Thread: The Sports Torrent Network (TSTN) Review

The Sports Torrent Network

Tracker's URL: http://www.thesportstorrentnetwork.co.uk/

Signup URL: TSTN - The Sports Torrent Network - NHL, US Sports, Footy & more

Note: While this tracker is usually apply by application, it recently closed and is invite only. A message from TSTN: "Maximum number of users reached. We are an invite only tracker though we delete members all the time so just keep checking spaces may open up. We will also announce if we are increasing our members on our twitter page this will normally be around the same time as a big event (Winter classic, All Star, etc)"

Tracker Type: Sports

Tracker Birthday: I don't know -- would appreciate help here :D

TSTN is a sports tracker that specializes in sporting games, documentaries, and sports related television shows. It was formally NHLTorrents and FootyTorrents which specialized in Hockey and Soccer (Futebol). Thus, this tracker has very good content for Hockey and Soccer but still great content in other sports areas as well. Compared to other Sports trackers it's pretty large. When I was searching for the best Sports tracker this stood out because it had the best pre-times and content that I found. There are usually standard and HD caps for the more popular leagues. You can even find some games from the 70's, 80's, 90's if they are very well known.

Home Page and Tracker Stats
Having 20k members, TSTN is one of (if not the) largest sports dedicated tracker.


Browse Torrents


Torrent Categories


Freeleech
Only cappers can request for freeleech and it usually takes some time which is a bit annoying when you really want that HD cap but need to wait for freeleech :D If anyone else requests freeleech they are warned or disabled (harsh rule i know).


Forum


Rules




FAQ


Bonus System/Invites
1 point awarded every hour as long as you are actively seeding one torrent (must be fully downloaded). Invites are bought using 1500 points or donation.


User Ranks/Promotions


IRC: irc://irc.p2p-network.net/tstn
It's not the most active IRC but it's better than the forums.

Donations


RSS
Cool feature! You can get RSS updates depending on the categories you are interested in.

Twitter


Calendars
Calendars are a pretty cool feature where you can view which games are scheduled to be capped by someone. Below are two examples.
NFL Calendar


NHL Calendar


Requests


Top 10 Summary
I've shortened this image to include only relevant information.

Seeders Wanted


Summary/TLDR

Invites: Invites are bought by seed points which are given 1 per hour regardless of how many torrents you are seeding. Invites cost 1500 points. You may also obtain invites by donating.

Maintaining ratio: Easy, just jump on some freeleech torrents early to build ratio. Usually 720/1080p releases will eventually get freeleech.

Community: (2.5/5)
The forums are not too active. IRC is a bit better. The admins are quick to warn people who don't obey the rules (some of which are a bit silly).

Site Design: (3.5/5)
The RSS is nice and so is the calendar section but there are a lot of broken links scattered throughout the site.

Content: (4.5/5)
It could be better but for a Sports tracker it's top of the line. The caps are done solely by volunteers and sometimes they are unreliable.

Speeds (3.5/5)
Not many seedboxes but the speeds are fairly good on most torrents. You don't have to wait long unless you are downloading a torrent that was uploaded more than 6-12 months ago.

This is *the* tracker to be active on if you want NHL or NFL games. I don't follow other sports, so I can't speak to how well-represented they are. I'm pretty sure the English football (soccer) leagues are extremely well represented. This is also the only place I've consistently seen F-1 races posted.They don't announce new torrents via IRC (or at least, they hadn't been last NFL season) but their RSS feed works fine for automating downloads. Admins are active, site layout is clean and easy to navigate. I've been a member since 2009.