November 08, 2008 by sharky
Karagarga
Hankering for the latest fixins’ of popular scene movies? Karagarga will not help you. However, if rarities, independents, arthouse, film-noirs and low-budget movies are more your cup of tea, then KG just might be the place you’re seeking. Whether it’s cultish, non-mainstream or just downright archaic, you’ll probably find it at Karagarga.
Total Number of Torrents: 48,000 (27,800 active)
- Number of Movie Torrents: ~22,000 (active)
- OSTs and Music Torrents: ~4,225 (active)
- Daily Added Torrents (Avg.): ~51
- Hi-Def Films: 113 (active) HD torrents
- DVD-R’s: 1,200 (active)
- RSS Feed(s): Yes - way, way down at the bottom of the ‘Home’ page.
- Alexa Rank: 85,046
- Members: 17,585 / unknown Max. # allowed
- Seed / Leech Ratio: 28.78 : 1 (or 2,878%)
- Open Signups? — NO.
- Active Invite System? — Yes, for Power Users & up. Unless rules for this have recently changed, PUs get 1 invite per week.
- Finding an Invite — Not difficult. Invites are somewhat easy to find on ‘Torrent Invite’ forums, and as KG is not a collectors’ tracker, there’s not much competition in the giveaways. Additionally, if you’re a PU on What.cd, check the "Invites" forum thread for Karagarga - there’s always someone handing out invites.
Tracker / Site Features:
- • All users are encouraged to share and upload torrents. No scene releases, no mainstream Hollywood/Bollywood.
- • Archives are not allowed - no RAR or ZIP files.
- • While members are permitted to upload torrents, KG has a very active moderation system for filtering (nuking) dupes, bad copies, screeners, etc.
- • Torrent Requests — Broken down into three categories: (New requests, reseeds, stuck requests); which total in at 2,800.
- • Extensive information on all movie torrents (rip specs, screenshots, plot descriptions, review(s), movie posters and additional outside links).
- • Bonus System — Somewhat complicated, but you’ll get a minimum of 10% extra on top of your uploaded MBs when seeding a torrent.
- • Aside from the tens of thousands of cinemagraphic/film torrents, there’s also a great selection of literature (Audiobooks [416, active] - Books [765, active] - Comics [265, active]).
- • Music — There’s an impressive amount of music to choose from, with over 4,200 (active) torrents. Of these, over 570 are offered in FLAC.
Seeding Strategies / Ratio Building / Classes:
Karagarga has one of the most stringent set of rules for becoming Power User of any private tracker: Users must upload over 50 GB, be a member for a minimum of 12 weeks, and maintain a ratio over 1.05. Seeding at KG is definitely not for the faint of heart; by comparison you’ll probably find it easier to build a good ratio at Waffles or What.cd. Here’s a few strategies:
• Use the current ‘MoM’ torrents - these offer a 50% bonus. To filter the torrents to show only the MoM (Master Of the Month), click the plus sign ( + ) next to "MoM Cinema". Click on the top result, in this case Ken Loach, to show these current MoM torrents.
- • Get a seedbox, a big one. KG incorporates a ’seed bonus’, so anything running over long periods of time is beneficial. With a crazy seed/peer ratio of 28:1, home seeding is an exercise in futility - unless you have a lot of patience.
- • Fill user requests - seriously. Filled requests pay out 75% and higher bonus (plus more for each vote).
Other stats and info:
- • KG has been in existence for almost 4 years.
- • You’ll need to register on the KG Forums separately (and wait for confirmation; we waited two weeks). Also, KG has recently removed the "Torrent Invites" threads for other trackers.
- • Had 41,400 torrents in June ‘08 (17% less than today’s total of 48,000).
- • Registration has increased by a mere 300 members from the total 5 months ago.
- • KG offers a large collection of older gems - the oldest "film" torrent listed is from 1890.
Cinemageddon
Looking for a really good movie? Well then you’ve mistakenly come to the wrong place. Out of all of these private trackers, Cinemageddon has to be the most eccentric of the bunch. Content is wonderfully freakish, flaky, and just plain off-the-wall. No other tracker comes even close to having as much dreadful content as CG does. From Blaxploitation flicks to Bigfoot movies, where you can’t find it anywhere else, try CG. Your eyes will bleed.
Total Number of Torrents: 15,101 (active)
- Number of Movie Torrents: ~14,000
- Daily Added Torrents (Avg.): ~83
- HD Films: Very little, almost none.
- DVD-R’s: Under 100
- RSS Feed(s): Yes
- Alexa Rank: 36,653 (10,000 higher than in March ‘08)
- Members: 19,731 / 20,000? (hard cap is not known)
- Seed / Leech Ratio: ~12.75 : 1 (or 1,275%)
- Open Signups? — Currently, YES.
- Invite System? — None found.
