![](/static/253f0d9b/assets/icons/icon-96x96.png)
![](https://lemmy.kya.moe/imgproxy?src=lemmy.dbzer0.com%2fpictrs/image/a18b0c69-23c9-4b2a-b8e0-3aca0172390d.png)
I’m looking to go into Usenet / premiumize / real Debrid but I don’t know which ones are reputable. Which ones have you all had luck with or liked? And what was the cost?
I’ve been using nzbgeek for a few months and have a friend that’s used it for a few years, no complaints and pretty cheap
+1 for nzbgeek.
I also use nzbplanet but they seem to have the same options as geek.
Nzb.su and DrunkenSlug are my “backup” but only because they don’t have a lifetime subscription.
In the Usenet subReddit wiki you can find an awesome list of providers and their backbone. Again, I’m cheap so I went with the cheapest one I could find… it’s rare but because I’m not using “the best” I’ll need to use torrents to get anything I can’t grab from Usenet.
As someone who already torrents with a VPN, is there any advantage to NZB?
Usenet is usually a lot faster, for most things you can basically max out your bandwidth (or whatever the max you set your download client to) instead of it being determined by the number and quality of seeders. Newer releases torrents also download very fast, but after a few months or years the seeders drop off a lot, usenet is always the same speed even if it’s super old and most keep stuff indefinitely or for 10-20 years or so (longer if it’s being grabbed a lot still)
Also one nzb site is usually enough, you don’t need to check a bunch of different torrent sites since it’s basically one massive one. I use prowlarr so I have it check nzbgeek for everything first and a bunch of torrent sites as backups in case it isn’t there, but almost everything gets grabbed from usenet
Hard to find scene releases are sometimes only available via usenet.
While the paid tier for NZBGeek is a good deal, I also use DrunkenSlug, Miatrix, and NZB Finder since they sometimes have releases that are missing on NZBGeek. Tabula Rasa isn’t bad either, although didn’t seem to have anything missing from the other ones I use when I tried it.
Are these all paid services you’re mentioning?
All of them have non-expiry free tiers (5 downloads a day each except Miatrix, which is two a day) except NZBGeek, which has a 3 day, 15 download trial. Of the recommended indexers with free tiers, DrunkenSlug and Tabula Rasa (as well as DogNZB and NinjaCentral) require invites to join. Each one has a premium tier that gives you more downloads for paying per month or per year, of which NZBGeek is among the cheaper options. Using usenet as a complement to what can be more easily found on public and private torrent trackers, I’ve found the free usenet indexer tiers to usually be enough. Another benefit of having accounts on multiple indexers is that as some releases may be indexed by one and not another, it can be helpful to search for releases on alternate indexers if your preferred one doesn’t return any results.
Note that you’ll also need also need to buy a usenet provider subscription or block plan to be able to download the indexed releases, as well as download a usenet binary newsreader such as SABnzbd or NZBGet. As having providers on at least two nodes mitigates the risk that a release is missing from either, I’ve found having a Frugal Usenet subscription plus a Newsdemon block plan to be a relatively low cost combination. Something to note when picking a usenet provider is retention, i.e. how many days worth of releases they have available. To download releases that are more than a few years old, you’ll need a provider with that many days worth of retention.
I love the speeds of Usenet, but I feel like it’s best to use it to tide you over while you work on getting into good private torrent trackers. Once you’ve got access to good private trackers, you don’t have to pay anymore. (Except with storage, so I guess it depends on what you want and what capabilities you have.)
The problem with private trackers that don’t have open registration periods from time to time is that unless you have enough upload bandwidth it’s nearly impossible to build ratio on torrent trackers unless you pay for a seedbox subscription. While TorrentLeech is great, it’s still missing a lot, with only 25Mbps download bandwidth and 5Mbps upload bandwidth I can’t reach the requirements one would need to apply to higher-tier trackers.
It’s true that you have to be careful with your downloads. Whenever I join a new private trackers, I set up downloads to start getting bonus points, but I only set up automatic downloads for freeleech content. Once I have enough buffer, I’ll open it up for all downloads.
This is after I fully fucked up my ratio on my first tracker. All my others ones look good.
Nzbgeek and miatrix both currently have a lifetime option also if you are not into the monthly thing doesn’t look like any of the other public ones do. Nzb grabber did up until 9/2023. Nzbplanet also has the lifetime membership option.
Guys… you’re all breaking the first two rules of Usenet…
Let me guess…never talk about Usenet?…
And…don’t talk about your sources? 😕
Don’t talk about Usenet.
and…
Don’t — talk — about — Usenet!
It depends on how you use it.
Real Debrid can be use in PLEX or stream. Download links can easily be found like rapidgator etc. Releases are faster too like rlsbb and hdencode.
Usenet you need multiple indexers to maximize your usage. Sometimes having one indexer is not enough.
Usenet will cost you more than Real Debrid. So, wait for black friday deals.
For what? Usenet was something I used over 10 years ago and used NZBDaddy. Was about $1 to sign up. VPN and Torrents or using a Seedbox is current gen.
