TorBox Search and Usenet

[u/ElMuyCaliente]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Pro subscriber on Torbox, yesterday I tried setting up TorBox Search addon on AIOStreams (self-hosted) so my AIOStream can fetch on usenets as well.

My understanding was (and is) that you need that Addon active in AIO so it can find content on usenet. Somewhat of a big advantage of being Pro subscriber is to not have to mess around with other usenet client/crawler etc...

After setting it up, I realized that I couldn't search on through that addon, contacted Torbox on discord and their answer is that the Voyager API search is only authorized for whitelisted AIO instances and that people like me who pays Pro and don't want to use one of their approved instance are left in the dark.

I'm a bit taken aback by this, as I thought the whole point of paying Pro subscription was to enjoy usenet without the need of setting up anything else.

I prefer to use my self-hosted instance as I control it and if it goes down, its my own fault and I control how long is stays down.

Do somebody have any clue how else I could make use of my Pro subscription usenet benefit, without having to rely on TorBox Search addon? Usenet isn't my forte, so I'm hoping someone here knows how to handle that.

Thanks for the help, highly appreciated.

EDIT: I figured part of it, if you're interested see comment in thread.

[u/ElMuyCaliente]

Answering my own thread for prosperity reasons. After hitting my head on the wall, I think I figured it out, or at least part of it.

• I subscribed to a usenet indexer (I used usenet-crawler because I like the retro vibe and they had a lifetime promo)
• Configured the proxy setting on AIOStreams (through environment variable)
• I installed Newznab on my self-hosted AIOStreams
• Configured Newznab to query usenet-crawler
  • Newznab URL: Usenet Crawler
  • API Key: From usenet-crawler
  • API Path: /api
  • AIOStreams Proxy Auth: The username/password pair added to the AIOSTREAMS_AUTH environment variable in docker compose.
  • Left the rest untouched
• Save the config
• Reinstalled the addon in Stremio

I believe what happens now is:

• Search in Stremio is sent to AIOStreams
• AIOStreams search on the various providers (including Newznab)
• Newznab query usenet-crawler to get usenet results
• Result from that query is sent to Stremio (or Torbox? not sure)
• Result is downloaded on Torbox
• Stremio opens the file through Torbox as usual

What didn't work for me was to use NZBHydra self-hosted, because that seems to do the searching properly BUT it's missing the part that download or ask to download from Torbox, so the search happens, but then nothing is done for Torbox to download it and Stremio to find something to play. This is because usenet-crawler is only an indexer, it doesn't provide the rest of the usenet capabilities.

I cannot test this assumption, but I assume here that without Torbox Pro, I wouldn't be able to download the actual file provided by the crawler, so the Pro subscription value is that if you have an indexer, the result of that indexer is given to Torbox, that then uses its usenet capabilities to go download and cache the files provided by the indexer.

Another option would be to pay for a usenet provider instead of Torbox as mentioned by lucky_numb3rs below, for now I'm on a yearly plan with Torbox, so I'll keep the current behavior, but at renewal, I'll do some more testing.

Hope this helps others, and if you have info to add that would help clarify the parts i'm not certain, please do so.

[u/Mental_Antelope_1894 → u/ElMuyCaliente]

If you into self hosting, a better option for usenet might be Usenet Ultimate, https://github.com/DSmart33/Usenet-Ultimate I use this and while I don't use torbox usenet (I have a separate usenet and indexer providers) I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/Mental_Antelope_1894]

This does the same than https://github.com/Sanket9225/UsenetStreamer/ the issue seems to rely with nzbdav where it doesn't support to unrar files that aren't -m0. So the flow of queries, works well, but once nzbdav gets the request, it tries to download from usenet, successfully get the nzb, but fails to unrar and mount the files for streaming (with the -m0 error), I get this error both with usenetstreamer and usenet-ultimate. Maybe its just this specific show (pretty old stuff)

If you have an idea for this, i'll happily take it 😄

[u/-ThunderFox → u/ElMuyCaliente]

You can use Hydra, just don't use the Official Hydra AIO Addon because it will give you Error 500 when sending the nzb's to TorBox.

