• 14 Posts
  • 60 Comments
Joined 2Y ago
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Cake day: Jul 28, 2023

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Oh definitely. I’m seeking a service that encrypts at the local level before ending sending a byte to the cloud but thank you for the input!


Yes, it’s definitely DAS I’m working towards. I’ve looked at a lot of the Qnap products. I would need one a bit smaller than that due to space constraints but that looks like what I’m going for. I just need to try and get a snapshot of my USB connections to know what connectivity is available. Thank you for the recommendation and input!


Thank you for the input! I’ve had so many good responses and so many things to think about. I’m sure, like you, I’ll probably stumble upon the perfect thing when I least expect it. I’ve looked at the Red drives too and I’ll probably be going with them or the Seagate IronWolf drives. Also, appreciate the input on BackBlaze. A lot of people have recommended that and I’ve got it bookmarked for future reference.


Wow, what an invaluable piece of information. Yes, this will DEFINITELY help cut through the “drive shopping” Thanks for sharing this information!


This is excellent news! I’m looking forward to viewing my current library on the Smart TV again. I’ve been watching YouTube vids on Jellyfin setup and it seems pretty straightforward.

I’ve seen a lot of the Sabrent drive bays on Amazon and wondered if there were any good. They look exactly like what I’m looking for. I’ve just got to be care of ports and knowing what I have and need. Also, maybe not your level of Raid as I want, at least, one drive for backup to be able to take offsite for storage.

Thank you for you response and input!


Noted and added to my “buzzwords” list. Now I can search smarter. Thank you for the response!


Thank you so much for the kinds words!

I graduated in 1992 with a degree in IT but the field seems to move lightyears every year and I’m like, “come again”? when someone tries to help me with hardware.

I agree, knowing where to start has been the hardest part for me. I thought I needed a NAS but really I just need an enclosure with drives in it and I didn’t even know Emby didn’t require a WiFi connection just for both server & client to use the same internet connection. Live and learn, right? :)

I know, it’s so funny, when it hits you, it hits you like a pile of bricks and you’re like OHHHH YEAH! and you NEVER forget it again. Been there and done that.

Again, thank you for the kind words. I tend to be hardest on myself and get frustrated when I just need to ask questions and not be afraid to ask more questions if need be. Best to you!!!


Horders Unite! lol I’d be like you probably if I had what I wanted. I HATE to have to recreate all the hard work I put into my systems and videos. Yeah, I’ve always heard people saying NO, NO, NO RAID for backup so, I guess, no raid.


My only problem is space. I have everything connected in my room, modem, router, phone, desktop, etc. It was how the house was wired and it’s a real mess. I’d have to hang a rank from the ceiling but thank you for the product information and input.


They both use the same Internet source if that’s what you mean. That’s great news! I’m looking at videos on setup right now. Do you happen to know if Jellyfin is natively available for an LG Smart TV or are there “hoops” to jump through to get it on there? Thanks again!


Wow, now I really feel stupid. I’ve been sitting here all this time with tons of video on my system thinking I had to have WiFi to access it through Plex, Emby or Jellyfin and now I find out I don’t. Like, I said, I’m really not literate when it comes to Hardware. I’m gonna lookup some videos on Jellyfin and see how to use it. I still need to get some more storage but, at least, I can watch what I already have. Any tips, videos, sites, etc. are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the insight!!! 😊


Wow, thanks for all the insight. I’ve just got to find a good JBOD chassis and then figure out what disk drives to use. I’m really not literate when it comes to RAID. I’d just prefer to use my Sync software to backup to the individual drives and then store one offsite as part of a 3-2-1 plan.

I’ve heard of BackBlaze and I think I looked into it at one point. I just keep seeing bad reviews on just about all the Cloud services with people saying they can’t get access to their data or there is data loss but I will give it a look again.

I appreciate the good wishes and you better believe, I’m a “hoarder”. It only took ONCE to lose everything and now I want like 10 complete backups of everything. LMAO. 😜 Best to you!


