Automatically download your favorite TV Shows

If you like watching TV but don't want to be forced to watch annoying commercials or be forced to watch on the network's schedule then you've probably resorted to downloading torrents. What's even better is that you can set up your computer to do that automatically; just like a PVR.

I've been asked how I usually download my favorite TV episodes as soon as they come out. Here's a short tutorial of the process.

• You will need a torrent client that supports RSS feeds. I've been using uTorrent and it's been great. It's very light-weight and has a very simple and clean UI. Install uTorrent and set the basic preferences like download directory, etc...

• You will now need an RSS feed source to get you episodes from. A good source I've been using is tvRSS. Now there are two way to proceed from here. You can either get one feed for all TV shows and configure uTorrent to download your favorite shows, or you can get seperate feeds for each show. Individial feeds are easier to set up, but if you want to download a lot of shows, then it's simpler to just get one feed.

Single RSS Feed:

• Copy this location (http://tvrss.net/feed/unique/), open the Add RSS Feed dialog in uTorrent, and paste the address. Give the feed a name if you like, and make sure you choose do not automatically download items. Press OK and the feed should now show up in the left feed list. Click on it and you should see a list of available torrents to download.
  
• Open the RSS Downloader dialog (Ctrl+R). Press Add and give the filter a name. On the right side put the show name under "Filter:". Check the Smart ep. filter checkbox. This will prevent downloading the same episode twice because most of the time an episode is released multiple times.
• Do the last step for each TV show you'd like to download.
• Once you're done. Close the dialog and you should be good. To test if the filters are working, right click the feed name from the left feed list, and select Update Feed. You should start automatically downloading the shows you set up assuming there were episodes available in the feed (usually released in the last 2 days or so).
  

Multiple RSS Feeds:

• Go to tvRSS. select Shows. Select the show you'd like to get. Click on Search-based RSS Feed. This will open the RSS feed in you browser. Copy the feed location.
• In uTorrent, open the Add RSS Feed dialog. Paste the feed address. Give it a name. Select Automatically download items published in feed and check the Use smart episode filter checkbox. This will prevent downloading duplicate episodes.
• Do the previous two steps for each TV show.
• You're done. You should now automatically download the episodes in that feed.

These are just basic steps. You can make more specific feeds in tvRSS depending on what you want. You can also try using FeedMyTorrents as your RSS source, although I haven't used that one yet.

Go Torrents!!

New classes coming to Warhammer Online

Mythis has recently been teasing the community about the new classes coming to Warhammer. The two new classes will be the Dwarf Slayer and the Orc Choppa. Both are melee focused DPS classes.

I'm excited about this as melee DPS is my favorite archetype in MMO games, and the previous two new tank classes that were added to Warhammer (Knights and Blackguards) were a little disappointing.

More RvR (PVP) changes are also coming to Warhammer, including a new zone domination system where it will be easier for a faction to control a zone by controlling all keeps and objectives in it. Currently, after controlling everything in the zone, you have to wait and hope the zone gets locked based on factors that are hard to control by the players. This change will hopefully make RvR even more intense than it is right now, as zone control will be achieved faster which will lead to more fortress attacks and city invasions.

More details on the next patch should be revealed by the end of the month.

Lost Heroes

Have you ever imagined what would happen if our beloved Heroes ended up on Lost?

Well I haven't, but I found this funny video of it. You can also find more Lost parodies with popular movies on JustForLaughs. The clips are pretty well done and I'd love to see more, preferably longer videos of this. The creators, TheFineBrothers, also have other comedy sketches on their website.

The return of Battlestar Galactica

A lot of people are saying that the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica was a very good one, but for some reason I don't see it. Sure, it did reveal some new information, and it did have some twists, but overall I didn't find it entertaining. I actually think it was boring; so boring that I fell asleep twice and had to rewind to see what happened.

I had low expectations before I watched the episode, and I was still disappointed. At this point, the only reason I'm still watching the series is because I invested so much time in it and I need to find out how it all ends. Hopefully the rest of the season will pick it up and provide me some closure.

Highlights of CES 2009

This year's CES was a little different that last year's HDTV dominated show. It was more diverse, although I felt that most of the interesting technologies shown were not quite ready for mainstream consumers.

Here are some highlights of the show.

• 3D technology

Now that we're reaching the limits of the sizes of displays we can practically use, manufacturers seem to be moving towards 3D technologies. Several companies introduced new TVs/monitors that support 3D, the most known of them being Samsung. Sony teased its 3D technology for the PS3. And Nvidia announced some 3D goggles to go with all the new TVs/monitors.