Strong disagree. It’s much easier to reliably find things on Usenet and I don’t have to worry about even using a VPN. I’ve received ISP complaints using torrents, nothing at all from Usenet (and it’s unlikely I ever will, given the nature of how usenet works). Also I don’t have to worry about seeding or anything like that (which is why it’s unlikely I’ll receive a complaint letter).
Usenet is the answer to finding content reliably and it’s so, so easy.
Usenet is still worse if you want to watch a show the minute it releases compared to certain private trackers
Not in my experience 🤷♂️
Whats your record for fastest release?
For me it was several days before an episode released on streaming services due to a leak. But in general I’ve got every episode of every show I watch downloaded, unpacked, renamed, moved into my library, and ready to watch in Jellyfin within an hour after it’s aired. I’ve never sat down with a timer, but I reckon sometimes the whole process is much less than an hour.
In my case the slowest process is the unpacking, but only because I’ve allotted two of my 10 cores for it. My server does a lot of other things and I don’t need slowdowns every time a new episode airs.
If you think about it, for a torrent, it can be posted as soon as someone has it for others to download. Usenet it will need to be uploaded to servers and replicated through the network before it can be downloaded.
Also, what’s the race for? Watch it a couple minutes/hours/days late, who cares? I usually wake up early and watch a show or two before work.
Mine was about 15 minutes after the show started airing in the HBO Max app. Granted it was Game of thrones at the height of popularity. But it blew my mind that I had the episode on Usenet before it finished airing.
AFAIK usenet is still relevant, no?
All the aarrrs. Saturates my isp bandwidth, have no issues with finding stuff, no takedown or piracy warnings…
Usenet has always been current Gen and superior to torrents for a number of reasons. Torrenting is ass for so many reasons.
@HamSwagwich
@Porka_911
Those reasons being…?
Usenet…
No VPN required or threats from RIAA for starters
Always saturates your bandwidth/never slow
Things are available for years, no seeders required
Even the good indexers are free
No need to waste your time, bandwidth and/or space seeding
No need to worry about ratios
The list goes on
Torrents:
Better use a VPN or get dropped by your ISP
No seeders? 1 seeder? Come back tomorrow and you might have your file. Oh sorry, that seeder went offline
Want to find stuff? Better pay for a good indexer…
Oh, while you are paying for the privilege of a good indexer, you better keep your ratio up or they will ban you. You get to pay to supply them with storage and bandwidth. Yay
@HamSwagwich huh, yeah i guess preference is partly political, where what i’m interested in with p2p is building a different kind of internet that isn’t just a bunch of servers owned by someone else, and to me the system being set up so you give back what you take (ie. ratios) is a good one rather than just consuming content as a service, so maybe irreconcilable difference in preference.
You are paying to use a tracker, which is a central server … So how are you accomplishing that goal? The only way you are getting stuff off P2P is by using a central server to tell you where or how to get it. Torrents are just a bunch of servers owned by someone else… How is that different? Because you are getting smaller chunks from several different servers instead of larger chunks from fewer servers? Seems like you are splitting hairs at that point.
Giving back what you take, that’s what paying money to the server is in lieu of.
@HamSwagwich not sure what you mean re: torrent indexers, you mean trackers? i’ve never paid, but i have made donation to server costs.
idk how usenet is safer or more private, since you have to download through a server and is subject to subpoena (since unlike trackers they actually do host the files). at best it’s the same level of privacy with vpn. free indexers seem like easy honeypots
did a search for a few movies i watched recently and got nothing, so i guess ymmv on finding everything.
No one said anything about privacy, so I’m not sure where you are getting that from.
“Donation” please. Be real. Everyone knows that’s a pay to access scheme they are just calling donation. Don’t be obtuse. Do you get extra access for “donating?” Then you are paying, no matter what you want to call it.
free indexers seem like easy honeypots
Honey pots for what? Yeah few indexers on torrents definitely are. There would be no point in having one for Usenet. Downloading an NZB file is just telling you where to get the files in which newsgroups. Then you can access any news service of your choice to get it. You clearly don’t understand how Usenet works. You pick and choose who you want to connect with. Not so with P2P. You get what you get. Sure, there are blocklists, but they are outdated the minute they are updated.
@HamSwagwich
Woof, well I was genuinely trying to see the differences but I guess these weirdly aggro responses tell me thats gonna go nowhere. I learned a lil about Usenet, which is cool, happy to be wrong and have that corrected, hopefully u can figure out some way to communicate that might make someone want to help u out with how youre really wrong about the culture and tech of bittorrent too.
I use a VPN with torrents right now… guess I have the best setup?
What is a seed box?
Pretty much just a remote server dedicated to torrenting you can rent. It’ll download and seed torrents for you and you can stream them to your other devices or just download them (not every provider offers streaming).
Could you add a seedbox as a source for plex?
Never used Plex so I’m not sure. I do know that you can install Plex onto most seedboxes and use it that way. I think Jellyfin is the most widely supported one though.
Yes, most seed boxes have plex built in, generally you add it to your account and it shows up as a second server. You can map drives, and use it locally instead, but I’ve never done it that way.
You could try i2p