This Digital Life #1: RSS + Bittorrent = DVR

There are a lot of nice things about having a "Media Center PC" (MCPC).  I watch Netflix streaming movies on my TV, vodcasts and internet shows, I can read through the newest LOLcats on a big screen and of course it plays DVDs.  But one of the best features is that I can use it instead of a video recorder.  If I miss a show or simply don't want to watch it when it's on I can download it and watch it later.  And it's great to not be stuck watching it in front of my computer.  Another wonderful thing is that you get the show from the original airing station.  For example, if you watch Dr. Who or Primeval then you'll get it from the BBC or Sky network respectively and that means you are watching along with England, sometimes up to 2 season ahead of the state.

I swear by this system.  All it really does is make filters to watch for shows and then pulls them down all by itself.  I leave my filters running all the time so I don't have to worry about what is currently airing and when it'll start up agin.  What shows?  I am currently running the following filters:

• Doctor Who
• Eureka
• Fringe
• Heroes
• How I Met Your Mother
• Lost
• The Middleman (please get renewed!)
• Primeval
• Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Scrubs
• Smallville
• Torchwood (note to self, delete this filter)
• True Blood
• The Venture Brothers
• The Mentalist

Even if you don't have an MCPC this can still help you.  I'm going to show you how to make a list of TV shows you like and have them delivered in high quality right to the computer of your choice.  Here's what you'll need on your computer:

• uTorrent
• Some space to save shows.  Half hour shows are under 200 mg and hour long shows are under 400 mg for the most part.

1. Run uTorrent. uTorrent (pronounced "mu torrent") is a really good bittorrent manager.  The official download is an EXE that doesn't even need installing.
   
   
   
2. Click the RSS button.  It should be the third from the left.
   
   
3. You'll see a window to enter your feed.  This is a list of downlaodable shows that automatically updates as new shows are made available.  Fill it  out just like below:
   
   
   

   The feed is http://tvrss.net/feed/eztv/ and click "custom alias" and enter "EZTV", the web site that publishes the feed.
4. EZTV will appear at the bottom of the left side bar with the RSS icon next to it.  Click it and you should see a list of shows like so:
   
   
   
5. The last step is to create a filter for a show.  If you don't see an episode of the show you want there then you'll have to click Options: RSS Downloader (control + R).
   
   
   
   If you do see it then right click the show and click "Add to Favorites" and you'll get to the same window.
   
   
6. This window is how you make a filter to search for each show.  You can add new filters by right clicking shows or clicking the add button on the bottom to start from scratch.
   
   
   

   Important fields:
   

   • FILTER: The show title.  It must appear exactly as it's posted so watch for hyphens and spaces.  If it's a complicated show name (I'm looking at you, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) then you're safest bet is to click on it from the feed list and then the title fills it in correctly.
     
   • SAVE IN: You must give a default location in order for the show to start downloading automatically.  Otherwise it'll pop up asking where to save it and you'll have to be at your computer to start the download.
   • QUALITY: If you leave it on "ALL" then it will pull every copy of every episode if people put up different sources.  For a standard TV or monitor you'll want HDTV.  This is also the most common so every show has this format and looks better than cable.  If you want an actual High Def version then look at the listings and see which formats people are uploading in.
7. Minimize uTorrent.  It'll shrink to your taskbar and run on it's own.  Just make sure you're set up with upload and download caps.

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And that's it.  Shows usually show up within a couple of hour of air time so you'll have it the next morning with out fail.  It's saved to exactly where you want it and ready to watch.  Simple.  I have my hard drive set up with a main folder for all my television and then sub-folders for each show that I have saved by season.  Shows that I watch as the air are all sent to a "To Watch" folder.  For example:
            c:television\title of show

I use the RSS feed from EZTV.it but you can use any bittorrent site that has an RSS feed for TV shows, like Demonoid.

If your computer or laptop has an s-video out (most laptops now do) then you can plug it into your TV and watch on the big screen.  Don't have s-vid on your TV?  S-vid to composite adapters go for less than $10 (I think closer to $4).  And if you need help with hooking your computer up to your TV then leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Also, let me know what you think of this.  Easy to follow?  Work for you?  Have a better way?