Parental controls

[jscozz]

I am hoping I am missing something here... but I have no easy way to secure my Tivo and allow only the programming I want my kids to be able to see.

I have a S3 and HD networked... I have tried both KidZone and Parental Controls.. and here are the reasons they fall short...

KZ
1) No guide! Why can't the KZ channels be shown in a guide format? Channel up/down with the 1 sec delay on each is terrible to flip between channels to see what is on... why can't Tivo make the guide work in KidZone and just hide unauthorized channels and shows? Seems like KZ would work OK if the guide were available...
2) I have not has KZ turned on on both units so I don't know if KZ required code to transfer authorized shows like PC does. Anyone know?
3) I have seen that some BABY shows and kids shows are unrated... anyway to keep things secured without allowing all unrated shows?

Parental Controls
1) All of my kid shows are on my S3 with large external drive. TivoHD is in room kids watch TV in... even just to transfer a Kids show that is clearly rated and within authorized ratings on BOTH devices, the TivoHD asks for the PC code... and then unless we go through the 7-8 presses to go through the menus to turn PC back on the kids have free reign of all shows.
2) Now and then we may want to allow a single show BUT NOT turn off PC. There should be a way to allow a single program but not disable PC.

I am hoping I am missing something here and the features do exist to make this work... seems like this could be a big selling point for Tivo if it all worked flexibly and easily.

[anom]

I think the point of Kid Zone is not primarily to watch live tv, but rather to have a bunch of prerecorded kid-friendly shows on hand when the kids are watching tv.

[jscozz]

The parental controls are still a big failure as far as I am concerned...

1) To transfer ANY program (even those allowed by parental controls) between two Tivos with parental controls enabled the SAME on both required the password to be entered. Then you have to wait for the transfer to complete and go in a turn off parental controls.

2) Why only a 4 hour no use timeout? This is essentially a NO timeout if someone is using the Tivo... why not an option to set the timeout value and also mark it as usage based or fixed, or even better, tied to an individual show... so it can lock again after a show is complete.

3) Why is YouTube completely unsecured? This is ridiculous! Even with parental controls enabled YouTube can be used without limit! This is a major hole in the controls.

4) Seems to me that Tivo has missed a big revenue opportunity... a multi user usage based control system... where each kids in a house can be assigned an ID and have a unique set of parental controls and time of day and time of usage restrictions... would be a valuable feature that people would pay extra for... and it would also help teach kids to budget their allotted TV time. It is a shame that Tivo is a closed box... allowing 3rd party development of tools like this would only make it more useful and entrenched in homes...

Is there anything I am missing with parental controls above? I'd appreciate any tips...

[Riverdome]

I agree. In a year or two when my children are old enough to start using the Tivo remote I will be forced to change my viewing/recording habits. It is upsetting that with current technology a solution is unavailable. If I have to make the main TV either DVR free or at least home-network free I will. Will I have to go to the length of removing all channels with possibly objectionable content from the Tivo guide? - that's a poor work-around.

The content available to my children is my responsibility. Tivo should be a proactive and responsible partner with families who take this responsibility seriously.

[oViTynoT]

YouTube is NOT completely unsecured. When you have TiVo log in to a YouTube account, it asks you if you want to enable filtering.

Now, granted, all some crafty kid has to do is to LOG OFF, and then it's the wild west again, but hey, it's SOMETHING.

[cl8855]

kidzone works great for us (6 year old)

She doesn't even know "live" TV exists. She has her 6-8 shows recorded and she can go turn it on and choose whichever one she wants when we give her some TV time.

We don't go by ages/ratings, we just choose specific shows that are OK for her, so obviously guide is meaningless to us as one of your issues.

Now as she gets older it will take a little more management to preview shows with her and gauge appropriateness, but she's not going to be flipping channels on her own without one of us there until she's 10 or 12 :)

[MichaelK]

just turn on kidzone and YOU set it up to pre-record any shows you want your kids to see. I have a 2 year old, a 8 year old and a 10 year old. They all function fine that way. they all have learned to use the tivo remote to watch their shows well before the could read. I think the tivo now playing list even taught them to read some times- laughing.

Kidzone essentially locks the box down to approved things on that boxes NPL. You cant transfer when you are in the kid zone (drawback). You cant get to youtube (positive since you want that locked down). You can't do anything put look at the now playing list to see approved shows. Or as you point out just randomly up and down surf. It's not really meant for watching live tv.

My kids have plenty to watch using the kid zone. They even hate it when they grab the remote after my wife or I have used the box and the "grownup zone" (as they call it)- NPL is up and they need to dig through our stuff. They go right to the top of the list and turn the kidzone on themselves.

