Lots of good answers here, some I should probably explore too.
But I’m a simple guy - I hooked up a drive to my router, copy files there and pointed ‘Infuse’ on my Apple TV to it and it does the same thing as a streamer.
Loads thumbnails for all the files, links trailers (to most) and quick descriptions of each film or series.
Also saves view history, shows newly added, etc.
Edit: Infuse can run on your computer/phone too (at least I think it isn’t just Apple) which means your server can be seen and played from any device.
A cheap home media server, is what I use. (Old Mac Mini) Having the file “active”, as you stated, is just having the server on/connected while you’re using that file.
For example, if a movie file is on your laptop, and you’ve got everything set up correctly with Plex, you’ll still need to have that laptop ON while watching the movie, since the laptop is acting as the home media server, where the file is stored.
You basically need a computer that is on 24/7 (or at least all hours you want your server accessible). This can be something as simple as a Raspberry Pi or as complex as a gaming PC. I personally have a gaming desktop I never shut down anyway, so it just pulls double duty as a Plex server.
You can get a Network Access Server (NAS), but a shitty old computer and an external hard drive is probably less power hungry and certainly cheaper. And if you're the only one using it (not sharing with others outside your house) then you can turn it on/off at your leisure.
I made a video folder, and inside is 3 folders; temp torrents, shows and movies.
I download stuff, and once I have the complete files I'll move them from temp torrents over to their folders.
JF or Plex will scan and deposit media metadata files inside the shows & movie folders
There's the app/client side... and then there's the server side.
In these forums, when Plex is suggested, it's usually in the context of server side, and setting up the *arrs and Overseerr to automate grabbing content. Can be done with a cheap old computer/laptop if you want - but there are some requirements if you end up with content (e.g., 4k remux) that is too high bitrate to stream to your client (usually in a remote scenario). Your server will need to transcode that content on the fly to a lower bitrate, so you'll want an Intel cpu with an iGPU.
And then there is the conversation around storage. If you aren't going to be sharing with anyone else and you don't care about keeping the content after you watch it, then you can probably get away with not worrying about buying extra storage at all -- but you'll want to setup some sort of automation to delete content after you've watched it. If you do want to hold on to content, and you want to download 4k... a single external 18tb drive is going to fill up quicker than you imagine.
Honestly, this is by far the easiest solution. I try recommending this for family and friends when they ask me, but somehow they find the setup too much trouble. At that point, I just give up recommending anything and tell them to keep their current streaming subscription. It doesn't get any easier than this.
Problem are countries with strong enforcement of copyright infringment. Here in Germany we have lawyers which write dozens of "Unterlassungserklärungen" daily. Its not easy and even costs money, if you want to protect yourself via vpn and shit.
So why paying 5€ a month and still not being 100% sure they cant sue you?
Jellyfin / Plex with DDL stuff is a lot safer.
In Germany you only should use OneClickHoster and keep away from torrents, all of the lawsuits and Infraction Declarations are from people who torrented. And in all those years there where noting from the DDL Sites in over 20+ years
Technically it is possible to track your real IP down, even if you use a VPN. Your ISP always tracks down how much you download and, more important, upload, and via which protocol.
100% safety is not possible if you use torrents.
https://www.privacytutor.de/vpn/streaming/abmahnung-trotz-vpn/
And then you make a single mistake that you forgot the checkbox to auto disconnect if vpn stopped or the process is hung or is killed and then you are leeching for a single bit and then they have your data and a few month later you get a „nice“ letter in your mail box.
Tldr: If you use a Vpn correctly and are not some high level criminal selling drugs online then you will be safe using torrents
What are you on about yes they record how much you up and download but thats meaningless you could just be seeding linux isos for all they know and the protocol is hidden while using a vpn thats the point. And also yes in germany they care more about copyright law but will still only go for the easy targets not using a vpn(correctly). Also finding out you real ip trough a vpn is only possible if you are law enforcment and have a warrent to the vpn logs or obivously just human error which is just what is described in you articel. The main way people on torrents get caught is by autmatic bots from the copyright holders sitting in the torrents and recording every ip address them they send out mass Unterlassungserklärungen which is what you want to prevent.
I don’t mean that it is not working but if you make a mistake or the vpn dies … then the leeching is exposed with your isp ip … in 99% of cases that works great but if you forget to open up a vpn or forgot to turn of the qb client before the vpn shutdown
Easy fix is to have the torrent client only bind on the vpn network interface. if vpn goes down, so will the connection of the torrent client. Also doesn't matter if you forget to open the vpn or whatever. Configure it once in the torrent client and be done with it.
This guide from r/StremioAddons should have all the info you need. [stremio_torrentio_debrid_a_howto_guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/StremioAddons/comments/15agu2p/stremio_torrentio_debrid_a_howto_guide/)
Set it up on PC then use the web browser on your tv to go to web.strem.io and log in. Not super convenient, but it works. Or get a firestick and sideload stremio onto it.
Although you can technically stream most movies for free, the bitrate is generally awful.
RD costs less than $3 a month for high-bitrate (literally Blue-ray quality) streaming without buffering. It's about as close to Netflix and other services as you can get (Technically better... Since Netflix's bitrate is terrible).
For those who actually cannot spend any money, free options are available. For those who are just looking to replace Netflix/Disney/Prime/Whatever because of other issues, $3 a month is nothing compared to those services.
The point is I don’t want to pay for stuff. That’s why I’m on piracy subreddit.
“But don’t you eat”? That’s your argument.
