In the last couple of years, the leading one click hosting service RapidShare was hugely popular among uploaders on various Direct Download Link (DDL) forums. However, with the recently announced changes to RS’s rewards program (link – read second post), this might soon change. Several leading DDL forums have already ditched RapidShare for other services and the latest site to join the club is x264-BB. For those who don’t know what x264-BB is, it’s a popular forum for m-HD (MicroHD), 720p and 1080p movie encodes with a lot of exclusive releases (for a detailed post on this forum with registration info, read the full review located here). It appears that all of x264-BB’s internal encoder groups have decided not to upload any of their releases to RapidShare anymore. Their new upload destination? Hotfile.
The site’s decision to abandon RS is explained in detailed in a forum post (which is quoted below):
This is an official notice to all members of x264-BB.com that Encoders Group will no longer providing Rapidshare download links. After much discussions, Encoders Group had came to an amicable decision that only Hotfile links will be supplied in all future new releases.
Question: What about existing Encoders Group releases?
We will be deleting all current Rapidshare plus other mirror links on x264-BB, only Hotfile links will be supplied.
Question: Are we allowed to make request for other mirrors?
No. We do not allow any mirrors to be made from now. Do not ask for mirrors in the forum, you will be banned as you had been officially notified.
Question: Hotfile sucks for Free Users, why is Hotfile a better choice?
Because Megaupload sucks for its rewards program and extremely frustrating for uploading management. Encoders Group wants to spend more time on providing better quality releases rather than to waste time on sorting out missing uploaded files or unable to find the uploaded files in MU's File Manager. Hotfile's FTP upload has much faster upload speed and more stable than Netload's FTP upload. Netload's storage is frequently proned corrupted files and unrecoverable files due to hard disk crashes and never been able to recover and again, Netload's reward program is nothing compared to Hotfile's.
Question: Why not consider other file hosts such as SharingMatrix, FileServe or x7.to etc..?
See for yourself: http://i30.tinypic.com/2s9btbc.jpg
Hotfile has the biggest reach to global users than any of the file hosts compared.
While Hotfile is indeed a good one click hosting service, it does have several restrictions for free users.
- Limited download speed
- Maximum parallel downloads limited to 1
- 60 second wait time
- Downloads restricted to 1 file per 30 minutes
- No support for download accelerators, download resuming, direct linking
In addition, the download speeds on Hotfile are reportedly slow for some regions in the world. The thread on X264-BB announcing the change has met with some interesting responses with some users suggesting Megaupload, etc in place of Hotfile. However, the admin panel’s decision has so far been unchanged and judging by their responses it’s unlikely to change in future as well. Note that this change would only apply for releases by x264-BB’s internal encoder group – there are no hosting provider restrictions on user uploads and members are still free to use whatever service they prefer, including RapidShare.
On a side note, x264-BB is currently open for registration. This forum indexes m-720P, m-864P, m-HD, m-DVD, 720p and 1080p movies along with TV shows and documentaries. They have a lot of exclusive releases not found elsewhere, thanks to their internal encoder group. A detailed review of x264-BB can be found here.
Site Name: x264-BB (http://x264-bb.com)
Signup URL: http://x264-bb.com/register.php
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