Graboid Replacement of TvLinks and Illegal Torrents?
October 21, 2007
Stumble it!After the sad news that TvLinks have been shut down and arrested the owner I have been looking further about this issue and see if there is a similar site that offer and claim that is Legal. In this case Graboid came to my mind and did a short interview with them to re-assure that they claim that they are legal and some other issues. The following questions have been asked:
- Q. What is Graboid?
- Q. How Graboid is different from your competitors?
- Q. Graboid do indeed offer free access to a massive library of very high-quality streaming movies and tv shows. However, I have no understanding of how this is possible in so many different ways. One being from the technological standpoint, how can one user just simply search what show/movie they want to watch, double click it and it starts streaming an SD, or even in some cases an HD stream directly to your computer with very minimal load times. Where is it coming from? If Graboid does not host it, who does?
- Here is the question that many Graboid members ask themselfs and is listed in the FAQ, is graboid legal? Can you explain it more in deep with some proofs?
- Is that true that your plugin player has a spyware?
- Is Graboid available for MAC users or Linux?
- How you compare Graboid vs Torrents?
- Can users download the movies and not streaming them? If yes, can they use a third-party download manager like Getright?
- What type of conection Graboid needs? (You know some people still use Modems).
and their answers:
Graboid is a software application that finds movies and tv shows on the internet. While there are many sites that offer some free content, here is what differentiates Graboid:
1) All files can be streamed OR downloaded (torrents cannot stream to give instant access)
2) We have the largest selection
3) We have the highest quality (no grainy video like YouTube)
4) Our download speeds are stunningly fast
As for where the files are posted, it is in many different places. The files are posted by people not affiliated with Graboid on servers around the world. Graboid’s service does not violate any laws in any country (that we know of). The people posting these files are doing it to promote the work of artists they admire. We cannot speak on their behalf on legal issues.
Graboid does not install spyware, or any sort of virus or worm. It is completely clean. As of right now, we don’t even have advertising within the application, although this may change.
There is no Mac or Linux version, as we are still doing heavy development on the PC version. We do plan to eventually release on different OS’s; however, we are not stating a timeframe.
Graboid offers about the same video selection, in the same quality, as torrents. However, our download speed is much, much faster. A file that would take 2 days to download via a torrent will download in 90 minutes on Graboid on a typical broadband connection. All Graboid files can be downloaded, even in the free version of the application. There is no need for a download manager, as our native download speeds will already max out your internet connection.
Graboid will work over any internet connection, including modem, for download. For streaming, you need a minimum of 1 Mbps. For streaming full DVDs, you need a minimum 4 Mbps. Modems will not work for streaming.
What do you think? Graboid is really legal? It will end the war between the laws against torrents? They have many plans, free (limited), silver and gold. The payment processor is Paypal and you know how paypal take security issues and anti-fraud issues about selling illegal stuffs and they are verfied so I think this can be a good point from them.
Graboid Coupons Codes & Promotional Code
Give you the chance of this coupon code SILVER1 to allow you to get the silver membership for $3.99 for their first month.
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December 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
In2Streams.com is basically the same sort of service, just better selections for TV shows.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Graboid has become a scam site , beware. Their accounts revert back to basic memberships, help forums are unavailable. They do not reply to email, HOWEVER, they still manage to charge the monthly fee…. interesting.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
when Graboid was first launched they had 3 level of membership now is just one and its free
February 11th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I’am looking to download various television shows from the 50’s to present day. Along with new and old movies. Music is not a prerequiste, but somthing I would consider. Hope you have what I’am looking for? Thanx.
John MacInnes,
Canada
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
its a scam!!!!!!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
How is a scam? if it is free.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 am
I’m with GoogleLady on that one. It cant possibly be a scam if it’s free!;)
Thank you Graboid
April 11th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I agree with Google Lady too.
I have used Graboid for three months and think it’s great, much easier than using Usenet -which Graboid is powed by- and if you join its Graboid Stars programme you get an extra gig for free!
