Bit Torrent Guide

 

 

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol. BitTorrent is a method of distributing large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the entire costs of hardware, hosting and bandwidth resources. Instead, when data is distributed using the BitTorrent protocol, each recipient supplies pieces of the data to newer recipients, reducing the cost and burden on any given individual source, providing redundancy against system problems, and reducing dependence on the original distributor.

 

The protocol is the brainchild of programmer Bram Cohen, who designed it in April 2001 and released a first implementation on 2 July 2001. It is now maintained by Cohen's company BitTorrent, Inc.[1]  Usage of the protocol accounts for significant traffic on the Internet, but the precise amount has proven difficult to measure.  There are numerous compatible BitTorrent clients, written in a variety of programming languages, and running on a variety of computing platforms.

 

The 5 Steps to Creating and Uploading a Torrent

The Steps (using torrent client software - “Vuze (formerly Azureus)”)

====================================================

 

Step 1) Preparation -  Install a Bit Torrent Client and create an Account with a Torrent publishing site such as Pirate Bay.

 

Bit Torrent Client – Vuze (formerly Azureus) - download and install the torrent client software, “Vuze (formerly Azureus)” and bookmark the Users Guide:

Download Vuze (formerly Azureus):     

http://www.vuze.com/Download.html 

Vuze (formerly Azureus) and Azureus User Guide (online):  http://wiki.vuze.com/index.php/User_Guide

 

Torrent Upload Site, Pirate Bay:  go to Pirate Bay and create an account :

                                    http://thepiratebay.org

 

Step 2 – setup Vuze (formerly Azureus) download and completion folders

The “Completed Downloads” folder is a setting you make within Vuze (formerly Azureus).  It is best to setup Vuze (formerly Azureus) so that you have one folder for the files that are currently being downloaded, and another folder names “Completed Downloads” for the completions, which is also your “Seeding” folder.  By default, Vuze (formerly Azureus) will seed all completed downloads.  To make your selection of these two folders:

 

Tools/Options . . .

Files

click the folder icon to the far right and browse to select your "Default Directory"  (I use:  F:\Vuze (formerly Azureus)\Downloads\ )

 

Tools/Options . . .

Files/Completion Moving

click the folder icon to the far right and browse to select your "Completion Directory"  (I use:  F:\Vuze (formerly Azureus)\Downloads\Completed  )

Step 3)  prepare your Movie) get a movie to upload, and convert it toAVI format using Xvid video compression with a quality selection of 15  and MP3 audio compression with a bit rate of 128 kbps - see details below.

 

Store the movie AVI file in the Vuze (formerly Azureus) “Completed Downloads” folder.  Actually, the movie can be in any folder on your drive originally – but it is simplest if you place the movie into the SAME folder where your own “completed” downloads go – because that is the same folder where they also become Seeded files !!

 

 

Step 4) create the Torrent with Vuze (formerly Azureus)

open Vuze (formerly Azureus)

File/New Torrent  -  the “Make a Torrent” box pops up

Drag your mouse across the following tracker address, CTRL-C, then paste it into the Vuze (formerly Azureus) “Announce URL” field:

 

Old Announce URL:

http://tpb.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce

 

New Announce URL (they dropped the "tpb" and added ":80":

http://tracker.thepiratebay.org:80/announce
udp://tracker.thepiratebay.org:80/announce  

 

Then make sure you have the following settings below.

 

Open Windows Explorer and drag/drop a file or folder (Directory) onto the "Make a Torrent" Window.

Note that this Window will not yet show the file or folder !!  However it will on the next screen !!

 

If you do move or rename the Torrent or the Movie File/s  - then do it BEFORE posting - NEVER move or rename the Torrent file or your Movie file/s AFTER posting !!!!

 

Comments - leave this BLANK !!  The comments are actually optional, but Pirate Bay seems to have no area where the Torrent embedded "comments" show up !!.  Also, you will be adding a separate set of comments in the Pirate Bay torrent upload form which will be displayed so there is no need for any other comments !!.

 

 

 

Click “Next” and a different “Make a Torrent” box pops up

If you did not drag and drop with the previous screen, then do it now  -  or you can click “Browse” and select the Movie file.

 

 

 

Click “Next” and yet another “Make a Torrent” box pops up

 

Note that there will be a path and torrent filename already in the top field.  You can edit this to your liking !!  Many people like to make their torrent filename long and detailed so that it tells a lot about the movie file (display size, frame per sec, etc).  Unlike typical Internet filenames - spaces are fine for torrent files !!