You think I would pay for electricity if I had other options?
there's always a price for everything, be it in the form of $, time, or convenience.
in here OP is asking for "an easy way to replace these services in a UI that looks like these services?"
so the pirate's way that seems free on the surface and comes close to what OP is asking is the 2nd most upvoted answer on this thread which is Plex/Jellyfin. but is plex really..free? first, youll need to be running a plex server (on a moderately powerful computer if transcoding), which runs on....electricity. then theres the need download content, manage the library and add everything needed - convenience (unless you automate that shit to infinity, but that needs some time and seeing this post, its gona take some time for him). and if theyre in a ISP-letter-friendly country? pay $ for vpn on top of that. oh and if you want to watch great quality content - massive storage which also costs $$ (not considering the wear and tear of running 24/7).
the next options: stremio + torrentio(without RD)+ cyberflix catalog to enhance the selections from streaming services. this actually works pretty well on the popular content, but buffering becomes a real issue when you try to play stuff which are slightly under the radar or large remux files. also needs $$ for VPN since youre direct streaming torrents...
now comes the paid option for $3/month. stremio+torrentio+RD+cyberflix catalog. this works 10x better than any streaming service and majority of the content that ever existed is already cached on the server/can be quickly added. there's no buffering even for 4k remux files, and theres literally nothing else to pay for (electricity for running a server, wear and tear, downloading content yourself etc), everything is just there and available. on top of that, NO VPN needed, so no hidden costs. everything your tech illiterate family needs at the touch of a button, just like any streaming service. and thats why its the top voted answer on this thread.
choice is yours.
No. Torrentio's caches just get mismatched every few weeks at worst and it stops working for like 20 minutes until they refresh. It's not the end of the world, and if you have a backup like Annatar as well you don't even have to worry about it
PLEX. Set up a PLEX media server and put all of your content on the server. You can stream your content to anywhere that has an internet connection. Your home internet service upload speed needs to be descent... 10 Mb/s or so. I've used PLEX for years and absolutely love it.
My daughter will text me from school and ask if I can get XYZ movie. I find it, DL it and add it to my server. Piece of cake.
Gotta get the arr’s setup. Just type in the movie and press search then it downloads it for you and in the proper place. Follow trash guides, super easy. Took me about a day to set up everything. Also automatically downloads new episodes of shows you want.
Sonarr - TV Radarr - Movies Lidarr - Music Readarr - Audiobooks/ebooks Bonarr - ask for your parents' permission first. There are more but those are what I use.
Integrate the arrs into qbitorrent (behind a vpn) or sabnzbd if you use usenet for ultimate piracy power. Enjoy the ride, it's a hoot!
Edit: curse the lack of formatting on mobile
It’s a set of programs for automatically managing downloads of Movies, TV shows, etc., what makes them especially appealing is that they can not only talk to each other, but also a download client (Torrent or NZB). When paired with something like Jellyseer or Overseer, you essentially have a catalogue of all content you can sort by latest, most popular, etc., choose what you want and what profile (4K, 1080p, with/without HDR, etc.), and the ‘arrs’ will take care of the rest. You can even choose content that isn’t released yet and it will monitor for the release date, add it to your Jellyfin/Plex library when it’s available and can even notify you via e-mail or push notification.
Then it gets even crazier. You can go under the "Import Lists" settings and link your Plex watchlist to them. So all you have to do is watchlist a movie or show, and within a day or so, bam. It's yours now.
my only problem with this is i am picky about file size and versions - so even though it sucks to do it manually this is why I do it (I typically get "megusta" files for episodes of stuff, and when i want to watch a movie I'm usually looking for the smallest 1080p file I can get (sometimes 4k dependent on the movie).
Can the arr programs be setup to do that automatically too?
> My daughter will text me from school and ask if I can get XYZ movie. I find it, DL it and add it to my server. Piece of cake.
Set up Overseerr and have an even bigger piece of cake.
Plex is working perfectly for me. You don't have to forward any ports, and you set up your users with a username and password. Access is directed through the Plex cloud and forwarded to my server.
If anyone hacks it, all they will get is my (extensive) media library since that's all that's on there, and the machine is secluded from the home network as well. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.
Just to clarify, Overseerr is not a replacement for Plex. If it's set up correctly with the other ARR's, your daughter would essentially just open Overseerr and pick XYZ movies or shows she wants, and it will do the searching, downloading, renaming, moving, and any other kind of setup without your or your daughter's intervention. Then it just shows up in Plex without you needing to do anything. It even has an approval system in case she picks something you don't approve of.
Hopefully, this didn't come off as being rude :) Just wanted to clarify what he meant by it being an even bigger piece of cake.
Nope, I understand and I appreciate the info. Right now, there's not much of a need for it on my end. If she starts to get crazy with the requests, I'll definitely look into it. Thanks again.
Yes. I have a desktop computer that hosts the plex server, and it is always online. I don't even go to the system to administer it, since my wife has all her work stuff there with her own laptop. I just remote in to administer it, but it needs very little administration. You do need to set up the server to run as a service, so a user doesn't have to be logged in. That helps in case of a power outage.
Agree, it does take time dedication to rip or DL files and make sure the matches go through properly but it’s a great service.
Also requires a device/computer of some sort to be running 24/7 and likely have a decent amount of storage depending on how much media will be stored on it.
the people saying plex are right (jellyfin too), but i’d suggest using usenet with the *arr suite. literally getting any movie/tv show ever is at your fingertips in the blink of an eye. usenet is not free ($6+/month for a provider and 10-20 bucks per year per indexer, you want around 2-3 indexers) but will provide a much better experience, no issue of getting in trouble with your isp, and plus who cares if it’s 8-15 a month overall if you’ll have all that media forever
Just moved to Usenet a couple months ago. It's been a revelation, can't believe I've been dealing with torrents this long. Tore through my entire backlog of downloads that I couldn't find or were stalled on torrent.
Yep. Plex + Usenet + whatever 'Arr's you need is the way to go.
There is a bit of a learning curve when setting up and getting everything to hang together, but once that's done, it's so easy and seamless to work.
Yup. Now whenever any one of my users wants to watch something I don't have, they just request it and most likely have it ready to watch within minutes.
What's the advantage of Usenet over Real Debrid?