We all want something for nothing and a lot of sites offer tv downloads, but none for free! (feel free to correct me if you know of one that does)
If you think something is a scam, explain why.
Buzz
April 20th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
the problem i have with them is this:
if you get a bad film, and it downloads, and is a bad link so you see nothing, yet it takes from your bandwith, they do not refund the ‘time’ you lose from the account, even if you have a paying account (i do). i have requested to go back to a free account, and they don’t respond… they just keep taking my $4.99 a month.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Graboid is great, all you need are multiple free accounts (you need to use a different computer for each account) and the speed and quality is amazing. On my schools internet connection we were getting around 5 MB/s and could download massive movies in a very short amount of time. When I contacted them, they responded promptly and were very willing to cancel my payment plan.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Thanks, skier354! I was able to sign up for 5 free memberships from one computer just using different e-mail addresses, but it was like they were suddenly on to me - they cut me off (by saying I’d already signed up, no matter what name or address I used!) I guess I’ll try from another computer. The free membership is pretty generous, and seems to renew periodically - is it 4000MB every month? In any case, I’ve had good experiences with their stuff.
May 19th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I have been using Graboid for a few months. It is great that it is offered for free. I recently upgraded to the 4.99 per month level. I think we have to help each other by voting for the movies that are good quality.It would be great if we could preview the quality of the movies before downloading, but for the price we pay it is worth it.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
i have been using this since jan of this yr. yes some things suck like when the program doesnt down load right it uses ur bandwith, however some times they fix it so u still get to see the show u wanted but they use the bandwith again..since im on the free plan thats ok with me..however im going to try the 499 plan, if i was to down load something and that didnt work right i will get my bandwith back, simply cause the customer is always right and as a company they want to survive. also in many states there are laws to protect us from being ripped off..or you just call ur state police comp crime task force and report that they are stealing ur money… however i dont think Graboid would let that happen… i also have had a few issues in which i e-mailed them and my issues where fixed and e-mails answered in a timley manner thank you holly.. so if ur on the free plan dont complain about it, however if u r a paying customer do not let it go, get ur bandwith back and then some for the trouble of haven to deal with it, any co. who wants to stay in this world has to listen to us the consumers… Graboid IS WORTH GETTING AT ANY RATE…
May 25th, 2008 at 10:02 am
P.S IM NOT THE SAME JASON AT THE TOP OF THIS SCREEN OR BLOG SO PLZ DONT CONFUSE US THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION IN THIS WHO REALLY CARES MATTER
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Ok, so I took the plunge and got the $14.99 a month plan (thats pretty cheap in £ =P).
So far so good. I do have to commend them on the HD content and SUPER FAST download speed. I am now maxing out my 7mb connection and takes minutes to download the majority of content!
Keep up good work!!!
P.S. Its not a scam, its legit
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
hi i am a Graboid user. i have had some problems with a few downloads, but most are high quality. i upgraded to silver account. i just wish they would make the gold and platinum accounts a little cheaper. all in all i think this is a good site
June 4th, 2008 at 3:25 am
i wanted for someone to tell me more about the ban with. what is meant by take some, returning and what not. how long do they take it? do they return it? whats going on with that please.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:29 am
Graboid is very good.. you can make multiple account on the same computer.. I’ve tried and wondefully got 30+ account… Okay to do so make a new windows user and open Graboid at that user… tadaaa you have it, you can repeat those steps as long as you wish…
July 5th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Interesting …
I came to this page to see if Graboid was a scam. The basic understanding from most of you is that it is NOT a scam because you get what you want for free or for a fee and Graboid actually does what it says - it gives you access to the video you want.
But my question is, “Is it a scam?” As in, is Graboid ripping off the owners and producers of the video in the way you, yourselves, don’t want to be ripped off. If it’s a scam if you don’t get what you pay for with Graboid, how is it not a scam if you don’t pay the true owners of the product for what you get?
