How to download films & UK TV

[Pagey]

Another thought BB : When downloading it shows the file size, say 699 mb so check the size of your file when downloading is complete to ensure you did not lose your connection and the entire file was downloaded.

[dtaai-maai]

I've had the occasional problem with VeeHD 'timing out' on me, but only when the download speed got painfully slow.

[sandman67]

re VeeHD

the timeout issue isnt with them....although at peak hours the site runs slow sometimes the time outs are down to the ISP connections here in Thailand being crap, especially for some reason during heavy thunder storms. Ive had a few recently. The crappy new memory draining version of FireFox is also partially responsible I think as these broken downloads seem to have increased massively since the program updated.

One thing I have noted with VeeHD is that they prefer you to download 1 file at a time rather than a batch. Thats just traffic management on their part. StageVu doesnt seem to apply the same management.

A final source well worth looking at for older films and documentaries/TV programs is YouTube. Ive dropped a pile of flicks from there, (Cleopatra, Alexander the Great (the old version), even The Crow and Judge Dredd) and watch American Chopper and other programs through them too.

For current series like Game of Thrones and The Borgias I use the onlne streaming downloader sites like http://tubeplus.me/ and a FireFox add on that allows you to capture and download Flash videos (DownloadHelper)

[Big Boy]

Thanks sandman, it's good to know that I'm not the only one getting broken downloads.

[Big Boy]

Well guys, after much perseverance, I've managed to download my first movie

- I tried to use Chrome - very, very slow and still died.

- I tried other providers - no good.

I noticed today that my Internet was running at higher than advertised speed. I tried again, and it worked on the 2nd attempt. Now for UK TV

[Pleng]

If you're having this many problems downloading I suggest you give BitTorrent a try. There's no need to worry about the Pro version; the free one is just fine.

Once you've installed it just search for "[what I want to download] torrent", and try a couple of the links you're presented with. You'll find that most torrent sites have big "download" buttons all over the place which are a pain in the a*** because they're nothing to do with actually downloading the torrent; they're just ad-links. Look around the page for a small picture and/or text link which says 'download torrent' and click that (see example).

torrentguide.jpg (49.64 KiB) Viewed 595 times

You don't need to worry about downloads being interrupted with Torrents. BitTorrent just sits in the background and merrily downloads the file as and when it's available.

[buksida]

The Box

Parahandy pointed me in this direction yesterday and there is a world of wonderful content on there. The problem is you need to upload as much as you download once you have reached the initial limit of 2.5 Gb.

I downloaded 3 files totalling 1.84 Gb but they have no leechers so my upload count is zero. At this rate I can only download one more file before being kicked off the site. Does anyone else use this site? Any tips as to what to upload? Most of the content is already there!

[dtaai-maai]

You don't have to physically upload anything. Just download all the UK soaps daily, Coronation St, Emmerdale, Eastenders, Hollyoaks - these are "free", so they don't count against you. Leave your PC switched on for a few days and it will automatically upload them. As they upload, your "balance" will improve. After a month your limit increases. Just keep downloading the free stuff, then delete it after a few days. Your balance will increase, but you need to be a bit patient for the first month or so.
Definitely worth persevering.

[poosmate]

You can also donate to receive download credit. I did this ( 50 Euros) 2 years ago and have downloaded ever since and now have a credit of over 250 gbs. I have set the rss feed to download all the free soaps and also download many other free programs and leave them to seed. Another tip is to download old series ( londons burning etc) these are always popular and will improve ratios.

[buksida]

Ok, will have a go at that then ... may take more than a month though, the upload speed in Thailand is diabolical, they're coming in at 600kB/s and uploading at 0.4kB/s

[dtaai-maai]

The upload speed should improve when you're not downloading anything. At the moment Vuze is uploading stuff at 40-50 kb/s and that frequently goes up to 100-200. I've set the download max at 300 and left the upload at automatic.

[buksida]

Whats with the changing formats (Sandy?), nearly everything you download these days is x264 MP4 - I loathe MP4s, they never play properly and are usually out of synch with the audio.

Is the xvid avi format dying a death?

I'm trying to get the Olympics closing ceremony but they're all passworded rar files or mp4.

Edit: found it on TheBox, still curious about those formats thou...

[pitsch]

I convert MP4 with the program Format Factory to xvid AVI and copy it on a USB stick to see it on TV, works fine.

[GLCQuantum]

Buksi,

You can get the closing ceremony on you tube if your download hasn't finished already.

[buksida]

I've downloaded Format Factory, thanks. Still no idea why avi is dying and its all MP4 now though.

Cheers, found it on TheBox, sadly my connection isnt fast enough for YouTube streaming.