Tracker / Site Features:
- • All users are encouraged to share and upload torrents, as long as they stay within the guidelines of the site content rules. That means you’ll need to upload some wacky stuff. There’s an "Automatic Safe List" for allowable uploads, whereby anything from a particular actor/director/writer is deemed a ’safe’ release.
- • *.rar, *.zip archives are not allowed - movies are ready-to-play.
- • There’s a lottery system where members can win large amounts of upload GBs (tickets cost 10 credits).
- • Fulfill Requests — There’s over 6,500 requests, more than half of which remain unfulfilled, so there’s no excuse not to find something to upload. To make a request costs 8 credits.
- • CG has a great "wiki" with Projects pages, Reviews, Fan Pages & Guides.
- • Reviews — Users are also encouraged to submit their own extensive reviews on films (with screenshots, trailer & IMDb links, and plot outlines).
- • The Projects page consists of groups of like-minded releases, including torrents from IMDb’s Bottom 100 listing (just to mention one project).
- • CG also carries over 1,000 OST (soundtrack) rarities; most are unseen anywhere else.
- • TIP: There’s a somewhat popular "Torrent Invite" thread in the forums for Power Users and up. Look for it in the "No Users Allowed Club > Power User+ Forum Invite Thread".
Seeding Strategies / Ratio Building:
Becoming a Power User at CG has its advantages, including an increased number of concurrent downloads; special forums for PU’s and up; and immunity to automatic account deletion (due to inactivity, etc). Hitting PU requires a minimum of 25 GB uploaded, with a 1.20 ratio or higher.
- • A seedbox is not required to be a good member (seeder). CG employs a ‘credit’ system, whereby points can be swapped for upload GBs to help ailing ratios.
- • There are bonus torrents everywhere (almost 2,100), especially on the ‘projects’, as marked by this symbol ->
. Torrents with
give a download reduction and seeding bonus (10 - 40%). For example, if you seed 1:1 on a 100 MB torrent that has a 30% bonus, the stats will actually be recorded as 70 MB down to 130 MB up. To beat that, the "Featured Torrents" offer a 50% bonus.
Other stats and info:
- • Had just 10,800 active torrents back in June ‘08 (40% less than today).
- • CG is growing fast! Each month, more members join than the previous one.
- • Their sister site is at http://tv-vault.me.
Cinematik
To quote, "Our mission is to provide cinephiles of classic, independent, rare and outlandish films a friendly location to discuss and share their own interests with current members of this ever-growing community". While the torrent count seems a little low at just 5K, what’s really special about Cinematik is that almost everything is in DVD-R format, including a plethora of ‘Criterion Collection’ and ‘Masters of Cinema’ DVD releases.
Total Number of Torrents: 9,934 (5,000 active)
- Number of Movie Torrents: Almost everything
- OSTs and Music Torrents: None, moved to LzTr.us
- Daily Added Torrents: Unknown - no ‘added’ torrent dates
- HD Films: N/A
- DVD-R’s: Yes - Almost all torrents are DVD5/DVD9 (PAL & NTSC)
- RSS Feed(s): None found, but they did have at some point.
- Alexa Rank: 183,894
- Members: 5,845 / unknown Max.
- Seed / Leech Ratio: 8 : 1 (or 798%)
- Open Signups? — NO.
- Active Invite System? — Yes, but members must apply (request them) in the proper forum to get them. PU’s (and up) are not automatically awarded invitations.
- Finding an Invite — Somewhat difficult; it’s not an easy tracker to find on ‘Torrent Invite’ forums. However, if you’re a PU on What.cd, check the "Invites" forum thread for Cinematik - perhaps wackomoo may feel generous enough to send you an invitation. If not, you can always contact them on their IRC channel at irc://irc.cinematik.net/cinematik.
Tracker / Site Features:
- • Active Torrents/Format: PAL (2,031); NTSC (2,820); DVD5 (2,466); DVD9 (2,262)
- • Again, all users are permitted to share and upload torrents. No scene releases, no DVD screeners, no "Hollywood" style blockbusters, mainstream or popular films.
- • Archives are not allowed - no RAR or ZIP files. Files are mostly in .ISO, .IMG and DVD folders (.VOB, video_ts).
- • Freeleech torrents are called "golden", currently lists just 32. "Silver" torrents are half-freeleech (i.e. only count half the download MBs). In both cases, these are mostly large DVD packs & collections.
- • Torrent Requests — 1,620 active requests (1,497 of these have not yet been filled). As of today, any user who fills a request will get an extra GB added to their account. There’s also an ‘Offers’ section where members can add a new one, or vote for (or against) and existing one.
- • Extensive information on all torrents (rip specs, screenshots, plot descriptions, review(s), movie posters and additional outside links, user comments).
- • Top Ten lists for Torrents & users; available to all.
- • Cool "What is my DVD?" feature - just pop any DVD disk into your computer’s DVD drive, and browse to the *.IFO file. Tik will check your DVD for errors and specs (you must browse to both files, see below).
