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Millions Download Olympics Opening Ceremony via BitTorrent

The opening ceremony of the 2008 summer Olympics, co-directed by Zhang Yimou, was a truly spectacular event. Not everyone had the chance to watch it live, but that’s where BitTorrent comes in. The broadcast of the Olympics opening ceremony has been downloaded more than a million times already, and the download counters go up every day.

top gearThe most popular version of the opening ceremony is the HD release, a massive 5GB file. At the time of publication more than 60,000 people are downloading the torrent, while over a million people have already downloaded the opening ceremony via BitTorrent – even though it was free to watch on TV all around the world.

Other releases of the Olympics ceremony are popular as well, such as an iPod ready version of the first hour, a standard definition release of the opening ceremony, and a high definition capture of the torch lighting and fireworks. Three Olympic shows would have made it into our weekly TV-download chart, but we decided to count them as one.

The data of the TV-torrent chart is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

Top Downloads August 03 – August 10

Ranking (last week) TV-show
1 (new) Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony
2 (3) Weeds
3 (6) Eureka
4 (4) Generation Kill
5 (5) Burn Notice
6 (back) Psych
7 (back) So You Think You Can Dance
8 (7) Flashpoint
9 (9) In Plain Sight
10 (8) Mad Men

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  • Freakfreak

    Today I read in the news that “THEY” had “enhanced” the broadcasted fireworks by CGI …

    … that’s olympics “made in china”!

  • blubber

    The Pirate Bay releases are contaminated with chinese peers starting DDOS attacks (at least thats what my firewall recognized, probably more). Stay with the releases on your private tracker..

  • the Ass of a Noob

    What kind of no-life tard would download it? Like it said, IT WAS ON THE FRICKEN TV

    WHO DOESN’T HAVE A TV?

  • Tutone
  • blubber

    @Ass of a Noob:

    “WHO DOESN’T HAVE A TV?”
    Me? Why should I? For the crap they send 99% of the time with commercials ervery 20 or so minutes? Thank you I prefer P2P…

    Maybe you are the no-life tard if you actually spent all the time it was broadcasted in front of the TV? ;)

  • chillme

    i dont have TV either i have a big screen and a comp where i can deside for myself what i want to watch, and the best part NO FUCKING COMMERCIALS.

  • http://www.eZee.se www.eZee.se

    “WHO DOESN’T HAVE A TV?”
    ummm me, and a lot of my pals.

    We also dont sit through commercials like… umm, you.

    Neither do we have to follow a schedule like… umm, you.

    And here I was thinking I was one of the few who downloaded the opening via BT but didnt have a clue its sooo popular or the CGI thingy…

  • Izkata

    “WHO DOESN’T HAVE A TV?”

    I don’t, either. They’re just time wasters, especially since Torrent releases strip out the commercials.

  • Anon

    I’m about to watch the 720p version of this. I’m told it’s phenominal.

  • Anonymous

    “WHO DOESN’T HAVE A TV?”

    Welll, I actually have a job, so I can’t sit at home all summer, so I have to watch stuff when I have the time, not when the TV dictates.

  • dave

    i dont watch TV, i have a big screen and a small tv in the bedroom,

    i do this because we have to pay for a TV license?!! just so the whole world can watch/listen to the bbc for free,
    back on topic
    i put this on my box because BT(isp) caps all p2p to 13k’ish, uploaded 75gig before i left :p

  • #YLS#

    @ 3 – the Ass of a Noob

    Well in the UK you have to buy a TV liscence so it’s reasonably likely that people would download it.

  • DaveX

    I have two televisions, but they’re just for watching movies– no television service for me, thanks. I don’t see the point… aside from a couple rare shows, it’s all crap I could care less about.

  • Jai

    5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13

    It is the same god damn faggot flaming.

  • Serano

    I own a TV but I don’t have cable I just usually play video games on it. I don’t even torrent a lot of TV shows because I’m not just not into TV.

    I will probbably torrent this though because I missed it on TV.

  • Anonymous

    @14
    Or how about not. You just think that TV is so great.

    Well, it is not. The fact that it is infested with complete control by commercial interests is bad enough, but the fact is that when you watch TV, the TV controls you, not the other way around.

  • P2P Lover

    A TV license?!?!? WTF! WOW I never knew that but I’m just a stupid American. If you don’t have cable do you still have to get a license and is the 139.50 price just for a year or how long? How do they enforce this? Do the police randomly knock on doors asking to see your TV license? I am just blown away! How ludicrous!

  • dave

    yes its every year, we u get inspectors come round checking that u dont have a TV, they basically have a database with who has a TV license then knock on the door of everyone else who does’nt have one, i personally get them knocking once every 3 months, and they have the right to inspect your front room for any TV receiving equipment, this money is to pay for the BBC which has no commercials. the BBC was originally a proper gander TV station for WW2,

    i believe this is why the BBC is looking into live streaming so then everyone in the UK who has an internet connection also has to pay for a ‘TV license’, its fine to watch pre recorded TV, like ur mate recording top-gear then bringing it round to watch. thats why we download!!
    i say bin the bbc or make them subscribers like skyone or something, then charge everyone this TV license fee and give it to the ‘artists’ then let us download what we want.
    but the fact is we brits tend to put up and shut up,

  • vhkvv

    hi

  • http://neuron2neuron.blogspot.com Ben Jones

    Actually Dave, the ‘inspectors’ are just employees of the BBC. They have no rights beyond that of anyone else. They can’t enter your house, without your invitation. If you write to their office and state you ‘deny the right of implied access’ they can’t even come down the front path to the door without trespassing.