I don’t know that Graboid is legal or not. I very much hope it is. But you all have some interesting takes on what is and is not moral. It’s a scam if I get ripped off but not if I rip off someone else.
Sad.
July 6th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Blue COllar Muse,
I think Graboid is not required to pay roucers etc for there tv shows etc as tey have all been screened publicy on TV before your able to aces them through Graboid. Sure the oddd movie recorded from the Cinema gets onto Graboid some times but in a whole they are all from television broadcasts and some even have the station logo in the bottom corner. So short answer would be it is above board and perfectly legal. Otherwise they wouldn’;t not still be operating now. I have the top 29,99 a month subscription giving me access to download 500 gig per month and with the huge range of HD movies and content avaliable i can tell you some months i go close to that aswell.
July 6th, 2008 at 8:53 am
TRESE: with your bandwidth i am not sure how lng it takes to return faulty content bandwidth to your account. But even with the free accont every month the bandwidth is reset to zero to start again.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:39 am
The content of Graboid cannot be legal since you can watch movies that are still being shown in theaters. All movies have a copyright. You can tell that the quality of these movies is very poor. The tipoff is that the sound quality is very poor too. It is obvious that the film was copied by using a camera in a theater while the movie was being shown. It doesn’t matter how legal the software Graboid uses is; the content is illegal.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Movies, TV shows, books, etc. are all copyrighted. It’s illegal to download them from anywhere unless the copyright holder is offering the content. Sean–just because it was broadcast does not mean it’s now free for the taking.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I have checked out Graboid. I have done searches, and thus far I have found nothing that states it is definitely illegal. If or when I do, I will stop using it. As far as resources? If you look closely, it does tell what its resources are and how it was downloaded. For those which say “cam”……of course, naturally, you will question it. I found them by “googling” on the net, because of some of the tv shows I like to watch…..and I have a children. We do not always have the time to go out and rent a movie, etc. Like I said, I will continue checking out this site, and when I find out for sure it may be illegal….my membership will be cancelled. Also, too, as for timely response to emails or complaints? I have had no problem with them not responding to me. And if you have asked for cancellation of your membership, and they continue to withdraw money, then contact the bank you use. In the state I live in, the banks have papers you can go sign requesting no more automatic payments to be made, and the bank will stop on that and contact the company themselves to let them know. The banks will even—at times—-refund the money taken out after your cancellation.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
In my opinion, there is no way Graboid can be legal. The actual application may be legal, but downloading full quality movies for free (or even next to free) is definitely illegal. I believe it is similar to peer to peer clients, the application is legal but most of the content is not. When you pay for a membership do you think any of that money goes to publishers, producers or actors? My guess is it simply goes to Graboid so they can pay their programmers to publish new versions of the software. Having said this, I love Graboid and think it is great. But as for it being legal, anyone who can convince themselves that downloading movies for free is legal are mistaken.
July 27th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Blue Collar Muse
i do not know why its such a big deal….i mean who cares if there not getting paid and we still get their movies…like come on…the moviees that are actually worth downloading…the cators make what 10 million?….i say fuck morals and fuck buying dvds … GO Graboid
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
i am new to Graboid, i hope it is good as i’ve read, not the bad posts i have read, from what i understand is, Graboid is taking programs that are free range broadcast & converting it to a pc platform, which is perfectly legal, just like its legal to record songs from radio signals that are broadcast, i havent used it yet, so take this w/ a grain of salt, sure bootlegged movies that are still showing in theaters, and have been obviously recorded crudly at a theater, is copyright infringement, but i would prolly still watch it!
August 10th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Technically, Graboid is breaking the law as much as Google or any other “search engine”. That is, they are providing a legal search database and a legal download accelerator. It is the person’s who are supplying and downloading the videos who are breaking the law.
Book-em Dano!
