month. Haven't had any problems with incompletes and they have good retention and the super search service.

 

I used astraweb for a backup, and News group direct for my main works really well.

 

 

[ijuarez]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

 

You do realise unless your a tin foil hat type of person then SSL connection to your Usenet connection is generally accepted as secure enough remember Usenet is not p2p, if however you want the extra protection then something like sabnzbdvpn might be of interest to you, shameless plug there :-)

 

SSL is enough for me, I'm just not familiar enough with how usenet works yet to understand that the only connection I'm making is from my server to the usernet server.  I wasn't sure if you needed to also secure your connection to the indexers.

 

The only reason you may want to VPN tunnel to your Usenet provider is if your ISP is throttling the traffic, that's really the only scenario. As a side note, a decent Usenet provider will not log uploads or downloads so no concern from that angle either.

 

Binhex is correct that ssl good enough, however my isp can still see that i am making a secure connection to a usenet and have multiple connections and can see that is large data being transferred. So it does not take a IT genius to know what i am up to.

 

VPN gives me the leverage that out of the gate i am in a tunnel. and I they can see is i connected to server farm and that is all.

 

 

BIN in lay man's terms what does sabvpn and deluge vpn do for me.

I understand the concept but i dont understand the implementation.

[Squid]

I used astraweb for a backup, and News group direct for my main works really well.

The thing you have to remember about usenet servers is that there are actually very few in the world.  The vast majority of suppliers are actually resellers.  So, for your primary and your secondary (backup) you want to make sure that they are not both resellers from the same server, otherwise any issues will affect them both equally.  This graphic should prove useful.

 

[sparklyballs]

For those of you using usenet (looks like pretty much everyone), how do you go about configuring your setup to be sure it's secure?  Since I'm a torrenter currently it's easy because I have a VPN client on the Windows client I download all my torrents on.  However with usenet it seems like there is much more configuration needed since I need to configure a Usenet service provider (I'm going to use Astraweb to test this out), a Usenet client (Not sure which one to go with here), and an indexer (or multiple).

 

Since I'm so new to this, can anyone explain to me how you configure all this to work together and to ensure that all communication is secure?  I've read through some articles on lifehacker that kind of get you started on what to setup but doesn't get into the details that I'd want to know before I go this route.

 

P.S.  I think I want to incorporate Sonarr as it looks pretty sweet.

 

You do realise unless your a tin foil hat type of person then SSL connection to your Usenet connection is generally accepted as secure enough remember Usenet is not p2p, if however you want the extra protection then something like sabnzbdvpn might be of interest to you, shameless plug there :-)

 

and i thought i was the only to do shameless plugging...

[Squid]

and i thought i was the only to do shameless plugging...

Have you looked at the OP in the template thread recently?  Got you beat....