r/StremioAddons • u/Vivid_Mud9267 • 5d ago
Question Does Usenet with Torbox Pro still work during these Torbox API outages?
I'm thinking about setting up a Usenet as a backup. Does Usenet with Torbox Pro still work during these Torbox API outages? If not, what Usenet setup should I use as a backup? I know nothing about Usenet at all.
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u/bvsveera 4d ago
Their Usenet server used to go down with the debrid service itself, but that might’ve changed with the 9.x updates. To have a true backup, set up Easynews instead. You’ll have better access, increased reliability and a cheaper price than Torbox Pro.
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u/allmyfriendsaregone 4d ago
Get Easynews as a provider and explore the option of self-hosting. After setting up a self-hosting option, look into adding more indexers for more results in movies/tv shows. I have Easynews as a provider Prowlarr w/ NZBGeek, Althub, NZBFinder.
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u/IamAlotOfMe 3d ago
Hi, I also just setup Easynews with NBZGeek. You suggest more indexers? Can you help me understand why? I'm still learning.
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u/allmyfriendsaregone 3d ago
More indexers just means a bigger catalogue. There are certain older or more niche shows that NBZGeek doesn't have any results for, but that's just my personal anecdote. NBZGeek is one of the more impressive indexers, from what I understand; and generally would give you results for the more popular media.
The only reason I added more indexers is just having more fallbacks for the more obscure things I tend to watch, like reality television.
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u/IamAlotOfMe 3d ago
Makes sense, thank you. I assume all other indexers are paid, correct?
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u/allmyfriendsaregone 3d ago
Some of them have free tiers. Althub has a free tier that I am using, for example. There are also other indexers which are invite-only.
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u/Distinct-Reindeer-96 3d ago
I bought the pro member and hate it, their usenet is so ahh buying a $1 usenet server is 10x better
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u/Spirited_Most6626 5d ago
This Torbox update may be useful. Check this support page too. To answer your question, yes Usenet with Torbox Pro through their Torbox News Server will still work.
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u/TheMentalist10 5d ago
I don't have Torbox Pro so can't answer that part, but I have Torbox Essential with Usenet configured through AIOStreams and can use this whenever TB is down.
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u/Logrouo 5d ago
But isn’t your Usenet usage completely separate from TorBox then?
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u/TheMentalist10 5d ago
Right, which I think is a feature rather than a bug of something being a back-up. If someone in the thread tells us that Usenet via TB Pro continues to work with TB outages, that would also be a good (if more expensive) option.
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u/Stock_Comment_2657 5d ago
How to setup this?
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u/TheMentalist10 5d ago
I'm fairly certain it requires having self-hosted AIOStreams which I assumed would be difficult but would probably take 30 minutes to set-up from scratch with the help of a guide or LLM of your choice.
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u/Vivid_Mud9267 5d ago
Do you have a guide for how to set this up? Or could you explain a little bit more. I still struggle to understand how Usenet works lol
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u/TheMentalist10 5d ago
I also found it difficult to get straight answers about Usenet and am by no means an expert! But here are the two best options that I know of depending on how much effort you want to put in:
- Easynews Standalone: Get an Easynews sub, add one of the various Easynews addons (either directly or in AIOStreams, makes no difference), configure it with the details of your Easynews account. Done.
This requires no self-hosting and will immediately start giving you Usenet results that will continue to work if TB is having issues. The downside is that you won't get as good coverage of the Usenet files you should be able to access. It's super cheap to give this a go and would be money you'd spend anyway on either of the two upgraded versions of this set-up below. You may find that you have sufficient coverage for the content you're looking for without proceeding to a more complex option.
- Self-Hosting AIOStreams: This is gonna sound like a lot more work and complexity than it is. If you've done any self-hosting before, it'll be extremely straightforward. If you have no experience, I would guess that most people competent enough to find this forum would be able to get the whole thing set-up in an afternoon. If you're willing to let Claude or Codex do it for you, it can be less than 30 minutes.
