The Scene

his guide is meant to explain and clarify some things that many of the newer users of trackers often get confused about Namely, what is "The Scene" and how it differs from P2P.

Many people usually reference the wikipedia entry about The Scene, but I find it is sadly inadequate (and probably purposely so). I'm going to clear some things up for people (or perhaps I'm merely perpetuating the propaganda that is floating around out there? You be the judge).

What is it?

"The scene" is a concept. It doesn't physically exist. To put it loosely, it is an "organization" or network -- but not in the traditional sense (no headquarters" etc). Although it is co-ordinated (self-regulating).

There is no one place/site that makes up the scene -- but rather many (perhaps hundreds) that together constitute the scene. It might not even be possible to know the exact number as most sites are extremely secret/exclusive.

It exists in many different countries and can be accessed from anywhere there is an internet connection.

In fact, you could even draw a parallel between a home network (or an intranet) and the scene. In this analogy, the scene is equivalent to an ad-hoc network. It is dynamic, constantly changing and re-arranging.

What does it do?

The scene exists, quite simply, to distribute files amongst people with access to it. Anything from movies, music, software programs, games, books -- all digital media -- can be found somewhere within the scene -- somewhere on the "network".

How is it Organized?

The Ruleset

The scene is organized by a set of rules that are created and agreed upon by its members. These rules pertain to what files can be "released" (put on the scene network). They are very specific and all files must adhere to their
own set of rules (Meaning, DVDRip/TVRips/HDRips etc. all have their own set of rules that must be obeyed in order for the scene to recognize the release).

These rules control things such as file naming conventions, file sizes, quality etc. This is the regulation that ensures that anything released into the scene meets a minimum standard of quality.

Ever wonder why many XViD movies come in sizes of 700megs? Why an hour long TV show is usually around 350MB? Why 720p releases are around 4.7Gigs? These are the scene rules in action. Where do the naming conventions such as TS,TC,CAM,Screener,HDTV,PDTV,DSR etc. come from? Again, scene rules.

The rules are updated periodically and signed by various groups (Usually very influential groups determine the rules and sign them -- forcing any smaller group to have to adhere to the rules). The rules aren't always agreed upon by every member, but once they're established, there is nothing you can do to change them except request a revision.

Any file that doesn't meet the rules is removed or "nuked", usually with a reason given. A nuke looks bad on the group that released the file and is instantly known throughout the scene (through the communication channels -- more on that later). This is incentive enough for groups to try their best to ensure their releases follow the rules -- a difficult task for groups that race! (More on that later too).

Who makes up the scene?

The scene is made up of individuals or groups that have access to it. Traditionally, in order to have access (or "axx") to the scene, you have to have something to offer to it. Meaning if you can give to the community, you can have access to it. This is done to keep "leechers" out of the scene and ensure that what has been released to the scene remains within the scene. This isn't always the case however, as I will explain later.

The group that has made a release to the scene can be found at the end of the name of the release (in the format: -GROUPNAME). For instance, take this scene release:

House.S05E19.720p.HDTV.X264-DIMENSION

This is a release of the popular TV show House (Season 5 Episode 19) that was captured at a resolution of 720p from an HDTV source. It is encoded with X264 and was released by the group DIMENSION (one of my favourites).

DIMENSION is a scene group. They release primarily TV shows and obey the Scene X264 TV standards. Here is a little info on them (current as of version 1.0 of this guide):

[GROUP STATS] [ DIMENSION ] [ Good Releases: 1558/1562 ] [ Nuked: 4 [0.0%] ] [ UnNuked: 3 [0.0%] ]
[FIRST PRE] [ Tragically_Hip-Vaccination_Scar-CDS-2004-DiMENSiON ] [ MP3 ] [ Released 4y 355d 7h 44m 57s ago [4/10/2004] ] [ 8.0MB in 2F ]
[LAST PRE] [ Saving.Grace.S02E12.720p.HDTV.X264-DIMENSION ] [ TV ] [ Released 1h 42m 15s ago [3/30/2009] ] [ 1147.0MB in 28F ]

The number of people that make up the group DIMENSION is unknown and certainly very secret. It has probably changed over the last 5 years that the group has been active multiple times, but nobody can know for sure except those people close to the group.

How do files get onto the scene?

When a group has a file, or release, they want to put out to the scene, they "PRE" it. This means that they have uploaded their file to a topsite on the scene network and it has been announced to all members of the scene. These PREs could be thought of as "global" (within the scene) messages that a certain release is available out on the scene on one of the "Topsites".

So, when a group has a release, they put it on a Topsite and announce it to the scene. The file quickly propagates throughout the scene network.

A side note of a definition, a Topsite is a server located somewhere in the world that has an extremely fast connection (Usually a minimum of 1Gbps, but most certainly faster) and an extremely large memory bank (Minimum 30+
Terabytes).

Topsites are interconnected (many different ways) so that files can propagate extremely quickly from one topsite to the next depending on what has been set up to be transferred (Meaning, an english topsite isn't likely to request and acquire Dutch language releases).

Files are usually transferred by the FXP protocol (like a server to server FTP transaction) which is extremely quick. That way, a 350Mb release can reach multiple sites within a matter of seconds.

How do I get access to the scene?

Simply put, you don't. Not just anybody can get access. It's this exclusivity that ensures that the scene remains secret and allows it to elude detection. If you had something the scene wanted or something to offer the scene, you'd already be there. It's all about who you know and what you know

This way, leechers (people who just wish to take and not give back) are kept out.

What is P2P?

P2P actually stands for Peer to Peer protocol, but can have many different definitions. In this case P2P refers to anything non-scene. Meaning, bit-torrent trackers, DC++ networks...etc..etc...

P2P is what the everyday user has access to and is usually (as with the Bit Torrent protocol) peer to peer (meaning you share). All private trackers as well as public trackers are P2P sites. The scene never distributes anything using the bit torrent protocol.

So how do releases get to P2P sites?

P2P sites have their own hierarchy which will not be discussed here. Scene releases reach the general public by being leaked. Meaning, somebody who has Scene Axx lets it out. This is how piracy propagates throughout the internet and down the "food chain" so to speak. Most scene members hate this fact. They do not always want their releases available to the general public. Why? Because that increases their probability of being caught.

Sceners risk a lot by releasing files. Their mentality is that they only want others who also put something on the line to have access to their files. The more available the release is, the more likely it is to fall into the hands of the law enforcers.

(Scener meaning a person or group that releases to the scene)

This is why the scene hates P2P (And also answers the other thread I started...although that is a more in depth look of this commonly accepted reasoning).

But wait, why would a scene member release to the general public?

They wouldn't -- necessarily. It's impossible to speak for every scener out there, but for the majority, they don't.

Not everybody who has scene axx is a scener. People who run Topsites have to pay a lot for them and often times sell access to them. This access is for downstream (leeching) only, so people with this form of scene axx are basically leechers. Bandwidth is sold in chunks. You are given an account at a single topsite that allows you to transfer so many gigabytes of files. Again, you have to pay for this ability because you don't have anything to offer the scene

This is what i found , credit goes to the original Publisher.