Using the TV’s Features
40
Chapter 3
Parental Controls
The
Parental Controls
menu allows you to program your TV so that
children cannot see certain programs, channels, browser, or use the front
panel controls. The
Parental Controls
menu also involves software inside
your TV (referred to as V-Chip) which lets you program your TV so it
won’t display certain programs and movies based on violence, sex, or
other content you may believe children should not view. Once you
block programs, you or other adults can unblock programs by entering a
password to unlock video or enter the password to edit the features in
the
Parental Controls
menu. 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.
The options of the
Parental Controls
menu are
Unlock/Lock TV, Video
Input List, Antenna A List, Antenna B List, V-Chip TV Rating, V-Chip Movie
Rating, V-Chip Unrated, Front Button Block, and Web Browser Block
.
Lock/Unlock TV
Selecting this option lets you lock and unlock the parental controls and
the TV using a password. It also affects the channel lists. If you select the
Unlock
option when watching TV, you see the channels that have a
checkmark in the
Unlocked List
. If you select
Lock
when watching TV,
you see the channels that are Viewable in the
Locked List
. If the TV is
locked, all channels can be directly accessed by using the number
buttons on the remote control but may not be viewed if they are
blocked.
Notes:
When locking the TV, you’ll be asked to enter a password and
then to re-enter the password a second time to re-confirm your
password choice.
If you do not lock the TV, none of the settings for V-Chip, channel block,
front panel block, and web browser block take effect.
If you forget your password, simultaneously press and hold the MENU/
OK button on the front panel and VOLUME down button on the
remote for three seconds. This resets the password only and unlocks the
TV; all other settings in Parental Controls are not changed.
If you’ve locked the TV, set a record timer in the GUIDE Plus+ system
and aren’t there to provide your password, the recording takes place
only if the program doesn’t exceed the V-Chip ratings or you’ve
unlocked your TV.
Channel Lists (
Video Input List, Antenna A List,
Antenna B List
)
The channel lists contain the following information: major channel
number (with subchannel number only if a digital channel), channel call
letters (when channel is tuned),
Locked List
, and
Unlocked List
. The major
channels listed in
Antenna A List
and
Antenna B List
for off-air or cable
sources are based on the channel search results. If a major channel is not
found, then it is not listed. A channel search does not affect the Video
Input List; all video inputs are listed.
Tip
You must lock the TV for the parental controls settings
to be enforced.
