I was a happy Netflix user until 2018, before that I haven’t really pirated any movies (with very rare exceptions) for almost a decade but I recently started again. I’m was doing my monthly budgeting and realized I was paying for too many subscription services. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Shudder, Disney+, Hulu and Crunchyroll.
My family likes to watch different types of content that is distributed on many different platforms.
I was never subscribed to these many services until a couple years ago. I was thinking which service I should cancel when I realized I had the option to cancel all of them this entire time.
I’m torrenting again and I started saving a considerate amount.
The only service I’m paying for is Spotify which I think it’s fairly priced and offers all the music my family listens too (and it’s convenient). All the competitors pretty much offer the same content and that’s how streaming services should be.
I remember back in the day using eMule and BitChe (to look for torrents). Now I’m using Deluge as my torrent client and I I get my torrents from 1337x. What sites are you guys using?
Seconding Nord, love it. If I happen to get slow speeds I just connect to a different location (only happens if im running double vpn, or obfuscated, sometimes they get slow- TOR vpn is super slow so i dont use that one. These are different categories of VPN inside of Nord if you are wondering).
IIRC, Nord is one of the few who keeps their data on RAM, meaning if an agency requests records, they unplug it to give to them, and the data is gone as soon as it’s unplugged. If im wrong, let me know!
PIA was bought out by Kape Technologies which has a sketchy history of running malicious man-in-the-middle ad-injection software for profit. Up to you if you think that’s a dealbreaker or not, but I’d recommend using Mullvad instead.
They passed a third party audit of their No logs policy in June of 2022 so although Kape is a concern I’ve been keeping a close eye on it. Performance has still been great across my devices (iPad, iOS, windows, MacBook) and so until I see a change from my side or some more concerning news about it comes out I’ve been happy with it.
You can bind your torrent client to only use the VPN connection. The default is that if there is a drop on the vpn, most torrent clients use any connection which means it would just use your normal connection and could leak your ip address.
That’s rough! I only received an email from my provider Telus telling me to stop torrenting, I didn’t and I never received another email since. I don’t use any VPN
when i got caught like 15 years ago all they did was send a letter in the mail asking that delete the downloaded game as if they would have any way of knowing if i actually did or not lol. I had a vpn but didn’t know about binding it to the downloader
Iptv, stremio, real debrid and torrentio ftw! I’m paying for things, but it’s a fraction of what we paid for all the subscriptions. And I can actually find things I want to watch!
It feels as though we are moving back towards cable with all the different services and none of them are really anything to brag about anymore. I canceled my Netflix when they raised the prices and stated they would end password sharing. I then canceled my HBOMax when they started pulling content I liked to watch and I had already previously canceled my Hulu account since they really didn’t have anything worth watching. Now I am down to Amazon, Paramount+ (as it is free with WalMart+), and Crunchyroll and I rather like have less choices as it gives me the push to go do something else besides watch TV.
1337x is my favorite right now for TV/movies and Nyaa for anime. Between that and Usenet, I can get 99.5% of what I want.
I use qbittorent and Sabnzb for downloads.
Since you’ve been out of the piracy game for awhile you may consider looking into *arr apps (radarr, sonarr, prowlarr, etc). They can auto download movies/tv you want and format them in a way that Plex/Jellyfin like, so you can get a whole library of content with just a few clicks. There’s a bit of a learning curve to the setup though.
It’s not so much that I can’t find things on torrents, it’s that I don’t have to worry about something not having seeders so it’s more reliable for old uploads. In addition I’ve found it to be better for single episodes, multiple release groups that I use seem to only use Usenet.
As for things that aren’t movies/tv, I think Usenet is better for slightly more obscure content, such as comic books.
I’m currently using “Torrent Search Revolution” on my phone, and it is so easy! Is searches a bunch of sites at one (you can remove sites from the site-search list, not sure about adding to it though). The only downside, so far, is you don’t get any extras you’d get from going to the site- no comments, no still-frames for QC. You gotta know exactly what your looking for.
Edit- I forgot, you asked for sites!
Primary - Torrentday
Secondary - tpb, 1337x, YTS, eztv, ext, magnet.dl, nyaa, cloudtorrents (the aforementioned app searches all of these)
I haven’t torrented in ages but I also don’t pay for streaming. You can literally stream any movie or show online for free. Just use a search other than Google, I use Yandex for this purpose. Just search for the title and voila. The only catch is you won’t find 4k quality, only 1080p.
Plex shares solved my streaming need and negated my laziness and hatred of downloading files to a penstock for my ps4.
