[Buff]

I can't promise anything as I'm no dev, but as soon as Eden is released I'll have a look at current access control features and will come up with a concept for a better parental control/access control and see if I can motivate some of the guys.

Awesome, many thanks

[pecinko]

Because profiles don't fit well for this particular usage.

And what is this particular usage? I see none defined yet.

As it is I have a very convoluted means of managing family content versus all content. But even using profiles, this needs a better implementation. If each profile had ratings to be set for it, it would still be a vast improvement over the current setup. We have locks on sources requiring a password.

You probably know that TMDB is maintained by users. There is no guarantee that scrapped ratings were filled right, there is no control that "PG-13" is entered as such and not "Raating PG -13". There are cases when movie is rated as pg-13 but I would allow my boy (9) to see it. You still want to disable menu items and maybe some of the views so the kid does not get lost in XBMC interface, so you need to use profiles. And, If you are using them, there's no problem to separate movies into two or more DIRs in order to have adults and kids sources.

Nay, it is better to put all in one dir, even better - one folder, use EMM to make custom ratings for every movie, and the just ask for locks to be implemented. When they are, then ask for a skin shortcut to gain quick access to a pin lock. After that, we may as well ditch the whole idea as cumbersome.

Siri, it's James. show me my content.

[darkscout]

On topic:

Is there a 'pre play' hook that gets called when a video is played? If so it shouldn't be too difficult to have it pop up a message "if rating > "

[GJones]

And what is this particular usage? I see none defined yet.



You probably know that TMDB is maintained by users. There is no guarantee that scrapped ratings were filled right, there is no control that "PG-13" is entered as such and not "Raating PG -13". There are cases when movie is rated as pg-13 but I would allow my boy (9) to see it. You still want to disable menu items and maybe some of the views so the kid does not get lost in XBMC interface, so you need to use profiles. And, If you are using them, there's no problem to separate movies into two or more DIRs in order to have adults and kids sources.

Nay, it is better to put all in one dir, even better - one folder, use EMM to make custom ratings for every movie, and the just ask for locks to be implemented. When they are, then ask for a skin shortcut to gain quick access to a pin lock. After that, we may as well ditch the whole idea as cumbersome.

Siri, it's James. show me my content.

No, you are describing *your* usage case. I have no issue with profiles. Profiles allow different look, feel and complexity. I understand your concern regarding the validity of rating data, but I have already corrected all of the rating data in my db. As a matter of fact, I have a script that pulls missing ratings from both the rating information and certification information from imdb.

The ratings, when complete, actually do a good job of describing why the movie got a particular rating. Most systems let you pick a maximum rating and objectionable content in lower ratings. Lacking the feature in XBMC, I have implemented my own filter customized to each of my two children using a mix or ratings and content advisories within ratings.

So it can be done completely outside of profiles. People are doing it themselves. It would be nice if we had a common way to do this so that everyone did not have to implement it individually.



For example on the Rating, it often looks something like:

Code:

Rating      All   N  L  S  V
NC-17        X
R                    X              
PG-13             X     X  X
PG
G

This would lock all NC-17 content and limit R and PG-13 content based on specific content indicators. This would be the ideal situation, but even the generic ratings locks would be a huge improvement.

Similarly, you could have two levels: hide and lock. Hidden content would not be listed unless unlocked. Locked content would be listed but not viewable unless unlocked:

Code:

Rating      All
NC-17        H
R            L
PG-13
PG
G

[pecinko]

No, you are describing *your* usage case. I have no issue with profiles. Profiles allow different look, feel and complexity.

Let me try differently.

Buff was trying to find a solution for kids movies and proposed parental locks. He said he did not try with profiles. I suggested he may give it a go as it might be a simple and efficient way to solve the problem. You said no, profiles are not a solution for his problem.

My use case is quite simple. I don't care for custom scripts that compensate for lack of good rating info. I have separate source folders and profiles. I know what I'm putting in there. End of story.

I'm just saying: be careful what you wish for or you may end up entering PIN every time you want to watch a movie. For those who actually like this - happy sailing.

For what it's worth. I have used parental PIN locks long time ago with MM and MCE. From my point of view, profiles are simpler and more efficient at the same time. Your milage may vary.

[Buff]

Let me try differently.

Buff was trying to find a solution for kids movies and proposed parental locks. He said he did not try with profiles. I suggested he may give it a go as it might be a simple and efficient way to solve the problem. You said no, profiles are not a solution for his problem.

My use case is quite simple. I don't care for custom scripts that compensate for lack of good rating info. I have separate source folders and profiles. I know what I'm putting in there. End of story.

I'm just saying: be careful what you wish for or you may end up entering PIN every time you want to watch a movie. For those who actually like this - happy sailing.

For what it's worth. I have used parental PIN locks long time ago with MM and MCE. From my point of view, profiles are simpler and more efficient at the same time. Your milage may vary.

I see your points Pecinko, I haven't gotten round to trying out profiles as yet, but from what I understand from the other posts, this will hide the movies I don't want the kids to watch (which is not what I want). Therefore, whenever I want to watch something, I would have to switch profiles, which presumably incorporates a password (or else what's the point!)

