A
Anonymous
Anonymous
I have some VHS shows that I would like in a digital format. Can some one walk me through the basics of torrenting?
If you have the VHS tapes there is no need to torrent the files, you can simply get an adapter that lets you plug your VCR into your computer. After that you can simply record the VHS tapes to your computer and enjoy your digital copies.
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A
Anonymous
Anonymous
Like @Hylian says, "Torrenting" is not the process of converting from VHS to another format, it is a method for spreading a large file across an arbitrarily large group of people (the "swarm"). An adapter such as mentioned would be the best way of doing what you want, unless the tapes are protected with Macrovision copy protection, in which case you may have to jump through a couple more hoops to accomplish your task.
--Patrick
--Patrick
A torrent is a small file that describes a peer to peer network built for one specific piece of data. You need two things to accomplish your task:
1. Torrent program
2. Torrent file for the data you're interested in
There are a multitude of torrent programs that will read a torrent file, connect to the other people in that network, and start downloading a little piece from each of several other people. Once you've downloaded a few pieces you too will start sharing the pieces you have with others on the network. While downloading copyrighted materials isn't necessarily illegal, sharing them with others is, and that is the legal basis for most torrent copyright lawsuits. Once you've connected to the network, you're essentially agreeing to help everyone get a copy of the data, and if you don't have the right to distribute it, you are in violation of copyright law. This is true even if you have your own copy already. Just because you have a copy doesn't give you the right to share any part of it with others.
So, once you've established whether you have the right to distribute the data, or you are willing to break copyright law, you need to find the torrent file you're interested in.
Simple methods are to use a search engine. "ubuntu torrent" for instance will pull up a number of sources for torrent files which have the OS Ubuntu. This is a hit and miss situation, but it'll get you started in finding the websites that collect databases of torrents. Note that these websites are typically hacker's paradise. There are not only terrible ads, but some ads that look like the button you should click to get the torrent file. Read the site carefully, and if it isn't giving you the torrent, move on to another site.
Once you've found a torrent file, the website providing it will often give you an idea of its health. It looks at the network the torrent file describes and tells you how many seeds the torrent has, and how many leechers. The seeds are people who have a complete copy of the data and are still sharing it. The leechers are people who have incomplete copies of the data.
You should choose a torrent with several seeds if possible. One seed may be enough if the health data is up to date (it might not be). It's possible to get a complete copy without seeders if there are enough leeches and it's a very popular torrent, but it's very unlikely. If the data you want consists of several files you might be able to get many of those files.
These website are called "trackers" for torrent tracking. They host the torrent files, but not the data itself. They evaluate the health of the network for each torrent, and provide reviews, information about the data, and so forth.
The most reliable place to find good torrents is through a private tracker. These sites typically operate on an invitation only basis, so you have to know someone who is already part of one. They usually have rules regarding how much you can download versus how much you've uploaded. For instance, once you get your program you can tell it not to share with the network. Private trackers don't allow that behavior - if you want to download you also have to upload, and may have to seed for a period of time as well. If you don't follow the rules you'll be kicked out, but they are pretty easy to follow. There is at least one user here on halforums that appears willing to provide invites to the private tracker he prefers, so ask if you aren't having luck with public trackers and searching.
Note that the best time to get a piece of data is when it's popular. Then there are lots of people seeding and downloading. While you can find obscure stuff, it's risky for people to seed old files forever as they may be tracked by those investigating copyright violations online.
This tutorial glosses over and simplifies a number of realities about torrenting, but it should give you start.
