Best Newsreader?

[presto]

I currently use Gravity which is free. I don't mind paying for a good program. Here is what I want that Gravity does not do:

1) I don't want to look at all the parts of a binary (picture of movie). I just want the newsreader to show a movie or pic as one post even if it is actually made up of many parts. Of course the newsreader would tell me if all the parts were present or not.

2) I don't want to look at anything but pics and movies. In other words I want to be able to set a filter so I don't see .txt files and other files. This seems like an obvious feature for a newsreader. Maybe Gravity has it but I haven't been able to figure it out.

I don't understand the reasoning used by Gravity or other newsreaders I have tried. Why make it so complicated for the users? I just want to open the program and see what pics and videos are available. (yes I upload to but that is not a problem).

Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

Once upon a time, I used AGENT, or something like that.

[stiltman]

Agent....nonother than the best!

I have used it for over 12 years now.

BTW, NNTP wasn't created to post binaries....that just happened over time. One reason you see shit loads of newbies on P2P networks and not on NNTP. I still subscribe to 4 NON binariy group that I visit at least twice a week. I have also Know these same ppl for 12 years

[presto]

Well, I get lot's of great movies and pics using Gravity. Will Agent solve any of the issues I listed?

It's just annoying to me that it is such a procedure. I have learned to spot among all the posts, the few that I happen to have figured out how to deal with. But why should I have to wade through all this stuff? I just want the movies and pics to show up, not all the parts, I also want to filter out txt files and other non multimedia files.

[stiltman]

Well, I get lot's of great movies and pics using Gravity. Will Agent solve any of the issues I listed?

It's just annoying to me that it is such a procedure. I have learned to spot among all the posts, the few that I happen to have figured out how to deal with. But why should I have to wade through all this stuff? I just want the movies and pics to show up, not all the parts, I also want to filter out txt files and other non multimedia files.

That's part of the newbie factor I was mentioning :P

You need to learn how to use filters You can make all sorts of filters based on size, headers, posters, and many more things. They can also be based on individual groups or globaly

I do not advocate warez

[presto]

You need to learn how to use filters You can make all sorts of filters based on size, headers, posters, and many more things. They can also be based on individual groups or globaly

Yes but will a filter recognize a multipart post ir .rar format (for instance)and display it as a single entry that indicates it is a movie? As far as I know the answer is no.

I'm not sure any of the people who have replied to this post actually understand what I am talking about. I thank you for your replies but none have addressed what I actually asked about.

I am determined to find a program that just shows the movies and pics and does all the multipart stuff behind the scenes. Think about: What do I care that your posting program broke the file up into 125 pieces and my reader is going to put them back togethor? Just find all the parts and if they are all there show me ONE entry because it is only one movie (or pic).

News Rover claims to do this. I'm going to work with it and see. I emailed them and asked if it would work the way I want and they sent a great reply saying it would and telling me how.

[stiltman]

Then use newsrover then...seems you had the answer you wanted all the time?

Agent displays the post that is posted. If that single post is broken down into 50 segments, Agent will combine them back to the single post. I would not trust any program that says it will combine multiple single posts with multiple rar files back into one rar file for you to download. Usenet just doesn't work that way....That's why you don't see a lot of newbies on Usenet....takes more time than P2P does Too me it sounds like leeching...Try posting your movies first. Then you'll see how it works
BUT please do it in alt.binaries.test FIRST

Edit:

BTW, how is this program going to fix corrupt binaries that require downloading from different posters or the use of PAR files?? Or what about multiple zip or ace files that are wrapped in rar files?? How would it know all this just by looking at the headers?
I would say they were just telling you that it will combine multiple segments of a single post like Agent does.

[presto]

BTW, how is this program going to fix corrupt binaries that require downloading from different posters or the use of PAR files?? Or what about multiple zip or ace files that are wrapped in rar files?? How would it know all this just by looking at the headers?
I would say they were just telling you that it will combine multiple segments of a single post like Agent does.

I didn't have the answer all along, I just found News Rover and am trying it out. It does seem to do a lot of what I want. It will search multiple newsgroups to find missing parts for you. It shows multi part posts as one item with an icon to tell you that all the parts are there or not.

I'm not sure why you think a program couldn't handle these various ways of posting. It's not some kind task that only human mind can handle. The program recognizes what it sees and combines, decodes etc just like you would.

[Faustus]

Agent
Agent
Agent
Agent
Agent

none other

[stiltman]

Agent
Agent
Agent
Agent
Agent

none other

Yes but Agent will not combine mutiple single posts with binary attachments with different file names into one single post with one single binary attachment while stripping the outter rar wrapper decoding the internal zip and combining the zips to one file and redoing the rar wrapper.....all the while doing this by header information only

[presto]

combine mutiple single posts with binary attachments with different file names into one single post with one single binary attachment while stripping the outter rar wrapper decoding the internal zip and combining the zips to one file and redoing the rar wrapper.....all the while doing this by header information only

I don't know why you say "all while doing this by header info only". For one thing when searching in a "multimedia" group you can be pretty sure a file over a certain size is a movie. (of course, nothing is certain). Also the program, as I stated, can simply do what you would do manually. It would download the parts, combine them, decode them and then present them as one item if they were indeed a movie, otherwise it would discard.

I sometimes meet people on these forums who are sort of "old guard". "Things are not done that way!

To me it sounds like this"

Person A:
"I wish I could manipulate my files by moving them around as if they were objects, a sort of graphical interface. Maybe the files would be represented by little pictures and you could actually, somehow drop them into little pictures of folders"

Old Guard Expert:
"Computers don't work that way, you sound lazy. Computers work by typing in commands. You should go study DOS. I've been doing this for 12 years and have no need for this "graphical interface" idea.

[stiltman]

good luck

[Faustus]

All other news programs are fluf. Agent gives you the raw power.

[Ripper2860]

I was gonna say Peter Jennings, but never mind ...

[redwudz]

I've used Newsrover for some time. I haven't really bothered with the filters, but the program is easy to use. A couple of other programs I use for multipart files are Hjsplit for combining and QuickPar for repairing and combining .rar or .par files.

[disturbed1]

Agent is an OK news reader. Defintly not for binaries , and not nearly as good for reading as Super Gravity.

Check out Grabit which is free, or newsbin (payware). Use multiple servers? BNR2 has the features you need, plus it's free, and works fine with Linux. However, BNR2 has a problem with groups that have over 1,000,000 articles. If you use Giganews, which has 50+ days of retention, Grabit loads and filters 2-3x faster than Newsbin.

BNR2 will combine multiple file posts into one. Say a movie with 50 parts, will show as only a single a file, instead of 50 parts x 32 segments each.

Newsbin, Grabit and BNR2 all support NZBs.

[Faustus]

Um... agent is awesome for binaries.

Everyone has their pet software, but I've used agent since I first got on the web. Since then I've tried about 50 different readers that are "better" they each might have some neat feature but they don't give me any power to decide how *I* want to use their software.

Maybe you should wait on the next version of agent, it supports multiple servers and a bunch more.