Blog: YouView Parental Controls by Emily Foran, FamilyFourFun.co.uk

One of my favourite things about the YouView box alongside it allowing me to record my favourite shows and watch them when the children are in bed are the built in parental controls. With a 9 year old boy who seems to be of the opinion that a film is better if it's rated out of his age range these are invaluable!

YouView has made it so simple to set up these controls that most of it is done on initial start-up when you scan for channels and add your WIFI details. During the guided set up you will also be asked if you want to set a PIN for parental controls, if you want them switched on and at what level/rating.

After setting up the box you can access the settings and customise them further through the YouView' (blue) button on your remote, scroll to Settings > Parental Controls and you will see options. I recommend doing this as the menu in the initial set-up doesn't give you every setting option.

I have my controls set for anything rated 12 or over; this means that if they select content from the On Demand menus that is over my setting the box prompts for a PIN. I also have the Guidance/Watershed option on. I didn't understand how this worked at first, thinking it would mean a PIN was required if the TV was switched on during watershed hours. In fact because programmes can be viewed On Demand' it stops them watching a catch up of a programme that was originally screened outside of watershed hours.

Guidance covers any programme that has this text or the G icon. This indicates there may be additional information explaining why the show may not be suitable for family viewing. Finally you can remove the adult category from the On Demand menu altogether, the option to do this wasn't in our initial start-up which is why I strongly suggest checking the settings within the menu after setting up the box.

Ours is working perfectly and have been tested on more than a few occasions when my eldest has tried to watch re-runs of American cartoons with adult themes. So far the children haven't learnt my PIN either which is another win. The only content I'd like to see blocked which the controls don't cover is out of their hands. I find some of the images on film covers within the On Demand film players for thrillers grotesque and would prefer they didn't see them. Individually some of the player providers have their own settings but nothing I've found yet to cover or remove these. It is helped by removing the adult category but a little self-policing is also necessary at times.

The last thing I recommend when setting up the YouView box for a family is to hide unsuitable channels. This can be done really easily from the channel guide which you access by pressing either the guide' or YouView' button on the remote. Once in the guide press the yellow button to edit channels, you will need to put in your parental PIN and may then scroll the list and select any you don't wish to appear.

This blog has been written by Emily Foran especially for YouView. Emily writes a parenting blog, Family Four Fun which is as the name suggests inspired by her four fun and lively children.

http://www.familyfourfun.co.uk/2013/06/youview-a-review.html

LINK:	http://www.youview.com/news/2013/09/26/blog-youview-parental-controls-...
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