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Quick Set-up: Premium Version, Usenet Downloads

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Revision as of 18:04, 20 October 2011 by Robert d (Talk | contribs) (Media Center Master's Support for Usenet)

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The current version of Media Center Master is 2.14. Version 1.32 has been used for many the examples in the wiki, so beware that some of the options may be expanded or look different than various screen shots.

Official/Unofficial Wiki Pages Most of the content on the wiki was written by fans and users like yourself. If a page is marked as Official, then the content was written with official information (usually by the software author).


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***** Disclaimer -- read this before using Usenet Downloader *****

Media Center Master Version 1.33 should be used with this guide. Additional registration and activation at other sites is required for Usenet downloads, no additional software is needed.

In that there is no detailed Guide for Usenet downloads, this Quick - Set-up Guide is designed for users having experience or no experience with Usenet downloads. It will provide the same basic set-up configuration for downloading Movies and TV Series Episodes with the associated meta-data for each, just like the Quick - Set-up: Premium Version, Torrent Downloads Guide. It will also provide additional information related to Usenet downloading for those users unfamiliar with Usenet. It does not include information for setting up an existing collection for fetching meta-data.

A detailed set of guides is available for downloading with torrents. It starts with the Installation Notes - read, before installing and finishes with How to Interpret the First Run. It includes images, details about the steps, information about how the processing of fetching meta-data, downloads, and automation works, as related to the installation. It is designed for a specific task of downloading a few episodes at a specific time for a known result to be used for testing the user's configuration and settings.

The settings used in all of the guides are not designed to be used as a real life, real time, configuration. These guides are intended to get an installation of Media Center Master functional so the settings can then be customized by the user. Jumping between the guides (attempting to shorten the length of the detailed guide) to customize a user set-up may not produce the results the user is wishing to accomplish.

The wiki guides use a different presentation for a configuration setup than what is listed in the forums (Support>(Guide) MCM & µTorrent integration). Do not attempt to jump between the wiki guides and the forum guide to solve a problem.

Should a user have issues with the program or any of the guides, support is available through the forum. How to access logs, support information file, and other information is listed at the end of this guide. Please send any related material, what guide was used, step number, portion of log file, support information, screen captures... along with a detailed description of the problem in you topic.

Benefits of Using Usenet Over Torrent Downloading

The benefits are many and this list is not exhaustive, but highlights some of the key advantages:

  • Fewer delays: release groups often post to scene FTP servers first, which typically then get uploaded or leaked to Usenet next, and then finally torrent sites last.
  • Faster downloads: files are hosted by a remote server and are not transmitted by peers, therefore you are always guaranteed full speed from the remote server without relying on other peers and seeds to send you data.
  • Safer connections: you are never sharing files, such as you would as a peer using torrents. You are only downloading from a remote server which is hosting the files.
  • Higher retention: most Usenet servers retain data for a little over three years. Torrents are usually only available for a few months, if they're very popular, and have nobody sharing them beyond that.
  • Better categorization: standard and high definition sources have their own categories, which makes it easier to determine the quality of a download before committing to downloading it.

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Media Center Master's Support for Usenet

  1. Usenet downloading can be configured for no user intervention, just like torrent downloading.
  2. Media Center Master will search NZBMatrix.com looking for T.V. episodes and movies relative to the user's settings and configuration.
    An account with NZBMatrix.com is required to use Media Center Master as the sole source for usenet downloads.(1)
  3. Media Center Master will connect to your Usenet/news hosting provider and begin downloading those articles, as it is also a fully-fledged NZB downloader.
    An account with a Usenet/news hosting provider is also required to use Media Center Master as the sole source for usenet downloads.
    There are several providers and price plans to choose from. Sites like USENETCOMPARE can be used to compare provider packages.(2)(3)
  4. Media Center Master allows a user to manage and view downloads with it's Usenet Download Manager.
  5. Media Center Master can, after downloading, parse, auto-rename, auto-fetch meta-data and images, and auto-move the files to the specified collection location.
  6. Alternatively, Media Center Master can work with a third-party external application.
    Media Center Master can move the .nzb files to a specified location and do nothing else with it, or
    Media Center Master can automatically detect, load, and download .nzb files from a specified location.

(1)A NZBMatrix.com VIP account is preferred given their limit on the number of .nzb files you can download per 24-hours. A NZBMatrix VIP account costs £7 (about $11.40 USD, as of 10/2011) and is good for ten years.

(2)Some Internet Service Providers provide access to Usenet for free. Usually it imposing limits on the number of connections you can make, restricting your bandwidth, restricting the amount of data you can download, restricting which groups you have access to, poor retention (duration downloads are available on their servers), logging which groups and articles you're downloading..., often in combination. Therefore, users will probably want to acquire Usenet access elsewhere.

