How to Stream Videos with NZBPlayer 0.1.09+

Before going any further, make sure your internet speed is above 3 mbps, and make sure you watch the video to know what NZBPlayer does.

Getting Started

Make sure you have a Usenet account. If you don't have one, we recommend Giganews
Download and install VLC v 0.8.6c from www.videolan.org, using their installer.
Download and install the latest version of NZBPlayer.
Start NZBPlayer.
Press the Settings button
Enter your Usenet server settings.

Finding NZBs

NZBPlayer opens NZB files. It can play AVI files (DivX, Xvid, h264 etc), SVCD, VCD etc. However, it can't play every NZB file you give it. Sometimes you will have to find a different NZB for the same thing you want to watch.

You can either manually get your own NZBs, or use the built in NZB searcher/browser. You should be aware, however, that the built in method is still very experimental/temperamental at the moment.

Here is a short list of NZB sites (there are many others):

When you choose your download, select "Open with - nzbplayer.exe" in your web browser. This will automatically play it in NZBPlayer.

Tips on selecting compatible NZBs from indexing sites

Note: Using NZBEdit, you can play multi-cd NZBs. NZBEdit lets you remove unnecessary files from the NZB file, and even rearrange the order (for those pesky NZBs that won't auto-arrange!).
This is the fix for "Erroneous file" and "File list empty" errors.

An NZB for a 2 CD video won't work, it needs to be 2 separate NZBs. On some sites (e.g. Newzbin, Binsearch), you can specify which files you want to be in the NZB before downloading it. Some people post 2 CDs as 2 separate NZBs anyway. Or you could split the NZB yourself using an NZB editor.

An NZB which says something like "Episodes 1-8" won't work, similar to Tip 1.

An NZB which points to an MPG file (many music videos are posted in this way) will not work. An MPG which has been compressed into rar archives will work.

Some NZBs are posted in the *.00x hjsplit format (an un-named sci-fi series is posted this way). These do not work at the moment. Rars posted in the *.00x however, will work.

Most NZBs in a.b.movies.xvid will work, apart from those described in Tip 1. You can generally tell which they are; 2 CD videos will be around 1400 MB, whereas compatible ones are around the 800 MB mark.

Most popular TV shows will be around 400 MB - 800 MB and will be in a compatible NZB format.

If you have a Newzbin account, then this will be a nice list of NZBs for you.

Streaming the Video

Either open the NZB file, or double click on something in the Browser list.

NZBPlayer will then connect to Usenet using your settings, and will start downloading data. If your connection is fast enough, the video will start playing in less than a minute. You can then sit back and enjoy whatever it is you're watching! The video file will be stored in the "NZBMovies" folder on your desktop, and you can watch it as many times as you want.

If the video breaks, then click the Fix Movie check box. More details below.

Playing videos in multipart RAR files

NZBPlayer can open RAR files that contain video files. This is useful for a number of reasons; maybe you prefer to download your RAR sets using a different Usenet client for example, or maybe you want to stream rars that you are downloading over FTP.

In those scenarios, you would set your other client to download the RARs in the correct order. Once the first RAR file has downloaded, open it in NZBPlayer. You can then start watching the video as the rest of the RARs are being downloaded.

Troubleshooting

Firstly, you should know, this has only been tested on XP Pro.

The video crashes when it starts playing.
- Download VLC version 0.8.6c installer, and install it again. You can also try un-checking the Auto Fullscreen box.

The video is stuttering and weird.
- We've found that this happens when logged in as a user with no administrator privileges. Log into an account that does have administrator privileges to fix it.

After playback has started, the video sometimes freezes/stops within a few seconds.
- This can sometimes happen with slow connections, when not enough data has been downloaded. In this situation, just press stop in the player, wait for another file to download, and then press play in the player.

Sometimes a video will stop or freeze halfway through/5 minutes from the ending!
- Provided that par2 files are available, you can click the Fix Movie check box. NZBPlayer will then fix the video, and start playing it again. You will have to wait for all the files to download if it needs fixing. If this happens frequently, consider choosing a better quality Usenet provider.

Skipping through a video sometimes crashes NZBPlayer.
- Unfortunately, this is caused by VLC. If you open an incomplete AVI file in the VLC program, and try to skip past the end of the file, it will also crash.

Skipping through a video is unreliable and jumpy.
- Yes, we agree. Unfortunately, this is a side effect of playing an incomplete AVI file. The speed buttons are there to alleviate some of that stress!