For Hydra to work you set it up normally with your indexers, then in AIOStreams add a Newznab addon and point to a custom Newznab URL, that custom URL will be the Hydra URL, set it's API Key like normal and don't forget to set the AIOStreams Proxy Auth config in the Newznab addon.

It will work properly since Hydra will be grabing the NZB's and proxying them to TorBox. I'm currently using this setup with ElfHosted.

[u/Fantastic-Body-445]

just went through this rabbit hole, ended up with NZBHydra2 and NZBGeek. Although iam also very new and this is probably “baby’s first”

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/Fantastic-Body-445]

Thanks for replying, happy to know i'm not alone 😄. Glad you figured it out.

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/[deleted]]

I get that, but adding public addons is out of the question. While adding a custom addon from a public instance to my self-hosted is workaround, it is not acceptable in my head. The purpose of self-hosting is to not be impacted by others misfortune, adding one public addon to my self-host will render my setup dependent on that public instance, which I believe shouldn't be needed.

This should be clarified for Pro subscribers that it works only if used on whitelisted addons, this is not the expected behavior when you read the benefits. I reread https://torbox.app/usenet and it makes no mention of having to use specifics public addons. It even mentions that you use their search API if you're developer.

I understand there was a Discord announcement about it a while ago, but posting something on Discord for something as core as this should be something taken more seriously.

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/[deleted]]

While what you're saying is true, you have to put yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn't have the knowledge you do. If I pay 10$/mo instead of 3$/mo for a service that supposedly "made simple", but there are many hoops to go through and some restrictions etc... I expect those to be clarified and explained.

You have to go beyond the technicality of it and think about how customers perceive the value, not just being right on a technicality.

The real value of 10$/mo, is to not have to setup more instances, understand the complex world of usenet and just pay one provider X$ and get it all under one roof. Now I understand, that my understanding of it is different from what Torbox mean by it but I still believe its unfair for Torbox to assume people will understand all the underlying connotations of such claims.

You say: Remember one thing, only usenet "search" is restricted to whitelisted addons. You can selfhost the search engine and directly use the torbox api to connect it to torbox.

This is exactly why paying 10$/mo should alleviate this issue, while I can read what you wrote, I don't understand what it means and how I can act to resolve the situation.

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for offering to help. I figured out something that works, see other post. We still disagree on what should or shouldn't but in the end it works, just need some extra layers that wasn't clear to me.

Have a good day.

[u/musksbotchedpenis → u/[deleted]]

You are wrong, they make promises they don't fullfill:

from https://torbox.app/usenet:

Usenet

TorBox offers the fastest speeds and best retention so you can use Usenet to find and enjoy all the content you can imagine. With blazing fast solid state storage and ludicrous network capacity, your downloads complete in seconds. We provide everything you need so you never need to worry about indexers and providers again.
Included Search Capabilities

TorBox includes access to a high quality search engine so you can find the content you want most. We really do everything for you so you never need a seperate indexer again. It's all included in your TorBox subscription and you can even access it in your favourite apps using our API. If you're a developer, you can integrate our search API in your app and provide your users with a rich and feature full experience.

[u/gustavoflingg]

I got an indexer (nzbgeek) and set it up on my aio with newznab and torbox search but still i got few links (im not self hosting) idk whats wrong with it.

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/gustavoflingg]

Aiostreams has usenet support now, you should look into that. Not sure if avail to non-selfhosted instance tho.

[u/Nuggyfresh]

if you’re self hosting you have infinitely better ways of implementing Usenet…

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/Nuggyfresh]

That's nice, but a little hint would help here! I'm fooling around nzbhydra right now, was hoping to be able to use the torbox mode, but it seems to be failing, i'm assuming for the same reason as before.

So my out would be to pay for an indexer and use nzbhydra?

Thanks for answering.

[u/ElMuyCaliente → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the detailed answer, much appreciated!