By using a certified application users can search for files that are shared on BitTorrent, download these files, and play them directly on their computers, TV or mobiles devices. Everything is bundled into one system and downloaders don’t have to worry about conversion, codecs or file-formats.

Today BitTorrent Inc. and TV manufacturer Vestel announce the launch of the first digital TV that will come with this built-in BitTorrent support. By embedding BitTorrent technology directly into the the TV hardware the two companies hope to appeal to a wide audience of people who are looking for an even more simple way to enjoy downloaded content in their living room.

“Consumers want all types of personal media and Internet content in their living rooms and the TV remains the most desired device for consuming this digital media, regardless of source,” Vestel’s Hakan Kutlu said commenting on the announcement.

“BitTorrent certification helps our TV line meet this consumer demand and ensures that Vestel products remain at the forefront of technology innovation and adoption,” Kutlu adds.

The first BitTorrent certified TV will be demoed tomorrow in Berlin, Germany at IFA, one of the world’s largest consumer trade shows.

Aside from convenience, the main reason for BitTorrent Inc. to develop the new BitTorrent ecosystem is to simplify the downloading process for less tech-savvy people. Right now, many people drop out after installing a BitTorrent client because they find it too complicated to download and play content.

“The world of digital media has become unnecessarily complex and results in an increasingly fragmented consumer experience. People want access to their entire content library – personal media, Internet files, and artist approved content – regardless of source, media type, or file format,” BitTorrent’s chief strategist Shahi Ghanem said.

BitTorrent told TorrentFreak that more certified devices running Chrysalis software will be announced this fall. Two years ago BitTorrent already partnered with device makers such as Netgear and D-Link to bring BitTorrent to set-top boxes and NAS devices, but these don’t run on Chrysalis yet.

BitTorrent’s efforts to simplify the user experience and become more integrated into devices doesn’t mean that the development of uTorrent will stagnate. The Chrysalis project has replaced the former mainline BitTorrent client, but uTorrent will continue to be developed separately. And with more than 100 million active users a month, that is probably a wise decision.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The BitTorrent mainline beta version, codenamed Chrysalis, debuted its new design in March. With a different, less complicated look, it was built to appeal to BitTorrent novices who otherwise might stop using the software.

Yesterday, the BitTorrent mainline client added another major feature that is supposed to appeal to a broad audience – personal content channels. In the latest beta users are now able to create channels where they can share content with a selected group of friends.

The new feature basically creates a small social network inside the BitTorrent client where people can share files no matter what the size is, something that’s not possible with existing social networks.

“Until recently, most of your personal files were small enough to email or post to social networks. Now, it’s really easy to shoot HD video with your smartphone or snap high-res photos from a digital SLR. What happens to these giant files? They sit orphaned on your computer, or over-edited to make them small enough to share,” BitTorrent’s CEO Eric Klinker explains.

“BitTorrent removes the size barrier and makes it simple for you to openly share your creations,” Klinker adds.

According to BitTorrent protocol inventor Bram Cohen, the new addition is a perfect match for the client. “BitTorrent’s distributed technology was built to accelerate the transfer of large files,” he says.

“Personal content channels are an ideal use case given the asymmetric nature of bandwidth and the costs of file hosting. The more friends you add to a channel, the faster your files will download. This is an emerging market and we’re excited to see the technology solve modern Internet challenges,” Cohen adds.

Although it will be hard to convince the hardcore BitTorrent users to adopt it, we can see the purpose of the personal content channels from a novice perspective. Setting up a channel only takes a few clicks and is pretty much dummy-proof, so in that regard the developers have done a great job.

That said, the announcement also came with the suggestion that these channels will not be completely free in the future, and that might be less appealing to most users. BitTorrent Inc. told TorrentFreak that they’re not sure what the cost will be, if there will be any at all, but that they’re keeping it open as an option.

The same is true for bringing these personal content channels to uTorrent. Right now they are only implemented in the BitTorrent mainline client, but this may change in the future.

“We’ll see how the channels work for the BitTorrent community and if it’s popular and makes sense, we’ll take a look at the idea. In that case, it would be implemented in a way that considers the needs and priorities of the uTorrent community,” TorrentFreak was told.

The last ‘cost’ we feel we have to highlight is privacy. Large files shared in ‘private’ personal content channels are in theory not easy to discover by others, but since they use DHT, there are some specialized search engines that may pick them up.

In other words, don’t share anything the rest of the Internet isn’t supposed to see. Once it’s posted on BitTorrent, there is no central place to take it down either, if other people are still seeding the file. Bottom line is, be cautious while sharing.

It’ll be interesting to see how the personal content channels will be picked up by the public and what changes will come along with them. If anything, BitTorrent Inc. can’t be blamed for not trying to innovate, which is gutsy in the generally change resistant BitTorrent community. Time will tell whether they’re right in doing so or not.

The latest BitTorrent beta is available here, and more info on how to get started can be found at the BitTorrent blog.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

There is no doubt that BitTorrent’s user base is impressive, but there is still a lot of untapped potential. Both uTorrent and BitTorrent’s mainline client have a relatively large bounce rate. That is, a large number of new users try the software a few times, but don’t become regular users.

“During 2010 less than a third of new client downloads resulted in a new monthly active user,” BitTorrent’s Simon Morris told TorrentFreak. “Plenty of people download and install the client, but can’t figure out how to use it, and then uninstall it very quickly,” he added.

To change this, BitTorrent Inc. have been working on a new project with the aim of keeping those users on board. Today marks the release of the first Alpha version of this new client – codenamed project Chrysalis.

“The best products out there don’t have any significant educational hurdles – it is just obvious how they work. This is what we’re ultimately aiming for with this new project, although it will take time to get there. The client we’re releasing today is just a starting point,” Morris told us.

Today’s release is a very early Alpha, but it should give a good indication of where BitTorrent Inc. is going with their new client. By default it is filled with several prominently placed ‘apps’, such as those from TED and VODO, which provide access to downloads. This means that users will see content right away when they start the client

One of the main reasons why some users don’t come back to the client is a perceived lack of content. New users sometimes don’t know where to find content so the current version of Chrysalis should address this issue to some degree. In addition, the simplified user interface should be more welcoming to people who are new to BitTorrent.

Overall the Chrysalis client behaves quite intuitively. Downloads are added by a single click and show only basic information. Once a download is finished media files can be launched in a media player directly from the app. Starting, stopping and removing files can be done with a single click as well.

The client is built on the uTorrent v3.0 codebase but in the future new and unique features will be added as well.

“The first project Chrysalis beta is aiming at cleaning up the overall user experience and transforming a technical and data-rich experience into a cleaner more media-rich experience. This in itself will not be sufficient to solve the attrition problem, but we hope it will establish a new platform on which to build,” Morris said.

Another subtle change compared to the BitTorrent Mainline client is the more prominent placement of the search box. Users can type in search terms here and are, interestingly enough, redirected to a Google search for torrents. A surprising move, since Google just banned the words ‘uTorrent’ and ‘BitTorrent’ from some of its services.

Chrysalis is not intended for the more experienced BitTorrent user, but BitTorrent hopes it will appeal to a wider audience than their other clients do now. If all goes well, the dummy-proof client will completely replace the current Mainline client, which currently is a clone of uTorrent.

Time will tell whether this approach will be effective. Luckily, uTorrent users don’t have to panic as TorrentFreak is assured that their favorite client will always be available and developed separately. The Alpha release of Chrysalis is available for download starting today, currently limited to Windows operating systems.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.