£5 for everything I could ever need with a netflix like interface, and if for whatever reason something isn’t on…it’s obtained and visible to watch. Bliss!
I feel you. I said heck it and cancelled them when I entered the adulthood in which you’re exclusively surrounded by people who are pissed about your existence unless you give them money. Paying for things you cannot physically touch has become a rich thing for me, among with grave service, licensing and censorship issues. To truly watch everything I’d have to subscribe to more than one and get into a VPN.
Just Fmovies suffices and I particulary appreciate their subtitle feature, being a foreigner.
Cheers for the rec. Scraping off Youtube Music can only get better from there. :) I generally prefer that platform because Google is one of the few that make use of the Opus codec. Downside is, you leave so and so many playlists on Spotify behind.
You can configure Deluge so that it can only use the VPN interface and nothing else. This way if the VPN drops even just a second, you’re safe. You set this by entering the VPN IP in the the “Outgoing Interface” box in the Network settings. If the VPN IP changes, you need to update it (which can be automated using a script).
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.
I am still using ed2k/kad network, never stopped in nearly 20 years!
Man, I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing. I was just talking with my wife about how nice it was when you basically had Hulu and/or Netflix.
What’s really pissing me off is having Disney/Hulu/ESPN as one account - that used to be called cable and I fucking hated it.
You dont need Spotify, check out ViMusic
Try InnerTube. I tried ViMusic, but the UI is terrible isn’t it?
InnerTube is the same, but the UI is more intuitive.
Whoa! Both of these are very cool. Is there way to migrate from Spotify to another service?
Sadly I don’t think so. InnurTune is just a YouTube Music with different UI and Features. You can’t even log in with you Google account.
I am afraid you will need to add your favorite artists / songs manually.
Did you mean InnerTune? That’s the result I got from searching
Yes, sorry, it is InnerTune. You can find it on F-Droid.
My pick with ViMusic is not that the ui looks bad, honestly I kinda like it, but it looks like it isn’t being maintained anymore.
Then that’s why I found the UI so messy and out of style. It may have been good years ago.
It doesn’t have an algorithm and isn’t cross platform.
welcome again… and i stopped pirating movies and started streaming over internet on pirate website.
Got caught torrenting a decade ago by my ISP and haven’t since.
PIA for a vpn good enough to hop back in?
To be honest, I have been always using NordVPN, never had any issues with them. Torrenting like a beast 😂
Probably there are other, cheaper and better, VPNs.
How does that affect your speeds?
Seconding Nord, love it. If I happen to get slow speeds I just connect to a different location (only happens if im running double vpn, or obfuscated, sometimes they get slow- TOR vpn is super slow so i dont use that one. These are different categories of VPN inside of Nord if you are wondering).
IIRC, Nord is one of the few who keeps their data on RAM, meaning if an agency requests records, they unplug it to give to them, and the data is gone as soon as it’s unplugged. If im wrong, let me know!
Nord sucks for privacy, free ProtonVPN might even be better…
Is mullvad still good?
PIA was bought out by Kape Technologies which has a sketchy history of running malicious man-in-the-middle ad-injection software for profit. Up to you if you think that’s a dealbreaker or not, but I’d recommend using Mullvad instead.
They passed a third party audit of their No logs policy in June of 2022 so although Kape is a concern I’ve been keeping a close eye on it. Performance has still been great across my devices (iPad, iOS, windows, MacBook) and so until I see a change from my side or some more concerning news about it comes out I’ve been happy with it.
I’ve been using PIA for torrenting for several years with no trouble.
Cool! Thanks you
Make sure there are no “leaks” once you get PIA set up. There are online torrent leak checkers.
I’ve been using PIA to get around various region locked streaming sites for awhile now
What do you mean “leaks” like apps on my Pc not using it?
DNS leaks. I got caught on my VPN like 3 times and didn’t understand why until I realized that my VPN has massive DNS leaks.
You can bind your torrent client to only use the VPN connection. The default is that if there is a drop on the vpn, most torrent clients use any connection which means it would just use your normal connection and could leak your ip address.
I’ve used PIA for over ten years with no issues.
Cool! Thanks you
What happened when they caught you?
Very angry letter home threatening legal action that definitely pissed off my parents (I was in high school at the time)
Did not help that it was an adult movie that got me caught and this was apparent because the bastards included the movie title in the letter lmao
That’s rough! I only received an email from my provider Telus telling me to stop torrenting, I didn’t and I never received another email since. I don’t use any VPN
That’s rough!
Fucking hilarious now. Super not cool then lol
when i got caught like 15 years ago all they did was send a letter in the mail asking that delete the downloaded game as if they would have any way of knowing if i actually did or not lol. I had a vpn but didn’t know about binding it to the downloader
Lemme guess, Germany? Es ist verboten!
