Using the TV’s Features
38 Chapter 3
Parental Controls and
V-Chip
The Parental Controls menu allows you to program your
TV so that children cannot see certain programs, channels,
or use the front panel controls.
The first three choices in the Parental Controls menu
involve software inside your TV (referred to as V-Chip)
which allows you to block TV programs and movies
based on violence, sex, or other content you may believe
children should not view. In other words, it lets you
program your TV so it won’t display certain programs.
Once you block programs, you or other adults can
unblock programs by entering a password.
By default, the software inside your TV is turned “off,” so
if you don’t want to use this feature, you can just ignore it.
How V-Chip Works
When turned “on,” the V-Chip software reads a code that
most broadcasters send with programs. That code tells the
software the program’s age-based rating (TV-MA, TV-14,
etc.) and content themes [(Violence (V), Adult Language
(L), etc.)]. If you have blocked the rating and/or content
themes that the program contains, you will receive the
message, “This channel is not approved for viewing,”
when you tune to that particular channel.
Broadcasters are not required to provide content themes,
so programs received with no content themes will only
be blocked if you block their age-based rating. You can
also block out programs that have been given a rating of
“Not Rated,” and programs that are considered “unrated”
because no code has been sent by the broadcaster. The
TV age-based ratings and content themes you can block
are listed in the following table.
TV MAIN MENU
1 Audio
2 Picture Quality
3 Screen
4 Channel
5 Time
6 Parental Controls
7 GUIDE Plus+ Menu
8 Setup
0 Exit
PARENTAL CONTROLS
1 V-Chip TV Rating Limit
2 V-Chip Movie Rating Limit
3 V-Chip Unrated Program Block
4 Channel Block
5 Front Panel Block
6 Lock Parental Controls
0 Exit
1569452A.03 Features 4/9/02, 12:57 PM38
