From all the innovative ways in which
BitTorrent can be efficiently employed to distribute files (legally
& otherwise), you’d think that by now someone would have come up
with an effective solution to stream video torrents in a browser. The
concept of torrent streaming is as age-old as the BitTorrent
protocol itself, although it’s never been successfully developed to
include public torrents on a grand scale. Until now.
Torstream is a new service that offers just that: Live video streaming of torrents found on public trackers - right through your own web-browser.
Requirements
• Windows OS (XP / Vista / Win7)
• Highspeed / broadband connection to the Internet
• A web-browser (Firefox & Opera tested OK)
• Adobe Flash Player browser add-on
It’s recommended to update to the latest version (v10.1) first before attempting to view videos through Torstream.
• Install Torstream’s ”TS Plugin” (a modified BitTorrent client) - install guide here.
The plugin/client enables your browser to stream video over a peer-to-peer BitTorrent network. Every person watching the video contributes some of his Internet connection and the resulting resource pool serves everybody. Using TS Plugin you help other people, other people help you and everybody gets the video faster.
Quick Start (Torstream Search)
Assuming you meet the above requirements, Adobe Flash is current, and the TS Plugin is installed - you’re now ready to begin. Since Torstream is a Lithuanian development, you’ll need to select the ”Lithuanian users” radio button option before conducting searches. [We’ve been told that the “International users” (default) option is connected to ThePirateBay, which no longer contains .torrent files - thus in our tests it failed to work - refer to *Remote Torrent
- below].
In the search box enter a movie title and click Enter to search the network. Tips:
• English users, look for English flag icons appended to the resultant search queries.
• Pay special attention to the number of seeds. The higher, the better.
• Use common sense; select from releases (groups) that you know and trust. Avoid ‘junk’ (not common) and be mindful of video sizes.
Click the ”watch” button to begin the torrent streaming process. A ”prebuffering” phase should commence, and once it hits 100% the video will then begin playback.
An option for full screen playback also exists; to enable simply click the four-arrow icon in the bottom-right corner of the playback window. Be forewarned - in my experience (using Vista & Win7) it was extremely difficult to exit the full screen mode.
Remote Torrent
Instead of searching through Lithuania’s network on Torstream, users have an even better alternative - and that’s to use the ”Remote Torrent” feature. There are two ways to apply this: from an existing URL of a torrent, or from a local .torrent file saved on the user’s PC. The easiest method is to download and manually save a .torrent file to your home PC, and then add them through “Remote Torrent” using the “Browse…” button.
Since Torstream’s playback performance is partly based upon the number of total peers in a torrent, users (especially English ones) have a much wider range of options & availability by adding their own torrents (as found on public torrent indexing sites). For instance, visit a website such as LimeTorrents and filter the the seed column from high to low (click here for an example). Low-seed torrents will have a harder time to connect to other peers, for reasons obvious.
TS-Plugin: Options/Advanced
Torstream’s options can be changed to override its default settings; such as the port#, save path, and allowable upstream bandwidth to other users. In the taskbar right-click on the Torstream icon and select “Options…”
Auto Local-Save
Not only are you watching it “live” but at the same time Torstream saves a local hardcopy (*.avi) of the file from a chosen video torrent. By default these are saved in C:\TorrentStream. (Note: If video playback is stopped or cancelled without it being viewed completely (to it’s end) then you’ll wind up with an incomplete file.)
Other Info / Tips
Scalability — In our testing, video playback is flawless and of good quality, although there were never more than 3-4 other users using the service when it was tested. However, since it works through public trackers (and seeds/peers that already exist in the torrents), feasibly it shouldn’t matter how many users are ‘online’ using Torstream & the TS plugin.
“Prebuffer” does not start (stuck at 0%) — If the video does not begin playback, be sure you’ve chosen torrents from the Lithuanian users option, or else use the Remote torrent method. As well, try restarting the browser after installing the TS-plugin and/or updating Adobe Flash.
Video Quality — Varies, depending on source. “P2P Group” releases work well (IMAGiNE, ViSiON, etc.) although we had no success with ‘720p Xvid’ rips/encodes such as those done by FLAWL3SS. Scene releases, if found in native RAR/archive formats, will not play - only extracted files are supported.
High-Definition is Supported — While *.mkv video files are supported by Torstream (for 720p/1080i/p playback), in our tests on Win7 with a 25Mbit DL connection, we couldn’t help but notice choppy playback whereby (re)buffering was required at various intervals during the playback. This was not experienced in regular 480p *.avi (XviD) playback.
