Even though television isn’t going to die anytime soon, everybody can see that it’s not as dominant as it used to be. More and more people turn to their computer for entertainment. Not only because computers are more interactive but because it’s also the gateway to unlimited entertainment. You can find virtually everything on the net, including TV shows.

While I’ll leave the rights or wrongs of this to your conscience, the act of downloading TV episodes from the net is something that you see everywhere. If you are one of those who follow their favorite shows using torrent, you might want to try TVTrigger, the all-in-one solution that will help you eliminate the trouble of manually monitoring and downloading TV episodes from the net.

Getting Started

Different from other similar applications which usually handle only torrent files , TVTrigger will also download the real files. Get the app from the website and continue on to the installation process.

Go through the installation routine and then the app will launch.

Being a good watchdog, Windows Firewall kicked in the first time I ran TVTrigger. The suggested settings for Firewall allow TVTrigger to use private networks while staying away from public networks.

Now let’s explore the application in more detail.

The Complete Suite

The main interface of the app is arranged similar to a website with all the main menus on the main page. You can switch between features by choosing one of the tabs above.

While you are browsing around the home page, the app will update itself in the background.

After the updating process is finished, you’ll see a notification window appear above the system tray.

The “Featured Show” will show you several recommended titles with a short description of the show. You can browse around by clicking the left and right arrows, see more information about a show by clicking the “i” button, and add the show as your favorite by clicking the heart button.

Clicking the “i” button will reveal more details about a specific show, including the rating and the ability to play the theme song.

Adding a show to the favorite list will open up a “Show Settings Wizard” window. You can turn on the automatic download feature, specify the download location, and other settings related to the show.

The favorite list is very useful to manage and automate your favorite shows. You just add the shows to the list and let TVTrigger download new episodes as soon as they become available.

If you prefer to go through the list of shows to find one or two that you might like, choose the “Browse” tab at the top of the page. Use the search function to find a specific title; or the “Genres” to filter the titles by categories such as action, comedy, drama, etc.

Search & Download

If you are done browsing around, click the “Torrent Search” tab and start searching for your favorite show. You can filter the result by “Seasons” and “Episodes” and you can also pick which torrent search engine(s) you want to use from the three available choices.

When you pick an episode to download, a “Copyright Content Warning” window will appear. It warns you that downloading the torrent might be illegal in your country, and you alone are responsible for your actions.

If you proceed, the “Torrent Download Details” window will appear and you’ll get the list of the episodes. Even though it appears with a different color, this window reminds me of uTorrent.

The download progress will be shown in a standard torrent download window. If you’ve used uTorrent before, you should be familiar with it. While waiting for the download to finish, you can search for another show that you like.

Other customizations, such as behavior, notifications, color, etc, are available under the “Settings” tab.

If you are a TV junkie who has difficulty setting up your schedule to regularly sit in front of the tube, maybe TVTrigger could help you catch up with the missing episodes. But again, please pay attention to the legal issues here. Also remember that you are the one who’s responsible for everything you do – online or offline.

With that in mind, happy hunting. And don’t forget to share your thoughts and opinions using the comments below.