August 12th, 2008 at 1:54 am
I’m a new subscriber, and so far no too bad, one issue loss of bandwith due to bad downloads. I think there are bugs that have to be fixed. Does anyone know how long Graboid has been online? Cheers everyone.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Graboid is a ripoff.they have stopped the free usage !!! if you pay money your bandwidth is erased at the start of the month and you have to purchase more for 30.00.BEWARE do not give them your credit card number they will keep charging on it even when you cancel your subscription.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Sure Graboid is illegal - hells bells they even put up camera copies of the “latest” movies for gawds sake - how the hell can you think its legal? As of aug 3rd free subscribers get 1 months free use (limited downloads and limited areas) after that you suppose to pay.
Dont sign up - I’ve heard nothing but bad reports about them, - real pity because the service was great - but sadly no more.
They’re doing a Napster - only unlike Napster they’re illegal
August 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Go Graboid! I am currently using the free account and I got to say that I love this Service. I will most certainly upgrade to the basic service and support this service. Cant go wrong here fast downloads, Huge selection of titles and Integrated Player. Wish I had come accrossed earlier. Awsome.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I am guessing Graboid gets these shows off the newsgroups. Anyone can do the same if they learn how to use newsgroups. learn about the nzb files and what programs use them. Some internet providers give their uses free newsgroups access but if not, you can pay for unlimited access for as cheap as $10 a month.
As for a Graboid, Its nice and easy to use and they keep a long archive of shows, unlike most newsgroups (about 1 to 2 weeks). What I don’t understand is why official sites are advertising them???
I prefer to stay with just getting the tv shows since I know that they are not illegal. I say this because I have not heard of anyone being arrested for downloading tv shows yet.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
For anyone who’s skeptical about Graboid because you think they rip you off and give you spyware, let me tell you this. I have used Graboid on the 29.99 a month plan for about 4 months now and i have had no problems with the service at all. I get 500 Gigs a month of pure 1080p hd quality movies and shows with no spyware and no broken downloads. I love this service and I will stay with it as long as it’s offered. I definately reccomend it!!!
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
As of today, 9/2/08 Graboid has just diappeared. I cant even pull up their website. Not even through other websites, like yours. There address no longer exist. So if they are, or were legit, where are they? I upgraded to their gold plan for 29.99 on 8/5/08 and every since then I have been having problems with it. I have had 200,000 mbs erased, unfinished downloads, I’ve been unable to open Graboid at all, at times, and today…can’t even find them at all. I went to paypal and cancelled. Now I am on the phone with them making sure that they will not be getting one cent from me again.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Okay, so the website, Graboid.com is legal. Right, it acts LIKE a torrent and searches the web for videos that have been uploaded. Irregarless, it’s still illegal to download the videos/shows. HOWEVER, Graboid isn’t liable for what YOU download, you’re not paying them to download, er, in a sense you are, but overall, you’re paying them to search the internet for videos. I mean, if I were them, that’s how I’d justify it. It’s totally legit from their end, but you’re still breaking the law.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Hell Great!!! Love Graboid…… i don’t care whether it’s legal or illegal, i enjoy using Graboid for free account… he he…theres a trick i found it lately…. he he… Go Graboid…
September 29th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I tried Graboid whwn a friend told me about it, and the first film I downloaded was very good for .avi
But the next file had subtitles in Danish and the quality was much poorer.
I also had a lot of troubles with bad downloads.
And apart from the first film (The Bank Job) the quality of others have not been so goog, so I don’t bother any more - to be quite frank I can make better Div-X films myself.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
MaTT82….wat was the trick you came up with?
October 11th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
just downloaded it.
Well I’ll be using the free user option for as long as i can. I won’t pay for it, as i think rapidshare is much better value.
Speeds are pretty good.
hmm. i saw somewhere before “source” indicating whether a movie was a rip, cam, whatever. I can’t find it now.
I guess I also wish I could choose what disc, i want stuff downloaded too.