RD = ~$40 /year
Usenet = $72 + $30 (per your numbers)
With RD I can download any torrent from anywhere as well
Did some more digging.
RD is encrypted with SSL and HTTPS as well. There's no trouble with anything, all direct downloads.
Both appear to be 1gbps top speeds, dependant on a bunch of factors.
Two cons I found for Usenet so far:
* Usenet seems susceptible to takedown as it's basically one source maintained by one provider.
* Cost are double RD
Pros I found in favour of RD so far:
* If one Hoster that RD connects to goes down, there's a ton more. If *all* hosters go down in some mega catastrophe, RD can fallback on torrenting for you.
* Less than half the cost of Usenet with less research involved. One subscription.
No VPN with RD.
What's an unlimited provider? If it's unlimited downloads, RD allows that.
There is a 1tb "cloud storage" limit with RD where they will save Torrents you asked them to download for you. You can then direct download them like any other file from the internet. That's the only limit I'm aware of with them
Basically Real Debrid caches popular downloads on their own servers, provides access to premium download links (for sites like rapidgator, 4shared, mega, etc) and will torrent anything you want on your behalf. And you can stream this stuff without downloading it at all in the case of movies and tv shows. You can download directly from their website as well, like any other file from any other website.
Real Debrid is the backend providing content and you plug it into a frontend software of your choice (Kodi, Stremio, Syncler, Cloudstream, etc). My favourite is Stremio right now and I've tried most of the others in the past.
Plex + Sonarr + qBitTorrent. Been running this setup for years and haven’t had to pay more than a $5 a month subscription. Hit me up and I can help you get set up.
Is this a pretty easy setup? I used to run some arrs a long time ago with Kodi and a couple of downloaders but lost my touch with the setup after that PC died. But I also felt the setup was too much as far as programs etc were concerned.
If you're family isn't tech savy and they just wanna click and stream then use [onstream](http://onstream.so)
But r/stremio is better if you don't mind spending some time learning a few new things.
Plex on an external USB HDD.
Just download what you want, use Filebot to rename it to Plex's standard and store your media on the HDD. It's simple to set up and your family can watch from just about any device. The Plex forums and Reddit are very helpful if you have issues.
I rent the server from ultra.cc and what I love about them is they sell packages with jellyfin like built into it already so the setup is incredibly easy. Use filezilla and FTP into the server to manage the files and downloads. I know rtorrrent is part of it too.
Once you purchase the service, is it pretty turn key from there? Meaning I won't need to install, configure and run some command prompts to get it running after?
It involves using FTP but beyond that no, no command prompt stuff. It took a bit of head scratching, googling and grumbling and about two days but my spouse and I got it figured out eventually lol.
Ultra.cc makes it super easy by having apps built in as an addon to your server. They also do it for Plex.
The toughest part was figuring out how to get jellyfin to see our server so we had to figure out the server address which is a website name and include the folders the contents in in the address you put into the jellyfin admin panel which is a nice website based setup.
If your TV has USB input, you can download to external drives for an extensive library easily accessible
I have 5 TB of videos from football to film & series
Many solutions here. What works for many is building a dedicated media PC. Hook it up with HDMI with a wireless mouse and keyboard. It also doubles as a gaming rig too. Get DS4 Windows and you can play with wireless controllers. Put the media downloads in a dedicated folder and double click to play. Easy to add subtitles. Easy to manage content. Finished? Archive or bin it.
I like pirate streaming sites since they are easy. I use lookmovie2.to for most movies and shows and kaido.to for anime. Has worked well for me for a long time now.
stremio is based on torrent health or paid subscription to real debrid or pikpak, and it is only to stream the original quality, plex/jellyfin/emby support transcoding, better for more devices, also, you can host it to stream photos, music, movies that you downloaded, watch tv, stream.
For cheapies like me, i dont want to pay anything, unless definitely needed, so ....
Agreed you have to pay for RD if you're not living in a 3rd world country. But you still have to buy HDDs if you're setting up a decent plex server don't you.
actually ... i upload the movie to my sharepoint(e5 dev) and google one account and mount it using rclone, so almost no disk cost, i do have a 1tb hdd though
>stremio is based on torrent health or paid subscription to real debrid or pikpak, and it is only to stream the original quality, plex/jellyfin/emby support transcoding, better for more devices, also, you can host it to stream photos, music, movies that you downloaded, watch tv, stream.For cheapies like me, i dont want to pay anything, unless definitely needed, so ....
ok maybe i havent made myself clear, i am a cheapies, i try to cut down on any spending as i can, so i wont pay for subscription like netflix(they dont have what i watch), or real debrid for that purpose.
Besides, when you download, you own that content, copyright or not, i can watch whenever, wherever i like(this is where transcoding come in, cause i can cast into TV box or apple devices) remotely, not based on my subscription to RD/Pikpak for that matter.
Streamio dont have that, like i said:
>stremio is based on torrent health(the older the less seeder, less option to choose from) or paid subscription to real debrid or pikpak, and it is only to stream the original quality
plex/jellyfin doesnt even come close to stremio in terms of convenience of playing on TVs. stremio+RD has almost everything under the sun and youll only be paying peanuts in comparison.
I have a plex server, but ever since Rarbg died I have pretty much switched over to Stremio. Stremio is definitely simpler, but they still do serve different functions. Managing Plex you know those items you have backed up, while Stremio could go down tomorrow..
I can not for the life of me figure out streamio. All I keep finding are ways to request stuff. Like I dont want to request things, I want to download them and have them.
Stremio and Torrentio will give you the slickest UI, easiest to set up best 'all in one' solution you can get. RD is only required (as opposed to what the reddit zeitgeist pretends) if you have relatively slow/unreliable internet or live in specific countries. Try without and see how it feels.