I would have thought it far more user friendly (i.e. less steps involved for the user) to just have to put a password in when playing a movie over a pre-defined rating. And presumably, the password system could be turned off easily enough, so once the kiddies are in bed, you can just turn the protection off, so you don't have to put the password in each time - which would be a similar amount of steps to switching profiles, I would have thought.

Obviously, different people like/want different things, which is part of the beauty of a system like XBMC and I can completely understand that some may want the movies hidden, so the kids can't see the fanart. Personally, I just don't want them watching the movie, but I don't mind them seeing the fanart.

I will get round, at some point, to trying out profiles, but I'm not convinced it will be ideally what I want.

Cheers for the points though

[pecinko]

I see your points Pecinko, I haven't gotten round to trying out profiles as yet, but from what I understand from the other posts, this will hide the movies I don't want the kids to watch (which is not what I want).

Well, if you don't want to see your movies in your section (profile) and kids movies in theirs than you are right you don't need profiles. I guess you have your reasons.

[Buff]

Well, if you don't want to see your movies in your section (profile) and kids movies in theirs than you are right you don't need profiles. I guess you have your reasons.

Just thought I'd report back, as I said I would try them out - I've created a kids profile and although I've got some teething problems, which I'm sure I will sort out (the master-code box pops up every 30 mins or so for no apparent reason), the profile option does work fine.

As mentioned before, I would still prefer to see all my media in one place and require a password on films of a certain rating or above, so the kids can't watch them, rather than hiding them altogether, but for now at least, this is a working solution.

I hope some sort of ratings system does get looked at in the future, as I feel it would be a more professional approach, but at least the kids can't watch Hellraiser just yet.

Thanks for the comments/help etc...

[pecinko]

As mentioned before, I would still prefer to see all my media in one place and require a password on films of a certain rating or above, so the kids can't watch them, rather than hiding them altogether, but for now at least, this is a working solution.

Thanks for replaying, others seldom do. At least now I'll look less grumpy.

Don't know about your kids, but I do not use codes at all. My kids are fairly young and just don't go to adults section. Might be different when they get a little older

[Buff]

Thanks for replaying, others seldom do. At least now I'll look less grumpy.

Don't know about your kids, but I do not use codes at all. My kids are fairly young and just don't go to adults section. Might be different when they get a little older

Yeah, eldest is four, so not getting round the system like a pro just yet, but can quite easily find the animation section within movies or his tv shows, so it won't be long before he becomes a little inquisitive and I worry he starts watching something by mistake or through interest!

But finding the profiles section via settings, especially as I use Transparency, so the settings button is top right, quite out the way, it's probably unlikely he'll manage to switch profiles anytime soon.

So, do you have a couple of profiles but don't bother with locking them with codes?

[pecinko]

So, do you have a couple of profiles but don't bother with locking them with codes?

Yup, not using codes ATM. I have 2 boys, 5 and 9. They wanted to know what's in adults section, I have shown them and they do not tend to visit it anymore as they know there is only boring adult stuff there

Profiles are helping me to separate content (I don't want to bother with ratings, custom genres or playlists) and, equally important, so I can turn unnecessary features and XBMC sections off, making it easier for them to use it.

[Buff]

I can't promise anything as I'm no dev, but as soon as Eden is released I'll have a look at current access control features and will come up with a concept for a better parental control/access control and see if I can motivate some of the guys.

Hi da-anda, just wondered if you'd managed to look into this as yet, now that Eden has been released?

The kids are getting more and more inquisitive, so it would be great to have the option of a password lock on certain movies. Whether it be by rating - which I know some have expressed an issue with - or by genre etc... I don't mind.

As mentioned before in this thread, I like the idea of having all media viewable i.e being able to browse and look at the fanart etc... but have the option to set a password in case the kids try and view the actual movie. The idea of profiles has been put forward, I tried this but it didn't really work for me.

Many thanks for your help.

[da-anda]

no progress here, but it's not forgotten. It's on my todolist.

[Buff]

no progress here, but it's not forgotten. It's on my todolist.

Many thanks

Hope you don't mind if I check in every now and again?

[Sheanbec]

Giday fellas. I guess this's a good opportunity to throw up my first post. I've been playing with xbmc for a few months now after toying with other media programs in the last year. I am now relying on xbmc to navigate about 2000 movies and a TB worth of tv shows. I still have teething problems getting a stable relationship between xbmc and a back end for live tv and a few other issues but all up, movie navigation is totally usable and impresses all my visitors as well as me.
I havnt needed to post as yet due to the plethora of info avail through a well directed search.
As I am now able to roll out my move collection wirelessly to other parts of me house/shed, I am now faced with the same issue as Buff. Three TB of programming is too much to try to organize into an appropriate rating folder system for the kids and even so, they range from 2 to 6. As time goes on a ratings system that is dynamic and adjustable would be nice.
Regardless of this issue I thank all the devgru for all efforts and I pledge a donation in the near future.
Cheers.
Shea