I use a seedbox to run qBittorrent with Jackett, and have a bunch of sources on there. I know there are other methods, but that works for me and I’m comfortable with it.

Rarbg has been gone for about five months and it’s harder and harder to find 4k TV rips. For current shows, sometimes you can get episodes as they air, but it’s rare to see full seasons.

The tipping point was when I searched for a Netflix show from two weeks ago just now, with zero 4K results.

I’ve always hated private trackers since they’re a pain in the ass, but is that the only option now? Do I need to look at a different method entirely? I’ve been torrenting since that existed, but if I need to do something else, let me know.

I don’t expect to get torrent sites in any responses, but you can do that if you have any 😂

62 points

I think it’s about audience. People who care about quality and bitrates and such usually have their couple of private trackers. People who just want to watch things regardless of quality just get whatever

permalink
report
reply
42 points

That’s what I’m asking. Until recently, one didn’t need to bother with private trackers unless they wanted, say, a 4K rip of Suspiria from 1977, or some other incredibly specific thing. Private trackers, at least to me, were more trouble than they were worth. Why should I deal with them at all when I can get everything I need without begging for an invite and then annoying myself?

As a result, I have never joined a private tracker, not ever.

But now? I’m not sure. Something does seem to have changed systemically.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

There are semi private trackers out there that you can get an invite fairly easy, as do open signups pretty often.

You don’t need to think about it too much, as most 4K content usually crosses the trigger for freeleech. That means you are fine as long as you don’t do a Hit ’n Run, which in itself is an asshole thing to do.

I have a fully automated system and don’t even bother checking where I am downloading from, or what my ratios are, all is taken care in the background.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Do you mind if I ask more details about your system?

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

What show are you looking for? I’ll check my trackers and see if I can get you an invite to somewhere that has it. Shoot me a DM.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

Oddly specific example, but 4K rips of Suspiria from 1977 indeed exist.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

That movie really holds up well, and I heard those rips are glorious

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points
*

Haha! It’s a real example. There was a Reddit thread in r/movies (which is a surprisingly good sub), and that came up. I ended up grabbing it. With more thought, it was a bad example, since I was able to get it on public trackers 😉

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

4k just might not be worth the data for people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

This is what it is for me. I’m blind in one eye and wear glasses because I’m near sighted with astigmatism in the other.

It’s really hard for me to tell the difference and most of my library is 1080 or 720 because it mostly looks the same to me. I don’t want to give up the extra storage Ford 4k files.

permalink
report
parent
reply
24 points
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I don’t usually torrent, but I just looked at recent eps from Usenet and it looks like the majority is 1080p max. 4k exist, but tend to be from streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, or AppleTV it seems.

I find NZBFinder to be a decent usenet indexer for free, so maybe take a look on there for the shows you’re wanting and see if they’re even out there. It could be they just aren’t available at all.

permalink
report
reply
7 points

Thanks! I used to use Usenet! It’s been quite some time. I think I used to get porn, back when you had to download your porn to watch it 😉

It could be they just aren’t available at all.

Scary thought. If nobody’s doing 4K rips of a brand new hit Netflix show, the scene is not working right now. I’m inclined to think it’s just gone private, but I really don’t know.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Could be completely wrong as I have no idea where i remember hearing this but for Netflix apparently there drm is different than others so there 4k rips are much less common. Again take with a grain of salt. But I also noticed a lack of 4k shows as well.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*

Netflix “4K” is often hit and miss. It doesn’t always stream at a high enough bitrate even if it’s labeled 4K. Basically it’s anybody’s guess what encoding you’re gonna get at any given moment. I imagine that makes ripping quality very random.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Compared to Amazon, where they rip right from the server lol

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Plenty of them on Stremio and with the Torrentio addon

permalink
report
reply
32 points

Private trackers (e.g. TorrentLeech) often have rules around large torrents (>15gb) or even around season packs for shows. This means it’s trivial to download 4K season packs, and all you have to do is seed them for the requisite number of days (to avoid being tagged with a hit and run), rather than try to maintain a ratio.

permalink
report
reply
4 points

I’m on private but don’t have a seedbox, so I’m 100% pay to play. I pony up $100 every couple of years and my ratios don’t matter. On a personal pride level I make sure my old favorites say seeding, esp now that they only have a couple of seeders, but for torrents with 30-100 seeds I’m not needed and my contribution with a 10Mb cable pip against Gb seedboxes is always nil.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I paid for a seed box for one month, around $25 and built enough ratio from that month to last me years.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

Usenet. Found so many things that I couldn’t find on public trackers once I got down the concept and was able to set up an arr server with sabnzbd. It does cost some money, but I feel it’s negligible for what you get.

permalink
report
reply
1 point
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Can I try that invite? I’ve been trying to get back on it lately

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’ll try it! Feel free to DM me.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I looked into usenet but i could never get over having to subscribe pay for it. Why bother when torrenting is free. I’m on a couple private trackers and use a few public, but I never pay for access for the trackers or pirated content. Ive donated before to private trackers, and I pay for my seedbox monthly but that’s for a service, it’s not a paywall for access. I also read there are download limits and having to find newsgroups that have the content you want. It all seems more work than its worth and you have to pay for the privilege to do that work for the same exact outcome. 🤷‍♂️

I think OP needs a decent private tracker that’s pretty easy to keep up with. My main private tracker has a rule, seed 3x or for 3 days to avoid hit an run on any torrent. You can also use earned coins from seeding to pay off hit and runs.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*

While ‘the paywall for access’ argument can be made for usenet indexers (which just index NZB files, not the releases themselves, with most still allowing up to 5 downloads a day via free membership tiers), in contrast to torrenting, usenet providers cache newsgroup binaries (the actual releases) on the servers of their respective usenet backbone. Because of that, releases that might run out of active seeders on public or even private torrent trackers after a few years are sometimes available for significantly longer on usenet.

Edit: While it’s not an excuse for the usenet indexers, rather the providers, usenet newsgroup binaries are downloaded directly from the servers of providers, and are thus not P2P like bittorrent is.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

I get what you’re saying, but personally speaking, that’s not enough of a benefit to start subscribing to a usenet provider and invest time hunting down newsgroups for content access. Its also not worth changing the bottom layer of my arr stack. Not to mention the time I’ve already invested into getting in the couple private trackers I’m in. I already don’t have any issues getting the content I want to watch. I honestly don’t see how its worth it for anyone. Like how often would one need to be searching for obscure content for it to be worth the monthly cost?

Edit, 5 downloads per day for a free membership is downright laughable to me. We’re pirates ffs. This is p2p sharing.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’d be fine with this. I have the seedbox for seeding. The problem is more about getting invites to a private tracker through some random method that I don’t know 😂

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Until I created a servarr stack, finding what I needed on Usenet never happened. Using Radarr with prowlarr and sabnzbd, now my missing files are down to maybe a dozen.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply

Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Create post
⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don’t request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don’t request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don’t submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others



Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):


💰 Please help cover server costs.

Ko-fi Liberapay

Community stats

  • 4.8K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.4K

    Posts

  • 87K

    Comments