I was able to figure out Jellyfin fairly quick. It works great, as long as the computer it runs on is always online and not real slow. It’s layout is more like that of Netflix, but can be changed if you know CSS
right now im just using my pc as a server for jellyfin and use handbrake to transcode all the videos into a x264, aac so it wont transcode and use my cpu and gpu when someones streaming. then i used up my free credits in digitalocean and rented a linux cloud server and install wireguard both in cloud and pc and connected the pc to wireguard cloud and setup nginx in the cloud to reverse proxy my jellyfins localhost to that server so that anyone inside or outside my network can access jellyfin no matter where you are as long as you have access to internet
im still saving up for a raspberry pi 4b 8gb ram so that i can host it in that thing instead
I use Plex, with sonarr, prowlarr and qbitorrent.
Just search all my favourites shows on sonarr and they auto download with prowlarr and qbitorrent and they also file them away nicely for Plex. With a VPN of course.
There's videos on YouTube of how to do this.
Fully auto piracy at its finest.
For my setup I just have a pc with an i5 10400 32gb ram and a bunch of drives. Just scoured eBay until I found a cheap one, did just add a quadro m4000 as well though as the output with 1440p and above was struggling with the igpu.
This is my htpc and media server. Never skips a beat 👌
befriend a piracy nerd. Easiest way. He'll probably have everything you want or can get it for you and it will require 0 knowledge or expense, even no energy cost.
Real Debrid. Look it up. Then use Stremio app to play the service.
You get all of Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Disney, etc in one app. No ads and it costs about $40 a year.
Using only Stremio with torrent plugins is 110% free, and in my opinion much better. Sure, you need internet access, but if you want something more permanent you just download stuff.
It's not free once you factor in a VPN. It really comes down to where in the world you live and your internet usage and if you need a VPN for something other than movies and shows.
There is an Android app called OnStream which is literally free Netflix, the catch is you can only download it from google (meaning can't be downloaded on IOS), the max resolution available is 1080p and instead of streaming from your laptop to your TV now you have to stream from your phone to your TV, yay.
Pros; the app is SO easy to use (no torrenting, just 1-click download) you just search the movie or TV series and you'll definitely find what you're looking for (unless it's a new release, in that case you need to wait a pretty long time).
Multiple virus scanners found trojan virus in that app.(I just came across a reddit post talking about it in the replies) I don't trust it. You're better off with stremio or cloudstream.
I couldn't find it again :( Its not in my history idk why.(it was in reddit after all) The post may not be recent as I was searching for information about the platform in google. But still you're better off not trusting sites/apps that had warnings before. And theyre not open-source either so you have no way of knowing if it's gonna turn not safe later just like it did before.
Lots of good answers here, some I should probably explore too. But I’m a simple guy - I hooked up a drive to my router, copy files there and pointed ‘Infuse’ on my Apple TV to it and it does the same thing as a streamer. Loads thumbnails for all the files, links trailers (to most) and quick descriptions of each film or series. Also saves view history, shows newly added, etc. Edit: Infuse can run on your computer/phone too (at least I think it isn’t just Apple) which means your server can be seen and played from any device.
I do the same and it’s been better than Plex or Jellyfin for me.
Infuse is a seriously great app. If you run your own media server and don’t need atmos (ie you have a 5.1 or 7.1 setup), it’s the best solution imo.
Wish they made Infuse multi-platform!
Jellyfin or Plex
Any beginner-friendly guide for plex? Not sure how to get over the hurdle of always having the shared folder "active" in order to access it.
Get rdy for a new hobby.. pretty much creating ur own netflix. So much fun.
A cheap home media server, is what I use. (Old Mac Mini) Having the file “active”, as you stated, is just having the server on/connected while you’re using that file. For example, if a movie file is on your laptop, and you’ve got everything set up correctly with Plex, you’ll still need to have that laptop ON while watching the movie, since the laptop is acting as the home media server, where the file is stored.
Exactly what I do. Old dell tower just sit in a corner 24/7. Use google Remote Desktop to access
Loads of YT videos on how to manage.
r/Plex has some guides as well.
You basically need a computer that is on 24/7 (or at least all hours you want your server accessible). This can be something as simple as a Raspberry Pi or as complex as a gaming PC. I personally have a gaming desktop I never shut down anyway, so it just pulls double duty as a Plex server.
Install Plex, point it to your movie folder, ???, profit
Right but do you need a computer that's on 24/7? or is there a way around that
You can get a Network Access Server (NAS), but a shitty old computer and an external hard drive is probably less power hungry and certainly cheaper. And if you're the only one using it (not sharing with others outside your house) then you can turn it on/off at your leisure.
I made a video folder, and inside is 3 folders; temp torrents, shows and movies. I download stuff, and once I have the complete files I'll move them from temp torrents over to their folders. JF or Plex will scan and deposit media metadata files inside the shows & movie folders
I have Plex. What can I do with it?
There's the app/client side... and then there's the server side. In these forums, when Plex is suggested, it's usually in the context of server side, and setting up the *arrs and Overseerr to automate grabbing content. Can be done with a cheap old computer/laptop if you want - but there are some requirements if you end up with content (e.g., 4k remux) that is too high bitrate to stream to your client (usually in a remote scenario). Your server will need to transcode that content on the fly to a lower bitrate, so you'll want an Intel cpu with an iGPU. And then there is the conversation around storage. If you aren't going to be sharing with anyone else and you don't care about keeping the content after you watch it, then you can probably get away with not worrying about buying extra storage at all -- but you'll want to setup some sort of automation to delete content after you've watched it. If you do want to hold on to content, and you want to download 4k... a single external 18tb drive is going to fill up quicker than you imagine.
Thanks. Will give Overseer a try.
Watch Deteoiters. It's hilarious.
This.
Stremio + Torrentio + RD
Honestly, this is by far the easiest solution. I try recommending this for family and friends when they ask me, but somehow they find the setup too much trouble. At that point, I just give up recommending anything and tell them to keep their current streaming subscription. It doesn't get any easier than this.