For example:

 

PBS Independent Lens - 2006[1].01.01 - Seoul Train (TVRip.SoS).torrent

 

Check the first box, “Open the Torrent for Seeding when done”

The 1st box is checked by default – LEAVE IT CHECKED !!!  This way the Torrent opens is Vuze automatically and you begin seeding it!!

The 2

nd and 3rd boxes are unchecked by default – leave them unchecked.

The 4th box is checked by default – leave it that way

 

 Click “Finish” – then wait and watch while the Torrent is created :

 

 

When the Torrent is made, the selections in the box will change to only one button, “Close”.  Click the “Close” button to complete the Torrent creation.

 

Step 5) Upload / Publish the Torrent using PirateBay’s website

 

open up IE and goto Pirate Bay – go directly to your own page (since you now have an account there that you created in Step 1).  The link is:

 

http://thepiratebay.org/user/yourUserID

 

click “Upload Torrent” which takes you to:  http://thepiratebay.org/upload

 

Fill out the Form as shown below:

 

NOTE:  even if you enter the correct code, it usually comes back and says it is wrong – then when you re-enter the next code, it usually accepts that as Right – go figger . . .

 

 

DONE !!!  Vuze (formerly Azureus) is now seeding the Torrent !!

 

Checking to make sure the Torrent is working

 

 

The 2-hour long, 700 MB Movie format 

 

-  aka the “axxo” Format

 

Who is axxo ?   axxo is a legend in the Bit Torrent world, who seems to upload every popular new movie, and his uploads ALWAYS work well and the files are ALWAYS small and easy to doanload).  Many people believe axxo is a Video Store Manager or employee.

 

Downloading movies is sloooowwwww, but we all want decent picture and sound quality ! ! !    That is the tricky part – converting each movie you upload into an AVI file that satisfies two parameters:

 

§        decent picture and sound quality

§         relatively small file  (700 to 750 MB for a 2-hour movie)
* in general, 700-750 MB will apply.  However, the file size will vary in some cases – for example, a football or hockey game has fast action and requires you to use a higher quality Xvid setting.

 

 

 

The “Sweet Spot”

 

I converted many test files to find the “sweet spot” between Quality and File-size.  The trick is to use a small video file as a test.  The file I used was exactly 1/100

th the length of a full movie (1/100 x 2 hours  =  72 seconds).  I converted it using a very low quality Xvid setting.  The quality slider can be set anywhere from highest quality (1) to lowest quality (31).  Then I ran the conversion, and multiplied the final video file-size x 100 to see what the final file-size would be if I had used an actual 2-hour movie.  The best Xvid quality setting was 15 to 20:  For example, I used Xvid quality = 17 with a 2 hr, 48 min movie (168 min long), used 29.97 fps and a fairly large resolution of 640x480, and the final size was 775 MB.  If the movie was 2 hours the file size would have been approx:   120/168 x 775  =  554 MB. 

 

That size is smaller than our target of 700-750 MB, so you can use a higher quality that 17 and I finally decided upon 15 for the “sweet spot”. 

 

The video size should vary, and depends on your source.  If you ripped a DVD your VOB files will be 720x480.  Normally for home use I convert those to exactly half (360x240 – because the resizing algorithm for 1/2 size is the simplest:

 

 

 – which results in the clearest picture).  But the Torrent downloaders don’t trust videos that small – so I make them larger.  I use at least 540 for the width and at least 240 for the height.  Still, for Torrent movies, my favorite size is 640x480.

 

 

 

 

DVD to AVI Conversion

Take your DVD and rip it to your hard drive.  You will have a number of VOB files that contain the video. 

 

IMPORTANT:  many Video converters CANNOT open VOB files, including VirtualDib !!  Yet axxo uses VirtualDub to convert his videos to Xvid format.  So he must either have a source for his videos that is already in mpg or avi format – or he is using another application to first rip the DVD main movie to mpg or avi format, and then he is using VirtualDub to convert to Xvid format

 

But that is yet another step – don’t do it.  Instead:

 

1)      Rip the DVD using AnyDVD (not Free - but is updated frequently to handle crack the latest protection methods) or DVD Decrypter (Free – and it still works on most DVD’s - but is no longer being updated)

2)      Use a VOB-to-AVI converter to convert the VOB’s directly to an Xvid movie file with MP3 audio

       Done !!!

