Linux @lemmy.ml Ganesh Venugopal @lemmy.ml 1 yr. ago

[SOLVED] Linux app which downloads torrent from begginning to end and allows me to watch the torrent as I am downloading it.

You lovely people have given me a lot of great FOSS apps and I thank you for your suggestions

Although this feature is available in new Transmission 4, I am using Transmission 3 and I can use flatpak to download the latest and the greatest, but yeah, I choose to just go for other apps for now. If you are looking to make transmission work, this comment is for you, again to repeat, flatpak transmission is the best transmission if you want to stick to it.

Deluge you are as beautiful as I first found you 😇 comment [Installing this next time I distrohop]
qb which also has this functionality.
steamio
btfs
webtorrent installing now
kodi + elementum I don't like KODI :( So, I don't think so

edit: I am using Debian Stable, so though I have Transmission the transmission I have is the older one released in 2020. So, unfortunately, I can't use the latest greatest thing (unless I use flatpaks), I have however chosen to use qb and I like it as well! Thank you all

Two uses I think I would have from this app

I can see the quality of the file as I am downloading it and I can remove it if I don't like it.
I can obviously watch the movie or show I want to watch without waiting for it to be downloaded.

I am using Transmission now and I love it, but yeah, this would be a good addition.

PS: I do realize this would most likely work only for torrents with good number of seeders. ****

spoiler

40 comments

Webtorrent desktop or qbittorrent with sequential order download + VLC
- thank you!
  
  Sequential order just means downloads files in sequential orders, you can't for instance watch a 2 hour Linux ISO documentary until the file is downloaded.
  
  There is a plugin for VLC which does allow this though, but I don't remember the name of it. No need for external torrent software, just plop a magnet link in VLC, or a torrent file, and it'll start streaming the legal Linux ISO documentary.
Stremio. Hands down the best. It has so many plug-ins for all types of content, yes furry porn and hentai included.

You can add items to your library w/o downloading, I use it as a watchlist.

I open Stremio if I know it'll be one off, for my actual library good ol' Jellyfin.
- Stremio is what finally got me to cut the cord.
- But how to download and save files for later using stremio ?
  
  /home/user/.config/stremio/stremio-cache/
https://github.com/johang/btfs btfs lets you straight up mount a torrent as a directory and stream it. Most torrent clients also have an option to download parts in order so you can stream.
- that's wicked! thank you!
qBittorrent, and turn sequential download on.
Deluge has sequential download.

Check 3/4 of them and you can use whatever player you want.
- ohh yes deluge! of c! my first ever open source torrent downloader. This is where I remember it sequential download from
  
  I love Deluge, but rn I have qb and it has great functionality as well, so imma stick with it. Thank you tho
Ktorrent can do it. It's got a built in media player, and if you watch a file in it, it will try to download it sequentially.
You are searching for WebTorrent
- seems pretty good, thank you
Stremio? Not sure if it's foss/open, though. Most likely not.
- According to their website it's open source
  
  Cool, thank you! I had never bothered to check, to be honest.
- always use foss if you have a choice :'0
  
  I have a pragmatic approach. I prefer to always use the app/program that works best for me and choose FOSS everything else being equal.
Sequential downloads are bad for torrents.
In settings untick append .part to incomplete files Then find enable sequential download and tick it.

I think this is a global setting rather than per torrent
- In settings untick append .part to incomplete files Then find enable sequential download and tick it.
  
  I think this is a global setting rather than per torrent
  
  I unticked it just now, I wasn't able to find sequential download :(
  
  Looks like it was added march this year https://github.com/transmission/transmission/pull/4795
I use stremio. I have a Real-Debrid account, I log into that in Stremio for cached torrents.
Hey this is exactly what I was looking for some days ago. Then an app was published on flathub called Muktiplex. It allows you to download and stream torrents directly through mpv. I watched Ahsoka only through this but I have to warn you: it is very new and it can crash sometimes but other than that it just fills this usage gap perfectly!

Edit: I have seen all the other comments and they either propose no solution at all ("just download the torrent") or they name some proprietary websites which also didn't really work for me. So I really think Multiplex comming as a nice looking gtk flatpak has a great potential.
- hey, thank you!
  
  Have you found it?
Popcorn time
- hey, do you use popcorn.pro
  
  https://popcorntime.pro/movie/the-nun-2
  
  seems like there are a lot of ads and bugs, I am pretty sure you have a better setup, care to share?
Kodi + Elementum

Both are open source and Elementum has a setting to keep your downloads.
- thanks for the links. those came in handy. I probably will go for elementum
  
  wait elementum is an addon han? I am not sure if I like kodi, let's see this would be a choice as well.
- thank you mate!
I've been using Peerlix for years. While there might be better alternatives nowadays, have not had any need for them.
just select only one episode if its a series. after the episode downloads, watch it to see if the quality is good or not. if it's good, you can select the rest of the files to download. you can do this in transmission, qbittorrent or deluge.
- that's the way I do business rn and it's not enough. I don't have much data to do that too

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