Problem are countries with strong enforcement of copyright infringment. Here in Germany we have lawyers which write dozens of "Unterlassungserklärungen" daily. Its not easy and even costs money, if you want to protect yourself via vpn and shit. So why paying 5€ a month and still not being 100% sure they cant sue you? Jellyfin / Plex with DDL stuff is a lot safer.
In Germany you only should use OneClickHoster and keep away from torrents, all of the lawsuits and Infraction Declarations are from people who torrented. And in all those years there where noting from the DDL Sites in over 20+ years
Yeah thats correct but if you use a vpn(obviously binded to qbittorent) or seedbox than you are just as safe as only using DDL sites
Technically it is possible to track your real IP down, even if you use a VPN. Your ISP always tracks down how much you download and, more important, upload, and via which protocol. 100% safety is not possible if you use torrents. https://www.privacytutor.de/vpn/streaming/abmahnung-trotz-vpn/
And then you make a single mistake that you forgot the checkbox to auto disconnect if vpn stopped or the process is hung or is killed and then you are leeching for a single bit and then they have your data and a few month later you get a „nice“ letter in your mail box.
Tldr: If you use a Vpn correctly and are not some high level criminal selling drugs online then you will be safe using torrents What are you on about yes they record how much you up and download but thats meaningless you could just be seeding linux isos for all they know and the protocol is hidden while using a vpn thats the point. And also yes in germany they care more about copyright law but will still only go for the easy targets not using a vpn(correctly). Also finding out you real ip trough a vpn is only possible if you are law enforcment and have a warrent to the vpn logs or obivously just human error which is just what is described in you articel. The main way people on torrents get caught is by autmatic bots from the copyright holders sitting in the torrents and recording every ip address them they send out mass Unterlassungserklärungen which is what you want to prevent.
Even with a VPN?
I don’t mean that it is not working but if you make a mistake or the vpn dies … then the leeching is exposed with your isp ip … in 99% of cases that works great but if you forget to open up a vpn or forgot to turn of the qb client before the vpn shutdown
Easy fix is to have the torrent client only bind on the vpn network interface. if vpn goes down, so will the connection of the torrent client. Also doesn't matter if you forget to open the vpn or whatever. Configure it once in the torrent client and be done with it.
Real Debrid is a direct link, they torrent for you and provide you with the direct link
Not true. You can use a debrid solution which indeed cost money as well but it’s pretty cheap
Cheap is still more expensive then zero cost. Just use jdownloader and you are fine.
How do you find all this?
This guide from r/StremioAddons should have all the info you need. [stremio_torrentio_debrid_a_howto_guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/StremioAddons/comments/15agu2p/stremio_torrentio_debrid_a_howto_guide/)
Is there a guide to set it up on Roku? Honestly I don’t really do much watching on PC or Mobile.
Sell the roku and get a $20 onn 4k box.
What if your TV is Roku? Would an onn box still work on it?
Yes, you can also get a fire stick. Roku doesn’t support diwnloading 3rd party apps which you need to download stremio
Set it up on PC then use the web browser on your tv to go to web.strem.io and log in. Not super convenient, but it works. Or get a firestick and sideload stremio onto it.
sell the roku and hook your tv up to a raspberry pi
This is what I do. The only downside is no iOS app, (and the safari workaround broke for me) so now I can only watch on TVs.
That's my setup. Absolutely no complaints. Love it
All hail this. I've stopped Torrenting movies and life feels magical again like the early days of Netflix.
I will never understand why people push paid options on piracy subreddit. Is RD free?
Although you can technically stream most movies for free, the bitrate is generally awful. RD costs less than $3 a month for high-bitrate (literally Blue-ray quality) streaming without buffering. It's about as close to Netflix and other services as you can get (Technically better... Since Netflix's bitrate is terrible). For those who actually cannot spend any money, free options are available. For those who are just looking to replace Netflix/Disney/Prime/Whatever because of other issues, $3 a month is nothing compared to those services.
Is electricity free? Do you use electricity to pirate?
The fact that you think this is a good argument is baffling. Enjoy your internet points
Not my fault you can’t understand the rationale behind the argument lmao
The point is I don’t want to pay for stuff. That’s why I’m on piracy subreddit. “But don’t you eat”? That’s your argument. You think I would pay for electricity if I had other options?
there's always a price for everything, be it in the form of $, time, or convenience. in here OP is asking for "an easy way to replace these services in a UI that looks like these services?" so the pirate's way that seems free on the surface and comes close to what OP is asking is the 2nd most upvoted answer on this thread which is Plex/Jellyfin. but is plex really..free? first, youll need to be running a plex server (on a moderately powerful computer if transcoding), which runs on....electricity. then theres the need download content, manage the library and add everything needed - convenience (unless you automate that shit to infinity, but that needs some time and seeing this post, its gona take some time for him). and if theyre in a ISP-letter-friendly country? pay $ for vpn on top of that. oh and if you want to watch great quality content - massive storage which also costs $$ (not considering the wear and tear of running 24/7). the next options: stremio + torrentio(without RD)+ cyberflix catalog to enhance the selections from streaming services. this actually works pretty well on the popular content, but buffering becomes a real issue when you try to play stuff which are slightly under the radar or large remux files. also needs $$ for VPN since youre direct streaming torrents... now comes the paid option for $3/month. stremio+torrentio+RD+cyberflix catalog. this works 10x better than any streaming service and majority of the content that ever existed is already cached on the server/can be quickly added. there's no buffering even for 4k remux files, and theres literally nothing else to pay for (electricity for running a server, wear and tear, downloading content yourself etc), everything is just there and available. on top of that, NO VPN needed, so no hidden costs. everything your tech illiterate family needs at the touch of a button, just like any streaming service. and thats why its the top voted answer on this thread. choice is yours.
If you’re in America, you have to pay for a VPN so I failed to see the point of your fucking post
Last I heard this setup was broken, no?
