My Torrent Guide

Just thought I would put together a Bit-torrent guide. Don't be expecting any rocket science here. This is just going to be the basic's.

First of all I am stating that to copy films / files/ programs/ software without the owners permission is illegal!! Do not do it. Any information that follows is purely educational.

With the advent of broadband technologies such as DSL and cable modems, the everyday user suddenly has a big chunk of bandwidth, not only for download, but also upload. Sharing files directly from your computer (without first sending them to a server) is now a reality. This is where p2p comes in. The acronym p2p stands for peer-to-peer, which basically means client to client. That is, you download files from people like you instead of from big servers, and in turn they download files from you. You share your files, your friends share their files, and everyone talks directly to each other.
The problem with most P2P networks is that many people just don't like to share. They open up their program, download their files, then close the program before they can help anyone else. It's called leeching. BitTorrent is a P2P file swarming application. This means that as soon as you have downloaded a few chunks of a file it will start uploading it to others, thereby spreading the file better. This makes it easier to get the file from many different people at once, thereby increasing the probably that you'll get a good download speed. This means that the more you upload, the faster you'll download.

You first need to install a Bit Torrent client to be able to download from BitTorrent. There is a evergrowing list of these.
Next you have to find a Bit Torrent to download. There are lots of sites out there which have links to whatever Torrent you prefer.

Guide to torrent abrievations;
I am not an expert and if anyone has a better explanation please help clear up my (mis)understanding,
CAM- usually lowest quality, like camcorder in a theater
TS - TeleSync visually about as good maybe better than CAM, but has a direct source to the audio, so audio is usually better than CAM
TC - TeleCine, much better than CAM and TS, not exactly sure how movie is recorded
Screener - usually DVD of new movie that is sent out early to stores or awards organizations or even as promotional material... usually has property of so and so studios or some other marker like station identification or subtitles...
I'm not sure why some people choose to put out DivX or XviD, or VCD vs. SVCD or DVDrip or .iso or .cue or .bin files, probaly down to personal choice, but in the end if you want to put these files onto DVD then you have to convert them again with the appropiate software. So you can see this process takes time and it's just not a walk in the park.

ZoooooooooM

The Madasafish 8Mbps trial has begun! A handful of lucky Madasafish customers were selected to assist in testing the super-fast broadband service which is expected to launch later this year. With an 8Mb connection online gaming, internet radio and the future promise of TV over broadband will be seamless and waiting for content to load will be a thing of the past.

Click here for link to full article.

Powerline communications come of age

Power line communications (PLC) has evolved into Broadband Powerline Communications (BPL) that has two primary applications - broadband access (BPL-Access) and home networking (BPL-Indoor)
A new report has been produced on this technology by Research and Markets Ltd and finds that:
- Every household connected to the power grid can be offered BPL-Access service by the power utility in partnership with the appropriate vendor. More than eighty trials and commercial deployments are currently underway in all the continents.
- BPL has matured to a point where it poses a serious challenge to entrenched technologies in the realms of both broadband access and home networking. Since BPL allows the use of existing infrastructure, it lowers the cost of deployment and allows service providers to offer competitive pricing.
- BPL-Access offers higher data rates than other widely available competing alternatives such as DSL and cable modem. Similarly, BPL-Indoor competes against other home networking technologies, such as Wi-Fi and HomePNA, and offers several competitive advantages.
- A wide range of innovative BPL-enabled devices are being introduced into the market. These devices range from broadband gateways, digital media adapters, personal computers (PCs), and home security monitoring devices. More than 30 device vendors are competing in this market.
- The HomePlug standard is driving the home networking market. Intellon?s ?turbo? solution supports 85 Mb/s, and the upcoming HomePlug AV standard will support 200 Mb/s. Competing proprietary solutions have been proposed by DS2, Spidcom, and Panasonic. All these solutions support Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and triple-play applications - data, voice and video.
- There is no BPL-Access standard, but several proprietary standards with unique capabilities are being offered. DS2?s 205 Mb/s technology, which enjoys the support of most of the BPL-Access vendors, has been chosen as the baseline technology by the OPERA consortium. The HomePlug standard is being enhanced to support BPL-Access, creating the prospect of multiple competing standards.
- Vendors involved in BPL range from start-ups to established players such as Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Siemens, Sharp, and Samsung. Additional major vendors will get involved in BPL in the coming months.
- Service providers involved in BPL range from telephone operators (BellSouth, France Telecom), cable companies (Comcast, Cox), satellite services providers (Hughes, EchoStar), and fixed wireless access providers.
- Those deploying BPL-Indoor solutions include schools, hotels, and multi-dwelling units (MDUs) and multi-tenant units (MTUs). In addition, there have been several of deployments in residential neighborhoods.