Nothing for you to apologise! Also, thank you so much for explaining it. :-)

I can’t help but think about this while reading this post. However, this is probably indicative of my lack of understanding of computer networks, despite dealing with it from time to time.

Viable is a broad term.

I use a single provider and multiple indexers, and it is an objectively better experience when compared to torrents. Very fast downloads and I almost always find what I am looking for. For old or esoteric stuff, I rely on Internet Archive or YouTube.

I do hit an infrequent failed attempt but that is due to me relying on a single provider/backbone.

Long and short, usenet is viable and convenient for me than torrents and paid streaming and gaming subscriptions.

AI Pioneer 🤖

• Fleet: 1 device · 11–20 TB
• Motivation: Independence from Big Tech & subscriptions, Privacy & data ownership, Fun / the hobby itself
• My MVPs: Plex, Radarr, Immich, RomM, BookOrbit

Searching for Stash on DDG reveals that the name is shared by at least a finance manager, network tool, and a porn clip organiser (the very last item on the first page of results).

I am safely assuming you are referring to the third one.

TIL.

I get this error regardless of the network or device I am accessing from. The same goes for when accessing cd-romance.

I agree, it is the easiest. Especially when there is no need to access one’s media outside their home network.

I started out with Jellyfin. However, when it came to opening up the media server to friends and family, I had to roll up an instance of Plex (and eventually bought their pass).

Plex simply requires less fiddling to get things to acceptable state, especially for users outside your home network. Their guides are very straightforward.

Moreover, the apps are more polished and reliable, especially for TV platforms. Fortunately, some third party polished apps like Infuse and Plezy also support Jellyfin should you choose to switch servers later (I know that I do).

Though the reason Plex is convenient, is also its most ickiest part. I hate that Plex owns the middle layer which handles authentication and other orchestration. That same piece of infrastructure can also bring down your media server if it goes down (though it can be partially mitigated by disabling authentication for devices on LAN so that devices on your home network can still access your media).

I eventually plan to move everyone to Jellyfin, but I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon as the apps are not there yet, and I will also have to redo parts of my infrastructure.

Thanks for the suggestions. I shall keep an eye out for those during the Black Friday sales.

Sure. It is called deezload2bot. Found it on fmhy.net.

Edited to remove direct link.

I don’t have one yet, but I do plan to get one as I infrequently get those errors with movies too.

I am using NewsHosting as my primary/sole provider (the bundled Privado VPN is what I bound qBitTorrent with), which is on Omicron.

Will look for a fallback on a different backbone. Though any inputs on this will be appreciated. :-)

I predominantly use Usenet for procuring all my media, except for

1. Switch ROMs, which I rely on torrents via NSWTL. I have 4 indexers and all of them give me “missing parts” error when I try to download Switch ROMs.
2. Music, which I rely on Telegram bots. I am in the process of migrating my streaming library to Navidrome and I haven’t found a better workflow than to send a playlist link to the bot, and downloading the music and then tagging it using Picard.