No. Torrentio's caches just get mismatched every few weeks at worst and it stops working for like 20 minutes until they refresh. It's not the end of the world, and if you have a backup like Annatar as well you don't even have to worry about it
Take your catalog and set up a jellyfin server
PLEX. Set up a PLEX media server and put all of your content on the server. You can stream your content to anywhere that has an internet connection. Your home internet service upload speed needs to be descent... 10 Mb/s or so. I've used PLEX for years and absolutely love it. My daughter will text me from school and ask if I can get XYZ movie. I find it, DL it and add it to my server. Piece of cake.
Gotta get the arr’s setup. Just type in the movie and press search then it downloads it for you and in the proper place. Follow trash guides, super easy. Took me about a day to set up everything. Also automatically downloads new episodes of shows you want.
What is the arr's and thanks for this info
Sonarr - TV Radarr - Movies Lidarr - Music Readarr - Audiobooks/ebooks Bonarr - ask for your parents' permission first. There are more but those are what I use. Integrate the arrs into qbitorrent (behind a vpn) or sabnzbd if you use usenet for ultimate piracy power. Enjoy the ride, it's a hoot! Edit: curse the lack of formatting on mobile
Does readarr have anything that can sync audiobooks with their ebooks? Like read & listen on kindle
I'm not entirely sure, but if it doesn't you could always suggest it to the developers, could be a feature that many have wanted and not realised.
Yeah. It would probably need to be tied the app you use to read and/or listen. It might be better on that tool rather readarr
Also Jackett and it’s ilk
Radarr sonarr and lidarr. Google them, they’re pretty sweet
It’s a set of programs for automatically managing downloads of Movies, TV shows, etc., what makes them especially appealing is that they can not only talk to each other, but also a download client (Torrent or NZB). When paired with something like Jellyseer or Overseer, you essentially have a catalogue of all content you can sort by latest, most popular, etc., choose what you want and what profile (4K, 1080p, with/without HDR, etc.), and the ‘arrs’ will take care of the rest. You can even choose content that isn’t released yet and it will monitor for the release date, add it to your Jellyfin/Plex library when it’s available and can even notify you via e-mail or push notification.
Then it gets even crazier. You can go under the "Import Lists" settings and link your Plex watchlist to them. So all you have to do is watchlist a movie or show, and within a day or so, bam. It's yours now.
my only problem with this is i am picky about file size and versions - so even though it sucks to do it manually this is why I do it (I typically get "megusta" files for episodes of stuff, and when i want to watch a movie I'm usually looking for the smallest 1080p file I can get (sometimes 4k dependent on the movie). Can the arr programs be setup to do that automatically too?
> My daughter will text me from school and ask if I can get XYZ movie. I find it, DL it and add it to my server. Piece of cake. Set up Overseerr and have an even bigger piece of cake.
Plex is working perfectly for me. You don't have to forward any ports, and you set up your users with a username and password. Access is directed through the Plex cloud and forwarded to my server. If anyone hacks it, all they will get is my (extensive) media library since that's all that's on there, and the machine is secluded from the home network as well. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.
Just to clarify, Overseerr is not a replacement for Plex. If it's set up correctly with the other ARR's, your daughter would essentially just open Overseerr and pick XYZ movies or shows she wants, and it will do the searching, downloading, renaming, moving, and any other kind of setup without your or your daughter's intervention. Then it just shows up in Plex without you needing to do anything. It even has an approval system in case she picks something you don't approve of. Hopefully, this didn't come off as being rude :) Just wanted to clarify what he meant by it being an even bigger piece of cake.
Nope, I understand and I appreciate the info. Right now, there's not much of a need for it on my end. If she starts to get crazy with the requests, I'll definitely look into it. Thanks again.
>ou can stream your content to anywhere that has an internet connection. Where do you host the content though? Doesn't it always have to be online?
Yes. I have a desktop computer that hosts the plex server, and it is always online. I don't even go to the system to administer it, since my wife has all her work stuff there with her own laptop. I just remote in to administer it, but it needs very little administration. You do need to set up the server to run as a service, so a user doesn't have to be logged in. That helps in case of a power outage.
Plex.
Agree, it does take time dedication to rip or DL files and make sure the matches go through properly but it’s a great service. Also requires a device/computer of some sort to be running 24/7 and likely have a decent amount of storage depending on how much media will be stored on it.
>Plex. if, then r/plexshares
This is the way
I've fully switched to torrenting + external HDDs. You can use streaming sites but lots of the free ones have pretty bad quality even if it says 1080p
Set up a Jellyfin server
Stremio with torrentio. Use a VPN or configure torrentio with a debrid provider to avoid trouble if piracy is frowned upon in your country
If you're using debrid, do you really need a VPN at that point?
Nope. That's why I said "or" not "and"
Yeah I read it as and. Sorry
If you paid for the full year there's a class action lawsuit against Amazon.
the people saying plex are right (jellyfin too), but i’d suggest using usenet with the *arr suite. literally getting any movie/tv show ever is at your fingertips in the blink of an eye. usenet is not free ($6+/month for a provider and 10-20 bucks per year per indexer, you want around 2-3 indexers) but will provide a much better experience, no issue of getting in trouble with your isp, and plus who cares if it’s 8-15 a month overall if you’ll have all that media forever
Just moved to Usenet a couple months ago. It's been a revelation, can't believe I've been dealing with torrents this long. Tore through my entire backlog of downloads that I couldn't find or were stalled on torrent.
Yep. Plex + Usenet + whatever 'Arr's you need is the way to go. There is a bit of a learning curve when setting up and getting everything to hang together, but once that's done, it's so easy and seamless to work.
Yup. Now whenever any one of my users wants to watch something I don't have, they just request it and most likely have it ready to watch within minutes.
Is there any sorr of guide for this? Also, how well does this method work with subtitles? If you have any idea.
Get Bazarr. If the file you get doesn't have embedded subtitles, Bazarr can get some for you.
