Using RSS Feeds and Filters

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This engine allows periodic scanning of various RSS feeds. It includes a powerful but user-friendly autodownload filter that enables precise selection of only the files that you need, as well as an exclusion list that prevents download of duplicate files, or files in formats that you don't want, etc. So you can easily run the timed scan unattended without worrying about unnecessary downloads. Once an item is selected for autodownload, Alt.binz grabs the NZB file from the site, downloads it to your default folder, then opens it and adds the file list to the download queue.

Contents

Toolbar & Options

Any item listed in the RSS window can be added manually to the download queue by right-clicking or Ctrl+D (except when the Timer is active). Autodownloading is enabled by using the toolbar buttons.

  • Image:clear.PNG Clear: This button clears the file list window of all entries.
  • Image:filters.PNG Filters: This toggle button opens a separate panel in which you can edit your autodownload filters (actually stored in "..altbinz\misc\rssfilters.abz"). The filter format is explained in detail below. Any changes to the filter list become active as soon as the panel is closed. Note: the Timer button needs to be inactive for this button to work.
  • Image:rssurl.PNG RSS Url: List of available links to RSS feeds. Use the Image:rssplus.PNG buttons to add or remove entries from the drop-down list.
  • Image:timer.PNG Timer: This button enables the timed scan of the chosen RSS feed. The interval between scans can be chosen from the drop-down list (10-120 mins). Typically, there's no need to set this lower than 20 minutes. Note: before enabling the Timer you should first refresh the list, so that all of the items currently in the list are recognised by the program as old items.
  • Image:refresh.PNG Refresh: This button will display the current listing of your chosen RSS feed in the window.
  • Image:fiqp.PNG First in Queue/Paused: When checked, all items marked for autodownload will be added to the top of the queue and/or in a paused state. The Paused option is particularly helpful in the first few days of using the autodownload function, when you're fine-tuning your filter list.
  • Image:release.PNG Release name: When this option is checked, the program will try automatically to name the downloaded NZB file after the original release name. You should also check the option Setup > NZB > 'Merge collections with same name on import'; this will ensure that multi-part posts are saved to the same NZB/collection.

Setting up Filters

To use the RSS autodownload feature, you should first set up a list of download filters. Filters are expressed in the following format: 

    string_to_search_for | A <-- "Allowed"
    string_to_search_for | D <-- "Denied"

By default, all the files in the list are Denied (i.e. will not be autodownload). When the Timer is active, each new item (NZB filename) that is added to the TvNZB list is checked against all of the filters in turn, from the top of the list to the bottom. The last filter to match an item is the one that decides whether that item should be downloaded or not. A new item is a filename that is not already visible in the list window. Wildcards (*) can be used in a variety of ways to refine your filters.

Some examples of the filter format using wildcards: 

    *show1* | A
    *show2.* | A
    *show2.*hr.hdtv* | D

In this example every new item with 'show1' will be downloaded (if you want to download files only starting with 'show1!, remove first '*'). Every new item that starts with 'show2.' will also be downloaded, except any that have 'hr.hdtv' in the NZB filename. Wildcards can also be used to narrow the filter to specific series or episode numbers, depending on the format in which the NZB filename is listed, e.g.: 

    *show1*s02* | A <-- will download all files in the second series of the show
    *show1*s02e04* | D <-- except for episode 4

The filter list can be organised by show name in this way, with excluded items (marked 'D') always added after the items to be included. For everyday use, it may be more useful to keep an inclusion list and an exclusion list separately. For example (using ';' to comment out lines): 

    ;Include:
    *show1*s02* | A
    *show2*s06* | A
    *show3* | A
    
    ;Exclude:
    *svcd* | D
    *hr.hdtv* | D
    *pdtv* | D
    *proper* | D

In this example, because the exclusion list of keywords is kept at the bottom, files will never be downloaded if they are in SVCD, HR or PDTV format, and no propered versions will be downloaded (useful if you'd rather do this manually instead). The exclusion list can be further refined to get files only in your preferred viewing format.

Filters: Advanced

The Download and Unrar directories can also be specified for each individual filter by adding two further switches to each line, using the following format: 

    *show1*s02* | A | Download directory | Unrar Directory

Either of these entries can be left blank, in which case the default directories (i.e. those listed in Setup) will be used. For example, if you want to download to the default directory, but unrar each filtered file to its own destination directory, you would use something like this: 

    *show1*s02* | A | | E:\MyShows\Show1

A fourth switch (from version 0.26.3 onwards) allows a command to be executed following completion of download/unrar. If you wanted to do the same as the above, but finish by executing a cleanup batch file that you have written, you would do something like this: 

    *show1*s02* | A | | E:\MyShows\Show1 | c:\mybatch.bat

Alt.Binz 0.27.1 intruduced a variable: %NZBSUBJECT . That can be used in download or unrar directory and translates into a subfolder based on nzb name. Example: 

    *show1*s02* | A | | E:\MyShows\Show1\%NZBSUBJECT


Multiple RSS Feeds

  • It is possible to have more than one feed with this little trick:
  • create as many RSS feeds as you want and copy them to http://www.rssmix.com/ to create a single feed.
  • You can use this feed now in alt.binz


Newzbin RSS & Cookies

From version 0.25.1, Alt.binz also supports direct download from Newzbin RSS feeds. These feeds require special configuration of the URL, since the user account needs to be verified. The following should be added to the end of your Newzbin RSS feed URL: 

&fauth=<fauth_ID>:COOKIE:NzbSmoke=<nzbsmoke_code>;NzbSessionID=<session_ID>

Make sure that feed=atom is replaced with feed=rss in the url. The <fauth_ID>, <nzbsmoke_code> and <session_ID> parameters need to be replaced with the correct values. To get the right cookie info, go to Newzbin page, log in and type in the URL box: 

javascript:document.cookie

This should open a new page with active cookies that you can copy/paste. To get the <fauth_ID>, just navigate to a Newzbin RSS page and copy from the URL.

Note: If NZBs downloaded this way don't load in Alt.binz, and when opened in Notepad show only html code, then the above parameters haven't been configured properly.

NZBsRus.com RSS & Cookies

Following the above guide for Newzbin, the same approach can be used to get alt.binz working with NZBsRus' RSS feeds.

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