Iptv, stremio, real debrid and torrentio ftw! I’m paying for things, but it’s a fraction of what we paid for all the subscriptions. And I can actually find things I want to watch!
It feels as though we are moving back towards cable with all the different services and none of them are really anything to brag about anymore. I canceled my Netflix when they raised the prices and stated they would end password sharing. I then canceled my HBOMax when they started pulling content I liked to watch and I had already previously canceled my Hulu account since they really didn’t have anything worth watching. Now I am down to Amazon, Paramount+ (as it is free with WalMart+), and Crunchyroll and I rather like have less choices as it gives me the push to go do something else besides watch TV.
1337x is my favorite right now for TV/movies and Nyaa for anime. Between that and Usenet, I can get 99.5% of what I want.
I use qbittorent and Sabnzb for downloads.
Since you’ve been out of the piracy game for awhile you may consider looking into *arr apps (radarr, sonarr, prowlarr, etc). They can auto download movies/tv you want and format them in a way that Plex/Jellyfin like, so you can get a whole library of content with just a few clicks. There’s a bit of a learning curve to the setup though.
What do you find on Usenet thats not on torrents?
I think it depends on the country and language content. If i want german movies, i dont find them on torrents.
Torrents are kind of risky here and usenet seems to be far safer. So a lot of uploaders use OCHs or Usenet.
Since you are looking for German movies you might be interested in my German DL Sonarr & Radarr guide:
https://github.com/PCJones/radarr-sonarr-german-dual-language
OCHs?
OneClickHoster like uploaded…and whatever cames up new in this way 😆 so you dont share anything and just download
It’s not so much that I can’t find things on torrents, it’s that I don’t have to worry about something not having seeders so it’s more reliable for old uploads. In addition I’ve found it to be better for single episodes, multiple release groups that I use seem to only use Usenet.
As for things that aren’t movies/tv, I think Usenet is better for slightly more obscure content, such as comic books.
I’m currently using “Torrent Search Revolution” on my phone, and it is so easy! Is searches a bunch of sites at one (you can remove sites from the site-search list, not sure about adding to it though). The only downside, so far, is you don’t get any extras you’d get from going to the site- no comments, no still-frames for QC. You gotta know exactly what your looking for.
Edit- I forgot, you asked for sites! Primary - Torrentday Secondary - tpb, 1337x, YTS, eztv, ext, magnet.dl, nyaa, cloudtorrents (the aforementioned app searches all of these)
Been using PIA for over ten years with no issues.
I haven’t torrented in ages but I also don’t pay for streaming. You can literally stream any movie or show online for free. Just use a search other than Google, I use Yandex for this purpose. Just search for the title and voila. The only catch is you won’t find 4k quality, only 1080p.
The no 4K is kind of a big catch
Plex shares solved my streaming need and negated my laziness and hatred of downloading files to a penstock for my ps4.
£5 for everything I could ever need with a netflix like interface, and if for whatever reason something isn’t on…it’s obtained and visible to watch. Bliss!
I feel you. I said heck it and cancelled them when I entered the adulthood in which you’re exclusively surrounded by people who are pissed about your existence unless you give them money. Paying for things you cannot physically touch has become a rich thing for me, among with grave service, licensing and censorship issues. To truly watch everything I’d have to subscribe to more than one and get into a VPN.
Just Fmovies suffices and I particulary appreciate their subtitle feature, being a foreigner.
Spotify? You might like ViMusic over at F-Droid.
ViMusic looks a well put together app, I’m gonna check it out!
Also InnerTune just released version 0.5 which is very nice, it’s a bit more like the YouTube Music app than ViMusic is.
Cheers for the rec. Scraping off Youtube Music can only get better from there. :) I generally prefer that platform because Google is one of the few that make use of the Opus codec. Downside is, you leave so and so many playlists on Spotify behind.
I cancelled Nowtv because it added adverts and you have to pay extra for 1080 which is ridiculous.
So I started watching some of their stuff on Beetv… Then I started looking at my other streaming services.
I stopped torrenting because streaming services made it more convenient. It no longer is.
Deluge leaks your ip address if you use a VPN, I use QBittorrent for this reason.
You can configure Deluge so that it can only use the VPN interface and nothing else. This way if the VPN drops even just a second, you’re safe. You set this by entering the VPN IP in the the “Outgoing Interface” box in the Network settings. If the VPN IP changes, you need to update it (which can be automated using a script).
Oh cool. I have no reason to switch back now that I have something that works, but it’s good to know