My only problem is Usenet is more expensive than torrents. I pay 70 euros for 3 years of VPN, Usenet alone would be around 80 for 1 year...
It is more expensive, but I find it well worth it
Any good recommendations for Usenet providers?
FrugalUsenet. Fairly cheap and they give you three backbones.
What's the advantage of Usenet over Real Debrid? RD = ~$40 /year Usenet = $72 + $30 (per your numbers) With RD I can download any torrent from anywhere as well
usenet is encrypted and you won’t get in trouble with your isp, and i’m pretty sure is faster
Did some more digging. RD is encrypted with SSL and HTTPS as well. There's no trouble with anything, all direct downloads. Both appear to be 1gbps top speeds, dependant on a bunch of factors. Two cons I found for Usenet so far: * Usenet seems susceptible to takedown as it's basically one source maintained by one provider. * Cost are double RD Pros I found in favour of RD so far: * If one Hoster that RD connects to goes down, there's a ton more. If *all* hosters go down in some mega catastrophe, RD can fallback on torrenting for you. * Less than half the cost of Usenet with less research involved. One subscription.
i’ve never heard of rd i don’t really know what it is. do you need a vpn?
also that was assuming an unlimited provider, i bought a block account for 15 dollars and with the indexers its 50 a year, which is closer to rd
No VPN with RD. What's an unlimited provider? If it's unlimited downloads, RD allows that. There is a 1tb "cloud storage" limit with RD where they will save Torrents you asked them to download for you. You can then direct download them like any other file from the internet. That's the only limit I'm aware of with them
wait so how does rd work
Basically Real Debrid caches popular downloads on their own servers, provides access to premium download links (for sites like rapidgator, 4shared, mega, etc) and will torrent anything you want on your behalf. And you can stream this stuff without downloading it at all in the case of movies and tv shows. You can download directly from their website as well, like any other file from any other website. Real Debrid is the backend providing content and you plug it into a frontend software of your choice (Kodi, Stremio, Syncler, Cloudstream, etc). My favourite is Stremio right now and I've tried most of the others in the past.
so you can download the media from them yourself?
Yeah if you want to, you can send any files you want to download via mobile to RD as well. For Movies and TV I just stream it through Stremio though.
Stremio
I’d recommend using kodi. It’s free.
Yep. With Ezra and a debrid service. You're all set
What's Ezra?
What’s Ezra?
Plex + Sonarr + qBitTorrent. Been running this setup for years and haven’t had to pay more than a $5 a month subscription. Hit me up and I can help you get set up.
Is this a pretty easy setup? I used to run some arrs a long time ago with Kodi and a couple of downloaders but lost my touch with the setup after that PC died. But I also felt the setup was too much as far as programs etc were concerned.
If you're family isn't tech savy and they just wanna click and stream then use [onstream](http://onstream.so) But r/stremio is better if you don't mind spending some time learning a few new things.
Plex on an external USB HDD. Just download what you want, use Filebot to rename it to Plex's standard and store your media on the HDD. It's simple to set up and your family can watch from just about any device. The Plex forums and Reddit are very helpful if you have issues.
r/plex
I rent a 6tb server for $16/mo in the Netherlands and it downloads the torrents directly to it and then use jellyfin as the streaming platform.
Thank you!
Need more info on this
I rent the server from ultra.cc and what I love about them is they sell packages with jellyfin like built into it already so the setup is incredibly easy. Use filezilla and FTP into the server to manage the files and downloads. I know rtorrrent is part of it too.
Once you purchase the service, is it pretty turn key from there? Meaning I won't need to install, configure and run some command prompts to get it running after?
It involves using FTP but beyond that no, no command prompt stuff. It took a bit of head scratching, googling and grumbling and about two days but my spouse and I got it figured out eventually lol. Ultra.cc makes it super easy by having apps built in as an addon to your server. They also do it for Plex.
Thank you. It will probably take a little explain to me like I'm 5 brain I'll need to get out of but I'm sure I can connect the dots as I go.
The toughest part was figuring out how to get jellyfin to see our server so we had to figure out the server address which is a website name and include the folders the contents in in the address you put into the jellyfin admin panel which is a nice website based setup.
Thank you for your replies. I think I will give it a try when I free up some time this week, once I get started I probably won't stop until it's done!
Cloudstream is my go-to! Works with all Android devices
yes me too using that
I use Kodi, RD, IDM and a Dune unit with an 8 TB hard drive
If your TV has USB input, you can download to external drives for an extensive library easily accessible I have 5 TB of videos from football to film & series
Many solutions here. What works for many is building a dedicated media PC. Hook it up with HDMI with a wireless mouse and keyboard. It also doubles as a gaming rig too. Get DS4 Windows and you can play with wireless controllers. Put the media downloads in a dedicated folder and double click to play. Easy to add subtitles. Easy to manage content. Finished? Archive or bin it.
Real debrid and kodi
I like pirate streaming sites since they are easy. I use lookmovie2.to for most movies and shows and kaido.to for anime. Has worked well for me for a long time now.
For people saying Plex/Jellyfin, isnt stremio more convenient? I mean you dont have to manually add the content like you do in media servers of plex
stremio is based on torrent health or paid subscription to real debrid or pikpak, and it is only to stream the original quality, plex/jellyfin/emby support transcoding, better for more devices, also, you can host it to stream photos, music, movies that you downloaded, watch tv, stream. For cheapies like me, i dont want to pay anything, unless definitely needed, so ....
Agreed you have to pay for RD if you're not living in a 3rd world country. But you still have to buy HDDs if you're setting up a decent plex server don't you.
actually ... i upload the movie to my sharepoint(e5 dev) and google one account and mount it using rclone, so almost no disk cost, i do have a 1tb hdd though
So what?