M
October 20th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I have a hard time believing that this is legal, i mean they have some brand spanking new movies on their program and i’m wondering how they got it without paying loads of money or even how they got it at all.
November 1st, 2008 at 6:51 am
Kris… should we talk bout it openly?.. he he… well.. u can get username as many as you want… he he..
November 11th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I like that this program has everything I’m looking for, but is there a way to burn my tv shows so I can watch them on my tv instead of my pc. My laptop isn’t cutting it. Also does Graboid refresh you free membership with all new bandwith every month? if not how can you do those multiple accounts?
November 13th, 2008 at 3:01 am
I am shocked that nowhere is there any actual legal analysis of any of this. In my personal opinion, what Graboid is doing is illegal under theories of vicarious and contributory liability; the Betamax, Grokster, and Napster cases paint a pretty clear picture of how the courts go about this analysis, and the fact that they aren’t aren’t “affiliated” with the hosts of the files is not a distinction that I personally believe would matter. This would all be moot if Graboid has licenses for everything, but considering Graboid directs customers to movies that are still out in theaters, I highly doubt that is the case.
Of course, I hope I’m wrong. It really is an efficient system, but so far I haven’t seen anything out there that convinces me with any real legal analysis that Graboid is legal.
November 16th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Take the money and run.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
its not letting me login even know a give the ryt username and password
November 26th, 2008 at 3:19 am
You can’t know for sure if Graboid Video is ilegall. I guess it’s legal since it has thousands of users. What if they have an agreement with the biggest movies companies. Something like an experiment. Think about it, everyone knows that most of the people downloads music from all kinds of networks without paying them. If the authorities would hunt them down they would discover that they are millions of people. What if they want to recover most of their money using this method. I mean, for me it’s obvious, if I won’t buy the X movie from the store from a DVD, the movie company will loose 2 times. One for their movie and second for the costs of writing the movie on the DVD. On the Internet with a service like Graboid Video they are not forced to produce DVD’s so the they only need to sell the movie, and how are they doing it ? With a service like Graboid Video, they are selling thousands of movies to millions of people at a lower price. But, they are selling the movies cheap and to alot of people in the same time. One of the basics of the capitalism. That is a logical explanation to me. Not to mention the world crise, people won’t spend 15 $ for a DVD movie but they are willing to spend 15 $ for an Graboid account that will deliver them hundreds of movies.
November 30th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Anne: that was the dumbest/poorest justification i’ve ever heard…. people have to know its illegal… come to terms with it…. the individual may or may not be liable but come on…. “an experiment” ? hahahaha
December 1st, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Illegal or not. its still a good bang for the buck, and I am going to use it as long as I can. Instead of complaining about it USE IT AND ENJOY IT. For the price of a DVD you get 50 Gigs of Bandwith…deal or no deal?
December 7th, 2008 at 3:11 am
guys,im wondering if Graboid is really worth and reliable paying for.I’ve not seen their HD/Blu-ray qualities and if its really true and stuff since im on a free-membership.If they really do delay time,end-up not responding to ur questions the i’ll guess i just move and stick to torrent sites then which is safer?
December 9th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I have had some problems with grabiod. every time I try to log on it says sorry Graboid is unavailable. Does anyone have answers. thanks
December 11th, 2008 at 9:56 am
The question is how secure is it.
If i was to download a movie without paying for it (which is illegal) how do i know im not being watched or my ip is being tracked.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Just wondering if I sign up for a paid account, can I use/access that account from ANY computer anywhere? We will be traveling and I want to be able to access Graboid on my laptop and my husband’s laptop, maybe even my parent’s computer while we visit. Does anyone know if you can do this?
