After my last post on here asking about convenient streaming options at higher resolutions, I got a few comments recommending Stremio with Torrentio and Real Debrid.
I ended up going through with that and streamed a 4k movie. That said, what’s the catch? I’m a little paranoid because I’m not sure if this still counts as torrenting, and if I should be using a VPN while watching something from RD.
No such thing as free lunch, so I’m assuming there’s other downsides to this solution, could someone let me know what they are?
Paying for Real Debrid puts them in a legal grey area/they do log your IP. So use a VPN.
Definitely use a VPN. My roommate got us DMCA’d for Transformers of all things when he used a stream from Torrentio (not Real Debrid). Brought him onto my VPN and Real-Debrid after that.
Was he using another debrid service? Because from what I understand you can only stream if the file is cached by the service, otherwise torrentio just gives you the torrent. Without a VPN it makes sense why he got DMCA’d
torrentio just gives you the torrent
If it’s not cached there’ll instead be links that makes RD start a new download of that torrent (this can be disabled in Torrentio settings). The reason not to use those links would just be because you have to wait for RD to finish the download, but in either case you’re never torrenting yourself. You’ll see “RD+” above the quality label of streams which tells you it’s from real-debrid, so you’ll always know if it’s not.
You don’t need a VPN with Torrentio + Real Debrid. You are not torrenting - they already torrented it for you, and you are streaming the cached file directly from the RD servers. I think the only “catch” is that it’s not free (obviously) so I don’t think you can call it “free lunch” lol. Torrentio addon specifically scrapes the debrid service - now, if you were to install, say, TPB addon for Stremio, it would be torrenting, so you don’t want to do that without a VPN.
This is what I understand as well. I have been using it (well, specifically streamio + Rd with torrentio addon) for half a year so far and it’s fantastic. Definitely seems too good to be true, but there’s no catch imo :)
There’s only 3 cons which for me aren’t big deal breakers unless it’s important to you
- No auto renewal
- Not free, it’s like $6 for 6 months or something which imo is insanely affordable and an incredibly good deal
- If you watch on multiple devices but at the same time, you get banned
EDIT: As I was corrected below, bullet 3 only applies when under the same IP using different external IP addresses
I haven’t looked up info on it yet - but the multiple devices at the same time, that’s for one RD account I assume? So, could my spouse and I technically pay for 2 accounts in the same household, or no?
As far as I understand, yes! That’s correct. I have 1 account so I can’t stream multiple devices at the same time. But if you have 2 separate accounts there shouldn’t be issues. I’m like 95% sure but someone correct me if wrong
EDIT: As I was corrected below, you only can’t stream multiple devices at the same time when using different external IP addresses
Your edit clarification is wrong btw. It should read: only applies when using different external IP addresses.
So it’s two months later, this still working for you? I’m looking at this for myself just setting up unraid now…
Yes, I use it practically daily and have had 0 issues aside from the very rare occasional maintenance/short outage. here’s the guide originally from reddit that I followed after spending some time trying to figure it out
Real-debrid is already doing what a VPN does for you - it downloads the files on your behalf then sends them to you via an encrypted connection. Your ISP will see you’re downloading from RD, but they won’t know what. If you’re doing regular torrenting via another client then of course use a VPN, but it’s not necessary with solely Torrentio+RD.
Well if we’re strictly talking about the ability to hide what you’re downloading from your ISP then the end result is the same.
Except debrid services also gives you premium access to dozens of file hosting sites as well (megaup, 1fichier etc.) - in the case of file hosters the download is streamed to you immediately so there’s no waiting for RD to download first.
Seedboxes will also impose storage limits. In the case of real-debrid you’re limited to 2TB per torrent, or 72 hour download time.
Ive no experience using debrid nor seedbox services. Just responded saying what they described were more like seedbox than a VPN as the comment mentioned.
