Bros,

who else here uses NZBs to dl stuff instead of torrents?

I've been using it for awhile and it's great. However, there are always some huge files (20++gbs) and it takes a while to download (though it's ALOT quicker than torrents). When I've finally finished downloading it, there are always some files that need repairing. I use MacPar deluxe and sometimes it does the trick.. However, sometimes it just refuses to fix the broken files. Any of you have recommendations as to what other programs to use to fix files?

I believe NZB is just an XML based request mechanism for good old usenet, which is so old it predates the web.  It definitely is the oldest porn delivery method on the internet.  How good is it?  It is really dependent upon your usenet provider.

Most people can access usenet for free through the server hosted by their ISP.  Since it is now used by such a small number of subscribers, ISP's rarely put much into the upkeep of their servers and so retention is really poor.  They often only keep files for a few hours after they are uploaded.  

If you want a larger selection, you can subscribe to a dedicated usenet service, which will have file retention going back sometimes for years.  I think that Newzbin - the company that created nzb is one of those services.

With regards to repairing files - you need at least one par file for every corrupt or missing data file.  So if your download has 20 data files, and 10 par files, as long as you have 20 good files out of the 30 you will be able to repair.  If there is more corruption than this, there is nothing that any software can do.

Damn... I was afraid of that! Sometimes I dl entire seasons of certain TV shows and after all the time and effort, it tells me it's missing data files or corrupt and all that effort's put to waste! So annoying...

I use astraweb and have www.nxbmatrix.com. Pretty damn good and retention days of up to 1,500 days so it's not too bad. I usually find the stuff that I want on that site. Just the broken files pisses me off!

I use grabbit and it's pretty good. If repairs are needed and pars are present then it will do its job. I'm with astraweb /w 20 connections via netvigator 100m line. I download consistently 8-9 MB/s