Very interesting… Says:
I’ll look into it. Not a bad concept… however flash is not the greatest quality player. But oh well.
Sweet Says:
Sweet
F47 Says:
nice site idea - not sure how this fends on a legal basis. but… nice idea.
Nick Says:
Is this still deemed “illegal” because technically we are not downloading the file. I’ve never found downloading illegal but is streaming still deemed “illegal”?
Question Says:
File is larger than 20 megs so I can’t upload it to VirusTotal. I don’t run A/V so can someone confirm that this is not malware?
lorenzo Says:
µTorrent is already releasing ability to sequentially downloading and their version 3.0 is adding the ability to stream video as well:
https://web.utorrent.com/
http://thehtpcblog.com/2010/07/12/utorrent-3-0-alpha-new-web-client-streaming-and-apps/
I tried SwarmPlayer a while back and was somewhat disappointed with it. I hope Torstream does better. I really think video web sites like YouTube can really position themselves to use this type of technology as a backup tier while they still use webseeding as the primary way to deliver content.
Seeder Says:
can u use subtitles with that?
sharky Says:
@05 - File comes up clean with both AVG and MalwareBytes.
@07 - If the video file has dual audio tracks, I believe you can switch between tracks.
kristaaps Says:
Cant connect with FF 3.6.11 <- it sayes need to download plugin, I press install missing plugins, he checks but sayes there are no plugins to install.. WTF???
silversurfer Says:
nice idea only thing that is a worrie is files that are viruis/trojon .avi ect [ like the media player only files that need codecs to find out its a trojon]
you can get flash only viruis just can not see a why not to check besides your own a/v and common sence not to click on a link to d/l codecs that you are unsure off
obs3rver Says:
I don’t like it, why? well they are using public trackers for one thing and it’s easy to check who is downloading what and where. One leaves to many traces.
It’s not safe.
D0NK3YBALLS Says:
not working for me on latest firefox wtf
D0NK3YBALLS Says:
Ok I got this working, just uninstalled it and installed again, after that a firefox restart, removed cache and the client started
this is a good
idea but id rather have a normal torrent client that can download
the movies in this way and stream them with KMPlayer or something
cause the web based player sucks to be perfectly honest and it’s not
really needed
JeTonS Says:
works..use safari browser
MastaShake Says:
@04
I tried it and never got it to actually work. I set the port to an open port and tried an avi file and it just failed hardcore. Also you are still downloading the file. Look in the folder C:\TorrentStream or which ever folder you set it to. It seems as if it downloads the file and plays it after the part is finished downloading. At least that’s what it was trying to do on my end. I’d just stick with using private trackers.
IMTDb Says:
It’s is “just” another way to download torrents nothing more.
I prefer the plain old ways. Just clicking on a magnet link and let utorrent do the trick for you. Everyone is trying to do it all “cloud computed” or “100% streamed” etc. But nothing beats a plain old torrent that goes right onto your hard drive and you can watch whenever you want wherever you want.
We just need some simpler ways to browse and find torrents. Not these “flashy-soon-to-be-dead” websites that promise you the moon and gives you shit.
— Admin of http://imtdb.kicks-ass.org/ —
Urblad Rotgut Says:
works on chrome. doesnt even need port forward or restart browser! you’ll need a good line to watch it though. downloads and plays sequentially, controls to pause doesnt work
vdzrvzdrvzdr Says:
http://www.torrentinvites.org is an awesome website where you can get invites for free on many trackers and also buy / trade invites, tell this to all your friends!!!
A Tribler developer Says:
They just took Tribler’s SwarmPlayer and renamed it.
alex Says:
all i got to say is, install this http://xmp.down.sandai.net/kankan/XMPSetup_3.8.4.505-dl.exe
open a torrent with good seeders and see why i don’t bother with utorrent or Miro or many other garbage clients,
you can even stream ed2k links
see why i actually LOL when i read posts like these ! because I’ve been able to do something like this maybe 1.5 years ago, on private trackers xmp is great !
trololololol Says:
Why are people under the impression that downloading is not illegal?
And that Big Brother only cares if your “streaming” or “uploading”?
Your infringing your countries copyright laws by downloading the files //.
There is no if and or but! Just wait till you get your cease and desist letters from your national intelligence agencies, then you’ll figure out what’s “legal” and “illegal”.
jo Says:
to trololololol
” Your infringing your countries copyright laws by downloading the files //. ”
don’t tell me you never looked at porn trololololol ! you dirty little butch
lisa Says:
good site
lisa Says:
send me porn please
lisastacey1313@hotmail.co.uk