I’ve got a Sonarr/Plex setup that works really well for me, but it was a pain to get it all set up initially and I think even computer literate people would struggle.
I built my own computer, been using PCs since I was two years old, I know how to use CLIs and I already run Plex. But Sonarr was such a fucking hassle to set it up that I got halfway through the set up and gave up.
What they don’t explain is that you need two accounts (or more) for these to work.
A Usenet account.
An indexer account that is basically a search engine.
You also need a download app like nzbget. And ofc you setup an account on that and plug it into sonarr.
And an account for the nas or storage if it’s not local.
Sonarr searches the index, finds the files, talks to nzbget and says “download that shit for me and put it together”. Nzbget uses the Usenet account to fetch the stuff, assembles the parts and tells sonarr I’m done. Sonarr then renames it and puts it on your nas.
It’s admittedly fairly abstract, even for someone seasoned in systems admin work.
eh, as someone quite used to pirating on private trackers with qbittorrent, I didn’t find it too difficult to conceptualize once I really looked at how the *Arr pipeline works - at least with torrents. Usenet is an entirely different beast that I haven’t needed to tackle since torrents have everything I need so far.
As per most tech things, though, I don’t think there’s a good end-to-end guide out there (lots of piecemeal ones, though) and having good research skills and being able to fill in the gaps in guides yourself is pretty important.
As per most tech things, though, I don’t think there’s a good end-to-end guide out there (lots of piecemeal ones, though) and having good research skills and being able to fill in the gaps in guides yourself is pretty important.
Yeah for sure. For most non-techy folks using one of the arrs setups or even plex has a pretty steep curve.
It’s why Netflix will continue to make subs.
I think what’s missing from this article is they have had a show or two lately that have been solid. Ie: the Diplomat. And that will drive up subs. But not sure it has the staying power. Folks will flip back to something else when another service drops something good.
How do those things work? When I first saw them come in to existence I was under the impression they were just front ends for navigating and playing media in your personal library and storage, like windows media centre used to be, but they seem to be something altogether a lot more capable and complicated. Where does the content come from? Is it streamed?
The content is either ripped from Blu-ray/dvd or (most commonly) just pirated. Sonarr is an “automated” pirating software. You hook it up with a couple of popular torrent trackers, and configure TV shows you want to track/watch. It queried TVDB and other IMDb like services as well as torrent trackers to automatically detect when a new episode was released and auto-download it.
Plex is the media organizer/player after you’ve “acquired” your media.
That’s true about young people tolerating it.
I’ve got a Sonarr/Plex setup that works really well for me, but it was a pain to get it all set up initially and I think even computer literate people would struggle.
You’re absolutely right.
I built my own computer, been using PCs since I was two years old, I know how to use CLIs and I already run Plex. But Sonarr was such a fucking hassle to set it up that I got halfway through the set up and gave up.
What they don’t explain is that you need two accounts (or more) for these to work.
A Usenet account.
An indexer account that is basically a search engine.
You also need a download app like nzbget. And ofc you setup an account on that and plug it into sonarr.
And an account for the nas or storage if it’s not local.
Sonarr searches the index, finds the files, talks to nzbget and says “download that shit for me and put it together”. Nzbget uses the Usenet account to fetch the stuff, assembles the parts and tells sonarr I’m done. Sonarr then renames it and puts it on your nas.
It’s admittedly fairly abstract, even for someone seasoned in systems admin work.
eh, as someone quite used to pirating on private trackers with qbittorrent, I didn’t find it too difficult to conceptualize once I really looked at how the *Arr pipeline works - at least with torrents. Usenet is an entirely different beast that I haven’t needed to tackle since torrents have everything I need so far.
As per most tech things, though, I don’t think there’s a good end-to-end guide out there (lots of piecemeal ones, though) and having good research skills and being able to fill in the gaps in guides yourself is pretty important.
Yeah for sure. For most non-techy folks using one of the arrs setups or even plex has a pretty steep curve.
It’s why Netflix will continue to make subs.
I think what’s missing from this article is they have had a show or two lately that have been solid. Ie: the Diplomat. And that will drive up subs. But not sure it has the staying power. Folks will flip back to something else when another service drops something good.
If everyone who hosts Jellyfin/Plex/Emby shares the instance with a few friends or family members…
How do those things work? When I first saw them come in to existence I was under the impression they were just front ends for navigating and playing media in your personal library and storage, like windows media centre used to be, but they seem to be something altogether a lot more capable and complicated. Where does the content come from? Is it streamed?
The content is either ripped from Blu-ray/dvd or (most commonly) just pirated. Sonarr is an “automated” pirating software. You hook it up with a couple of popular torrent trackers, and configure TV shows you want to track/watch. It queried TVDB and other IMDb like services as well as torrent trackers to automatically detect when a new episode was released and auto-download it.
Plex is the media organizer/player after you’ve “acquired” your media.