SABnzbd Forums

When the new obfuscation method first appeared I tried to continue using my preferred program, Forte Agent, to download the files but the task of sorting things out was so time-consuming that I looked for a better method and happily ended up with SABnzbd. Agent has one feature that I really like however: It lets you preview an archive (grabs the first couple of minutes of the video and stitches them together) so you can see if it’s worth downloading. SABnzbd doesn’t seem to have this feature. (Please correct me if I’m wrong and if I am wrong we can ignore what follows.)

When you download new-obfuscated files with Agent you get a set that looks something like this:

08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177(1).mkv 0
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177(10).mkv 0
…
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177(15).mkv 15,204,352
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177(16).mkv 0
…
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177.mkv 0
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177.par2 7,720
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177.part01.rar 15,360,000
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177.part02.rar 15,360,000
…
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177.part11.rar 15,360,000
08ffc6dd4af04287b981f4d0ee106177.part12.rar 318,980

The numbers at the end of each line are file sizes. Notice that one (and only one) of the .mkv files is 15,204,352 bytes long and all the rest are 0 bytes long. That is a preview. If you play it you’ll get about two minutes of the start of the video. Every new-obfuscated file that I’ve downloaded with Agent has one of these but it does not always occur in the same position in the set.

If SABnzbd doesn’t already have a preview function, could the information above be used to give it one? I think it would be really useful if SABnzbd could extract such a preview before going on with the complete download.

Worth considering at least.
--
Bob

Have you tried DirectUnpack? That SAB feature starts unpacking the rars to mkv as soon as the download begins.

I am using DirectUnpack but if the preview file is ever captured (I've never seen it happen), it disappears when the unpacking is done and by that time I've already got the complete file. As a workaround I've taken to using Google and IMDB to "preview" stuff I don't know before downloading it.
--
Bob