    Know the law.

  • Anonymous

    @17
    Perhaps you could do some research, which I did immediately. There are “detector vans” which are used to obtain search warrants, and fines are imposed on violators. It is used to fund BBC.

  • http://neuron2neuron.blogspot.com Ben Jones

    anon – fraid not, detector vans can’t be used to get warrents, since the equipment has never passed public/peer scrutiny. And remmeber, they can detect a television (an old CRT one anyway), but that doesn’t require a license in itself. One that’s hooked up to an antenna does. I myself had a house that had a sky digital dish on the front, but wasn’t hooked up. We had a TV, but it was connected only to a DVD player, and a VCR, so didn’t need a license. A licensing guy knocked on the door, I refused him entry, and he said he’d get a warrent. I implored him to, and he was never heard of again. They require you to incriminate yourself in order to get any sort of case.

    http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Tips%20for%20avoidng%20TVL-BBC%20harassment.htm has more info.

  • Meocross

    #5

    #6

    #7

    #8

    #14

    QUOTED FOR THE GOLDEN TRUTH! my Tv can go and rot in the streets for all i care, i cant control what i WANT to watch, the stations just throw cheap shows in our faces littered with commercials every 10 minutes and then there’s my parents fighting over the remote at the worst times possible. ever since i found P2P Videos i have never looked back at that cursed silver screen.

  • Anonymous

    @23
    You mean #16 rather than #14, right? Make sure you are more careful about what which post you are quoting lest others become confused.

  • Meocross

    ah damnit! thanks for spotting that..

  • P2P Lover

    @17 – I did do SOME research! I do know how to use google! I just didn’t go beyond the first result which was the official TV licensing website.
    I am going to be moving to the Netherlands so will I also need a license or is it just a UK thing??

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  • netuser

    Power of bittorrent unleashed, yet again !!

  • Anonymous

    @26 Or perhaps Wikipedia?

  • Carrie D

    Found the opening ceremony here too if your interested http://www.hawtclips.com/video/WZTJm8KDWYU/opening-ceremony-kicks-off-olympics.html

  • Lachlan Hunt

    That’s hardly too surprising. I chose to download the opening ceremony instead of watching it live because I’m currently in a foreign country where it wasn’t broadcast with English commentary. I’m also downloading a lot of the events I want to see for the same reason, though I’m doing most of that by streaming from sites like NBCOlympics and Yahoo7, bypassing their stupid IP-address-based regional restrictions, which wasn’t too difficult.

  • From China

    If you guys dig deep , you will find the most download for Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony is coming from China.

    The reason is the version screen on the China TV channel is so bad , too much time in the show for China Gov Leaders, sometimes even the camera is not very well focused .

    So the people in China try to find a better version or non-China version.

  • JJ

    Damn nice opening performance, like the Taichi & finale on the torching up of the big Olympic “candle”. So what if there’r scandal of the lil girl singer & the CGI of the fireworks. No big deal! Every1 fakes once in a while, every sports have the doping, every counter-strike player still thinks they can take on OSAMA…big DEAL. Juz enjoy the moment when is good enuf…

  • oneplusone

    A TV licence? OMG. Now I’ve heard it all. Way to kill traditional TV, lawmakers/regulators. Not that I care, per se…

    Oh and to the average British citizen, the fact that this is even possible under your noses speaks volumes.

    The UK is lost. And I believe it’s gone for good. Fool Britannia!

  • Fuck you

    “What kind of no-life tard would download it? Like it said, IT WAS ON THE FRICKEN TV WHO DOESN’T HAVE A TV?”

    A) I don’t watch TV, I’d sooner slit my throat than watch ads, fuck you
    B) Silverlight is shit, I won’t use it, fuck you
    C) Moonlight is shit, I won’t use it, wouldn’t work anyway, fuck you
    D) Windows is shit, I don’t use it, fuck you
    E) Fuck you

  • Anonymous

    “who dows not have TV”

    i dont have one….And alota other students dont have one…..and especially its time wastage..those stupid commercial on TV… PLUS i can download and watch the download when i have time…use yur stupitidy some where else… :D

  • Anonymous

    @21 Detector van is a myth. Like some private empleyee has the right to enter your apartment is.

    I read a lot on the German equivalent, the “GEZ”. Research it and stand in awe. They are even nastier than what you described here. Then, for every TV a fee is applicatable.
    Internet, too by now, for a (lower) radio fee.
    Do some research, it’s quite interesting. Unfortunately, all sources I know have been in German.

  • Harjit

    Can’t find a link for download. It is just going from one place to another.The Olympic Link takes one to another site and doesn’t have a download link on that page.It is misleading.

    http://www.mymarketinggenie.com/jenny

  • Harjit

    Where are the Olympic Download Links?.
    Does anyone have an answer please.Thanks.

    http://www.mymarketinggenie.com/jenny

  • Harjit

    Who is this Idiot shouting on the top of his voice and abusing everyone who comes on this site.I mean Link 35. It seems, that he is a dope taking guy. Nature Bless Him!

    http://www.mymarketinggenie.com/jenny

  • BTGuard - BitTorrent Anonymously

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