Create a System to Auto-Locate and Download TV Shows via BitTorrent

BitTorrent is one of the best and easiest ways to quickly download files over the internet. In case you aren’t familiar with BitTorrent, here is a short description about it from Wikipedia:

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) communications protocol. BitTorrent is a method of distributing large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the entire costs of hardware, hosting and bandwidth resources. Instead, when data is distributed using the BitTorrent protocol, each recipient supplies pieces of the data to newer recipients, reducing the cost and burden on any given individual source, providing redundancy against system problems, and reducing dependence on the original distributor.

“Torrenting” files is a common practice nowadays, and is often used for watching TV shows. This tip describes the process of setting up a system in which your computer automatically locates torrent files that a top-notch torrent client then retrieves and begins downloading.

Acquire the Torrent Files with TVShows

In order to download the TV show itself, you must first acquire a corresponding torrent file. The two best applications for this are ted: torrent episode downloader, and TVShows. TVShows is more simple, but gets the job done, so I’ll explain how to use that one in this system.

So, download TVShows via this link. Once you’ve downloaded it and placed it in your Applications folder, launch it. Select a TV show that you would like downloaded by searching for it or finding it in the alphabetized list, and click “Subscribe.” If you want it to just download future episodes, select “Next aired episodes.” If you would like it to go for older ones as well, select one of the episodes from the list (which loads very slowly at times).

To tell TVShows what quality torrent you want, enter the preferences menu and select “Normal,” “High,” or “Very High.”

Designate a folder for where TVShows should put torrent files by selecting one from the drop-down menu next to “Save torrents in:.” I recommend creating a folder used specifically for torrents.

Download the TV Show with Transmission

Once you’ve gotten TVShows or ted set to acquire the torrent files for all your TV shows, you need an application to download the TV show itself. I recommend Transmission, a simply incredible application that manages to take care of everything else you need while remaining lightweight. Download it here.
Once you’ve got Transmission downloaded and placed in your Applications folder, launch it. The majority of the settings available are really up to your needs, but you must configure the “Auto add” feature in order to get TVShows and Transmission working together flawlessly. To set up auto add, enter the preferences for Transmission and select the “General” pane of the “Transfers” pane. Check the box that says “Watch for torrent files in:” and from the drop-down menu, select the same folder you told TVShows to download torrents into.

Now, TVShows will download torrent files of your favorite TV shows to a designated folder, and Transmission will locate the files and begin downloading your TV shows. Once this system is set up, all your favorite TV shows will essentially download themselves and be waiting for you when you’re ready to watch!