Giganews

EastTyrone

Im new to all of this usenet craic, but I'm only after signing up to giganews and after i gave all m details, i cant even get onto the giganews website has anyone else seen this happen?

AaronEverlast

I use newsdemon.com and have for years. No problem and no issues.

digitaldr

I'm having no trouble accessing the Giganews website. They have a good reputation but are very expensive. If you've only signed up for the trial I'd advise you to try www.usenetserver.com instead. I've been using them for nearly a year now and find them great (PM if you want a referral link for $95/year unlimited download membership deal) Once you get the hang of usenet you'll never look back. I'd recommend you use sabnzbd as your newsreader and sickbeard (a little tricky to set up) to auto download and organize TV shows.

54kroc

Astraweb is a good option too, their unlimited dsl option is very good value.

Does anyone know if it's possible to have more than one watched folder using sabnzbd?
I'd like to be able to get it to watch my downloads folder and my dropbox folder.

mossie

I just went back on usenet this week on a free trial with Giganews. I used to be a regular and usenet was always my first stop with PC problems, hobby questions etc. What struck me immediately is that the ratio of spam to actual content on some groups is gone way up must be 10 to 1 in many cases. On others the spam isn't too bad but the majority of content is totally off topic. Definitely for discussion forums like boards.ie are much easier to read. Seems that usenet is only really for binaries now, am I right?

PogMoThoin

I don't use Giganews, they are the worst for removing content at the request of the content rights holders, as in they just remove a few pieces so the download will not complete. With Giganews you always need a backup server (possible with Sabnzb), for this I use Astraweb (I buy a 25GB block every so often) as they never remove anything. Backup server then becomes used only for missing parts.

Discussions on usenet, what's that all about

PogMoThoin

digitaldr wrote: »

I'm having no trouble accessing the Giganews website. They have a good reputation but are very expensive. If you've only signed up for the trial I'd advise you to try www.usenetserver.com instead. I've been using them for nearly a year now and find them great (PM if you want a referral link for $95/year unlimited download membership deal) Once you get the hang of usenet you'll never look back. I'd recommend you use sabnzbd as your newsreader and sickbeard (a little tricky to set up) to auto download and organize TV shows.

Don't forget couchpotato

AntiRip

Just noticed astraweb has a new 1000GB option for €38 which is amazing value. I got 120GB back in 2009 for $25 and still have over 40GB left .

I've never used it so much in the last couple weeks as the hosters are getting some hammering and links don't stay alive for very long.

PogMoThoin

AntiRip wrote: »

Just noticed astraweb has a new 1000GB option for €38 which is amazing value. I got 120GB back in 2009 for $25 and still have over 40GB left .

Thats great value

AntiRip wrote: »

I've never used it so much in the last couple weeks as the hosters are getting some hammering and links don't stay alive for very long.

By having a backup server you never have any problems.

So as a newb with a 100mb connection and 500gb monthly limit, whats the best package to get?

PogMoThoin

It depends on who's offering the best offer at the time. I have a years sub with Usenetserver and I got a 25GB block of Astraweb as a backup server
Giganews.com
Astraweb.com
Usenetserver.com
Newshosting.com

Check out my blog for a guide to newsgroups
http://leetstreet.net/blog/2011/05/newsgroups/

TheDoc

Usenet servers for me

Its an all round better service then Giganews, which is kinda believeing its own hype in the last few years

Its the most expensive offering with the lowest retention, speeds and connections.

Usenet is a superior service and I think I pay about €6 a month.

If your new to the scene checkout

Sickbeard
Sabnzbd
Couchpotato

And realise why newsgroups have been win for YEARSSSS.

Apologies if the mods feel the above is appropriate, but in fairness why else do people join newsgroups

* I see people have mentioned the above already. Google search for each and youll get easy guides to setup, the glory is once you do, you literally dont need to ever touch them again.

Attach a NAS to your network and you have easily the best home entertainment money can buy (throw a jailbroken appletv2 in here and your laughing)

TheDoc

PogMoThoin wrote: »

It depends on who's offering the best offer at the time. I have a years sub with Usenetserver and I got a 25GB block of Astraweb as a backup server
Giganews.com
Astraweb.com
Usenetserver.com
Newshosting.com

Check out my blog for a guide to newsgroups
http://leetstreet.net/blog/2011/05/newsgroups/

That guys blog post is cracking, basically has everything you need info wise

Bar couchpotato and Sickbeard ( <-- possibly the greatast software on the planet!)

PogMoThoin

TheDoc wrote: »

That guys blog post is cracking, basically has everything you need info wise

Bar couchpotato and Sickbeard ( <-- possibly the greatast software on the planet!)

