Lots of video and audio files are available online nowadays. If you missed Jon Stewart on Crossfire, yesterday's Daily Show, Ashlee Simpson on SNL, Triumph in Spin Alley: Poop Valhalla, the latest episode of Lost or the entire first season of Deep Space Nine, you can download them--and lots of other really cool stuff--from cyberspace using Bittorrent.
Unfortunately, downloading bittorrents is a little more complicated than simply downloading a file directly from a server. You need extra software to do it. But as this diary attempts to explain, it's all really pretty simple and worth the effort.
So what's so great about bittorrents? If you are downloading a video from a server, the server gets bogged down as more and more people try to download the file. But torrents don't work that way--instead, the server you connect to is just a starting point for downloading. The file is actually broken up into little pieces, and you download individual pieces not just from the server, but also from other people who already have pieces you might need. This is a peer-to-peer (p2p) application, meaning that as you obtain pieces, other people can also start to download those pieces from you.
The net effect (heh heh... that's a pun) is that unlike downloading from a single server, with torrents, downloading actually becomes more efficient as more people participate. Kinda like democracy.
OK, enough theory. How do you get started? First of all, you can learn all you need to know about torrents at the official Bittorrent website. Or not. All you really need is a Bittorrent client. Personally, my favor is Azureus. It may a little more difficult than others to set up initially, because you need to also get Java--instructions are on the site--but I think it's worth the effort.
Finally, to watch videos you need a video player. If you're lucky, the person who uploaded the video hasn't used any special encoding, and you can watch it using your favorite video software, or whatever is on hand, such as Quicktime or MS Media Player. If you're not so lucky and they've used some special encoding, you'll get an error message when you try to play the video.
If you get an error message from your video player saying that it couldn't find the right decoder, you have two choices. You can try to hunt down a free decoder using Google and install it. (And hope it doesn't screw up your system and any other decoders that are installed.) Or you can download the VLC video player.
Using VLC is the easiest choice, and it's a decent enough program, but it has its quirks and isn't as nice and easy to use as commercial video players. Personally, I've located and installed many decoders (some of which I later had to uninstall) because I prefer to use MS Media Player or the ATI video software that came with my graphics card, when that works. But occasionally I still have to fall back on using VLC.
OK. So now you're armed and ready. Where do you go hunting for torrents? The best place to start is Suprnova.org. They have movies, tv shows, and lots of other stuff (some of which you'd best avoid. Also note that that's Suprnova.org. Avoid the .com and .net copycats.)
If you only care about the Daily Show, you might also try Shuntv.net. They seem to get the Daily Show earlier that Suprnova but you have to register.
Happy viewing!
Note: After you download, if you're really unlucky, you might find that instead of downloading a single video file, such as an .avi or .mpg, you've instead got dozens of files, one of which ends in .rar. Anyone who uploads files to bittorrent like this is an idiot. You'll need some software which will paste all those files together to produce the video file you want to watch. You can use WinRAR on a time trial basis to stitch them back together. Simplyzip will also do the job; it works and it's free, but it isn't easy to use.