Having set up the self-hosted streaming service, the next step was to source content.
By the way, I saw an article on my feed shortly after creating the self-hosted streaming service post which gives me another big reason to take this route: content "purchased" on Amazon Prime Video is available for you to watch as many time as you want as long as they continue to have the rights. That means content purchased there (and it's probably the same for other streaming services) could disappear at any time. That's deceiving at the least. More details here.
Anyway, I decided it was time to join the Piracy subreddit. I've been thinking of doing so for a while but I always thought for some reason there was a steep learning curve. Turns out I was wrong. It is true that there a few sections to check out (i.e., Megathread, FAQ, Guides, ISP Complaints, Rules, and Terminology), but in reality these are all concise as well as accessible to newbies.
The Megathread starts with 5 clear bullet points that go through the security and privacy recommendations depending:
- Use Firefox + uBlock Origin
- Change DNS settings
Plus the following if torrenting:
- Install a reputable torrent client
- Set up a VPN network
- Bind the torrent client to the VPN interface
Honestly, aside from the torrent specific ones, these are good recommendations in general for anyone going online.
I have been using Safari almost exclusively, which prevents trackers, but I'm happy with switching to Firefox since it seems to be safer and more private out of the box, especially when adding uBlock Origin. It became obvious when I try to browse some of the same sites on other browsers and I was immediately bombarded with pop ups, dialogs, notifications, etc.
As for the VPN network, it is convenient since it not only gives you more privacy but also allows you to avoid geo-blocking.
As for the binding the torrent client to the VPN interface, it's to avoid accidentally exposing your IP should the VPN go down. Imagine you're downloading something with the VPN on. The remote server sees the VPN, but if the VPN happens to drop for a moment you would be accessing that remote directly effectively being exposed. There are 'Kill switch' features for VPN clients that are supposed to prevent this issue but apparently they are not 100% reliable. What binding the torrent client to the VPN does then is that the torrent will only download/upload through the VPN, and no download/upload takes place if the VPN disconnects for whatever reason.
The FAQ makes a distinction between direct download and torrents, explaining that direct downloads (that is, streaming online or downloading files) will likely not get you in trouble, but that torrenting (that is, joining a pool of people uploading and downloading that file) without proper protection might. It also makes a distinction between public and private trackers, a tracker being let's say a marketplace for torrents. With a public tracker, anyone can see what's being shared and who is participating. Think of it as people in an open public space trading things, anyone can see what's going on. Private trackers in the other hand require a membership, and foster community. Users are expected to give too, not only take. Think of it as people trading things in a moderated environment and behind closed doors.
Private trackers then not only are more private but also they are less likely to have malicious content, whereas public trackers are riddled with malicious content added to torrent files.
Anyway, having said that you can see why I would want to join a private tracker. I had a Torrent Leech account many years ago which I lost due to inactivity, and it seems to be as relevant today so I decided on it, only problem is I needed an invitation to join.
Lucky me, there is a deal with a seedbox provider that gives you Torrent Leech membership if you sign up for one of their seedboxes. Now I just needed to figure out what a seedbox is.
A seedbox turns out is a remote computer available to you for a fee that is usually located in a privacy friendly country (e.g., Netherlands). This remote computer is great at downloading content and making it available to you, with high download and upload speeds making them perfect for use with private trackers where they keep an eye on how much you upload (in relation to how much you download - the famous "ratio"). So a seedbox is great at downloading and uploading torrents, and it's in a privacy friendly country meaning you won't get in trouble for downloading stuff (since it's happening somewhere else, not in your network). And, as mentioned earlier, downloading stuff is not likely to get you in trouble so once it's downloaded in the seedbox you just transfer it to your computer. To be on the safer side though, you probably want to use SFTP or similar to transfer files from the seedbox to your computer.
Great, so last but not least is getting a VPN. And turns out Torrent Leech has a deal with Proton VPN (which happens to be a highly rated VPN) where you get free VIP status for some time if you buy a a Proton VPN membership using their referral link. How lucky!
That brings me to:
- Get firefox + uBlock Origin ✓
- Get a seedbox ✓
- Get a private tracker account ✓
- Get a VPN ✓
Note that the reason for not installing a reputable torrent client is because the torrent client in this case is in the seedbox. If I wasn't using a seedbox then I would indeed install a reputable torrent client and bind it to the VPN interface.
The ISP Complaints section is worth reading if you're thinking of torrenting.
Also here are some other links containing further details.
- More on [private trackers](https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/wiki/guides/private_trackers/)
- [Terminology](https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/wiki/terminology/)
- [Video quality and types of releases](https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/wiki/guides/video_quality_and_types_of_releases/)
- Private tracker I'm using: [TorrentLeech](https://www.torrentleech.org)
- Seedbox provider I'm using: [seedit4me](https://seedit4.me/)
I'd like to say that's the end of the self-hosted streaming journey, but it's really just the beginning.
Next steps: learn more. Jellyfin worked just fine at times but not always. There are times where it is slow to the point that it's not really usable. This could be because of the hardware I'm using for my Jellyfin server, or the Jellyfin server configuration, or it may be something to do with the local network setup. But it could also just be related to the way the Jellyfin content is consumed. Is there transcoding, and if so where is it happening? What is the type of content being played? Perhaps there is transcoding on the client when it should be happening on the server or viceversa. Or perhaps I'm downloading files with encodings that aren't ideal for my setup. Or perhaps I'm not using direct play (another new term for me) when I should be using it.
As you can see, there is a lot to learn on video quality and types of releases, direct play, codecs, encodings, transcoding, bitrates, as well as general knowledge of networking and system administration.
Networking was never a strong suit of me, or system administration for that matter. So perhaps I struggle more than I should with some of the troubleshooting. Regardless of that, this is definitely a good opportunity to learn more.
I almost forget. There's also the storage component, which is currently a DAS (device attached storage) connected to my Jellyfin server, but apparently what's recommended for this use case is a NAS (network attached storage). Going down that route though not only requires an investment in capital (NAS aren't cheap, nor are hardrives) but also an investment in learning about NAS, RAID, etc.
And last but not least, eventually I'd want the self-hosted streaming service to be available from outside our home, which opens yet another world of knowledge and one that I'll have to dive in too.
So like I said this is just the beginning. I may take a break and enjoy the setup we currently have so I probably won't be expanding on this subject anytime soon and focus on other topics instead. But stay tuned for other entries!