Stop/start DVR server without uninstall/reinstall. Feature request?

#1

I have a Mac mini running a Channels server with a connection to my Locast subscription. Sometimes (say once a week for a single recording), I'd like to spoof the location of the server to get Locast channels in a different home city. To solve this, I installed the Mac Channels server on a Mac laptop, and using Chrome and Location Guard, set the laptop's location to a different city. Then I connected to my Locast subscription and sure enough, I was now seeing "local" broadcasts in a different city.

The problem is, I don't want the Channels server to run continuously on my laptop, just when a weekly "event" is airing. I can't find a simple way start/stop the server short of fully uninstalling the server and then having to reinstall it later. Elsewhere, someone suggested running the terminal command: launchctl stop com.getchannels.dvr. But this doesn't appear to permanently stop the server. If I open 127.0.0.1 the server is shown as running.

Does someone have a way of addressing this simple issue, or can the community make a STOP/START button in the web server so we can kill the process whenever we want ?

Thanks

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#2

Follow that command with launchctl disable com.getchannels.dvr

Also, circumventing georestrictions to access out-of-market content is neither supported, nor actually legal in the US.

#3

absolutely agree that it's not supported, nor should it be...but can you provide the exact law you'd be breaking by doing so?

#4

And I presume one would revert back to functioning server via: launchctl enable com.getchannels.dvr. ?

As to IN or OUT of market, I am a fortunate American who owns two homes, I pay taxes in two states. I should be able to view content in location A or location B if it's broadcast over the Public airwaves. I think anyone should be able to do this over the public airwaves whether they own a home in a secondary market or not - but our court systems were built and stacked by corporate interests, not the public interest.

#5

Side note, but this issue has got me on a roll - ignore if you're not interested.

Last year, I paid a handsome sum to watch all the live games (and recorded games) of a certain professional sports league (whether IN market or not). They have AppleTV app and iPad paid apps as well. I could log in and using those credentials watch streaming videos with embedded commercials whenever a game was NOT on (i.e. highlights of a prior game, commentary of last nights game). But when it was time to watch the live event, all that streamed to either the AppleTV or the iPad app was a full screen black rectangle - no video, no audio. Multiple back and forth with tech support and they were convinced that it was my slow internet connection, or an old iPad, or outdated software; anything but a problem on their end. Never mind that I could watch highlights in their apps or that Disney, Netflix, HBO etc all worked on same internet connection and same AppleTV or iPad. Did they refund my money ? Of course not. Do they care? You be the judge. Did they auto sign me up for a new subscription this year ? Yup, that end of the business was working fine. So while I'm paying to NOT see games in my local market, I'll take my chances popping in and out of other locations to see what's playing live over the public airwaves.

Thanks for ignoring the rant....

#6

Locast provides a digital translator service to local OTA broadcasts. Such an arrangement is only legal for non-profits to provide as long as their re-transmission only covers those for whom the original broadcast was intended.

Essentially their service is to provide OTA broadcasts to users who cannot use an antenna because of obstructions—buildings, trees, foothills—not because they are in another broadcast market.

It is no different than using a VPN to access Netflix from Spain to get access to programming that they have available there, but are not licensed to stream in the US.

#7

@racameron. The above is indeed true/correct. It should be added that the Locast "nonprofit" model is under dispute and (surprise) that corporate broadcast companies are suing Locast to block this model. An early for-profit that did the same thing as Locast lost in court over the for-profit aspect of the model. Locast is hoping that the non-profit model will keep what they are doing legal.

EDIT - I would add that this is indeed different than using a VPN to access Netflix from a different country. Netflix is a paid service and has agreements with different regions on broadcast licenses using their own servers, storage etc.. Locast is simply re-broadcasting a signal that was already sent freely over the airwaves for anyone (subscriber or not) to access. Many, myself included, believe that when a broadcast company uses the public airwaves to broadcast a unencrypted signal, that signal is in the public domain. We will see what the courts have to say in the future.

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#8

See: launchctl(1)

Since Apple has stopped publishing updated manpages, I suggest you try man launchctl on your own computer to see what the version on your machine specifies.

#9

Upon inputing launchctl disable com.getchannels.dvr
Terminal returns the error:
Unrecognized target specifier. takes a form of /.

#11

The commands are:

launchctl remove com.getchannels.dvr

and to re-enable the service:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.getchannels.dvr.plist

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#12

Thank you tmm1.

The above commands indeed work on Mac OS 11.5.1. The Channels menu disappears and reappears shortly after issuing the proper command.

#13

Alternatively you can also use these, which do the same thing:

~/Library/Application\ Support/ChannelsDVR/install.sh

~/Library/Application\ Support/ChannelsDVR/uninstall.sh

#14

I too would like to see such a feature for Windows. Currently I open the Services panel and stop/start from there when needed.

#15

net stop [service name]

I'm not sure what the service is named on Windows, but that command will stop the service. net start ... will start it back up.

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#16

I don't disagree with anything you just said here...but you still haven't told me how it's illegal for the consumer to use methods to bypass geo restrictions.

of course it's not legal for locast to offer out of market feeds, but that's not what we're talking about here. you said it was not legal for the consumer to attempt to bypass the geo restrictions...

#17

Here’s some folks that know the law a bit. They say illegal:

“ The Legality of Using VPNs to Bypass Copyright Restrictions

When it comes to using VPNs to hide the theft of copyrighted material, the law is clear: this use is unlawful. Using a VPN to do this will not only not protect someone from prosecution, but it may not even protect them from being discovered. Though a number of VPN services do actively attempt to prevent the compromise of user identities.”

#18

Because it's a violation of the DMCA, possibly the CFAA, and if the rights–holders want to get extra creative with federal leverage, I'm sure there are a few other statutes that are tangentially relevant.

Does anyone remember Aaron Swartz when considering how far the federal government will pursue a single individual for petty inconsequential violations that aren't technically violations, but could be construed as such?

#19

how? the DMCA is huge.

that's why I asked you to give me the specific law that is being broken by doing so...

#20

from the article you just posted:

which goes back to what I said originally here: it's obviously not legal for locast to stream out of market feeds to anyone not authorized for them (i.e. not in that market)...but the reverse is not true. it's not illegal for a consumer to bypass those restrictions if they find a way to do so.

against the TOS? absolutely. and I'm not suggesting anyone should do so in any way.

however, is it illegal? absolutely not.

we need to stop conflating morality and ethics with legality. the two are not the same thing.

#21

17 USC §111(b)