I’ve heard of Jellyfin but my PC doesn’t have a WiFi card, only a NIC. For some reason when they rebuilt my computer they didn’t put a WiFi card back in. I can’t use Jellyfin w/o that, can I?


Offline Data Storage
Ahoy! My internal hdds are at max with all I've been torrenting and I'm considering some type of Docking station for my desktop with several 10Tbs drives in them to allow me to store and backup my data for offline protection. I was wondering if anyone had done any type of setup like this and if it's a reliable method for offline data storage. I'd also like it to have a RAID capability but I have software which can mirror drives to each other on startup/shutdown, etc. Also, I'd need it to have a USB-type connection for a USB SSD drive to pop-out & connect to my Smart TV for viewing. An end goal would be to get a 3-2-1 setup but I can't find a reliable Cloud storage I'd trust with that much data except maybe Filen. Any positive input about brands, drives, services, etc. would be most appreciated! Thanks!
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That’s something I’m interested in also as I’ve just got a surge protector right now but I’m not sure what to buy. Again, I’m not the best with hardware but I’ve got that on my radar. Thanks!


Thank you for the sites and information! I’m afraid I’m gonna have to have what I want built as I just don’t have the technical skills to do what I want.



I appreciate the recommendation. I’m just afraid I’m not tech-savvy enough to work these things plus I don’t want to get stuck with a DMCA or something like that, you know?


Thanks for the response! I understood some of that. I used to be a techie but technology has left me in the dirt in the past years. You kinda lost me starting with paragraph 3.


So, it sounds like i want to find a “dedicated” seedbox if I go that route. Thanks for the recomendations!


Would you have any recommendations on hardware? If I go local, I would want 2 sets of similar hardware; one for primary storage and the 2nd for backup. Thanks!


Is a Seedbox right for me?
I have many Tbs I want to download & don't have the space plus I don't have the $ to invest in large amounts of storage so I've been trying to learn about Seedboxes here and around the net and it seems like it might be a solution to my needs but I have so many questions. Is a seedbox just for remote torrenting and moving files to and from your computer? Can you logon to a seedbox and direct download files from a website into the seedbox? Can you create torrents in the seedbox for posting to torrent sites? Are seedboxes mainly for keeping ratios up on private trackers or do they also accept open trackers as well? Do you have to worry about DMCA notices with a seedbox?/Can seedboxes see what you transfer? Can seedboxes be used with a VPN for optimum privacy or is there even a need? What are some of the best seedboxes which leave a minimal, trackable footprint & preferably use US currency? Any helpful guidance would be most appreciated. Thank You!
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How To Store, Stream, Backup & Protect?
I'd like input on how some of you store, consume & protect your media. I have a rather limited knowledge of hardware and also limited floor space & plugs in my surge protector. My current PC has 2 2TB internal hard drives and no Wi-Fi Card from when it was rebuilt 2yrs ago. Basically, I want something I can store a LOT of video (let's say 10T+), stream it to my devices, have some type of backup of the material and protection from power failures. I've heard many terms like Media Server, NAS, Raid, UPS & services like Sync.com, etc. and have tried sorting through various videos on YouTube but it just confuses me more. Any positive responses would be most appreciated!
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Yeah, I’ve done a bunch of reading since this post and I’m going with CPU. It may put a bit more stress on my system but my system was built for high-end gaming in the first place so I shouldn’t have any problems. Thank you for your input and information! :)


Thank you for the helpful information! Sounds like I got some bad information in the past. {not from here} lol


No, not so far. No crashes or anything like that. Someone somewhere just told me a good range for video rendering was between 65-75% core usage.


It doesn’t help when I don’t have a very good grasp of the Hardware mechanics of it. Thanks for trying to clarify for me! The thing I’m most concerned with in using the CPU for everything is most software including Handbrake I try, if I let the CPU do all the processing, each CPU core goes to >100% which is not good for the system for long periods of time and literally got 100s of DVD/BluRays I want to reprocess. I’ve always been told around 55%-65% on each core is acceptable when processing video. Any additional information you can provide would be most appreicated.


Hmm, I wonder… It’s funny you mention this because Wondershare UniConverter I pirated and it installed and registered fine but I couldn’t get the AMD acceleration to show up under acceleration. It’s like it didn’t recognize it. I wonder if this file you mention has something to do with that because it DOES support AMD acceleration.


Sorry, I’ll try to be a bit clearer here. I have an MKV (h.264, aac, ass soft sub) file 1920x1080 16:9 I want to re-encode with HEVC reducing it to a 640x360 while retaining the soft subs. Actually, I would like to burn in the soft subs but it keeps defaulting to the programs standard font instead of using the soft subs styles. I use HWMonitor when checking the various softwares so I can see how much CPU or GPU usage is going on. I’m wondering if it’s just a freaking AMD issue. I HATE so bad I didn’t get an Intel or Nvidia graphics card when I had my system rebuilt. Anyway, I hope this provides a bit more clarity. Feel free to ask anything else as I’m just basically going around in circles right now. Thanks so much for your input!


Really!? I would LOVE to get that converter to work. I’ve got a pirated copy somewhere around here. Do you happen to remember what file it was and where to get it?


Windows 10, current drivers, the AMD HEVC encoder and current ffmpeg.


Hardware Acceleration
I've pirated every video converter known to man (UniConverter, WinX, VideoProc, Aiseesoft, Tipard, etc) & even tried open source tools like ffmpeg and handbrake and I can't get hardware acceleration to work unless I just don't understand how it's supposed to work. I have a Radeon (TM) RX 470 graphics card and plenty of processing power. An example is when I attempt to convert a video to HEVC and don't use acceleration, I can get like 100 FPS and 2-3 mins rendering time but all my CPUs go to over 100%. However, when I turn on acceleration or use the AMD HEVC Encoder (ffmpeg, handbrake), the FPS rate drops to like 10-15 FPS, the CPUs barely go over 10% and the GPU then jumps to over 100% which is fine but then it tells me it'll take like 20 mins to render a 20 mins tv episode!?!? This is driving me crazy. Can someone provide some insight on this? I'd be forever grateful. Thanks!
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BluRay/UDH Rippers?
Anybody ever found a hacked version of any "supposed BluRay/UHD rippers" like DVDFab, DumboFab or Leawo that actually worked? I really liked Leawo and got a good copy from TorrentGalaxy but when it attempts to read the BluRay and, I guess, get its information, the software returns an error message and freezes up. The only software I've found that'll handle most everything is MakeMKV but the only thing I don't like about MakeMKV is no preview option plus sometimes it coughs a furball on regular DVDs.
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Thanks for the input on Shutter ramble!

I’ve been working on and off with it for a while now and Love it except for a couple of things I’m trying to wrap my head around.

I’m trying to understand how to Rip DVD & BluRay with it and how to Burn In “Soft Subs” in an MKV container.

Also, I’m trying to figure out if I want to re-do my library with H.265, H.266 or AV1 in either VBR, CBR or CQ. So many options, it’s insane cool!


Hey Thanks for the response! I think I figured out some of the resolution stuff but I can’t seem to get a VGA resolution (640x480). I set Force Display to 4:3 but the resolution doesn’t show up.

Yeah, I saw the add subs but I can’t seem to get it handle subs already in the vid file like ASS subs I want to Hardcode into the video.

I’m gonna keep working with it though as it seems to do most everything else I want. Pretty amazing software!


Shutter is a really nice front-end for ffmpeg but can you put in custom resolutions or do you have to work with what they have? Also, how do you set it to pick up soft subs and hard code them into the video? Also, it’s so nice to find a piece of software that will FINALLY use my GPU! :)


You know, I thought Movavi might have been it but then I run into the problem I seem to with all the others. For some reason, it states AMD GPU Acceleration is on but when I start converting, all my CPU cores go to 100%+ and the GPU sits barely working. It’s baffling! Urg!


One Converter to Do It all?!
This may not be the place but I thought I'd give it a shot. I need some guidance on video conversion software. I've pirated & tried Aiseesoft Video Converter, Wondershare UniConverter, VideoProc, Winxvideo AI & ffmpeg although I don't do very well with the command line and can't find one solution to do everything I need. I'm seeking support for multiple file processing, custom profiles (resolution, aspect, etc.), all modern CODECs including HEVC, AV1/Opus, basic video editing, AMD Hardware Acceleration (have a Radeon RX 470 graphics card), hard and soft subtitles, audio normalization & constant rate or target bitrate control modes. I've only ever found one software that would do all of these things & that was VSO's ConvertXtoVideo. Unfortunately, the company has downsized & only has 1 or 2 programmers and while they claim to be working on an UHD Converter, all they have right now is an Alpha version which, basically, does nothing. If anyone can steer me in the direction of a free or paid software that will do most of what I'm wanting I'd be very grateful.
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As a follow-up, I’ve downloaded the 64-bit exe from Github and actually installed tartube and that seems to be Ok for the time being. I’m running a complete Security sweep right now to see if it catches anything. We’ll see.



Tartube Malware???
Ok so I grabbed the portable version from Sourceforge to pirate a few of my favorite channels from YT and after a few minutes of working, Malwarebytes Pro coughs up a furball and tells me one of the files is infected with a Generic.Ransomeware??? Anyone else ever run across or hear of anything like this? I know false positives are rampant these days but I'd rather not take the chance. Also, not to sound stupid but is Sourceforge not the original place to get Tartube??? Thanks for any constructive input!
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This sounds like excellent advice. I happen to have a licensed version of BeyondCompare that I can install and do Hex compare. I appreciate the guidelines to follow and I agree with you on the “pre-cracked” options. I would always install from the developer’s site first and then use the patch if I use it at all. Unfortunately, this software mush have a “phone-home” features and has a “hosts file” change as well. As with the previous response, I would appreciate your input on whether you would try it or not.

Wondershare Uniconverter

Thanks for your excellent advice & input!


Thank you so much for explaining all of this! So, it’s not an “exact” match for a virus, it’s the “behaviour” of the Patch/Crack that makes the AV/Malware software “see” or “think” it’s a Virus/Malware. That makes much more sense.

I’ve copied the link for the software with patch below. Wondershare UniConverter

At the bottom of the link, are the references from VirusTotals. I use Avast & Malwarebytes Pro and the report says Malwarebytes would catch and quarantine it. I guess a virus/malware to me is always a risk and I’ve had my system crashed in the past due to that and don’t want a repeat. If you don’t mind, I would like your opinion on whether to try it or not. Again, thanks so much for the explanation!


Keygens/Patches/Cracks
Ok, I need some insight before I go back into Torrenting. I need a piece of software from a less than reputable company (Wondershare). Now I know Keygens can be run through Sandboxie or a VM to get the key but how do Patches and Cracks work? One of TorrentGalaxy's most trusted uploaders & software patchers keeps the software updated and uploaded & includes in the download listing the www.virustotal.com report for the installation files which shows a clean listing; however the Patch shows a listing for multiple AV/Malware software which shows the Patch being a virus. So, how do I use the software if the Patch is "infected". Am I missing something? Thanks!
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I agree that file is probably just a false positive. I deleted it from quarantine and it didn’t affect the program at all.

You are absolutely THE BEST!!! I appreciate all your hard work so much. This saves me sooo much time and is so helpful! I cannot thank you enough.


I’ve tested the process in a single & multi-language channel and a single video & it worked for perfectly for all.

Several questions I have:

1 - When I installed Tartube, my Antivirus told me the gslangValidator.exe file was infected by Win64: Evo-gen [Trj] and quarantined it. Any idea why?

2 - How do I get rid of all the other files like jpeg, txt, json etc. files or are they supposed to be there.

3 - Supposing I wanted a 360p resolution downloaded, what would have to be changed in the format options?

I’m really amazed at this and hope to learn more about Tartube. Thank you very much for your time in putting all this together & I look forward to further correspondence!


Thanks for all the information!

4K Video Downloader can download the “old” format of YT videos where a channel is strictly a particular language and put it in an MKV container with the resolution I select & an SRT subtitle using a VP9 codec & that’s fine. I just run it through my video converter and I’m good. The problem is when I try to download from one of the “new” multi-audio/sub channels. (Ugh!)

Ok, so now let me see if I can answer your questions:
Q1 - Yes, I mean a channel with multiple audio tracks but I can only access the English version although I know there’s a Japanese track there also.
Q2 - The subtitle is the one you get by selecting CC on the YT control panel. I can see it with IDM but it’s in TIML format. 4K gives me a SRT on the “old” channels.
Q3 - Yes, when I download I want a pre-merged file with the appropriate streams (Video, Japanese Audio & English Subtitles) preferably with an SRT sub.

I hope that made sense. I’ve tried Tartube a bit but like you said it will still be the problem I run into with 4K Downloader, I can’t get the original Japanese audio. I can go to YouTube 4k Downloader and enter the URL for the file and download the Japanese audio and remux the file but when you’re talking about >100 files that’s a long process.

Again, thank you for the information and explantion of the command line. I’m not very good with command line stuff but I will try it and see if I can get it work for me. Please feel free to comment back.


Yeah, I liked Jdownloader2 but I can do about the same with 4K Video Downloader plus it conflicted and corrupted my IDM installation so I had to remove both and reinstall IDM to get it back working. Lesson 1: you don’t install 2 downloaders. LOL


YouTube Downloading
I'm looking for a free GUI that can download a YouTube channel in a particular language (i.e. Japanese) with it's associated English subtitles preferably in SRT format. I used 4K Video Downloader which worked fine for the "old" YT even though it was limited and I had to uninstall and reinstall a few times I got exactly what I wanted. Then Google in all their stupidity decided to put all streams for a single video together so I can't get what I want from 4K without downloading the video and then splitting the stream some way and downloading the Japanese audio to go with it. Can anyone give me a simpler alternative to what I'm trying to do? I would appreciate any constructive input. Thanks!
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Library Rebuild Suggestions
Is HEVC (8-bit)/AAC a good, modern CODEC combination for rebuilding & reducing my library size without compromising quality? Helpful feedback would be appreciated.
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HEVC_AMF / 10-Bit HEVC
Will or can the HEVC_AMF encoder support Profile 10 or 10-Bit HEVC? I've installed the full version of ffmpeg into the ffmpeg Batch converter I use but can't seem to get the two things together. I'm a little vauge on terminology but I think I'm asking the correct question. Thanks!
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Re-Encode Advice?
After a recent data loss, I'm reconsidering various CODECs before re-encoding my re-pirated "loot". I'm looking to maintain a good balance between quality and file size as my previous files were HUGE. I've read about x264, h264, h265 & vp9 for video and it's between AAC or AC-3 for audio. I'm looking for long-term and broad device compatibility. Also, I'll be using FFBatch front-end for ffmpeg for re-encoding. So, fellow pirates, what are your libraries coded in? Any helpful input would be greatly appreciated.
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Qbittorrent Guidance
My last foray into Torrenting was when TWC was taken over by Spectrum and I was using uTorrent like crazy. We had Spectrum ONE week and I got a DMCA letter. This is the type of thing I'm trying to avoid. Although I've found a lot of information on Qbittorrent, I would like to know from some long-time users what are the minimum things I must set within the client to be safe, discrete but also have a good Download/Upload experience. I am using ExpressVPN. Thanks so much!
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Need Input on Direct Downloads, IDM & VPN
I have read everything I could in the community and just want to make sure I'm clear on a few things and also have a question or two. Do I understand correctly from the ISP Complaints section that Direct Downloads should not result in a DMCA or problems with your ISP? Also, if I'm using IDM (Desktop Client & Browser Add-In) with Express VPN to download from streaming sites like KimCartoon, 9anime or a regular site like Internet Archive will the VPN block my ISP from seeing the webpage I'm viewing and the downloads I'm getting with IDM or it's "clip grabber"? Finally, do I need to set my VPN to a site outside of the 14 eyes countries for safety when downloading in case of a data leak? Any insight would be greatly appreciated as I've already download quite a bit from Internet Archive without a VPN and am a bit worried. Thanks so much & Great Job to all who put so much work into this site!
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