Tracker: TheBox
Tracker URL: TheBox :: Login
Open Signups?: Depends upon number of registered users, invites are enabled
Category: British TV and Radio. No films.
Number of Users: ~75,000
Number of Torrents: ~40,000
The layout of TheBox is similar to most other trackers, with basic functions near the top, and your profile's stats being displayed; this has not been changed much in the (close to) two years it's been around, though a banner change did occur around January of 2009.
As is mentioned, TheBox tracks around 40,000 torrents; that's huge! And it's growing; each day around 50 torrents are uploaded. Most is content uploaded by members themselves, and there are relatively few Scene releases. You see, TheBox is a very unique place: they have their own cappers. Just under 35 in total, these people cap the vast majority of British TV, for nothing. Who needs The Scene, right?
TheBox also has very strict rules as to what can be uploaded; it has to be atleast 2/3 British produced TV, TV-movie, or Radio, andin very special cases, audiobooks. Because of this, not everything can be uploaded, and those who wish to upload can ask for permission first; "D" goes through each requesting, checking it's production background, and stating whether it can be uploaded or not. The result? High quality British TV and radio. They even go so far as to moniter what you name your torrent when you upload it, so it is easy to find! Formats vary; only a few formats are banned, but the majority of content is in .avi, and DVD-R (NTSC and PAL are both allowed).
So perhaps you aren't interested in the latest British drama, or what have you. There's still plenty of other material. Football (soccer) / cricket / rugby (union and league) / snooker / motoGP; so much sport is available you don't need to even download a TV show from TheBox to appreciate it.
The forums are very active, and all participating members are kind and helpful. Ofcourse there's the general chat section, to talk about shows, the helpdesk (for help with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS!). Though, perhaps the best part to the forum, is the other tracker section! You can find individual threads for different trackers, where you can ask for an invite, or trade; (they even giveaway free What.CD invites) however, you have to be a power user + to post in the other tracker section.
Two other great features are the radio and chat. Recently the shoutbox was replaced with an IRC Java applet, so it's not much hassle to socialise, and the radio is fairly new is as well. Another feature is it's request box; you would have thought with 40,000 torrents there wasn't much else to British TV, but there is. Most requests seem to be for 70s and 80s TV shows, so unless it's on DVD, they are rarely filled.
Speeds are good; if you download a TV show that you missed last week, the torrent could easily have 200+ seeders. Enough to max out any connection (excluding Koreans with the 100/100mBit) If it was an old episode, it's probably been put into a pack, and will likely have less than 5 seeders. Again, if a torrent dies, you always have the option to request a re-seed. There are also quite a few users with seedboxes, and again has it's own forum help and topic section. Most cappers own seedboxes as well, so torrents are seeded quickly.
Honest ratio keeping is no problem. There are hundreds of freeleech torrents, contests (where the winner recieves x Gb), and just seeding on it's own is enough to keep a decent ratio. If this fails however, there's even a section where you can request people download a torrent you are seeding, and there are plenty of volunteers!
In terms of cheating; I cheated once with NRPG RatioMaster and was instantly banned, but I got an account there again, and I've never had to cheat. If you have cheating info please post.
In conclusion, if you are a Brit, or just interested in British TV, then this is one tracker to definitely have in your arsenal. Missed you favourite program? It's on TheBox within an hour. Wanting the latest Top Gear, Skins, East Enders, Corrie, but live abroad? It's on TheBox. TheBox is a wonderful community; from their own capping team to the more than welcoming and helpful people in the forums, who are there to help you, invite you, and talk to you. But, as is more than obvious, if you aren't from the UK, or don't speak English, then you probably won't appreciate it as much.
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Originally Posted by kazuya
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