Torrent Episode Downloader – Automate TV Show Downloads
Torrent Episode Downloader is an application available for both Windows and Mac that automatically downloads your favorite TV shows. It’s a simple but effective application that relies on Torrents. I like to compare it to the Usenet app, Sick Beard.
So how does it work? First, you need to tell Torrent Episode Download what shows you want it to monitor. TED will monitor the RSS feeds of BitTorrent trackers site and grab the new episode once it hits the web. The application will download the torrent from the tracking site and pass it along to your BitTorrent client for download.
Setting Up Torrent Episode Downloader
- First make sure you have a BitTorrent client installed. Here’s a list of popular clients support by Torrent Episode Downloader. Just keep in mind, the application is not just limited to these four clients.
- Azureus
- uTorrent
- Bitcomet
- Transmisson
We tested Torrent Episode Downloader with uTorrent and ran into no problems. The app will recognize whatever client is linked to the torrent file type.
- Head over to the Torrent Episode Downloader download page found here and install: http://www.ted.nu/download.php
- Once installed, launch the app and you’ll see the easy to use interface.
Your main options are lined up in a row of four icons; Add Show, Delete Show, Edit Show, and Check All Shows. Pretty self explanatory.
- Add your favorite shows and Torrent Episode Downloader takes it from there.
The TV show list is comprehensive with an option to add your own.
So what else do you need to know?
- Torrent Episode Downloader comes preset with a list 5 RSS feed. If you’re a member of a private tracker, we recommend you edit this list and add those private sites.
- If you’d like to automate Torrent downloads even more, check out our Automated Media Center Using XBMC and Torrents article
- If your conscious about security, Usenet might be a better alternative
Have you used Torrent Episode Downloader? What’s your take? Let us know below.
Oh TED, we’ve had quite the history…
Back in my earliest HTPC days I used TED. It kinda sorta worked, but eventually its shocking inability to download shows on a regular basis made me dump it in favor of other solutions. Currently I use uTorrent’s RSS feed, which seems to work the best of any solution I have tried. Hopefully TED works well for those who do use it.
Other options are ShowRSS and TVShows 2 (www.tvshowsapp.com – mac only)
The problem I had with Ted was that it would grab the first copy of an episode that would appear on the trackers which was usually a crap upload planted by the TV networks to make it more difficult to download shows. Is that still the case?
Is there a way to do this but for all past episodes of a series (Say, because you’ve only set up a media centre and a particular show is already halfway through a season) such that all of the episodes before the current one-to-air are automatically downloaded?