Canadutch
I’m a Pirate, I admit it, and writing about TV shows recently has made me think of just how much I love BitTorrent. TV in the Netherlands blows, hardcore. It’s getting better but it’s still nothing like back in North America.
Recently we ordered digital cable but that turned out to be just more channels with nothing on them. So we will be cancelling it soon.
Movies usually don’t come out in the theaters here until anywhere from 1-6 months later than back home. Often they are just coming out in the theaters here when they are coming out on DVD in Canada and the US! Two weeks ago I downloaded the DVD of the movie Click to watch while Xander was away in France. Last night I saw an ad on TV for the very same movie, starting October 19th in theaters across the country! Meanwhile, the burned DVD is sitting on my shelf.
BitTorrent is how I keep up to date on it all. I am constantly downloading TV shows and movies that I hear about from my mother or through the torrent sites I belong to.
The torrent client I use is called uTorrent and it is the best torrent client out there, by far.
At the time of taking the screenshot my internet was slow so my torrents were struggling. Usually I download at about 800 kB/s and upload at 100 kB/s.
I’ve tested many and this is the one I find the easiest to use and unlike other torrent clients like Azureus (which is run with Java), uTorrent doesn’t make my laptop churn like it’s trying to make butter. It runs in the background without using enough resources to interfere with other things I am doing (which Azureus ALWAYS did). I love that.
At any given time I am downloading anywhere between 3-10 torrents of movies or TV shows (as you can see from the screenshot). This has me incredibly spoiled and in all honesty even if I was living back in Canada I’d probably still be downloading torrents rather than watching them on TV. It’s just so much more convenient for a number of reasons…
- No commercials! I can watch the show from beginning to end uninterrupted.
- Pausing, rewinding, fast forwarding. This makes a huge difference. If I have to pee I can just pause the show. If I missed something I can rewind… and fast forwarding comes in handy on Reality TV results shows. I can FF through all the crap and just see who is getting booted!
- I can watch my shows anywhere. I watch them on my laptop so I can watch a show while I’m on my exercise bike, washing the dishes, folding the laundry, sitting on the balcony or wherever else I feel like it.
- The ability to keep the good ones. If I download a full season of a show I really like, I can burn it onto DVD’s to keep in my collection! Much cheaper than buying box sets!
- No fighting over the remote! My husband and I can be sitting right next to each other on the sofa and if he wants to watch some boring discovery show about airplanes, I don’t bitch… I just put on my earphones and watch something better on my laptop.
- Catching up. If I hear about a show long after it’s been on, it’s ok! I don’t have to start part way through without a clue what is going on. I can go back and download all the previous seasons and watch them first!
Honestly, I would go out of my mind without BitTorrent. I’m a TV / Movie fanatic and the Dutch just don’t satisfy my needs.
I know there are many arguments against piracy. It kills music! The movie industry is suffering! blah blah, whatever. So Tom Cruise might make a million less on his next film, my heart bleeds. /sarcasm
Now, I must go fold my laundry and watch the latest episode of Supernatural.
I totally agree that utorrent kicks ass! This site is soo easy to nav. and the content is exactly what I’m looking for! Keep it up boys!
Ok I’m sold. I’m going to give uTorrent a try. Thanks or the tip and the great write up.
Hey hey, it’s a great idea to use the torrent.
I never even thought about you not getting movies when we do.
I do remember TV in your neck of the woods was not so great. When I lived in Westfalia I had one good channel. At least only one I liked.
We Canucks are spoiled by our TV.
I have lived in the Toronto area most of my life. Because Toronto is so close to the border, there are as many US show channels as Canadian show channels available on plain ole TV (no cable, no satelite)
So when you add cable or satelite and the specialty channels you are looking at somewhere close to 300 channels available to the viewer.
Ian, I think Supernatural is great so far this season, the same as the past seasons. I don’t really like Sam but I think that carries over from when he played Dean on Gilmore Girls, such a little whiner.
I liked that guy they met in the bar, who made that tracking system for them. I hope they end up with more of that chick, her daughter and that dude in the show.
i must say, i have never torrented… iv grown skeptical of free downloads after i got a virus on my computer.
I bought MORE CD’s when Napster was available….because I found more variety there than on the radio…I don’t buy all the Piracy claims.
I personally use BitComet and get alot of my tv shows that i miss and movies from there. Best thing that ever came along if you ask me. You HAVE to d/l the series The Heroes that just came out. It’s excellent and last nights episode of Greys Anatomy was freaking hilarious :)
Morally I say no, however after 3 months of Thai tv I say OMFG YES! But oddly, We get some film releases here before the US – already used to the subtitles, strange Holland takes so long! What are your thoughts on the new season of Supernatural?
I enjoyed Dutch television, but then I was a refugee of German television. I enjoyed the selection of British shows, some of which turned out to be pretty good, like “Keeping Up Appearences”.
These days I follow some of the latest US shows via Bittorrent. Isn’t it great?
Love that Torrent!!! Thanks for the tip!
Thanks babe. I’m glad to know that I am not the only one who thinks that Dutch TV blows… BIG TIME!