- Managing Sonarr. That sums up the basic use of Sonarr: search and add TV series, and let it automatically download the latest episodes via your torrent client. You never have to deal with it again until you need to add more series or delete the ones that you don’t want to continue.
- The most common option for sonarr / radarr apps is to set a torrent indexer for searching and adding torrents, either via choosing one of the preset indexers or creating a custom one via jackett. As for the download client, it is already pre-configured with your seedbox's torrent client which works out-of-the-box.
- To deal with cleanup, enable Remove under Completed and Failed Download Handler in Sonarr and set your per-indexer seed time/ratio goals. Since you're not using this torrent client for seeding, something like 1 minute and 0.1 ratio would be reasonable. In your torrent client, set torrents to pause when their.
Sonarr is a great tool to download and manage your TV Shows. Earlier it was called NZBDrone and it had a great support for NZBs. Now it also has a very good support for torrents. But unfortunately it has very few public indexers by default. So to get the best possible free public indexers you can use another tool called Jackett.
Last Updated: Nov 25, 2020
| Rating | |
| Price | free |
| Retention | 500 Days |
| Free Trial | None |
| Features | PVR That Automatically Downloads Video Files |
| Fully Integrable With NZB Downloaders | |
| Reads RSS Feeds |
Formerly known as NZBDrone, Sonarr is a PVR that allows you to download video files from Usenet automatically. Sonarr can fully be integrated with other newsreaders and NZB downloaders, allowing users of programs like NZBGet and SABnzbd to conveniently and automatically get the video files that they want. Once you set Sonarr up, you really don’t have to do much to get your shows. It will keep looking for them and downloading them as they become available.
Sonarr has several helpful features to help you on managing your downloads and monitoring upcoming releases and eventually automate the downloading process.
Highlighted Features
If you are very much into downloading video files, then Sonarr would be a very good fit for you. It provides Usenet downloaders the convenience of not having to manually download files and even organizing these video contents properly. It has several features that allow you to just sit back and relax and let the program do its thing while you just simply wait for the video files that you need to become available.
- Supports multiple platforms
- Windows, MacOS, and Linux
- Including FreeBSD and Raspberry PI
- Manual Search Option
- Manually find releases, choose the one you want and send it to your download client
- Automatic Failed Download Handling
- Automatic blacklisting of password protected releases or files with missing repair blocks.
- It then continues to try another file until it finds one that works
- Reads RSS Feeds
- Downloads latest content related to that feed
- Calendar Feature
- One convenient location for upcoming releases
In 2015, Sonarr switched to using Tvdb from Trakt because of compatibility problems with collecting metadata. Sonarr aggregates data from a number of different sources, including TVDB, TVRage and TMDB. With these platforms, Sonarr is able to provide its users with sufficient details on a specific video file, including the number of current releases and synopsis.
To be able to use Sonarr securely with Usenet, enabling SSL encryption would be the best thing to do to keep your download activity anonymous. However, if you will be using this software with Torrent downloads, we suggest that you look into using a VPN service.
Plans & Pricing
While Sonarr is completely free to download and use, its developers encourage donations so that they can continue updating the program and provide good support.
You can donate to Sonarr with Bitcoin or by becoming a financial contributor via Open Collective. On Open Collective, you have the option to do a one time contribution of $2 or a recurring contribution as a backer, flexible sponsor or sponsor, which costs from $2 a month to $25.
Usage Overview
Sonarr is a straightforward piece of software with no fuss and frills. It has a simple and modern-looking interface that can easily be navigated through and contains several features that enhance the whole Usenet downloading experience. While the installation process varies depending on the operating system of your device, Sonarr can run on popular platforms like Windows, Mac and Linux. It also has several configurable settings that can be customized according to a user’s preference.
Installation
Sonarr maintains packages for Windows, MacOS and Debian/ Ubuntu. It can also work on other systems, including Raspberry PI and FreeBSD.
For Windows:
- Download the latest version of Sonarr from https://sonarr.tv
- Extract the zip file into your target directory. Use a folder that Sonarr process would have to write access to (DO NOT use C:Program Files or C:Program Files (x86))
- Run NzbDrone.exe once as administrator to register the port and URL with Windows (Required for remote access)
- Manually start Sonarr by running Nzbdrone.exe or ServiceInstall.exe to install Sonarr as a Windows service.
- Open http://localhost:8989 in your browser
For Mac:
- Download latest version of Sonarr’s OSX package
- Open the archive and drag the Sonarr icon to your Application folder.
- Note: In macOS 10.12+ Gatekeeper App Translocation will prevent Sonarr run directly from the Downloads folder from updating
- Open Sonarr.app
- You should now be able to access Sonarr at http://localhost:8989
- Note: If you receive the message “The application Sonarr can’t be opened,” run chmod +x /Applications/Sonarr.app/Contents/MacOS/Sonarr, and try opening it again.
You can also use Homebrew Cask when installing Sonarr on your Mac device.
- $ brew cask install sonarr
- Open Sonarr from your applications folder
- Access Sonarr at localhost:8989
For Linux:
- Add Sonarr’s repository to your software source
- sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 0xA236C58F409091A18ACA53CBEBFF6B99D9B78493
- echo “deb http://apt.sonarr.tv/ master main” | sudo tee/etc/apt/sources.list.d/sonarr.list
- Install/ Update Sonarr
- sudo apt update
- sudo apt install nzbdrone
- Start Sonarr
- mono–debug /opt/NzbDrone/NzbDrone.exe
- Open your browser
- http://localhost:8989
You can check out Sonarr’s wiki to find installation processes for other platforms.
Configuration
Sonarr allows you to customize the profile quality of the video files you are looking for. You can set the resolution and also enter the cut-off details on this section.
And to do remote access, you would need to “enable remote access” on the preferences menu of your Mac device. For Windows, you would have to run the .exe file as administrator to register the port and URL.
Scheduling & Automation
As previously mentioned, Sonarr has a calendar feature which is a convenient way of monitoring upcoming video releases. These releases can conveniently be found in one location, giving users more freedom to do other things without having to constantly remind themselves if the videos they’re waiting for are about to come out.
Sonarr also an “add notification” function for other applications.
Sonarr Utorrent Setup
Usability
Sonarr has a visually appealing interface that can be enjoyed by users of different platforms. The crisp and clean look of the software provides a pleasant experience for downloads to explore the program, manually search for files, monitor upcoming releases, and easily automate downloads.
Video files can be viewed in several ways through either multiple posters or a specific video overview that includes a short description of the content and even file quality.
Sonarr also provides frequent updates to its users to keep them on the loop on what’s happening with the software. Its developers also provide enough support for any questions or queries. The Sonarr wiki page is especially helpful for new users and even for veterans who have troubleshooting questions.
You can also explore other means for support like their forum, IRC channel, Discord and Sonarr subreddit.
Conclusion
Sonnar is a good piece of software that helps in finding, organizing, and downloading video files. You can enjoy the full potential of this program by integrating it with popular NZB downloaders like NZBGet and SABnzbd. You can also explore other top newsreaders and downloaders to see if Sonarr can be integrated in their program.
Sonarr Settings
Sonarr is a popular Usenet product for good reason. With its features that provide a lot of convenience for Usenet downloaders, Sonarr has established itself as a very good add-on program that you should consider using to enhance your downloading experience.