EZTV RSS Feeds Tutorial

                                              by Kurai and Aydin1954 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  What it does is create an automated listing of updates from a web site,

called a "feed".  Each entry in a feed is a separate individual torrent - the same torrent you'd get by opening the

download link manually on a torrent listing web page.

The feed is written in structured XML which means (without going into too much detail) that the listing is in a

format that's very easy for other applications to understand and act upon without further human intervention.

In our case this means we can automate the downloading of torrents as they become available.

 

 

 

This varies from website to website, but they come in two basic flavours : `Complete` and `Customised`
Complete is a full listing of every torrent that appears on the site in question.
Customised allows you to narrow down the torrents that appear in the feed according to different criteria.
Each type has benefits and downsides : a feed from a Complete type site tends to offer a much wider range of TV
shows, but you have to put more effort into creating filters in your torrent client to narrow down the listing so that
you only end up downloading the shows you want.
A feed from a Customised site tends to have fewer shows, but allows you to personalise your feed content, so that
it does the bulk of the filtering out of unwanted shows/episodes for you automatically.
 
 
 
 

       Azureus

  1. Install the Azureus RSS Feed Scanner plugin. Use the Install Wizard in the plugins menu point to the .jar file.
    2.  Open the RSS Feed Scanner tab from the Plugins menu.
 
 
        
 
    3.  In the RSS Feed Scanner pane go to the Options tab.

        
  
4.  In the RSS Feeds URLs sub-pane click on the + on the right.

         

 
   5.  In the Options sub-pane give the feed a Name.  e.g.  TVRSS 
   6.  For URL use http://tvrss.net/feed/eztv/
   7.  Set a download directory if you want one, change Delay to whatever you want the feed refresh to be (in seconds).
        If you check the Obey TTL box it will over-ride the Delay value with the feed's default (30 mins for EZTV). You can
        see the feed's default in the XML code as for example <ttl>30</ttl>.
        If you do not then you either leave 0 (zero) for Delay and this will use the defualt time of the plug-in (5 min) or set your
        own delay (in seconds) we suggest 1800 seconds (30 min). This is a good value not too long but not too short to avoid
        overloading the RSS feed server.
   8.  Uncheck Use URL for Referrer, uncheck Pass Cookies.  Check Enable.  Click on Save.  That's the feed done.
        If you want to increase your chances to get your show in case of a problem like one of the feed is down or if the show
        is not properly placed in the feed, you can add more than one RSS Feed the same way you added the first one.
        two examples are: 
       
       TVRSS - EZTV : http://tvrss.net/feed/eztv/
 
       TVRSS - VTV :   http://tvrss.net/feed/legacy/vtv/           
      
       BT-CHAT - EZTV: http://www.bt-chat.com/rss.php?mode=cg&group=3&cat=9
 
       MiniNova - EZTV: http://www.mininova.org/rss.xml?user=EZTV
      
       MiniNova - VTV: http://www.mininova.org/rss.xml?user=VTV
 
       Each site offers various slightly different feed options - choose the one that best fits your needs.
         
      

 
       This is how it could look like:
               
      
   9.  Now we create filters, to act upon the feed.  We need one for each show you want to grab. 
 10.  In the Filters sub-pane click on the + on the right.
 11.  This step is for Azureus only:
        We need to create a single "Exclusions" filter, that will cut out all the different file types that you don't want.
        In the Options sub-pane to the right:- give it a Name - might as well be Exclusions.
        Leave Directory blank.  On the filter line we add the keywords to select the files to discard.
        e.g. (AC3|HR|264|720)
        Add any terms you like here, enclose the whole lot in () brackets, and separate each term within with a | , but be
        careful that they won't erroneously catch any text you might find in an episode title you do want.  The filters rules
        are processed in order, so if any one of the terms is found in an episode title it will mark that episode as rejected,
        even if it would be positively selected by filter later in the list.        
 12.  Check Filter Is A Regular Expression.  Check both Filter Searches Title and Filter Searches Link.
        Uncheck Move To Top.  Set State to Stopped. Uncheck Use Custom Rates.  Leave Set Category blank, set Feed as
        All, set Type as None, check Active as enabled, set Mode as Fail (this bit is important).  Click Save.
 13.  This Exclusions rule must always be first in your filters list.  If other rules push it downwards use the up arrow on
        the right of the filters sub-pane to return it to top.
 
