Automated downloading

[tek-monkey]

I've finally got around to installing my new server, I got one of the HP micro servers I've posted about recently. Great little box, all up and running Windows 7 (finally, damn updates!) so I thought I'd have another play with automating my downloads.

I have set up an SABNZB server, being fed by Couch Potato (Movies) and Sick Beard (TV). Between the two they find all new TV episodes or movies I want, as soon as they are released, get any artwork and descriptions, rename them for me and put them in a better folder structure. I can even tag things direct on IMDB, and they will be found and downloaded as they get released. All this gets fed nicely into XBMC, to allow me to search properly and check what stuff is before watching it.

I thought I'd post this to see if anyone else does similar, and to help advise if anyone wants to try it themselves.

 

[tek-monkey]

I've also just installed NZB Unity, an android app that manages all the above programs in one place. Not fully tried it out yet, but I added a TV series to Sick Beard and its started downloading which is promising!

 

[Gramaisc]

Will it watch all this stuff for you, as well..?

 

[tek-monkey]

No, but I have an unlicensed moose for that. If something is particularily good he tells me!

 

[highguyuk]

How much does downloading all this "free" content cost you?

 

[tek-monkey]

I pay about a fiver per month for secure newsgroup access, and there was a one off fee of a few quid for my nzbmatrix account to do the searching. You can get PAYG newsgroup access if you just want to try it out.

It's essentially a much smarter version of my tivo, that I can view from different devices. This is how pay tv should work, but it can't because of how they sell the rights to countries separately.

 

[Darren]

Were do you co locate your server, i got given a server by AMD a year or two back and it has been sitting in a cupboard ever since, it is a 4u server and i suspect it is a good one as it has two cpu's on the mobo and is running windows server.

 

[tek-monkey]

At the moment its on my dining room table, but will be moving back to the attic soon (I've put network cabling in). Mine is just a small one though (One of these), you'll ideally need a rack for yours but they can be used without. The main issue was finding somewhere I could get power and wired network but not have it somewhere I could see/hear, if yours is 4U with 2 CPUs I'm guessing its a bit noisy. Wish AMD would give me one!

 

[Darren]

The one i have got is massive, AMD gave me it for sponsoring my gaming clan, it was sent from Holland
Really it is something i will never use, when i looked into having it co located the cheapest was around £100 a month because it is 4U, i now use Heart internet for my websites and hosting.

 

[tek-monkey]

Ever thought of selling it? If its a decent spec then it may be worth a few quid, although if its 2 years old it may be lagging a little now.

The main reason for getting this micr server was the power draw, only 35w when idle. My old PC I used as a server was pulling 4 times that!

 

[PeterD]

Sounds like a really good set up tek monkey, very impressed. I do all mine manually, however after investing in a roku and some DVR space on ustvnow I dont even download the tv shows that air on the FTA US channels. Obviously the likes of Dexter etc I download, but its seriously limited it now. Would love a set up like yours but most of my stuff is streamed so wouldnt add much value I think.

 

[tek-monkey]

I have to admit that I'm rather happy with the whole setup, now it works anyway! I ran into a few issues with the post processing, where it renames everything and grabs details, but its all running fine now. Even better the server itself only cost me £90, I got it on a decent special offer but it sold out fast. It was actually £190, but HP offer £100 back if you buy from certain suppliers. It comes with a 250Gb drive and 2Gb of RAM, I put a few more drives in (it has 4 hot swap style bays) but it could do with a bit more RAM I think.

At this price the box is an amazing alternative to a local NAS, but it does so much more as well. Only down side I can see is the CPU may not be up to transcoding, I'd hoped to stream things to my phone/tablet/GFs house as well once they were downloaded. I may be able to use the graphics card to help though, I have a spare half height 3450 I've put in to test.

If you mainly stream though, like you do, I don't think its that much use! I've just had another look at the android app and I'm really happy with how thats working out, I can effectively control my entire media downloading needs whilst in the pub

 

[tek-monkey]

I just remembered there are remote controls on android for xbmc, I can now browse media on my phone and view it on the tv. It even shows calls and texts on the train and pauses the video during calls. This is so much better than Virgin or sky, and to think I still pay Virgin £40 a month.

 

[tek-monkey]

It doesn't really show calls or texts on the train, that would be silly. It does on the screen, I can only assume a combination of fat fingers and a slightly ignorant spell checker caused this!

 

[tek-monkey]

Just thought I'd add, I now have this downloading music in the same way. The app is called headphones, and it seems quite good although nowhere near as polished as sick beard / couch potato. Its started downloading back catalogues of a few artists I've tested, although the search providers I use are more video based so a few things are missing.

I also stuck a £40 SSD in as the boot drive, after windows I still had 90Gb spare so all my downloads go onto that before post processing. Means I don't need any HDs spinning apart from when downloads are renamed and moved to the right folders, makes it a little quieter

 

[tek-monkey]

Bumping this for perry081064 as we've been discussing it, probably better to post in here than private so other people can see it.

 

[Perrier]

nice one Tek

time to get reading methinks .

 

[tek-monkey]

No probs, its a bit out of date but most of it is still correct. Nzbmatrix is no more but I can find you a few other places to try.