Seeding Strategies / Ratio Building / Classes:
With a very modest 8:1 seed/peer ratio, seeding at Cinematik is not intimidating like it is at some other trackers. Simply arrange the torrents by number of current leechers, and you should be OK. Also, use the "golden" and "silver" torrents to your advantage.
Power Users are able to make requests, among other perks. To become PU, users must maintain a 1.15 ratio or higher, upload at least 50 GB and be a member for at least 6 weeks. Filling requests and uploading torrents is also a great idea to do if you plan on asking for invites.
Other stats and info:
- • The largest torrent listed is a whopping 131.55 GB.
- • Had 6,088 (total) torrents in June ‘08 (63% less than today’s total of 9,934).
- • Registration has decreased by almost 3,000 since June ‘08 (8,559 then; 5,845 now) - likely due to the fact that invites must be requested in order to get, and registration remains closed to the public.
- • Has a sister tracker for soundtracks & classical music at http://www.lztr.us.
Secret-Cinema
Secret-Cinema is the successor to the popular tracker Cinema-Obscura. With over 400 torrents for silent films and classics, S-C is similar to Karagarga in that they offer a variety of stuff that’s hard to find elsewhere. Like many other specialized trackers, in order to keep content fresh & new, all members are permitted to upload new torrents.
Total Number of Torrents: 2,148 (active)
- RSS Feed(s): Yes, but not category specific.
- Alexa Rank: 652,293
- Daily Added Torrents: Anywhere from 7 to 25
- OSTs and Music? — Just 14 soundtracks, 207 ‘radio’ torrents.
- Books/Audiobooks: ~50
- Seed / Leech Ratio: 5 : 1 (or 514%)
- Open Signups? — NO.
- Active Invites System? — Yes. Invites are auto assigned every week (max 3) when you have a ratio of at least 1.0 and have uploaded at least 10GB.
- Finding an Invite — Not easy to come by. If you’re a Power User (or up) at What.cd, check the Invites forum for a Secret-Cinema recruitment thread here.
Tracker / Site Features:
- • Users cannot arrange torrents by seed/leech numbers (high-to-low).
- • Has a cool ‘image-over’ feature for all torrents, which includes screenshots for movie posters, etc.
Other stats and info:
- • Was down for over a month from Nov. 7 to Dec 13, 2008.
- • Had over 3,000 torrents in June ‘08 (33% more than today’s total).
The Horror Charnel
In its own right, The Horror Charnel deserves to be represented in the annals of movie obscurity. While THC is not a tracker necessarily specific to movies of weirdness & eccentricity, it offers an abundance of oddball horror flicks that most trackers kindly shy away from. 90% of everything offered is classified as rare or obscure.
Total Number of Torrents: 1,277 (530 active)
- Daily Added Torrents: ~3 per day
- HD Films: N/A
- DVD-R’s: Almost none
- RSS Feed(s): Yes, and for each movie genre
- Members: 3,201 / max. set to 666,666,666 (ha ha!)
- Alexa Rank: No data
- Seed / Leech Ratio: ~13 : 1 (or 1331%)
- Open Signups? — NO. You’ll need an ‘invite code’ to sign up.
- Active Invite System? — Yes.
- Finding an Invite — Since it’s not an ‘in demand’ tracker, finding an invite on torrent forums often varies. What.cd has a ‘horrorcharnel’ thread in the Invites forum.
Tracker / Site Features:
- • THC uses a Karma system, whereby 1 Karma point is awarded for each hour a torrent is seeding. Karma can then be spent in a variety of ways on the site.
- • All users are permitted to upload torrents. No CAMS, TS, Screeners, R5’s or any other pre-release stuff is allowed.
- • You Must Seed your downloads either to a 1:1 ratio or for 72 hours, or you will receive a warning.
- • There’s an arcade at THC for useless games.
- • THC has a cool "Port Test" feature that you can use to test your BitTorrent client’s port, to see if it’s blocked or forwarding properly. Look for it in the FAQ link.
- • Torrent Requests — 108 active requests (only one of which has been filled).
- • In addition to movies and OSTs, there’s a decent selection of TV shows pertaining to horror (Tales From The Crypt, Dr. Who, etc).
- • There’s some great ‘packs’ & boxsets of movies & TV (Godzilla, Faces of Death, etc).
- • There’s a custom userbar feature (see the FAQ) that automatically puts your username in it:
- • Invites — Believe it or not, THC condones their invites to be publicly handed out on torrent invite sites & forums. Invites are given out to members in blocks of 20.
Seeding Strategies / Ratio Building / Classes:
- • No unforeseen difficulties here, as there are 80 freeleech torrents to choose from.
- • A minimum overall ratio of 0.5 is required to remain in the default user class.
- • To become a Power User — Must have been be a member for at least 4 weeks, have uploaded at least 25GB and have a ratio at or above 1.05.
Other stats and info:
- • Site is hosted in Canada.
- • Has 2,600 users in June ‘08 - now has over 3,200.
- • Oddly, there always seems to be ~500 active torrents.
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