Assassin HTPC - Page 3

It was a question about the guide to eliminating cable that has a section about using torrents but doesn't much cover newsgroups for automatic tv program gathering. I don't think it is piracy if you just use it as a DVR to watch the show later. Not much difference there. The post above by assassin specifically asked what you think of the guide. My question goes along that thread.

The guide by assassin specifically states that they don't condone piracy.

Well one of the ways they give you to eliminate cable is by using torrents and usenet. Sounds like they are condoning and encouraging it to me. Not saying I'm all against it, but for a company trying to make a name, this puts you into the shady category like the guys that sell preloaded hard drives.

There is content on the torrents and usenet that is not copyright protected. It is up to the end user to not download copyrighted material.

I didn't eliminate cable with my HTPC anyway since it has a Ceton cablecard tuner, just eliminated the need to rent their box(es).

OK, I missed the part where you were talking about there being a guide written to eliminate cable and using "other" means. Can someone name a single torrent or nzb that is worth watching that can legally be downloaded in the US?

Well, we definitely don't sell nor condone preloaded drives.

We don't condone piracy either as we state multiple times. As was stated there is completely legal material to download on torrents and usenets.

I have a torrent guide that I have had up at my blog for months that shows how to download legal torrents.

In the end its up to the end user what they want to download. We are not the moral or legal police.

Ok well gimme a break. All the content that is pictured in the guide is copyright protected. Like harry potter, and all those tv shows. The guide is about eliminating cable, and then downloading your shows instead. Which are copyright protected. So lets just be serious here. Again I'm not taking an anti piracy stance. But it is what it is in the guide. And I don't think they are trying to hide that fact. Seems like a mistake.

Assassin just giving my .02 You know we've talked quite a bit in pm's and I have no ill will towards you.



Thats cool man. Theres definitely a place for it. Its your business. You run it as you please. But I'm reporting you to the MPAA

Every NMT on the planet advertises Torrent support, and if assassin wants to compete, he needs to as well. Lets face it, a large portion of the HTPC consumer base is also looking for a device that handles downloads. AVS used to be pretty strict about removing piracy threads, but now there are tons of posts about Sickbeard and Couchpotato, so to me, it's a legitimate offering for Assassins machines. He is not responsible for how people may use the device, after all, there are very legal uses for Torrents

Yup and most of those products are based out of countries far from here. But whatever I'll leave it alone, just giving my opinion.

You realize every time you fire up Anydvd or Makemkv you are violating copyright correct?

Everything about HTPC is a violation of copyright. If it wasn't we would have long ago seen products released by the big boys to capture the market.

Again, Assassin provides a product, how his customers use that product is not, and should not be, his concern.

Yeah so are Sony and Panasonic, your point? Amazon sells a whole range of NMT's and they are based right here. I don't see anyone questioning Amazon when they advertise the torrenting features of the Popcorn hour.

I don't care about piracy dude, I was the guy explaining how to use sickbeard a minute ago. I just personally wouldn't include it in my legit business.

And for the record, in the guide it shows how to search for the show "modern family" and then download it illegally. So the point about legal downloads is pointless. No one pays for usenet to download ubuntu.

Its just a guide. Anyone who overreacts to this is just trying to stir up an argument (whiteboy714, I am not pointing fingers at you because I know that wasn't your intention)

You can use guides for whatever you want. Personally I think its great and great information overall. I didn't know anything about usenets before this. And lots of good information about replacing your DVR WITH a cable card tuner which they discuss. Lots of good info so thank you.

Also, business or not, some very successful legit businesses started up with edgy material. That's how progress is generally made. Big box companies aren't going to push any envelopes. They already did that and are going to keep doing the status quo, progress usually is made by small companies being innovative. What's the old saying by Frank Zappa: Without deviation progress is not possible?

Also, I just realized It says "new member" although I've been coming here since 2003. I guess I shoudl post more. :/

Yah I wasn't trying to slag Assassin. I actually invited him to a torrent site at one point lol.

Wow. I was just trying to get some advice about using newsgroups/usenet to grab TV shows automatically! Didn't mean to start a war..

Has this already happened? If it hasn't do I need to order now to avoid it? I was planning on waiting until the 15th for my next paycheck but if it will save me 160 bucks I will find a way to order now...

HDD prices are up right now. I was at Microcenter today and the prices are pretty much double and they have a limit of two HDD per customer... not a problem since the prices are so high.

We adjusted the prices today. There is nothing we can do about the hard drive prices as they are up at all our suppliers. The prices are through the roof due to the horrible flooding in thailand which is a major supplier for hard drives and hard drive parts.

Ssd prices have been relatively unaffected so far.

Btw here its the thread regarding the hard drive fiasco: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1367970

assassin,

You recommend the HD Homerun for a tv tuner, do you also recommend the HD Homerun Prime? I'm just wondering if all the issues have been worked out with it & it's something you can support.

We have customers using both.

If by support you mean troubleshoot and setup then no we don't support HD Homerun products. I would recommend contacting the company if you have issues which is what we - or anyone else - would have to do if there were issues.

Also setting these up would require me to physically at your house which obviously isn't possible.

I do have a few guides on my blog about setting up these products if you haven't seen them yet.

I just received one of these machines, and so far so good. However, I can't get forced subs to work on MKV.

Any suggestions?

davdev,

you might want to download shark's codec pack, which comes with the vobsub program. or just download the vobsub program itself.

just name the subtitle exactly the same as the movie. i.e. MovieName.mkv (2004) and MovieName.srt (2004)

http://www.codecs.com/download/directvobsub.htm

that's vobsub

or shark's codec...there is an option to display vobsub in shark's settings.

http://shark007.net/

If you haven't done so already send Ben an email. We would be happy to help you get this working correctly.

Should be an easy fix.

PS - Sent you a PM.

I jumped on to your site today to look at the xbmc updates (by the way do you guys remotely configure xbmc?) and saw that you have expanded again adding a couple different product lines. Congrats! Looks like you are ever-expanding. Also congrats on the reviews, etc. That's great!

Please let me know about configuring xbmc also. Now that you do that you are a one-stop shop!