[tanstaafl]

Whilst searching through google to see if there was an alternative source to Virgin Media for Lost (apart from Torrents), I came across this site called tvfreeload.com which promised free downloads of tv programs. Now my first cynical thoughts were either scam or guaranteed source of trojans, but a bit of googling provided no evidence of such. I still can't see how it earns its money, so can anyone explain what exactly is going on.

[Gel Boy]

I'm not sure either!??!

But most bad sites do look like good ones.

Not sure about this one.

It looks legit but it might not be.

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by Gel Boy

I'm not sure either!??!

But most bad sites do look like good ones.

Not sure about this one.

It looks legit but it might not be.

Exactly my thoughts!

[gargleroadside]

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

... I came across this site called tvfreeload.com which promised free downloads of tv programs.

... so can anyone explain what exactly is going on.

It's just newsgroups, that's all.

It says USENEXT which is just a news server. There are other better news server companies than that one.

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

Whilst searching through Google to see if there was an alternative source to Virgin Media for Lost (apart from Torrents)

Newsgroups in fact are a good and fast way to get the kinds of TV shows you're looking for. So if you don't know it, do get to know it.

Oh yeah, to hell with $ky.

[gee12]

Anyone know the best newsgroup site to use?

[gargleroadside]

Giganews is the king. Usenetserver is very good value at the moment.

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by gargleroadside

It's just newsgroups, that's all.

It says USENEXT which is just a news server. There are other better news server companies than that one.

Newsgroups in fact are a good and fast way to get the kinds of TV shows you're looking for. So if you don't know it, do get to know it.

Oh yeah, to hell with $ky.

I'm a little confused here. With my extremely limited knowledge, I thought that the World Wide Web and Usenet were two completely different things. Are you saying that tvfreeload is simply taking Usenet material and allowing it to be downloaded from their WWW site. If so, how do they make any money, or is it purely an altruistic service, in which case who is funding it?

[gargleroadside]

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

I'm a little confused here. With my extremely limited knowledge, I thought that the World Wide Web and Usenet were two completely different things.

They are but since it's the internet they sort of can be connected (eg. a website with an NZB which points to files on the newsgroups).

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

Are you saying that tvfreeload is simply taking Usenet material and allowing it to be downloaded from their WWW site.

No. Nothing is available to download directly from their website. If there is it's only going to be something like an NZB file or a link to where files can be obtained from the newsgroups. See here:

http://www.tvfreeload.com/index.php?...=105&Itemid=79

This information can easily be found elsewhere from other websites and is nothing special.

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

If so, how do they make any money, or is it purely an altruistic service, in which case who is funding it?

It costs money to access UseNeXt's news servers (or at least to access their fast servers). There is a free 14 day trial with limited speed/unlimited downloads or high speed and 3 gig). There is nothing wrong with charging as other news server companies do so too. Their prices are not the best though and can beaten by others offering better value.

eg. Usenetserver offer totally unlimited downloads (we're talking many, many gigs here) for 3 whole months for $39.95 (about £20.53, under £7 a month)

UseNeXt offer 3 months of just 50 gigs a month at $22.10 (about £11.35). This is poor value because with a fast connection it is very easy to get through 50 gigs a month. An unlimited downloads option would be better.

As for funding, perhaps tvdownload.com gets money from referrals from UseNeXt? I don't know really.

The whole lot is set up nicely for newbies, that's all. Once you know what's what with newsgroups you don't need their software or links to stuff. You just get it yourself and use what you want to download.

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by gargleroadside

<Lots of useful information>

Thanks for the info. I obviously need to sit down and digest all of this.

Originally Posted by gargleroadside

UseNeXt offer 3 months of just 50 gigs a month at $22.10 (about £11.35). This is poor value because with a fast connection it is very easy to get through 50 gigs a month. An unlimited downloads option would be better.

However the casual downloader may be able to get away with using the Usenet server their ISP provides.

I download about 60-70GiB/month via Usenet and have foregone the subscription route in favour of a hybrid approach.

I use the pretty good completion newszilla6.xs4all.nl server for most stuff. It's a completely free read-only server if you connect to it via IPv6. The only downside to it is that it only gives a max speed of ~150KiB/s, but it's free so i'm willing to wait a little longer for my downloads.

I also keep a PAYG account with Astraweb for those times when a group may not be available on the xs4all server or a file is missing some parts and can't be repaired.

I've found this method costs a minimum of money but gets me everything i want.