uTorrent: RSS Automatic Downloader

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Posted on : 07-02-2010 | By : tipst3r | In : Automation, Bitorrent clients, RSS Feeds, Tutorials, uTorrent
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Today we’re going to learn how to download torrents automatically using an RSS feed. Typically you could adjust the setting for the feed to download just about anything, but for today we will configure it to download television shows. We are using uTorrent 1.8.5 for this example and a feed from EZTV.it. We will configure the show “Sons of Anarchy” to be downloaded automatically as soon as it is released.

Note: This method isn’t foolproof; occasionally an episode is missed due to some issue or another. It can be improved upon post your comments in the forums or down below.

1. Click on the Add RSS Feed button on the toolbar in uTorrent:

rss-automation-image-1

2.Tracking down a quality feed can be difficult,EZTV.it has been a bit shaky in the past, but lately has been solid as a rock. With the new EZRSS.it website up, you can use their feed, the url is: http://www.ezrss.it/feed/.

Enter the URL into the Feed URL box and use whatever you want as a Custom Alias (optional)
I recommend leaving the Do not automatically download all items option selected unless you know what you are doing, or are setting up a more custom feed (maybe a different tutorial).

rss-automation-image-2

3. If you click on the name of the feed on the left, it should have now loaded all the newest episodes from the RSS feed into the window. You will notice that if you right click on any of the episodes you could select to download them, but we would like to configure them to start downloading automatically.

You’ll notice the file names in the RSS feed vary greatly, so we will configure a filter to look for our specific show, and specific quality before it begins downloading.

Goto Options >> RSS Downloader (or hit CTRL + R) to bring up the RSS Downloader options screen. This is where you configure the filters to run against your RSS Feeds.

Now you need to understand 2 basic things, the structure of how files are named (particularily TV shows), and the syntax for the filters, luckily both are briefly explained below.

Filenames for television shows go basically as followed (Using Sons of Anarchy as an example). The showname should never change [Permanent], and certain items in the filenames will change episode-to-episode [Varies], we need to tune our filters to work with this:

Example: Sons of Anarchy – The Culling 2×12 [HDTV – FQM]

  • Sons of Anarchy = The show name, Duh. [Permanent]
  • The Culling = Optional episode name (not always included)
  • v2x12 = Season (2) Episode (12) [Varies]
  • [HDTV = Quality is HDTV [Varies]
  • [FQM] = Group that released this episode [Varies]

Typically filenames are labelled as above, but occasionally you might run across an episode where it is listed as Sons.of.Anarchy or Sons_of_anarchy which our filter has to be prepared for.

The syntax for the filter is quite simple, since we aren’t overly concerned with the episode name or the group who is releasing the episode (usually), we only need to focus on the name of the show:

sons?of?anarchy*

This works since, the ?’s are wildcards, meaning that the filename could be any of the possible filenames listed above. The * signifies that this is the end of the show name.

So now we have all the pieces to the puzzle, lets configure our filter you should now have the following:

  • Filter: sons?of?anarchy*
  • Not: [LEFT BLANK]
  • Save in: [SELECT A DIR TO SAVE IN]
  • Feed: [EZTV] (or all)
  • Quality: [HDTV] (or your preference (720p, etc.)
  • ALL REST LEFT BLANK
  • Label for new torrents: [TV] (optional)

rss-automation-image-3

4. Next, you want to save your filter, so it can be used/modified if needed. Simply click Add and a new filter will appear, type in your desired name (ex. Sons of Anarchy) and hit Enter to save it. Double-check that the correct information is saved and click close.

rss-automation-image-4

5. uTorrent periodically refreshes the RSS Feed and runs the filter against it, since there was an episode released tonight, it has already automatically picked it up and started downloading!

rss-automation-image-5

And voila! There you have it, from now on as long as uTorrent is up and running and as long as that RSS Feed is active and being updated, any show you create a filter for will automatically be downloaded!

Got some good RSS feeds?  Share them in the comments or in our forum!

For more information visit:
www.utorrent.com
www.ezrss.it

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Comments (3)

[...] is unmatched by some of the Linux clients out there today. You can still have functioning WebUI and Automated RSS Downloading with uTorrent running in Ubuntu Linux, so if let’s get [...]

Thanks! The syntax info is exactly what I needed to know.

NP! Glad you found it useful!

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