With the right set-up, downloading from Usenet can be fast and reliable. This is what I recommend:
- Get a reliable provider like Usenetserver (if you are in the US or Asia/Pacific) or Tweaknews (if you are in Europe) — and optionally a back-up on a different backbone like XS News (see this article for details)
- Get a comprehensive index like NZBGeek (see this article for details)
- Install SabNZBd — a reliable Usenet downloader (see this article for for details)
- Plex for organizing and watching the videos you download (see this article for details)
Automating Downloads
These download automation apps are also worth installing:
- Sonarr — for TV shows — requires a bit of setting up but worth it because it works with Plex nicely
- CouchPotato — for movies — personally I could do without this, but it convenient once set up
I don’t recommend these automation apps:
- Sickbeard (no longer being developed)
- Sickgear (a replacement for Sickbeard but Sonarr is more robust)
- Headphones (doesn’t connect to Usenet — seems be designed to get you to sign up their indexing service)
- Mylar (really bad a handling files)
- Lidarr (difficult to set up with Docker)
