If you miss an episode of your favorite TV show then in most cases you’re out of luck until it comes up in re-runs or if someone you know has it taped. Another option is to download it from the internet, but in most cases this is a rather slow process and requires some knowledge on where to look and how to do it. Torrents, peer to peer, FTP, usenet and many other methods can be employed but they all have a learning curve.
Graboid is a new service that’s free to use and very easy to learn. Once installed, it pops up with a nice navigation screen where you first click on what you want (Movies, TV, etc) and then you can narrow it down to a specific genre (western, action, comedy). If you don’t feel like browsing you can search for what you want to see directly. The software has a built in video player so you don’t need to worry about whether your downloads will work or if you have the right codec installed.
It’s blazing fast too. I’m on a 5mbit cable connection and right now it’s maxed out downloading a test show to watch. 593k/sec means I can get a 44 minute show in about 12 minutes. I’ve never seen a torrent finish in less than a few hours! Graboid Video is also free to use but is limited to 4Gb of downloads per month, if you want more than that you have to pay for it. 4Gb is enough to watch 10 shows though (or 20 if they’re half hour shows), or a couple of movies. Older shows are also readily available, not just the newest ones. I see lots of MacGyver mixed in with Heroes and Terminator, for instance.