December 13th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Seems like people like Graboid. But, they don’t care to think why the Graboid charge for the services it do not offer. As from its interview clear that they won’t do any hosting. The answere is the Graboid is just like remote application. Once the user sign in its get connected to remote server. The connection established between the user host and server and the server do all the downloading, from where no one knows. either torrent, file sharing web sites no idea. On the website it is stated “We know there’s lots of video content on the net, and most of it is inaccessible (meaning hard-to-get-for-lazy-people). So we figured out a way to get it and watch it easily.” All you can find from Graboid is just constant downloading speed. nothing much. Open your eyes search on internet you will see much more than GRABOID
December 14th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Haha still don’t see how it is legal?
December 15th, 2008 at 12:33 am
It’s not legal. You just have to decide if you are going to do it. It’s like speeding on the free way. We know it’s against the law, we just don’t care. We are tired of paying $8 every time we go to the movie and we want to see one for free every once and a while.
So until they get caught. Go Graboid, Bear Share and everyone else like them.
December 15th, 2008 at 5:07 am
the application Graboid is 100% leagal scince they do not host any content they only link you to the content but the downloads are illagal scince they are a breach of copywright but with speeds like that who cares and the content is amazing and the best thing is ive downloaded about 1TB`s worth of tv shows and movies and not a single virus
December 16th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Hello Laura, yes you can download from more than one computer, In my house I have Graboid on 4 computers. As far as being on the road, well it should work, all you need is your user name and of course password…Good luck.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
The Dark Knight was recorded at a foreign movie theater. Do not get suckered by their free 4 MB offer and then give Graboid your money.
December 24th, 2008 at 6:07 am
This thing is great!! I have downloaded so many great movies in excellent quality. if your bandwidth runs out then go on:
http://users.Graboid.com/subs/signupApp.php?price_group=-21
This allows you to sign up again on the same computer with the same email address. You just need a new username. and then the movies that were downloaded on your old account is automatically put onto your new account at the cost of none of your new bandwidth so you can download as much as you want.
December 25th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
The argument that Graboid is legal since they don’t host the content they only link to it is probably a little weak. I mean I’m no lawyer! but if you are participating in enabling the illegal activity surely you’re at fault - and that is exactly what Graboid is doing. BTW I love Graboid lol great service!
December 29th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I was almost fooled into believing that this was a legal site. However it is clear from the content that it is not. For example: Iron Man was recently out at the cinema, is selling in the shops and yet it is on a peer to peer network. It is clearly a ripped copy of a commercial DVD, and the first screen on any DVD is that the film you have purchased is not for rebroadcast.
To my mind Graboid are being deliberately obtuse. The statement that their software is legal may be correct, however the downloading of commercial media which is in the cinema and on DVD is not. In essence you are paying a monthly premium to engage in illegal practices.
They are in essence facilitating the broadcasting of pirate material whilst denying that their software is provided for such a purpose. One wonders on the validity of their claims - If I sell a gun and bullets to an individual with a note stating ‘this gun is legal provided it is not used to used anyone - does that absolve me of responsibility?
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 am
You have to walk a fine line when using these services. TV shows and movies that have been aired over and recorded from public broadcasts are fine (as far as current legal interpretation goes), as it was free to anyone to “save” via electronic means. TV shows from a purchased, ripped DVD or recorded off pay-for cable/satellite channels cannot be downloaded. The issue of public broadcasts came up in the 80s with people recording TV shows/movies with VCRs and making copies for their friends. At that point, the courts said it was OK to do from public broadcasts.
I don’t think “cams” have been dealt with yet, but they’re more than likely illegal.
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:55 am
I use Graboid and find it is an excellent program. It is not a scam. For those of you who have issues with the recurring payments and lack of communication regarding it - use your brain. It’s paypal. You created the recurring payment with PAYPAL. Graboid does not have your payment information. So cancel it, and Graboid won’t get your money, and then your account is closed.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
http://www.Graboid.com/subs/signupApp.php?price_group=-21
the sign up page, save it.
you need a new email every time you signup.
Graboid also keeps track of your ip address, so use a proxy.
….free Graboid accounts.