• Portable computers

Ultraportables (or netbooks) were everywhere this year. Sony revealed its highly anticipated VAIO P. Asus announced many products including an all-in-one PC, a couple of tablets, and couple of interesting concepts. Dell announced a Mini laptop and the ultra-thin Adamo.


• Internet TVs

Yahoo announced their new Widget Engine. A platform that will allow developers to release online widgets on TVs without the need for external boxes. Many content providers are already developing TV widgets for the platform. So far, Sony and Samsung revealed TVs that will use the technology.


• Windows 7

Windows 7 has been generating a lot of buzz for the last 3 weeks with the leak of the Beta on some torrent trackers. With the official announcement of the Windows 7 Beta at CES, everyone is trying to get a hold of it; so much that the Microsoft servers crashed soon after the downloads were available. I installed Windows 7 a couple of weeks ago and used it for few hours and was very impressed; the interface is easier to use and feels more organized. It's also fast and smooth. What I'm most looking forward to is the new task bar that combines launch shortcuts and running applications.

Windows 7 Beta can be downloaded from here: 32-bit, 64-bit.

These are just some of the things that caught my eye this year. You can get more info at http://ces.engadget.com/.

24 - Season 7: The first four hours

24 is finally back. And just like the last few seasons, I wasn't expecting much, but still had fun watching it. The season starts out slow in the first 2 hours, and at some points it was, dare I say, boring. We saw the usual "Jack doesn't want to be involved but they drag him in anyway". We were also introduced to the new FBI characters (I didn't like any of them except for Agent Walker).

The second 2 hours picked up the action, with some typical 24 twists. We discover that Tony is not a bad guy; he's just working undercover with the help of some of the old CTU crew, who I was glad to see again.

Overall, it was an average 24 type of action with the usual: Bad guys are not always bad guys, A president with a personal connection to the crisis in hand, Jack Bauer has to infiltrate a terrorist organization to save humanity, and some other standard 24 plots we got used to long time ago. I still had fun watching it though; the action is as entertaining as ever, and it was nice to see that Jack Bauer can still kick ass even in a suit.

The show can be watched online at fox.com and globaltv.ca

Funniest Will Ferrell moments of all time

I'm a big fan of Will Ferrell. So when I read this post about his 20 funniest moments of all time, I couldn't help but post it here. The list includes videos from Movies and TV, mainly Saturday Night Live. My favorite one is the More Cowbell skit from SNL (#3).

Check out the original post on Manofest for all videos. Some of the videos are not available outside of the US, so just check YouTube, where you'll also find lots of great Will Ferrel comedy videos.

Will Ferrell also started his own comedy video website, Funny or Die. The site contains videos from famous comedians as well as user-generated content. The first video published on the site was Will Ferrell's The Landlord, which is also on the Top 20 list.

Dexter - Season 1

Yesterday I finished watching the first season of Dexter. I must say, It's a pretty good show. The production, direction and acting is top-notch. Best of all, the crazy plot that delves deeply into the human psyche and keeps you asking for more. I won't go into any details to avoid spoiling it for people who haven't seen it yet. But it's definitely worth watching.

Looking forward to the second season.

New Revolutionary MacBook

In anticipation of MacWorld and CES this week, here's a little preview.



The funny thing is that if Apple actually made this, people would still line up to buy it.

Nielsen Top Ten Lists for 2008

Last month Nielsen released some media trends in the US for 2008. The List includes Movies, TV Shows, Video games, DVDs, and other categories.

Some of the interesting statistics I found:

• PS2 is still leading the video game console usage by a huge margin.
• Almost 1% of all PC gamers in the US play World of Warcraft at any minute.

Here's a link to the document:
http://www.nielsen.com/media/2008/pr_081212_download.pdf

Hello World!

I've been thinking of starting a blog for a while, but never had the will to actually do it. I recently started talking to people about the idea, and many encouraged me. I thought what's a better time than the new year to start, so here I am.

This will be a general blog about various topics that interest me. From Science, Technology, Video games, Software development. To Movies, TV, Music, Art, and maybe even general things that I never thought of writing about.

First, let me explain where the name comes from. The nickname Szyslak, which I've been using for years, refers to one of my favorite characters on TV; Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons. I think he's one of the most fascinating, well-written characters I've seen. I also share the same first name and initials with him. So I guess it was meant to be.

That's it for now, until I find something to actually blog about.

Happy New Year.