Parental Controls, Lock/Unlock TV

Using the TV’s Features

Tip

You must lock the TV for the parental controls settings to be enforced.

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.

Chapter 3