Torrenting and tablets

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nitehawk March 01, 2012

Torrenting and tablets

I love torrenting. I don't do it as much as I used to, but it's infinitely useful for free media and certainly the quickest way to get anything if you're willing to go through the hassle of trial and error. It's a pain to deal with my old laptop, searching for files, making sure the download finishes, transferring the file, sometimes using handbrake to convert the file, hoping it isn't in german or impossible to play, etc, but it's still better than paying money for music, movies and tv shows on premium channels. I've been using Pandora for over a year now so I haven't been downloading music, but for movies and tv it's awesome.

I am in the market for a new laptop, but my two main drivers were the idea of editing video and torrenting blu ray quality movies. Currently my laptop is only capable of downloading smaller 720p movie files and for tv shows it's hard to get 1080i files. I've slowly realized that I don't like editing HD videos on my wife's MBA 13" as much as I thought and with a quad core tablet, torrenting may be a possibility. Currently I still use my 2007 Toshiba Satellite dual core 1.73 GHz machine for my torrenting and transfer everything to my PS3 for playback either with an SD card or my new pogoplug 4 (that I will sell if the right offer comes).

I love being able to watch shows like Dexter, Spartacus, Entourage, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc. for free and refuse to pay $15/month to watch a single tv show. I have a Netflix subscription which has me following plenty of other shows to fill the void when I don't feel like torrenting.

For my gaming desires I am happy with my PS3 and recently got the Vita, but I also have an iPhone 4 so I haven't really wanted an iPad, since the 2 devices are so closely related. There are many nights where my laptop is off and I am either playing PS3 or watching shows off my DVR or Netflix.

With all this being said, if torrenting is possible on the new iPad, I will certainly buy it and then have very little use for a laptop. (I have a work laptop if the situation demands for powerpoint, intense excel, etc.)

Does anyone else feel this way? Is there a possibility that I will be able to torrent using an iPad 3, a NAS(thru pogoplug) and PS3?

What else am I missing out on by not getting a new laptop/desktop?

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6 replies

TABUZX2 2012-03-01 12:51:38

First of all, thank you for being so thorough. Second, Allow me to answer some of your questions.

The iPad 3 cannot torrent anything. Period. I have tried from my iPod touch 4G and there is no way to torrent on an iOS device. However, if you jailbreak, you can monitor external torrents.
The speed of your computer shouldn't have much to do with downloading torrents, just their playback, so here would be my solution for you, to get the best setup out of your desires:

Purchase an iPad 3.
Install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on your Laptop (optional).
Install uTorrent.
Torrent anything you wish to your pogoplug.
There are several iPad apps that allow you to explore NAS devices. Download one.
The PS3 should be able to stream from the NAS.
The iPad can stream from an NAS.
If you are torrenting on your laptop and somehow jailbreak your iPad, you can get the uTorrent app that lets you monitor your torrent progress.
With this setup, you aren't missing much.

If you get a quad core tablet (ASUS Transformer Prime) You really won't be able to do much more than an iPad. If you get a desktop and an iPad you have the best of both worlds, power and portability. I myself plan on getting an iPad and an iMac and just use a VNC client to use my Mac from out of the house. If you have any questions, or I didn't answer all your questions, please let me know in the comments. Hope this helped.

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nitehawk 2012-03-05 09:13:07

I downloaded W8 Consumer Preview and it's nice that it looks like W7 on my work laptop.

The part that sucks is I am having trouble finding old programs and using my sd card slot reader. Right now downloading the software seems like a big mistake, but hopefully it's not as bad as it seems right now.

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TABUZX2 2012-03-06 09:54:01

If you look up the drivers for you laptop, you should find one for the SD card slot. For your programs, when you go to install them, assuming you can find them, when you run the installation, put it into compatibility mode with Windows 7. Also, if you can't find the programs period, but want to use them from another drive or partition, all you have to do is locate the main .exe file on the drive and launch it, in compatibility mode would be best.

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connorg 2012-03-06 12:23:27

If you're willing to let your existing laptop become a dedicated torrent machine, some torrent clients (personally I use Transmission www.trasmissionbt.com/) have a web interface you can access over the local network. That means that you can view and control your torrents from your iPad even though the actual downloading takes place on the laptop.

The logical next step is to use AirVideo (www.airvideoapp.com/) to stream the videos you've downloaded from your laptop to your iPad.

If I was a more heavy torrent use this is the exact setup I would use.

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purfikt 2012-04-25 15:36:13

Sounds like you need a home server.

I use an old HP desktop that I bought off eBay for $70. It is a business model and was likely offloaded by an office that upgraded to newer machines. Anyhow it has a Core2Duo and ethernet and that's all I needed. I put more RAM in there and added a low-profile version of the ATI 5670 that draws very little power. I used Unibeast to put 10.7.2 Lion on there.

I run Transmission and I use the remote web interface from my iPad. I can browse for torrents and copy the magnet link straight into Transmission's web UI.

I use VNC to manage the machine when I'm away (or on my couch). I run PS3 Media Server for home viewing on the PS3. I use Streamtome on the iPad to stream content. Done.

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