Basic Cable/Extra Cable Subscription

[RobertX]

joew771, I never thought you were the dodging type, since you don't use VPNs and you use The Pirate Bay in spite of the probability of getting caught.

EDIT: Anyhow, i was just joking, joew771. You made some good points, but after careful considering, I will stick to my original plan: downloading. If I become desperate enough to spend money, I'll raid secondhand shops or online classifieds for legit secondhand DVDs. I just did actually: I bought the Lord of the Rings DVD set. For TV shows, I'll just use torrents or cyberlockers.

Thanks.

[Kandaje]

Greetings...

Well, I use Netflix, HULU, and maybe a few more streaming sites. In addition I use a number of sites like TPB to get torrents
of movies and TV shows.

I'm staring at this 8 foot tall stack of DVD's that I've paid up to $35 each over the years...

I'm disabled, and basically live in a bed. Watching TV and doing other hobbies is about all I can do these days.
A laptop (alienware) lives next to me and that's hooked into my 50" by an HDMI cable. There are 2 four TB drives, one for movies
and one for TV shows. TV shows take a LOT of space!

I don't have cable, I can't see the sense of paying to watch commercials...

Add to that that most of today's laptops don't come with an optical drive anymore. They are about as common
as 3.5" disk drives these days, so There's a USB DVD burner/player also next to me.

When my ISP came in and installed my router/modem pair, I told him what I do. That I torrent.

He kind of laughed and said don't worry too much about those violation letters you sometimes get - Unless you are
selling them in China or something.

I told him, I'm just disabled, and it's about all I have these days...

[politux]

You told your ISP you torrent, why exactly would you do that. Disability has nothing to do with it. It's called being smart.

[Kandaje]

Greetings...

HULU is practically worthless these days. Endless buffering with that annoying swirly circle thingy.

Last month, I tried to cancel them, and they offered me a free month if I stayed, suddenly, No buffering!
Well, it's started again, a new month.

Netflix doesn't buffer, they just stop every hour and make you hit a button to keep watching...

That's one of the major reasons why I prefer to torrent some old 90's TV series, and just let my GOM player
play it for days.

By next year, if I live that long, we'll likely see even bigger HD's in the stores, I'll likely add a few more to
the USB daisy chain.

---

You told your ISP you torrent, why exactly would you do that. Disability has nothing to do with it. It's called being smart.

Because, I needed to know.  

Actually disability has everything to do with it.  I've tried VPN's - To me, that's like paying for cable, and it's commercials.
I'm on a rather limited budget these days.  The cost of a 100 MB internet connection is already plenty...

Last Speed test showed my connection in the high 90's - I'm getting for what I pay for.
Considering that I was paying just as much for a 3 MB connection that I had previously with another ISP, I'm 
pretty happy with it, and now they've basically said it's cool...

I'm poor - and honestly, I have little to lose.  LOL, if the state wants to put me in jail - then THEY (aka we, you me and everyone else) can buy
all the drugs and other goodies that I get to pay for these days...

[dueda]

I understand our fellow pirate told the ISP guy because he needed to know if there would be any problem, like blocks and traffic shaping;
he can't afford to pay for something he won't be able to use the ways he needs/wants.

And don't worry being on a bed, many "normal condition" or "healthy" humans are living like that, they're couch potatoes or computer addicts.
As long as your mind is working, keep on torrenting!

Bigger HDs are already available, they're just expensive; 10 TB from major brands like Seagate, or even more.
Maybe you should consider a powered dock base that can hold two of those; these big drives can't, and shouldn't, be powered by USB alone.
A NAS would be too expensive, I suppose.

And I hope to keep in touch for a few years to come...

[Kandaje]

Greetings...

I've got a nice powered USB 8 plug Hub that handles a bunch of drives. Hooked up into the USB C port stabbed
into the back of this Alienware Laptop. So far it's working quite well!

When I last had to upgrade, I gave my wife my old 2 TB drive after spending nearly 2 days just copying that to
the new ones. I kind of live in the boonies and I'm one of those weirdos that likes to hold something in my hands
before handing over my credit card. So I'll wait till it hits the one and only store (Best Buy) within 300 miles...
On rare occasion, Wally World might actually get something worth buying, but that's like holding your breath...

[dueda]

If it's working, then it's right.

I'm not an engineer and USB specifications are a bit complex, but safe limit is 900mA or 4.5W on 5V.
Starting a Seagate 10TB HDD will go over 26W. A 2TB (2.5" notebook form) unit will use less than half.
But it's two drives, double the current. Under extreme conditions, that can damage your notebook. So be careful.

http://www.testusb.com/power_issue.htm
https://www.seagate.com/www-content/prod...03343a.pdf

---

Note: Those are for USB 3.0; the most common 2.0 ports have much lower power limits and should NOT be used with high capacity devices!

[Kandaje]

Greetings...

The hub is a C to the laptop, and has 8 3.0 type ports.  It's separately powered, and I typically only have
three devices plugged in.  2 X 4 TB HD's and the DVD burner (which almost never gets used these days)
I have a seperate USB mini plug, itself powered to charge the phone, and on rare occasion, I'll plug my camera
or other USB device into the ports on either side of the laptop.  Unfortunately, Dell didn't put a third 3.0 port on the backside
of the puter!  That's why I use the C on the back.

I don't particularly care for the C port.  I much prefer the older bigger 3.0 connectors.  I trust them a lot more!  

They also put this "Graphics Accelerator" thingy port on the back too.  LOL, I really have no need for that, but
I'm hoping the Laptop will last at least as long as my last one - 6 years or so.
By then, no doubt there will be something better to come along.

I'll likely try out some other brand if I last that long!  LOL!