OVERVIEW
Flexability
As with so many things, there is no 'best' way to download with Usenet. There is only what works best for you. The tools here represent only a fraction of the tools available. The internet is repleat with tools for various setups.
As you become more familiar with how Usenet works and learn about using it for downloading, you'll no doubt find some interesting programs that may enhance your experience. Some of the more popular programs are listed here.
xTeVe
IPTV and Plex
If you use Plex (with PlexPass) and you have an IPTV subscription, you can integrate up to about 450 IPTV channels into Plex. You may know that you can watch TV channels in Plex using its Live TV & VCR function. This function is designed to work with third party tuners like the SiliconDust HDHomerun. It displays a TV guide and even allows recording just like a PVR. The recording can be saved to any of your TV libraries and you can set the recording function to automatically delete older recordings if you so choose.
xTeVe was designed to exploit this Plex feature by acting as a proxy for an HDHomerun tuner. Basically, Plex thinks xTeVe is a tuner so it has all the functions that any other tuner would have. The only limitation is Plex has a channel limit of about 450 channels. This shouldn’t be an issue though because most users really watch less than 200-300 IPTV channels regularly anyway. It’s recommended that you still utilize your IPTV app for VOD and 24/7 channels but xTeVe does allow a convenient way to watch and record your favorite live channels.
One note about recording with xTeVe. Some users have reported dropped or failed recordings. This is normally due to a stall in the IPTV stream. The recoding function in Plex will sometimes stop recording if it senses a signal drop for more than a second or two. The stall may be due to issues with the signal stream from your IPTV provider or it may be due to a speed issue with your ISP. Even without the recording feature, xTeVe gives you the pleasure of watching IPTV from within Plex.
The setup for xTeVe can be complicated if you’re not familiar how the Live TV & VCR function works in Plex. You also need a fundamental understanding of .m3u/.xmltv files and how to edit them. Once you get the hang of things, it’s not that difficult. The hard part is learning the basics. I strongly advise you to read up on everything before you try to use xTeVe.
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m3u EDITING
Editing your IPTV Channel list
People with IPTV subscriptions sometimes like to edit their channel list by removing the channels they will never watch. Since most IPTV providers have channel lists that include channels from many non-English channels, some people who only speak English like to remove those channels before using the m3u file. This has the advantage of giving you a less cluttered EPG that's easier to navagate.
Some people like myself just use Notepad or Notepadd++ to trim the channel list. However, most people prefer a program designed to edit m3u files. These programs allow you to import the m3u file from your IPTV provider and easily remove and/or rearrange channels. These programs come at a cost (except one for now) but they make the job so easy for non-technical people that they feel it's worth the cost.
Below are just a few of the popular online m3u editing services. One special note about M3U4U. This is a free service as of now. However, it's possible that it may turn into a paid service at a later date.
LIDARR
Sonarr for Music
Lidarr is a music collection manager for Usenet and BitTorrent users. It can monitor multiple RSS feeds for new tracks from your favorite artists and will grab, sort and rename them. It can also be configured to automatically upgrade the quality of files already downloaded when a better quality format becomes available.
Current Features
- Support for major platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, etc.
- Automatically detects new tracks.
- Can scan your existing library and download any missing tracks.
- Can watch for better quality of the tracks you already have and do an automatic upgrade.
- Automatic failed download handling will try another release if one fails.
- Manual search so you can pick any release or to see why a release was not downloaded automatically.
- Fully configurable track renaming.
- Full integration with SABnzbd and NZBGet.
- Full integration with Kodi, Plex (notification, library update, metadata).
- Full support for specials and multi-album releases.
- And a beautiful UI
BAZARR
Subtitle (closed caption) Downloader
Bazarr is a companion application to Sonarr and Radarr that manages and downloads subtitles based on your requirements. Search automatically for missing subtitles and download them as soon as they become available in your desired language.
LAZY LIBRARIAN
Sonarr for ebooks
LazyLibrarian is a program to follow authors and grab metadata for all your digital reading needs. It uses a combination of Goodreads Librarything and optionally GoogleBooks as sources for author info and book info. This project isn't finished yet. Goal is to create a Sonarr, Radarr, Headphones-like application for ebooks. Headphones is used as a base, so there are still a lot of references to it.
Current Features
- Import an existing calibre library (optional).
- Automatically detects new tracks.
- Find authors and add them to the database.
- List all books of an author and mark ebooks or audiobooks as 'wanted'.
- LazyLibrarian will search for a nzb-file or a torrent or magnet link for that book.
- If a nzb/torrent/magnet is found it will be sent to a download client or saved in a black hole where your download client can pick it up.
- Currently supported download clients for usenet are :
- sabnzbd (versions later than 0.7.x preferred).
- nzbget.
Currently supported download clients for torrent and magnets are:
- deluge.
- transmission.
- utorrent.
- qbittorrent.
- rtorrent.
- synology_downloadstation.
When processing the downloaded books it will save a cover picture (if available) and save all metadata into metadata.opf next to the bookfile (calibre compatible format)
The new theme for the site allows it to be accessed (and usable) from devices with a smaller screen (such as an iPad)
AutoAdd feature for book management tools like Calibre which must have books in flattened directory structure, or use calibredb to import your books into an existing calibre library.
LazyLibrarian can also be used to search for and download magazines, and monitor for new issues
Offers opds interface for ebook clients to browse and download books.
MYLAR
Sonarr for Comics
An automated Comic Book downloader (cbr/cbz) for use with SABnzbd, NZBGet and torrents. Mylar is based heavily on the Headphones logic, and is an automated Comic Book (cbr/cbz) downloader. Because it's based on Headphones, it's obviously built in Python. (Python 3.x is not supported, use 2.7x)