 

Here’s How !!

 

Download and Install the Tools

 

You need 3 tools:   Video Codec, Audio Codec, and a Video Editor/Converter

 

1)  Xvid MPEG-4 codec

“Koepi’s Xvid v1.1.3”

Download Here: 

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Koepi_XviD.htm

 

2)  MP3 Audio (Mpeg-1, audio Layer 3) codec

“MP3 Lame ACM” codec (LAME = LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder)

   Download Here :  

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/LAME_ACM_Codec.htm

   To install :  right-click on the inf file and select “Install”

 

3)  Video Editor/Converter

 

It is almost impossible to find a video converter that will both import VOB’s and export AVI’s !!!  axxo uses VirtualDub but that will not open DVD VOB files directly.  But I know of two that will do the job:
Womble Mpeg Video Editor.- about  5 hours for a 2-hour movie
TMPGenc Express 3.0 – about 7 hours for a 2-hour movie

Both of these are my favorites and they both will work with VOBs and they can export to AVI Xvid format – or MPEG if you prefer. 

 

Why no use WinAVI ??  -  many people love WinAVI as it truly is the fastest converter on the market.  However, it is very problematic with both VOB-to-AVI and even with MPEG-to-AVI.  It workes great for creating DVD’s from AVI or MPEG, however !!

 

Womble

 

Follow the steps below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now just wait for the AVI to be created !!!

 

TMPGenc Express

 

This tool is actually more accurate and is sticks extremely close to all the Video and Audio compression standards.  However, like Womble – for encoding it is very slow,  and in fact is much slower than Womble !!  So I use Womble.

 

Xvid:  Single-Pass,  Quality setting = 15

Video:  fps = 29.97, Resolution = 640x480 (but this will vary)

Audio:  MP3, 48 kHz sampling freq, Stereo (2 channels), 128 kbps

 

 

 

Video Codec -  Xvid  1.0.3 (Koepi’s version of 1.0.3)

 

*** also see the

Xvid.org FAQ

 

The Latest = Koepi’s Xvid Codec 1.1.3 at :

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Koepi_XviD.htm

 

NOTE:  Xvid development is maintained and tracked by CVS (Concurrent Versions System).  The idea is that it is open source code and is customized and bugs are found and corrected by a few people (see this

Link for a good discussion).

HOWEVER – it seems that Xvid.org and the “Xvid Team” is Koepi.  So today, Koepi = Xvid  and  Xvid = Koepi  and everything else is just “other versions” :

 

 

 

     

Koepi  v1.1.0                                      Nik v1.1.0

 

          

Koepi v1.1.3                                       Celtic_Druid  v1.1.3

 

The axxo movies’ are encoded by the older Koepi version of Xvid 1.0.3 which some say this is the BEST version.

 

The Xvid codec is contained within the DLL file “xvidcore.dll” at:

c:\windows\system32\xvidcore.dll

 

** for the axxo videos I tested, Gspot shows this older version of Koepi’s Xvid codec

Which shows up wrongly in Gspot as DX50 (which is DivX 5.0)

 

** my own created movies are from Koepi’s v1.1.2 – which shows up as it should in Gspot (as Xvid) and does not show DX50

NOTE:  his latest version is v1.1.3 (Koepi's 28.06.2007 Final Build)

 

Then people like Koepi, Celtic-Druid, and Nik perfect it and make their own version.

Koepi is by far the most trusted version – he uses the same version numbers as Xvid.org

 

Here is a good config using TMPGenc Express 3.0 and the Koepi Xvid codec.  I used 12 mins duration to display exactly 10% of an entire 2-hour film:

 

 

Quality is all the way down to 51%  -  but the clip looks Fine !!

 

This works !!  Gave me clear Video and good Audio
at a total combined bit-rate of approx 700 kbps

 

 

axxo - VirtualDub

Infocellar - Womble

2-hour Movie is 700-800 MB

same

Virtual Dub Converter

undecided

Video Codec = Xvid

Xvid (Setting = 15)

Resolution = same as Source

same

Aspect Ratio = same as Source

same

Fps = 23.976

same

Audio/Video Frames interleaved 1-to-1

same

Preload = 504 (VirtualDub setting)

undecided

Audio Codec = MP3

same or AC3

Audio Sampling = 48 kHz

same

Audio bit rate = 112 kbps Stereo

128 kbps Stereo

Audio Bit Rate = CBR

same