Torrentocracy = RSS + Bit Torrent + Your TV

lerhaupt writes "I've started a project called Torrentocracy which is the combination of RSS, Bit Torrent and your Television. It's written as a plugin for MythTV (the homebrew Linux PVR project). This means you can not only easily find out about new torrents from various enclosure enabled blogs, but you can also start the torrent download process with the click of your TV remote control. Are RSS aggregators which support torrent downloads the next greatest thing since web browsers? What is the significance of hooking this directly to your TV? Here's a screenshot."

Obligatory pr0n joke

[ultrabot]

Except for the fact that I'll need to keep my television on 24 hours a day to seed.

Aren't you doing that anyway?

Re:Sounds Wonderful

[MeanE]

Mmm perhaps not.

You would have to leave your PVR/whatever on to seed, but as you might of noticed, your computer continues to function with your monitor off.

Bad rep

[random_culchie]

Its a really good idea. But when your dealing with programs like bit torrent with its reputation for illicit downloads you're fighting an uphill battle to get any sort of mainstream interest.

Computer + TV card

[freeduke]

A lot of people take the problem from the other side, while trying to download movies on your TV, we prefer to watch tv on our PCs.

i love the idea of torrents but ...

[buro9]

have always failed to get complete large files.

if this is to work on a television, maybe torrents should start to be paired with PAR files to create a far more robust method of fetching large files.

sure these might need to be seeded and torrent files too, but as the PAR files could be dramatically smaller (i.e. 15% of size depending on size of parity) than the full torrent file, they could be published on the sites of the copyright owner (in the case of legit works where the company is using torrents to save bandwidth).

simply put, user expectations when they use simple devices like a TV is that it just works... how many times have you NOT got a complete torrent and /or had trouble getting torrent working efficiently. PAR's could help bring in the robustness that dumb users would need.

just my 2c!

Re:Bad rep

[Stevyn]

Not nessesarily, as far as p2p apps go, this has the best reputation in my opinion. For example, when mandrake released their ISOs of mandrake 10 to the club members, they distributed it over torrent. Another plus for bit torrent is you need to use a secondary method of finding the torrent files so unlike kazaa, there is no "search for music" option. Being open source also helps in that you can ensure there is no spyware. I think bit torrent can succeed as a reputable p2p app because it was not designed to steal music and divx movies, it just happens to do it well.

Now you've done it, Thanks for all the work Isaac.

[Fapestniegd]

I kept hoping no one would do this. I'd seen requests for something like it on mythtv-users. Now that MythTV will be indistinguishable from "Movie Pirates" in the MPAA's eyes. It's probably only a matter of time before the whole project gets litigated, albeit unjustly, into oblivion. Well I hope Isaac can file legal paperwork and code at the same time, but I'm guessing not. And don't bother telling me this is a separate plug-in for MythTV, I know that. What I'm saying here is that the MPAA's lawyers don't know or won't care.

Re:Now you've done it, Thanks for all the work Isa

[davidu]

Actually James, this could be a good thing.

There are plenty of fair-use cases for this sort of application and if MythTV were to get sued over something like this than it would potentially not only be a good case for the EFF to stand behind but also a bunch of consumer electronics companies.

We know Orrin Hatch just created that new INDUCE bill he's going to try to pass and this is the sort of development it would try to suppress. Groups like the EFF and CE companies like Phillips, Sony, Sanyo, etc should all stand behind things like this that are creative in advancing fair-use rights in the digital space and that have clear non-infringing benefits.

-davidu

Re:Appropriateness of torrents for this, and legal

[mjh]

Wouldn't this make no sense unless you wanted to wait forever for the program to be completely downloaded?

In a previous post [slashdot.org] I talked about a similar problem when TiVo suggested a similar feature. I think this would apply here too. This doesn't change the DVR recording model, which is schedule something and watch it later. The only thing that this adds is that it makes the Internet a like a TV channel, from which you can set up something to record, and then watch it later. It's not *exactly* like a TV channel, but it still fits the DVR model.

Does it make sense to put this amount of effort into support of what might be intended to be an illegal activity for most?

The person/people who are creating this tech have got to pull off a trick. They've got to figure out how to make sure that the only content available is distributed with the permission of the copyright holder. If they can do that, then they have a much more credible case that this is not intended to be a tool which is intended for copyright violation.

I don't mean to suggest that copyright is a good thing. But it exists in today's world. It never ceases to amaze me when we (the slashdot crowd) get up in arms when someone violates the GPL (i.e. violates copyright) and then we turn around and violate copyright when it comes to music or movies or ... The point is that we can't ride whatever side of the fence is most convenient. Either copyright should be enforceable and we support others rights to enforce their copyrights or copyright should not be enforceable and we allow GPL violations without restriction. Which means that if we want a solid GPL, then we should also ensure that this tech does everything to respect other's copyrights.

$.02.

problem w/idea of a massive PVR/torrent system

[psmyylie]

As neat as it would be to live in a world where everyone has PVR's integrated into their TV's, and anyone interested connects to a .torrent for the file through a web interface on their TV/media pc/whatever, I can't see it likely in any near future.
1. The inconvenience. As another poster indicated, BT downloads RANDOM chunks, so you'd have to wait until the entire file is downloaded until you can watch it.
2. The bandwidth. If this BT concept became as ubiquitous as PVR's will be in the future, the home ISPs would collectively have a heart attack. Now, I don't own my own ISP, but from what I understand just about all of them could never put up with every, or a significant amount, of their subscribers utilizing their upload amounts. They sell you those great 3mbit/1mbit (or whatever) lines, but if you consistently use the 1mbit line for WHATEVER reason, many ISPs (comcast anyone?) will automatically flag and cap you once you cross a data transfer amount (an amount they refuse to disclose to you). Granted, torrents are a great idea for spreading popular files, but it is a system that requires (or at least thrives on) people kicking back whatever they can into the system.
Anyone else see that as a serious problem?

Re:i love the idea of torrents but ...

[slashjames]

Just make sure that anything you're downloading has a couple of seeds before starting the download. ;-)

And THAT is why this is unsuitable for your average user. They want to download it and expect it to work, regardless of how many other people are sharing it at the time. When's the last time you had a large file you were getting from an FTP site just disappear mid-download (except in the case of /. effect)?

Re:i love the idea of torrents but ...

[asland]

If a file is being provided by a company/whoever that would have had a permanant FTP, the torrent should always have a seed: the company's would be FTP server that is now acting as a BT server.

Re:Now you've done it, Thanks for all the work Isa

[SpecBear]

Historically, the actions of the industry have shown that they make little distinction between actual pirates (e.g., that guy on the street corner selling DVD's made from a theater camcording) and legitimate paying users who choose to exercise their fair use rights to consume media in a manner not approved by the MPAA. Mr. Valenti's now infamous "Boston stranger" comment springs to mind. These are the people that movie industry reps are usually talking about when they say "pirate."

MythTV users are already "pirates." But as long as they stay relatively few in number, the industry will ignore them.

Re:Easily Tracked?

[Planesdragon]

BitTorrent is a replacement for FTP, not Napster.