If you have a universal remote you can teach it to send the standby command for one button press to put the box into the kidzone. We have our remote set to send a standby when we power off the tv so the box always is already reverted to kidzone when the tv is turned on.

Would be nice if you could pull kidzone approved shows from another box while in the kidzone- I've suggested that myself. But beyond that I actually like how it is set up. My personal thought is the kids dont need to channel surf- if they are doing that then they are just killing time and I'd prefer they kill time elsewhere. If it's a show they like then it's there on the box. They see plenty of other shows watching commercials that they ask for and my wife or I can look into it and decide it that's a show we want them to watch.

I guess for some it might be too regimented but we like it.

I guess too might be nice to have one set of limits for my older kids and one for my younger, but so far it hasn't been a problem. It's not like shows in the 8-10 year old pile have stuff really out of hand for the 2 year old. I'll have to see how it pans out when my boys (older 2) get to be like 15 and my daugher is then 7-8. But for now it works for us.

[MichaelK]

kidzone works great for us (6 year old)

She doesn't even know "live" TV exists. She has her 6-8 shows recorded and she can go turn it on and choose whichever one she wants when we give her some TV time.

We don't go by ages/ratings, we just choose specific shows that are OK for her, so obviously guide is meaningless to us as one of your issues.

Now as she gets older it will take a little more management to preview shows with her and gauge appropriateness, but she's not going to be flipping channels on her own without one of us there until she's 10 or 12 :)


that's how we do it too. As above my oldest is 10 and he's still not flipping channels on his own. We keep plenty in the kid zone for him to watch.

[ZeoTiVo]

Kid Zone is actually just a couple of menus that allow someone to watch shows in now playing or flip around channels to watch live TV.

To do what you want, which is to incorporate Kid Zone into all the various menus and features would mean making changes for every menu you see and having logic to check the settings and hide/disable or enable as set. It can be done but would take a large amount of resources.

MRV is probably the biggest gap missing from KidZone and I wish they would allow transfer of properly rated shows from other DVRs.

Still what you ask for as far moving a show is easy enough for the parent. in now playing hit the "exit kidzone" start the transfer , then go back to now playing and "enter kidzone" if the show is allowed to be viewed per kidzone settings then they will see it transferring and can start to watch it - with Kid zone in place.
If the show can not be watched in Kid zone - then use the menu on the show to add it to kid zone - Though I am not sure if you can do that with a show that is transferring. That may be another gap.

bottom line is that Kid zone is indeed designed as a lock box to allow young kids to use a DVR that has their shows with the peace of mind that they can not go to other menus and mess up things like season passes or delete shows etc..


PS - even with my older kids (11 and up) I use Kid zone in the summer. It keeps them from vegging in front of live TV with junk shows( I leave like Discovery, History channel and animal planet open but shut down the rest ;)) but they can still chill out as needed and watch shows we all agreed to that is in now playing.

[Toeside]

The parental controls are still a big failure as far as I am concerned...

1) To transfer ANY program (even those allowed by parental controls) between two Tivos with parental controls enabled the SAME on both required the password to be entered. Then you have to wait for the transfer to complete and go in a turn off parental controls.

2) Why only a 4 hour no use timeout? This is essentially a NO timeout if someone is using the Tivo... why not an option to set the timeout value and also mark it as usage based or fixed, or even better, tied to an individual show... so it can lock again after a show is complete.


I have the exact same complaints. I'm not sure how to get these issues really in front of the right TiVo people. I suppose I can PM Pony, but I really don't want to bother him directly.

My kids are 7 & 5 and have when we subscribed to cable a couple months ago I enabled Kidzone. (I didn't need it when we were OTA only.) It was fine for a couple months, but now my 7 year old is complaining about the missing guide.


As far as the recommendations above on how to "properly" use TiVo & Kidzone, I say eh... Kidzone should include a guide for the allowed channels and should have settings for how long it times out. Those are simple requests.

[ZeoTiVo]

I have the exact same complaints. I'm not sure how to get these issues really in front of the right TiVo people. I suppose I can PM Pony, but I really don't want to bother him directly.
He has been made aware of others like myself wanting such changes - since Kid Zone was a bolt on of adding a couple of menus the response back when was that it would take too many resources to do and was not high enough up the priority list to get the needed resources.
So write a letter to let them know - as that helps shape the priority list of features but don't get your hopes up. Kid Zone looks to stay like it is.

[whitenack]

I am fine with kidzone the way it is currently, except for the way you select what rating content is blocked.

Currently, the rating order is Y, Y7, G, PG...

Actually, the order should be Y, G, Y7, PG...

Y7 is appropriate for older children, where as G is appropriate for all. And, with the current selection system, you can't block Y7 without also blocking G.