Thread: BitTorrent Problems!

With avi tv shows I've downloaded (Simpsons) the soundtrack is ahead of the picture by a few seconds: highly annoying! Should I be choosing a different format? Also downloaded The Office and got nothing, just a blank screen with a jagged brown going across it. What am I doing wrong?

I'm not a techie, but they might just be bad torrents.
Where are you downloading them from.
I use torrentspy.com.
mainly because the comments tell you whether or not the torrent is a good one and worth downloading.
Have never had any problems with it at all.

for the blank screen problem maybe you dont have the correct codecs installed.

i find the K-Lite codec pack is pretty good and free to download, just do a search on google and download it.

Originally Posted by slimboyfat

K-Lite codec pack

does that make all media work?
i don't understand what codecs are all about.

Codecs are the audio/video equivalents of languages. Without the proper codec installed your OS and media player will not understand how to decode the audio or video you want to be entertained by. This will result in a blank screen or really annoying error messages about sheep and Englishmen.

Codecs came about originally as a way to make money by allowing a person to compress a file down from the original size (MP3/MPEG/JPEG are all codecs owned by large corporations...if you actually pay for your software part of the cost is paid in royalties to the companies that own the software patents for those codecs). There are now 'free' versions of those codecs around that bypass the royalties but generally require you to download and install codec packs. The most common are DiVX, MP3 (LAME), XviD (which is just DivX backwards). MP3, for example, comes in many flavors with the original ownership being tied to Fraunhofer, a German company. LAME is simply a free version of the codec that doesn't require royalties (in the same way that large and huge mean the same).

If your video and audio are out of sync it means the person who created the video didn't do a good job. Trash it and find another version.

Codec - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by surasak

If your video and audio are out of sync it means the person who created the video didn't do a good job.

Can also be a buggy codec.

Maybe, but, more likely a person trying to render a video with a substandard computer setup that resulted in data corruption (such as a slow hard drive not being able to keep up with the data being generated) or perhaps improper demuxing and muxing of the audio and video sources (sometimes a person will take a video of a TV show captured in another country and try to splice a different audio track to it).

Or, even worse comes the PAL/NTSC nightmare. I have found this to be a problem when converting video formats. I also downloaded some videos last week and the frame rates were only 15 frames per second (NTSC is 29.97 FPS and PAL is 25 FPS). Low frame rate = crappy computer used to capture the video. Impossible to make those look decent.

anyway let Hootad Blinky install the codecs and see if it solves the problem

A beer says it won't solve the sound/video synchronization problem

^
it didn't.
he got the codec advice on ajarn and all he got was a blank screen.

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

^
it didn't.
he got the codec advice on ajarn and all he got was a blank screen.

yeah i told you it was nothing to do with the codecs

(If using Windows)

Download this program:

GSpot Codec Information Appliance

Open your video file and look at the highlighted section:



This will tell you the codec needed and whether it's installed or not.

fuck, I have GSPOT somewhere on my PC but I never knew what it was for. Thanks.

Ok, downloaded direct x. Had to use an old version from Oldversion.com because my copy of Windows isn't genuine. Made no difference!

Then downloaded VLC on the advice of an ajarn poster. Screen is black for VLC. Audio/video out of synch on Media Player.

Will try Surasak's GSpot idea^ above!

Giving torrentspy a go!

Get a filter.

Something like Peer Guardian. If bad data is being put into your torrents it may be effecting them.

Peer Guardian blocks known sources for corrupt torrent data.

Usually if that's the case then the torrents never complete. If a torrent has something like 1500 seeders and 10 leechers you know it's a fake being fed with bad data.

Got rid of bitTorrent!

Went to Torrentspy, which recommended uTorrent, which I installed, and then put the SAME number 16881, in the Add Port boxes, both for TCP and UDP or whatever, as recommended by Torrent spy (I think).

Data trickling...

I'm going to bed!

uTorrent is much better. That's what I use.

Originally Posted by surasak

uTorrent is much better. That's what I use.

Have you ever tried Azureus? That's what I use - I haven't tried many others - and have had few problems with it, so I'm interested to know if there are better clients available.

Originally Posted by surasak

uTorrent is much better. That's what I use.

I'll give that one a try - just as soon as my 10.9 GB Monty Python sketches have finished downloading. Only 4 GB remaining to download...

I use BitComet & uTorrent. I prefer BC, but there's not much between them really.

Using uTorrent + Windows Media Player and downloaded my first Simpsons episode successfully, yay! The VLC player didn't work on the same file: (audio but black screen).

Thanks for all your help, got it working now!


It's a major thing for me because I don't have cable tv!

I don't use that because it requires Java (Java is very insecure and an easy target for viruses/malware through your web browser).