I recently signed up for Light Speed Movies for downloading movies and TV shows. The torrents are downloading around 10-30kps. I know some are reporting slow speeds, but how can I tell if it's truly working correctly. I have a router and firewall software. XP SP2 and a DSL connection. Are there FAQ's, troubleshooting websites, good advise on which download services are legit or scams. Light Speed Movies has terrible tech support and I question whether they're legit at this point. Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated

There are very few legit sources for movie downloading at the moment. I am extremely suspicious that torrent is being used for such a thing. So technically you may be breacking the law without knowing it and unfortunately ignorance is no defence. After looking at the site it seems to fall into the same catagory ass some "unlimited" music downlaod sites where you pay up and get pointed to something ou can get for free elsewhere like the eMule programme.

Hi Turtle Boy, welcome to the forums! First off, you came to the right place. Second, the poster just above me just gave some excellent advice!

I went ahead and "Googled" for LightSpeed Movies and this site looks like it is a recipe for disaster if you are using it. This is merely a Torrent Network and I can tell due to the boasts and claims of millions of files.

But aside from that, this should be of interest to you or anyone thinking of signing up with LSM and I quote the FIRST paragraph of the Terms of use:

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF USE / AND LEGAL INFORMATION
Copyright Infringement
Some files contained on these networks are copyrighted works, like popular games, movies, music, and software. P2P software makes it possible to upload and download copyrighted material from the Internet without proper authorization, but that can violate copyright laws and subject you to criminal and civil penalties. Click here for information on how to minimize copyright infringement using P2P applications. For all others, please consult the user guide provided with the application.

This is an attempt from LSM to cover their asses and leave you swinging in the wind if you get caught with copyrighted content via your ISP and IP. Recent legal decisions in the US have required that folks that sell software for P2P make it crystal clear to the end user that it is up to them to "police" themselves. If they fail to give such warnings they can be sued. In the meantime if you are caught they can say: "We told you so".

My guess is (and I am not going to register to find out) you are just paying for free software. IMHO this site is illegal.

Just as a heads up too- The MPAA takes a dim view of file trading of movies and they will litigate against people that have only downloaded a single film. Notice I say DOWNLOADED. Unlike the RIAA that targets uploaders, the MPAA has no prejudice. I would suggest that you do not use this service. Sites such as these are the bottom feeders of the Internet.

Just my 2 pennies worth.

~Crabby

I just read on news.com that NTL is aasociating with cahcelogic and BT to deliver subscription based video. Search "BitTorrent to power ISP's video service" on news.com.

The basics are if it asks for a one time only fee for unlimited downloads the site is not legit and you could end up is the crap, if it allows you to see the catalogue of what is available and charges per download then you are safe.

There is a difference between an ISP using a subscription service and the sites in question, you are protected by your ISP.

Yep, that's a good rule of thumb.

You all are absolutely correct. I signed up for the lightspeedmovies site and was blatantly ripped off. Fortunately I only lost 20 dollars. I truly believed that it was a legitimate site. I wish I had seen this forum prior to signing up. Oh well one learns by one's mistakes.

Sorry to hear it! Even if it was only $20 it was $20 to much going into some Scum’s pockets, and who knows how many thousands of other peoples $20 he’s taken?

why not use that $20 for Netflix? they're legit and u can get 3 out at a time. 3 x 4 = 12+ movies a month.
i'd never pay for torrent downloads, you're better off paying for a premium news server and download as much as you want at full speed, 0 uploading.

I agree.

Sorry to sound ignorant but what is a premium news server?

A premium news server is a company that hosts almost all the newsgroups of the entire internet, providing ultra fast downloads. Most Internet Service Providers (ISP) only host a few selective newsgroups (usually not much binaries-> downloadable stuff) and will only host the files for about 48 hours. Premium news servers can hold the files up to two weeks depending on your subscription.