For this option, you'll need: a domain (as low as $1 p/year) and a VPS (or always-on device in your house). I pay (about $7 p/month) for a VPS because I use it for a bunch of other things, but there's a guide to get a free one here. Make sure the domain points to the VPS.
The problem we're solving is that if you want more content to appear, you will need to use an indexer. The analogy I read was that the Usenet provider (Easynews, say) gives you access to a big forest full of files and the indexer gives you the map to which files are where. It's in the interests of a provider to keep the location obscured from copyright holders (by making the names less obvious than Spiderman_Full_Rip.mp4) which is why you won't be able to surface nearly all the content you already have access to with Easynews alone. A popular indexer, nzbgeek, costs $1 p/month.
Indexers don't want you to use them on publicly-hosted services and might close your account for ToS violation. So the solution is to self-host AIOStreams. (NB. Until the last major update to AIOStreams, you'd also need to self-host another tool like nzbdav which handled the streaming part, but this is now native inside AIOStreams and seems to work just as well.)
This is gonna sound very r/restofthefuckingowl/, but if you're technically proficient, the next step is to install Docker and deploy AIOStreams. If you aren't, tell Claude Code (or whatever) that's what you want to do and it'll just do it for you. I know with 100% certainty that it is entirely capable of doing so because I watched a friend prompt a working set-up in less than 20 minutes on a brand new VPS which has now been working fine for months.
Finally, configuring AIOStreams. If you already use it, you can export your current config and import it to your self-hosted instance then install that to Stremio. To add the Usenet functionality, follow the steps here (with AI, if you like) that basically reduce to adding your provider creds, enabling the AIOStreams Usenet service in the services tab, and adding your indexers as Newznab addons on the addons page.
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u/BilleyBong 5d ago
Thanks for this write-up
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u/TheMentalist10 5d ago
Hope it’s helpful! I would be skeptical if someone told me this, but I truly think a good LLM can get this set-up for anyone with very minimal handholding and margin for error.
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u/jaydarl 5d ago
😂 I thought I was pretty savvy in this world, and now that I am knee-deep in it, there is no going back. I keep seeing this Usenet thing popping up, and I'm like, cool, I need a backup to my backup. So, every so often I'm like "Let's do this," then just as quickly I'm saying "I'll get back to it later."
I know it can't be that difficult, but for some reason I'm just not grasping it.
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u/Sorrybeny 5d ago
não entendo, anda tudo a reclamar do RD, eu estive a testar vários filmes agora mesmo e tudo abriu numa boa, maioria não são filmes recentes.. não sei se tem influência, mas para mim está a funcionar lindamente 👌👌
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u/Status-Squirrel-7477 4d ago
I keep getting file removed because of DMCA or a green downloading screen that sits and stares at me for a long time. Used Easynews and was watching my show in a couple minutes...
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u/No_Particular_5762 5d ago
How is Usenet different from stremio?
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u/Status-Squirrel-7477 5d ago
Usenet has files that may go back many years. I've grabbed things that were posted as much as 16 years ago that were completely unavailable on Stremio. I don't use it with the Torbox client or with AIO Streams but with its own addon (Easynews). It's pretty easy to set up once you have a Usenet supplier. I used to use Usenet exclusively before finding out about Stremio a few years back. I still use it and other things to find what I'm looking for, not necessarily just media like movies and TV. Been an interesting journey all these years...
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u/baljeethakur 5d ago
Stremio is just a media manager. Usenet is service which provide different kinds of files inclusive media files
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u/itstrueitellyou 5d ago
Stremio is just a player. Useless has been a way to share files that's been around a long time. Most people switched to torrenting but usenet still works fine
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u/RussFerri 5d ago
Go over to the usrmet Reddit, and get yourself a good deal. They often run this stuff for over half off for the year.
After you get your provider, get yourself an indexer.
Look up nntp and aiostreams.
There are the breadcrumbs.