        
         
 14.  Now we can create match filters for episodes.  You need one for each show you want.
 15.  In the Filters sub-pane click on the + on the right.
 16.  In the Options sub-pane give the filter a Name.  e.g. Lost
 17.  Set a download directory if you want one.
 18.  On the Filter line we add the keywords or regular expressions rules that will match with the specific show from
        the feed.  For EZTV this can be quite a simple term, as it's already personalised, so you don't have to filter out lots
        of rubbish from 3rd party uploaders.  Capitalisation isn't important -  the plugin treats upper & lower case the same.
               
       
 
        For shows with simple, consistent names we only need one or two word expressions
        e.g. lost or desperate.housewives (replace spaces with a .)
        
        If the name is ambiguous or variable, or a non-unique string of characters e.g. ER or CSI/Miami/New York then we
        need to get a bit more creative with regular expression terms.  Have a look at http://www.regular-expressions.info
        for more information, or if you want to create some more ambitious regex filters yourself.
        For ER we need to make sure it matches only the single word ER or E.R., but not things that just contain the
        letters ER e.g. Law & Order, or Veronica Mars.  Use the filter (\ber\b|\be\.r\.)
       
        For each of the CSI shows we need to exclude the two others e.g. keep CSI, reject CSI:Miami, reject CSI:New York.
        For original CSI use the filter csi.(?!miami|new|ny|\bn\.y\.)
        For CSI Miami use filter csi.+miami
        For CSI New York use filter csi.+(new|ny|\bn\.y\.(?!miami))
         
        If any good example filters for potentially difficult shows crop up in the forum they will be added in an appendix at
        the end of this document.
 19.  Once you have the filter working to your satisfaction then complete the rest of the options.
        Check Filter Is A Regular Expression.  Check both Filter Searches Title and Filter Searches Link.  Check Move To Top
        if you want new episodes to leapfrog to the front of your torrent queue, or Set State to Forced Download instead of
        Queued if you want the episode to download regardless of queue position.  Check and set any Custom Rates if you
        want them.  Same for Set Category.
 20.  For episodes with regular numbers i.e. 2x05 or S02E05, Set Type as TV Show.  Check Utilize Smart History - this ensures that
        the client remembers the most recent episode number, and won't download an older one even if it appears as a new
        entry in the feed. Leaving To at zero and zero means that it will keep downloading as there are new Seasons and Episodes.
 21.  For episodes without a regular episode number, or with a date i.e. The Daily Show 02 08 07, Set Type as Other, and
        check Disable After Success.  This will ensure the client only downloads the most recent episode in the feed.
 22.  Check Active to enable the filter, and set Mode to Pass (this bit is important).  Click Save.
 23.  Repeat steps 15 onwards for as many shows as you need.  Job done.

     

      µTorrent - make sure you update to version 1.8! One of the many benefits is automatic re-download of propers, repacks, etc!

  1.   Click on the RSS icon in the toolbar, or select Options/RSS Downloader (Ctrl R). Click on the first tab - Feeds.
 
       
 
 2.   Click Add and enter the following feed URL 
        Before clicking OK preface the URL with TVRSS| i.e.  TVRSS|http://tvrss.net/feed/eztv/  etc etc  (No space before or
        after the | ). This just means that the feed is referred to by the name EZTV elsewhere in the settings, rather than the full URL
        each time.
        If you want to increase your chances to get your show in case of a problem like one of the feed is down or if the show
        is not properly placed in the feed, you can add more than one RSS Feed the same way you added the first one.
        two examples are:
 
       TVRSS - EZTV : http://tvrss.net/feed/legacy/eztv/
 
       TVRSS - VTV : http://tvrss.net/feed/legacy/vtv/
      
       BT-CHAT - EZTV: http://www.bt-chat.com/rss.php?mode=cg&group=3&cat=9
 
       MiniNova - EZTV: http://www.mininova.org/rss.xml?user=EZTV 
 
       MiniNova - VTV: http://www.mininova.org/rss.xml?user=VTV
        
       Each site offers various slightly different feed options - choose the one that best fits your needs.
        