It's my own blog, Thanks :cool:
I've always planned doing up new blog entries for Sickbeard and Couchpotato but never got round to it

Do check out Headphones also, same idea but for music. It's still a little buggy though, but it's getting there and advancing quickly, updates for it every few days.

Myrddin

TheDoc wrote: »

Usenet is a superior service and I think I pay about €6 a month

Their cheapest seems to be $15pm after the first month...

AlmightyCushion

Astraweb's $96 a year package is great value.

http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/voucher.cgi?t=zgufplhxfr2cwsw

Myrddin

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Astraweb's $96 a year package is great value.

http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/voucher.cgi?t=zgufplhxfr2cwsw

That is damned good!

silvine

Newsdemon do an unlimited package for 7.60 p/m.

It partners nicely with http://newzbin2.es/.


Sabnzbd, Headphones, Sickbeard and Couchpotato are essential to get the best out of Usenet. In fact you can build a HTPC or a NAS around these apps. The HP Miroserver in bargain alerts is a good example.

There's even an iPhone apps for Sabnzbd and newsbin so you can control your htpc or headless Nas from your phone. Openelec is also worth a look. It comes with these apps built in (except headphones).

Myrddin

silvine wrote: »

Sabnzbd, Headphones, Sickbeard and Couchpotato

What are these? I use NewsLeecher with a Giganews account, am I missing something these can offer?

Will be changing providers soon though, GN is just not as good value as the others seemingly

PogMoThoin

EnterNow wrote: »

What are these? I use NewsLeecher with a Giganews account, am I missing something these can offer?

Will be changing providers soon though, GN is just not as good value as the others seemingly

Yes, you're missing lots. I have a home server running just to run all these apps.

Sabnzb is a newsreader download client, it's pretty amazing, just try it. Loaded with features. Unpacks and repairs pars, does web login and scheduling and lots of other apps are setup to integrate with it.
http://sabnzbd.org/

Couchpotato, sickbeard and headphones are software that auto find and add stuff to your Sabnzbd queue. I'm not going to say much more, just install them, you'll figure it.
http://couchpota.to/
http://sickbeard.com/
https://github.com/rembo10/headphones

If you got an Android phone there are many apps that integrate with all of these like mobilepotato and mediadog (worth the buy, Irish developer)

AntiRip

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes, you're missing lots. I have a home server running just to run all these apps.

Sabnzb is a newsreader download client, it's pretty amazing, just try it. Loaded with features. Unpacks and repairs pars, does web login and scheduling and lots of other apps are setup to integrate with it.
http://sabnzbd.org/

Couchpotato, sickbeard and headphones are software that auto find and add stuff to your Sabnzbd queue. I'm not going to say much more, just install them, you'll figure it.
http://couchpota.to/
http://sickbeard.com/
https://github.com/rembo10/headphones

If you got an Android phone there are many apps that integrate with all of these like mobilepotato and mediadog (worth the buy, Irish developer)

I miss my home server. I had an old laptop (before it croaked). I had a dropbox folder set up as a watched folder and when I was at work I just popped in the files into it.

Since then I don't use a home server as it would be too expensive just to buy a second hand laptop & I don't feel safe with it on all night. I've searched and searched for a low powered torrent/usenet box with usb for ext hdd but never any luck.

May I ask what you use yourself as a server? The first thing I've found in a long time is the new Raspberry Pi alright but as you may know they're hard to get at the moment.

PogMoThoin

AntiRip wrote: »

May I ask what you use yourself as a server? The first thing I've found in a long time is the new Raspberry Pi alright but as you may know they're hard to get at the moment.

I've a quadcore 4Gb ram desktop that runs 24/7. Young fella uses it as his gaming pc, but all this stuff runs as a services in my profile. It's also the file server for the house with 6TB of storage.

I've also considered something less power hungry, a NAS or similar, but I keep coming back to the fact that a quadcore is pretty much futureproof for the next few years at least. Downloading is fine but he Raspberry Pi will struggle with the un-raring and par fixing of Sabnzb which is very cpu intensive.

Anyone using Chrome should check out the Sab Connect addon
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/okphadhbbjadcifjplhifajfacbkkbod
and the Sickbeard Connect one also:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ljfjkhejnkopmfdadafjoklibhggokpb

Myrddin

PogMoThoin - UseNet Guru Extraordinaire :cool:

I checked out those links, very very cool. In fact, I'm not thinking of a 24/7 server model.

PogMoThoin

It's some setup when you get all done right, completely automated downloading and add stuff straight from anywhere with your laptop or phone. You have to forward the ports for each app on your main router and use dyndns to update your ip (if it's dynamic). Then you can really show off down the pub :cool: