So I have had to suffer being given the gift of my neighbor, an AV-file, setting up a home theater style setup. Personally I’m not super happy with what he did. I have a full size rack meant to be filled with electronics I don’t want, and hundreds of feet of wire to locate said rack to a closet so there is no entertainment unit under the TV.
All of this is overkill in my opinion. However… I think this is a core market for you. Between the Enthusiasts on Reddit and the home theater market there are a lot of people that would appreciate a highly tunable screen where they can have their AV closet run the show without Samsung, Google, or Roku in the way.
One of the most painful parts of my install was getting an HDMI Balun that would operate in 4:4:4 color space, provide 7.2 ARC, provide CEC, and provide IR… and work reliably. This is a tall ask because it’s supposed to use CAT6 between the ends. The expense of these units was high (300-500) and the reliability wasn’t great. A lot of the reason for this pain is the idea that you can upgrade later without running a new set of wires. Ultimately I said screw it and ran an optical HDMI cable (and am very happy).
You would really engage with this market if you integrated this functionality into your TV so you only needed to run a cable and attach the receiver side Balun. I don’t know where the pain came from but this feels like something that the native TV hardware could expose over a cable. Some people have Toslink run through their walls as well which would be a good option to support as well.
So first, get a VPN. I go with ProtonVPN. Mullvad is also high quality VPN. You need these because the copyright wonks surveil popular torrent trackers.
Then, I stick primarily with video and audio. I stay away from software piracy because I prefer my data to be in FLOSS formats.
MAKE SURE to use Firefox, with "uBlock Origin" and "Privacy Badger" plugins before going to any of these links. Also if you're on Windows, go enable in Windows Explorer to show "file extensions" - some torrents will be malware with movie.mp4.exe and try to trick you to run malware.
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Movies:
RARBG.to - One of the most organized public trackers, gets new content very quickly. Can search by IMDB tags (eg. tt0258038, appearing in IDMB URLs)
rutracker.org [.org, .net, .nl] - The best general tracker from Russia and arguably the best one overall. It's great for niche movies, especially from Russia and other east European countries.
TorrentGalaxy.to - Another highly recommended site for movies & TV. Proxy list.
ettvdl.com
Zooqle.com - Easy to use torrent site
1337x.to - Many public p2p releases/encodes are released here, including Tigole/UTR/YIFY. Cams are typically uploaded here as well.
psarips.com - Small-sized x265 (re-)encodes
[Documentaries] forums.mvgroup.org - Very good documentaries tracker. Registration required.
[Anime] Nyaa.si
[Anime] hi10anime.com
[Anime] shanaproject.com
► DDL (Direct Download)
forum.dirtywarez.com - Popular DDL forum. Has a request section.
scnlog.me - Scene releases
rlsbb.ru - Scene releases
ddlvalley.me
movieparadise.org
adit-hd.com
megaddl.co
rmz.cr
2ddl.ms
rarefilmm.com - Rare movies
psarips.com - Small-sized x265 (re-)encodes
► Private Torrent Trackers
Nebulance (NBL) - Very good alternative to BTN and easy to join. Great for finding/requesting old, unpopular, obscure shows. NBL can be joined through MAM. You are eligible the moment you become PU, which is 1 month.
Filelist - One of the largest general private trackers. Romanian tracker, but media content will typically include dual language audio (English and Romanian). The tracker might be smaller compared to IPT but the quality control is better, especially for movies and TV shows. You will be able to find high quality encodes from PTP and BTN which you might not find on IPT. Can be joined through MAM with a 5 months old account
IPTorrents - The largest general private tracker, period. Definitely worth to have as a back up. Invites are easy to come by if you make acquaintances otherwise you can join it through EMP (unofficial invites; need access to invite forum so you have to be Good Perv user class which requires 8 weeks on the tracker). Also, don't forget to log in every 3 months or you lose your account (called Inactivity rule)
Secret Cinema - If any of the following keywords interest you then this is the tracker for you - old (as early as the 1st movie ever), non-mainstream, non-English, arthouse, experimental, rare - movies and Tv shows. This tracker can be joined through MAM (6 months old account required) and RED.
PassThePopcorn (PTP) - Movies tracker. Best source for movies, period. Couple of unique features - !!!!* The amount of active fleshed out collections available to discover content to watch. It's often better than some legit sites dedicated to this stuff. !!!!* High quality encodes. Many torrents are marked Golden Popcorn (GP). They are best of the best encodes. It is like Oscars but for encodes. Currently it is not possible to join PTP unless you know someone who has an account there and can invite you. The best strategy suggested is to reach as high of a user class you can reach on RED as feasibly possible. This will increase chances when PTP starts recruiting again. In the meantime you can join SC, BHD, BLU etc and make requests there
beyond-hd.me (BHD) - Movies/TV tracker. Focuses on HD and some SD content. Originally home to the famous FRaMeSToR remux group but then many more after AHD died. Currently the best alternative to PTP and BTN. After AHD's demise, this is now the 2nd best tracker for high quality encodes too. Can be joined through RED (either be Elite user class OR power user with 6 months old account)
pixelhd.me - Movies tracker. Known for producing small sized encodes. PxHD Mobies - 720p/AAC/mp4 at 1.5-2GB (esp. for Mobile Devices); PxHD/PxEHD - 1080p/AC3/mp4 at 4GB and 8GB; and PxHDA - 1080p/DTS/ at "whatever size is necessary" for high transparency (usually 6-12gb). Can be joined through RED (Elite or "high-level" PU; + 2 more proofs; all 3 accounts at least 6 months old) and MAM (Elite or "high-level" PU; + 2 more proofs; all 3 accounts at least 6 months old)
HD-Torrents (HDT) - Movies/TV tracker. Focuses on HD content only. This tracker is great for HD movies though not as good as PTP. Specialty lies in allowing of multiple untouched material of the same movie, which helps in getting those foreign languages, different audio/video quality, or even different content in audio/videos. Slightly superior to PTP in this regard. You can pay for an account through their website. (Note - Only buy the account from their own website, not a 3rd party)
uhdbits.org (UHDB) - Small movies tracker. Should not aim for it as your primary tracker but it is good to have as backup, aim for BHD instead. Can be joined through RED.
TV Chaos UK - TV tracker. Great site for UK TV content. Best joined through requesting on /r/invites (proof of ratio from other sites required). Quality lacks a bit so use it with a TV tracker like BTN to get the most of UK content
Broadcast the Net (BTN) - TV tracker. Best source for TV related content, period. Currently this tracker is not recruiting anywhere but it is recommended to join PTP where BTN will recruit again in the future
TV Vault (TVV) - TV tracker. Best private tracker for old TV shows. Best way to join it is through MAM.
More Than TV (MTV) - Movies/TV tracker. 2nd best private tracker for TV after BTN. Retention is not good but with a strong request section, this is not an issue. Can be joined through RED
asiancinema.me - Movies/TV tracker. A neat little tracker for Asian content.
animebytes.tv - Best place for anime on the internet. Can be joined through RED (account has to be 1 year old)
AvistaZ - Movies/TV tracker. One of the best places for Asian (mainly Japan, South Korea, China etc) movies and TV shows. Best place for Korean dramas. Easiest way to join is through application on their site. Also one of the few top trackers that have open signups from time to time.
Blutopia - Movies/TV tracker. Very nice tracker for Movies and TV. Like other private trackers, you can make the most of it through the use of its request section. As SD encodes are not allowed on this tracker, it is a great source for untouched DVDs, especially if you aren't in top trackers yet
TorrentLeech - General scene tracker. One of the largest general private trackers
alpharatio.cc - A general private tracker focused on scene releases. Inferior in content compared to other general trackers like IPT, TL, FL etc but has a very strong request section. Great for requests for which personalised trackers don't exist or aren't good enough. Can be joined through MAM and RED during AR's global invites period, keep an eye out
► Live channel Streaming
pluto.tv - Official legal service
github.com/iptv-org/iptv - Mass IPTV aggregation
sportsbay.sx - Sports & non-sports channels
123tvnow.com
cxtvlive.com
stream2watch.ws
time4tv.stream
► Sports
/r/rugbystreams - Live streams. Links posted within the hour of the match
/r/MLBStreams - Live streams. Links posted within the hour of the match
/r/ncaaBBallStreams - Live streams. Links posted within the hour of the match
/r/WWEstreams - Live streams. Links posted within the hour of the match
/r/mmafights - Live streams. Links posted within the hour of the match
/r/motorsportsstreams - Live streams. Links posted within the hour of the match
rutracker.org > Sports - Torrents. Sports subforum at rutracker
sport-video.org.ua - Torrent soccer, motorsports, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, rugby, other
footybite.com - Highlights and live streams. Soccer
nbafullhd.com - Replays. Basketball, football, F1
liveonscore.tv - Live streams. Soccer, MMA, motorsports, baseball, basketball, football, hockey
sportsurge.net - Live streams. MMA, boxing, motorsports, basketball, football, hockey
sporthd.live - Live streams. Soccer, MMA, handball, basketball, rugby, football, tennis and others
sportsbay.sx - Live streams. Football, soccer, basketball, hockey, baseball, NCAA, tennis, cricket, motorsports
worldcupfootball.me - Live streams. MMA, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, NCAAF, NCAAM
6stream.xyz - Live streams. MMA, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, NCAAF
bilasport.net - Live streams. Soccer, MMA, baseball, basketball, football, hockey
720pstream.me - Live streams. MMA, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, NCAAF, NCAAM
ripple.is - Live streams. Soccer, MMA, boxing, motorsports, basketball, football
nflbite.com - Live streams. Football
nbabite.com - Live streams. Basketball
I've been struggling with wrapping my head around asynchronous programming with callbacks, promises and async/await in JS, however I think it's finally clicking after watching these YouTube videos and creating a document where I explain these concepts as if I'm teaching them to someone else:
Edit... I've been rewatching these videos, reading the MDN docs, the Eloquent JavaScript book, javascript.info, blogs about the subject, etc. This further proves you shouldn't limit yourself to a single resource, and instead fill up the laguna with water from different sources if you will.
Real personal computing, that benefits end-users on their terms. In the Future of Coding community, we often use the analogy of "home cooking". As in, we have restaurants & professional chefs but not enough home cooks in computing. Tools & processes are super different when you're cooking for yourself / family vs for a restaurant!
There are a few trends that are tiptoeing on the edges here:
- tools for thought / creative tools (Muse, Nodes.io, Mem, etc)
- end-user programming (people trying everything from visual PL's to simpler / more constrained programming interfaces)
- web3 - I'm biased here and a bit skeptical of the fervor here, but matches some of the ethos / philosophy
- more customizable / hackable personal computing hardware (https://frame.work/)
- spatial + tactile computing so the body can participate in the thinking process (instead of only the 'head'): https://dynamicland.org/
- explorables, games / interactive viz to quickly transfer rich context: https://explorabl.es/
- video games, often indie ones, are exploring deep ideas: see Zachtronics games, Jonathan Blow's games, some of Annapurna Interactive funded games, etc. So many!
- open data: better end-user data tools so anyone can understand the systems around them
All of this is overkill in my opinion. However… I think this is a core market for you. Between the Enthusiasts on Reddit and the home theater market there are a lot of people that would appreciate a highly tunable screen where they can have their AV closet run the show without Samsung, Google, or Roku in the way.
One of the most painful parts of my install was getting an HDMI Balun that would operate in 4:4:4 color space, provide 7.2 ARC, provide CEC, and provide IR… and work reliably. This is a tall ask because it’s supposed to use CAT6 between the ends. The expense of these units was high (300-500) and the reliability wasn’t great. A lot of the reason for this pain is the idea that you can upgrade later without running a new set of wires. Ultimately I said screw it and ran an optical HDMI cable (and am very happy).
You would really engage with this market if you integrated this functionality into your TV so you only needed to run a cable and attach the receiver side Balun. I don’t know where the pain came from but this feels like something that the native TV hardware could expose over a cable. Some people have Toslink run through their walls as well which would be a good option to support as well.