(3)Pete uses and recommends Newshosting.com for a Usenet/news hosting provider. A month-to-month account with Newshosting.com will run $14.95 USD per month, as of 10/2011. The account has unlimited bandwidth, unlimited total data downloaded, a retention of a little over three years, and up to 30 simultaneous connections with no restriction on groups. An account can be cheaper if it is acquired through a referral program, or if a subscription for a year in advance is purchased, $155.40/year USD ($12.95/month USD), as of 10/2011.

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Media Center Master Settings for Usenet Downloads

Additional options, outside of what is listed, should be added after a test run.

  1. Application Menu>Set scan folders...
    Enter folder Location/s for Media Collections.
    Must use separate folders, one for Movies and one for TV Series.
    For first time run/test purposes empty folder/s should be chosen.
    If a folder with an existing media collection is used for this location,
    Media Center Master will automatically start a scan of the folder contents after closing the Scan Folder List Window.
  2. Application Menu>Settings & Preferences>Renaming Tab.
    Set options as needed.
  3. Application Menu>Settings & Preferences>Downloader Tab.
    Enable, "Enable movie downloads."
    Select quality of download.
    Enable, "Enable TV downloads."
    Select quality of download.
    Skip TV episodes before:(*)
    If this option is not set to a date, Media Center Master will attempt to download every episode for each TV Series added.
    "Don't download movies with an IMDB score under:"
    Setting this number to "10" will reduce the number of movie titles to be downloaded during test run.
    "Don't download movies released..."
    Setting this number to "1" will, also, reduce the number of movie titles to be downloaded during test run.
    "Don't download movies that can't be found at imdb.com"
    Enabling this option will further reduce the number of movie titles to be downloaded during the test run.
    "Look for higher definition of movies than what I have and download if found"
    This option, if enabled, will not work with this test run (scan folders should be empty).
    (*)Episode downloads are dependent on this date setting, and the Airing Dates of the TV Series/s chosen in Step 7.
  4. Application Menu>Settings & Preferences>Usenet Tab.
    Enable, "Enable Usenet downloads."
    Enter NZBMatrix.com username and password.
    "What should Media Center Master do when it downloads a .nzb file:"
    "Let Media Center Master download from Usenet directly using these settings:"
    Provide information in the blank fields, if needed change settings for "port:" and "max. connections:"
    If using Media Center Master with third party software for Usenet Downloads enable the remaining options as needed.
  5. Application Menu>Settings & Preferences>Download Parser Tab.
    Completed downloads scanned from this folder (watch folder):(*)
    Create folder and enter folder location where Media Center Master is to move completed downloads.
    The default NZB processing folder is located in Media Center Master's user hidden folder.
    Automatically detect new video files here and process them.
    Enable this option, and
    Enable, "auto-rename"
    Enable, "auto-move"
    Enable, "auto-fetch meta data"
    Don't allow duplicates; replace with better quality
    This will not work in the test run (scan folders should be empty)
    Move movie downloads to this folder:
    If this location is not set to the same location set in Step 1, these movies will not be processed into the collection cache.
    "Attempt to extract from archives"
    .rar downloads will require this option.
    "Automatically clean-up folders left behind by T.V. downloads (if no video files or archives exist)"
    Enable/Disable - user choice.
    (*)The "Watch Folder" for completed downloads can also be the same folder used for uTorrent, if torrent downloading is also used.
  6. Click "Save" button to save settings and exit "Settings & Preferences."
  7. Media Menu>Add a T.V. series...
    Step 1.
    Be careful to select the T.V. folder, not the Movie folder, from list.
    Step 2.
    Enter a current airing TV Series Name, or Series ID.
    Spelling or ID must match thetvdb.com site TV Show Listing Name.
    Click "Search," or "Look Up".
    Wait for Media Center Master to respond with Selected T.V. series: information.
    Click "Next."
    Step 3.
    Double check: "Status: Continuing," and that the option for "Keep this series up to date with new episodes" is enabled.
    Click "Finish" button to close window.
  8. Auto Run.
    Application Menu>Settings & Preferences>General Tab.
    Adjust Time Frames.
    download new movies every.
    download new TV episode every.
    run download parser every.
    use uTorrent integration every.
  9. Manual Run.
    TV Series.
    Tools Menu>Download new T.V. episodes.
    Right Click on the Series in the Media Collection List.
    Download new episodes now.
    Movies.
    Tools Menu>Download new movie releases.
  10. Usenet Download Manager.
    The Usenet Download Manager is where a user can manage and view the progress of all current usenet downloads.
    Tools Menu>Usenet download manger...
  11. Additional Options.
    Search Forum, or Post Topic in Forum.
    See User Interface for Option Descriptions in wiki.
    This is a work in progress, please be patient.

Additional References

Support Information, Log Files, Debugging, and About

User Settings and Program Files/Folders Locations

Preparing for a Fresh Re-install of Media Center Master


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