Partial download playback

[mahtsae]

Hello everybody,

I am extremely new to Bit Torrent i should explain first, so please forgive this rather ignorant question....

I am currently downloading an Anime Series in Full, so the torrent is episodes 1-26 for example. So i have downloaded the first 3 or 4 episodes, but i cannot play them....Is this because the full series (torrent/download) must be completed before i can view any episodes ? I do not have problems with any other completed Torrent/Video/Single Episodes so far (Bleach is amazing fun btw :D ) so can i assume i must finish downloading a Complete Series? 6Gb or more before i can watch it? im not complaining at all, im happy to wait to be able to watch them....thats not a problem :) I just dont want to download the whole lot to find out i can't watch them, but i hope someone can help me out

Many thanks

[IMSabbel]

Well.
IF the first episodes are completed, you should be able to play them.

But normally, if you download a batch torrent, it will normally randomly download parts out of order, meaning that if you have 50% finished, it doesnt mean the first half of the episodes is done.

Some clients allow priority settings, which you could use to download the early episodes first.

[mahtsae]

thankyou so much for that information i didn't know that was the case.

Though now i am a little confused because the few episodes at the beginning of the batch that i have supposedly downloaded appear to be completed as they say 175mb etc and match up to the size in the file list....

Just so i understand...Does this mean that those first episodes are not complete ?even though they read as 175mb .... or is the data somehow spread about without being able to see it ?

so sorry for the stupid questions

[TheFluff]

Yes, the data is still spread out. If you have a more advanced client such as Azureus, you can actually see where your downloaded data is, in the files tab of the torrent detail view.

[mahtsae]

hey thankyou loads

Azureus here i come :D

[Renaissance Otaku]

Most bittorrent clients tend to preallocate diskspace. Even if it says it's 175mb, it could be just 256kb. Also, if it's being downloaded to, it may lock the file. That's rarely a problem it the file is done though(hence no new data is being written).

Indeed, find out if the files are done using the methods already mentioned.

Also, VLC player will play anything, even if it's unfinished and being written to. That's its speciality.

[Kurz]

www.utorrent.com

Its just like Azureus but alot smaller and not as much as a memory hog.

[Rasqual Twilight]

Just so i understand...Does this mean that those first episodes are not complete ?even though they read as 175mb .... or is the data somehow spread about without being able to see it ?

so sorry for the stupid questions

No sweat, it's not a crime to ask such questions. Everyone before pretty much answered the question, especially IMSabbel's last sentence:
Some clients allow priority settings, which you could use to download the early episodes first. & unless it says an individual file is 100% complete, you may encounter choppy playback or none at all. Put higher priority for files you want completed first.

[mahtsae]

thankyou everyone for your kind information

ch-ching :D

[Zero Shinohara]

Also, with Azureus, you can choose which files to download by setting the others to "Do Not Download". It's pretty useful when you can only find batch torrents for series you already partially have.

[Zu Ra]

If you use good torrent clients like Bit Comet (my pick) you can choose which ep you want to dwnld out 26 files .To veiw Partially dwnlded files use VLC player