Naughty Placeshifter Offers Deletions!

[mskitty666]

I am very new to SageTV and will begin building my HTPC to eventually replace my three ReplayTVs. I recently downloaded the placeshifter trial to see if I would like to incorporate it in my set up. I got a friend to also download the trial to test out how it truly works remotely. I have several questions about it's behaviour.
1. When I connect via lan, no problems. I tried connecting via internet from another home pc, would not connect. Is it impossible to connect via internet if both computers are located at the same ip address?

2. I had set up STV not to automatically delete anything and not to allow deleting of things in the import directories. When I browse my media center imports, delete is never an option. I was horrified to find out that when my friend connected via internet, deletions were an option and allowed. I do not want any items to be allowed to be deleted from the import directories under any circumstance. What is causing this malfunction?

3. Is there an option to set permissions for placeshifter users, like user accounts in windows?

[GKusnick]

1. I'm able to connect via Internet from my home LAN without issues. Are you trying to do it by IP address or FQDN, or by SageTV locator? Have you checked your firewall settings?

2. I'm not sure what you mean when you say you configured Sage not to allow deletions in the import directories. I'm not aware of any such option in the standard UI. Are you using a custom UI, or any UI add-ons?

3. There's no built-in concept of user permissions. Placeshifter is meant for your own personal use while on the road, and therefore offers full admin capability even when logging in remotely over the Internet. It's not meant for you to share out your video library to friends on the net; that would be a violation of the SageTV EULA. That said, it would be possible to create a custom UI that lacked admin features (such as the Delete commands), and configure specific Placeshifter users to use that UI instead of the stock UI. No such limited UI is shipped with the product, however.

Also, just to clear up some terminology: the abbreviation STV as generally used here means a loadable UI replacement. When we're talking about the program itself, we generally write SageTV or just Sage. So when you say you set up STV to do X, that could be read in a couple of different ways: you set some options in the SageTV configuration menus, or you set up a custom UI (an STV in our jargon) that does X.

[mskitty666]

1. I am able to connect via lan just fine. The problem is that when I try to connect via wan, it doesn't work. Since my friend is able to connect via internet, I was wondering why I am having troubles doing so. Either, my router isn't configured properly or it's a situation like a telephone where you can't dial yourself.
2. There are three references to deletion of files that I have found:
A. Detailed Setup>Customize>Delete live tv files when not using intelligent recording
B. Detailed Setup>Customize>Ask to delete recording at end of playback?
C. Media Center>Videos>Options>Advanced Options>Allow Video Deletion checkbox

I have delete live tv set to yes, ask to delete at end of playback set to never and allow video deletion unchecked. It should not allow deletions, but it does.

3. I would be very interested in a customization that prevents me from deleting files remotely. I have accidentally done that on my replays before and could not undelete. SageTV at least asks for confirmation, but I'd rather disable that feature. Me building a customization is not possible at this time, so if you know of any already available I'd appreciate a point in the right direction.

Sorry about the confusion, I'll be more clear when using abbreviations in the future. I have a lot to learn. Right now I don't even know what a ui replacement is .

[Opus4]

1) I'm not sure why yours isn't doing this, but I just wanted to point out that PS can connect via the internet back to the server on the same local network. I test things that way quite often.

2) Those deletion options are specific to the client where they are set; they are not global settings that affect every client. And, as Greg pointed out: Placeshifter is meant for your personal use.

- Andy

[mskitty666]

1) I'm not sure why yours isn't doing this, but I just wanted to point out that PS can connect via the internet back to the server on the same local network. I test things that way quite often.

I'll have to check some settings. At least now I know it's supposed to work.

Those deletion options are specific to the client where they are set

I should be able to choose if it's global. Hopefully that will improve in the future.

Placeshifter is meant for your personal use.

I will be using it for my husband and myself, but since I couldn't get it working. I had a friend test it for me. The trials are very short, so I needed to know if it would work.

[CollinR]

It will work...

Google "Port Forwarding" and search here for "Placeshifter Ports" (also in the manual).

The ports you forward must also be open on the server.

To disable any kind of file deletion from placeshifter you will need to modify the STV and call it from the placeshifter properties file. This will take some work as there are many instances that allow deletion of recorded TV.

If it's just you and your husband I wouldn't worry about it, tell him not to delete your stuff.

All of my servers have DynDNS so I have never used the locator service however it should work the same.

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by Opus4

1) I'm not sure why yours isn't doing this, but I just wanted to point out that PS can connect via the internet back to the server on the same local network. I test things that way quite often.

If you have AT&T as a DSL provider, it may not work that way. For some reason, the Westell routers supplied by AT&T don't "call themselves" as the OP originally suggested. In other words, If I try to connect to my external IP from within my network, the traffic is stopped at the router. I can, however, connect from an alternate location.

Stu

[CollinR]

Yes this is a function of some routers, others will redirect it internally if it realizes it is a local connection.

This is somewhat rare though.

[mskitty666]

The ports you forward must also be open on the server.

I read several threads about the port forwarding when I initially set up placeshifter. Per instruction, I forward 31099. My understanding was that 31099 is the only one you need to forward on the router. The rest of the port information seemed to be for configuring firewalls. I will check the settings, but based on other responses, that probably isn't my problem.

tell him not to delete your stuff.

I had not realized that the placeshifter could be configured seperately from the main interface. I was able to deselect allowing file deletions. This seperate configuration I will have to investigate further.

For some reason, the Westell routers supplied by AT&T don't "call themselves" as the OP originally suggested. In other words, If I try to connect to my external IP from within my network, the traffic is stopped at the router. I can, however, connect from an alternate location.

Thanks so much for that juicy tidbit! I thought I was going crazy. I am using a Westell modem supplied by Bellsouth (now AT&T). So local connection only for me.

Thanks for all the help everyone!