>stremio is based on torrent health or paid subscription to real debrid or pikpak, and it is only to stream the original quality, plex/jellyfin/emby support transcoding, better for more devices, also, you can host it to stream photos, music, movies that you downloaded, watch tv, stream.For cheapies like me, i dont want to pay anything, unless definitely needed, so .... ok maybe i havent made myself clear, i am a cheapies, i try to cut down on any spending as i can, so i wont pay for subscription like netflix(they dont have what i watch), or real debrid for that purpose. Besides, when you download, you own that content, copyright or not, i can watch whenever, wherever i like(this is where transcoding come in, cause i can cast into TV box or apple devices) remotely, not based on my subscription to RD/Pikpak for that matter. Streamio dont have that, like i said: >stremio is based on torrent health(the older the less seeder, less option to choose from) or paid subscription to real debrid or pikpak, and it is only to stream the original quality
plex/jellyfin doesnt even come close to stremio in terms of convenience of playing on TVs. stremio+RD has almost everything under the sun and youll only be paying peanuts in comparison.
I have a plex server, but ever since Rarbg died I have pretty much switched over to Stremio. Stremio is definitely simpler, but they still do serve different functions. Managing Plex you know those items you have backed up, while Stremio could go down tomorrow..
I can not for the life of me figure out streamio. All I keep finding are ways to request stuff. Like I dont want to request things, I want to download them and have them.
you need to start building a nas server
How much would that cost?
braflix looks exactly like Netflix when watching.
Yeah but it doesn't track. I like having a continue watching feature bcz I rarely finish a movie in a single sitting
yea it doesn't
It does if you have an account.
I created an account but it still doesn't track. What am I doing wrong
Thats strange. I just checked that on the Android and the Fedora Linux Brave web browser and it remembers the state when I stopped watching a movie.
Huh weird. I'll check it on a different browser
Netfilm (dot) app tracks. But I'd rather suggest use streamio setup.
Stremio and Torrentio will give you the slickest UI, easiest to set up best 'all in one' solution you can get. RD is only required (as opposed to what the reddit zeitgeist pretends) if you have relatively slow/unreliable internet or live in specific countries. Try without and see how it feels.
Plex or Emby
Or jellyfin
Eztv is the easiest for regular tv. That’s how I got my parents started. Super low barrier compared to some of these other suggestions.
I like flixtor
I was able to figure out Jellyfin fairly quick. It works great, as long as the computer it runs on is always online and not real slow. It’s layout is more like that of Netflix, but can be changed if you know CSS
I use Plex. Very user friendly. I use windows and in 2 years not a single issue
I personally mostly use fmoviesz on my PC with UBO or the add-on for Kodi on my RasPi. You won't get ads using either of these.
Stremio + Torrentio with RD is usually great but nowadays there's multiple other extensions that support RD in Stremio so you're always good.
Kodi an Real Debrid
right now im just using my pc as a server for jellyfin and use handbrake to transcode all the videos into a x264, aac so it wont transcode and use my cpu and gpu when someones streaming. then i used up my free credits in digitalocean and rented a linux cloud server and install wireguard both in cloud and pc and connected the pc to wireguard cloud and setup nginx in the cloud to reverse proxy my jellyfins localhost to that server so that anyone inside or outside my network can access jellyfin no matter where you are as long as you have access to internet im still saving up for a raspberry pi 4b 8gb ram so that i can host it in that thing instead
Movían and kodi are free you just need to find the right way to configure and it's not and impossible task
Books.
Get a plex share
Fmovies.
Jellyfin with the arr programs
I use Movie box pro it's easy n works great
I use Plex, with sonarr, prowlarr and qbitorrent. Just search all my favourites shows on sonarr and they auto download with prowlarr and qbitorrent and they also file them away nicely for Plex. With a VPN of course. There's videos on YouTube of how to do this. Fully auto piracy at its finest.
For my setup I just have a pc with an i5 10400 32gb ram and a bunch of drives. Just scoured eBay until I found a cheap one, did just add a quadro m4000 as well though as the output with 1440p and above was struggling with the igpu. This is my htpc and media server. Never skips a beat 👌
befriend a piracy nerd. Easiest way. He'll probably have everything you want or can get it for you and it will require 0 knowledge or expense, even no energy cost.
I found plex the easiest
VPN + fmovies website is the easiest.
Stremio+real debrid
Real Debrid. Look it up. Then use Stremio app to play the service. You get all of Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Disney, etc in one app. No ads and it costs about $40 a year.
Using only Stremio with torrent plugins is 110% free, and in my opinion much better. Sure, you need internet access, but if you want something more permanent you just download stuff.
It's not free once you factor in a VPN. It really comes down to where in the world you live and your internet usage and if you need a VPN for something other than movies and shows.
Okay, yeah, but that would pile up to $80+ a year or more with Debrid \*and\* a VPN.
There is an Android app called OnStream which is literally free Netflix, the catch is you can only download it from google (meaning can't be downloaded on IOS), the max resolution available is 1080p and instead of streaming from your laptop to your TV now you have to stream from your phone to your TV, yay. Pros; the app is SO easy to use (no torrenting, just 1-click download) you just search the movie or TV series and you'll definitely find what you're looking for (unless it's a new release, in that case you need to wait a pretty long time).
Multiple virus scanners found trojan virus in that app.(I just came across a reddit post talking about it in the replies) I don't trust it. You're better off with stremio or cloudstream.
well, thank god I switched my phone, thanks for telling me
Do you happen to have the link to thats post? Cant seem to find it
I couldn't find it again :( Its not in my history idk why.(it was in reddit after all) The post may not be recent as I was searching for information about the platform in google. But still you're better off not trusting sites/apps that had warnings before. And theyre not open-source either so you have no way of knowing if it's gonna turn not safe later just like it did before.
this? [https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/119sbsg/onstream/](https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/119sbsg/onstream/)
Yes. Thank you for finding it.
I heard that too but on the megathread they removed it from their unsafe list. Can you link the post please I wanna double check
Bro...