         

 
  3.   Click on the Favourites tab.  Here we create filters to act upon the feed.  One for each show you want to grab.
        
           
        
  4.   Click on Add button, and in the left hand sub-pane rename New Filter to whatever you want e.g. Lost
        Because µTorrent doesn't have the ability to set a Fail filter we don't need to create a single primary Exclusions filter,
        but have to add exclusions to each individual show filter.
  5.   Now we can fill out the Filter Settings sub-pane on the right.
  6.   On the Filter line we add the keywords that will match with the specific show from the feed.  For EZTV this can be
        quite a simple term, as it's already personalised, so you don't have to filter out lots of rubbish from 3rd party
        uploaders.  Capitalisation is not important - upper & lower case are treated the same.
        For shows with simple, consistent names we only need one or two word expressions
        e.g. lost or desperate housewives
          µTorrent contains pretty good inbuilt algorithms for determining show name/video type/episode number, so we don't
        need to use strict regular expression syntax in most cases i.e. no need to replace spaces with . or use excessively
        fiddly expressions to deal with punctuation or short initials in show names.
        If the name is too ambiguous or variable then we do need to be a little more careful e.g. ER or CSI/Miami/New York.
 
        If you are having trouble getting the show try the following (for example): desperate?housewives*
        
        For ER we need to make sure it matches the various possible titles.
        Use the Filter ER|E.R.
          For each of the CSI shows we need to exclude the two others i.e. keep CSI, reject CSI:Miami and CSI:New York.
        For original CSI on the Filter line use CSI  & on the Not line use *Miami*|*York*|*NY*
        For CSI Miami on the Filter line use CSI Miami   No need for a specific Not entry.
        For CSI New York on the Filter line use CSI New York|CSI NY   No need for a specific Not entry.
        
        For shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report with dates rather than regular episode numbers use
        The Daily Show* on the Filter line and see Smart Ep. Filter remarks below in point 14.
        Because of the lack of a global Fail filter we need to add the file types we want to ignore on each filter's Not line
        e.g. *AC3*|*HR*|*264*|*720*  Add any terms you like here.  Just surround each one with * wild cards and
        separate them with a |
  7.   Once you have the filter working to your satisfaction then complete the rest of the options.
  8.   Set a Save In directory if you want one.    
  9.   Set the Feed to be filtered as a specific one i.e. EZTV, or just All
 10.  The Quality filter isn't that reliable for picking up HR, so just set it to ALL, and let the previous Not entries take care of it.
 11.  For episodes with regular numbers i.e. 2x05 or S02E05, enter an episode to start from i.e. 2x05 or a range,
        for the series i.e. 2x5-22 and check the box, or leave it blank if you want to start from the next new episode.
 12.  Uncheck Filter Matches Original Name Instead of Decoded.  EZTV already standardises the names to a format the
        internal decoder readily copes with, so it's not needed.
 13.  Check Give Download Highest Priority if you want new episodes to leapfrog your existing queue.
 14.  For episodes with regular numbers i.e. 2x05 or S02E05, check Smart Ep. Filter - this ensures that the client remembers
        the most recent episode number, and won't download an older one even if it appears as a new entry in the feed.
        For shows like The Daily Show with dates rather than regular numbering make sure Smart Ep. Filter is unchecked , so it
        will just download the most recent one in the feed.
 15.  Leave Minimum Interval as Match Always.
 16.  Set a Label for new episodes if you want one.
 17.  All changes are automatically saved as you make them, so you don't have to do anything once you're done editing.
 18.  Repeat steps 4 onwards for as many shows as you need.  Job done.

Appendix : Example Regex Filters for difficult show names (only for Azureus NOT for µTorrent !)

Show Regex


24 ^24\s
ER (\ber\b|\be\.r\.)
CSI csi.(?!miami|new|ny|\bn\.y\.)
CSI Miami csi.+miami
CSI New York csi.+(new|ny|\bn\.y\.(?!miami))
House (M.D.) ^house\s
Law & Order law.(\+|&|and|&amp;).order:?(\.|\s)(?!special|svu|s\.v\.u\.|criminal|\bci\b|c\.i\.)
Law & Order CI law.(\+|&|and|&amp;).order:?(\.|\s)(criminal|\bci\b|c\.i\.)
Law & Order SVU law.(\+|&|and|&amp;).order:?(\.|\s)(special|svu|s\.v\.u\.)


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TO DO ITEMS (Ignore this bit - just a temporary reminder to myself ;) -- [kurai]
Remove My Shows entirely ? -> Done Aydin 9/7/2007
3rd party RSS setup.
Propers. -> Taken care by uTorrent 1.8