New Downloader with questions and a WELCOME

Hi all-

First a hearty welcome. This site is new to me, and I think Ive been up for 48 hours straight playing around. Ive been a Grateful Dead fan for 23 years and this place is a dream come true.

Just a few quick questions and comments since Im new to all this:

1. I really dont have anything to UPLOAD, or donate to the public, but im assuming that when I have finished dloading a show, that OTHERS will be able to dload it from me, correct?

2. Ive only got about 60 free gigs on my hard drive, so i can only store about 4-5 shows. Can I "compress" these shows or transfer them to an external hard drive, so I will have more to share with the public?

3. Im downloading the Vegas 91 show (Dew-Steve Miller) with uTorrent and was hitting about 50 kbps last night, but now am around 1/2 that, is this normal? I have a pretty good machine with cable.

4. Is it "normal" for a show to take 6-10 days to downlaod?

5. Once Ive dloaded the files, is there a recommended software that I use
for transferring these files onto dvds? I notice that the files are in "folders" (dvd1, dvd2, dvd3). Will the software know which files appear first? I dont want to transfer the show in the wrong order!

6. Finally, do these shows come with "cover art"? I noticed one of the Vegas shows had a lovely screen cap of dvd cover art, do they all come with this (probably not) Is there software available where I can create my own "cover art?

Ok, enough for now.

To Mattman, who I've read alot of posts from in the last 24 hours, thank you for sharing what you are sharing you are making so many people such as myself happy! There are so many of us, who, while we have our own busy hectic lives (wife, job, 4 year old daughter) miss Jerry and his magic terribly thats why Phil and Friends, RatDog, etc., while entertaining, just isnt the same without the magicman. Thank you for sharing these gems, they are TRULY priceless....my little girl loves "Berfa" and "Fiyo on the Mountain"

Warm regards to all-
CheesyBob

PS. For anyone who misses Jerry, heres a nice link to a 2 part 20 minute interview Jerry gave to ET (ET??!!) behind the scenes at the Vegas shows. It'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Its 2 parts. Its just amazing how he shines even off the stage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fwwflbJHgM

[AAR.oner]

welcome to The Den bob

1. I really dont have anything to UPLOAD, or donate to the public, but im assuming that when I have finished dloading a show, that OTHERS will be able to dload it from me, correct?

correct, it is BT ettiquette to leave a torrent open and running until you've reached atleast a 1:1 ratio - which means you've uploaded as much as you downloaded...

2. Ive only got about 60 free gigs on my hard drive, so i can only store about 4-5 shows. Can I "compress" these shows or transfer them to an external hard drive, so I will have more to share with the public?

i guess you could zip/rar a dvd's fileset, but what the majority of us do is burn the data to a disc for archiving...but be sure to keep all of the files with it, including the checksum. info text, art, etc

3. Im downloading the Vegas 91 show (Dew-Steve Miller) with uTorrent and was hitting about 50 kbps last night, but now am around 1/2 that, is this normal? I have a pretty good machine with cable.

yes, yer d/l speeds will vary, as it not only is dependent on yer connection speeds, but also the number of seeds currently on the torrent, as well as their own u/l speeds...

4. Is it "normal" for a show to take 6-10 days to downlaod?

its not out of the ordinary, especially if the DVD is dual layer, or if the seeders have extremely limited u/l speeds

5. Once Ive dloaded the files, is there a recommended software that I use
for transferring these files onto dvds? I notice that the files are in "folders" (dvd1, dvd2, dvd3). Will the software know which files appear first? I dont want to transfer the show in the wrong order!

no, you will need to burn them by disc manually...but we'll need to know what program you use to burn DVDs with before getting more specific

6. Finally, do these shows come with "cover art"? I noticed one of the Vegas shows had a lovely screen cap of dvd cover art, do they all come with this (probably not) Is there software available where I can create my own "cover art?

some do, some don't...we have a Covers sub-forum with alot of artwork, and there are numerous other sites dedicated to cover art

as for as making yer own, any graphics prog should be able to...but most folks use Photoshop i would say

[AAR.oner]

regarding yer download/upload ratio:
your ratio stats are shown under yer screenname...the number on the left is total d/l, middle is total u/l, and right is the ratio...

you've d/led 1.16GB so far, and u/led 248MB, giving you a .21 ratio [don't worry, thats normal at this point]...so once yer finished downloading the show, leave the torrent running until the ratio is 1.00 or higher

Wow!

You guys are great!

Thanks!

The show Im downloading says "Seeds 4 (4) and peers (0) 2" and im hitting about 25 mbps....is this normal speed?? At this rate It'll take me a week to dload this show!! LOL

Anyway, many many thanks>>

Oh,,,,,,,how do I "leave a torrent open"??? I assume this is to just leave it in my hard drive and not move it anywhere, correct?

Well, Im sure I'll have more questions later....many thanks again

-Bob

[U2Lynne]

Originally Posted by CheesyBob

The show Im downloading says "Seeds 4 (4) and peers (0) 2" and im hitting about 25 mbps....is this normal speed?? At this rate It'll take me a week to dload this show!! LOL

That means you are connected to 4 of the 4 seeds, but 0 of the 2 leechers. I would say this is a pretty normal rate for a show that was uploaded to the site over nine months ago. If you hop onto a more recent show, with more seeders, then you would probably get much better speeds. But, just leave your client open and you will eventually get the show.

Originally Posted by CheesyBob

Oh,,,,,,,how do I "leave a torrent open"??? I assume this is to just leave it in my hard drive and not move it anywhere, correct?

It means that once you are done downloading the show, you keep seeding it in utorrent. So, don't 'stop' the torrent. You can stop the torrent to go burn the files to DVD, but then start the torrent again and seed it to the next new guy who hops on and wants the show.

[drapes]

Originally Posted by CheesyBob

Hi all-

...

Just a few quick questions and comments since Im new to all this:

Hey CheesyBob,

Thanks for asking the questions I never would have! I would have just skulked around and finally given up.

Thanks as well to those who replied!

drapes

[inside'eye]

Welcome cheesybob, whatever you need, this is the place where everyone wants to help you