[solidservo]

I am considering to make a switch over to Kodi and I am wondering if/how it handles Parental control for the content.

So what I'd like to do is create 2 profiles, one for the kids and one for me and my wife (i already figured that part out - including using MySQL as central DB).

On the NAS I have a TVSeries folder which contains all our TvShows, and a Movies folder which contains all the movies.

Ideal would be if I could tell the Kodi Movies/TvSeries section of the kids user to not show any content that is rated i.e. 12years and older (thats how the ratings work here 0, 6, 12, 16, 18years. nfo's of the movies already contain that data)

So as the kids grow older, all I would then have to do is change the "age gate" so that they see more movies and tv-series inside of their profile. No moving around of files on the NAS to a "kids only" folder.

But I have not found any info (yet) which indicates that Kodi could do it that way.

[DarrenHill]

You could set up either video nodes (wiki) or custom playlists (wiki) on the kids profile which has a filter by age rating (having removed the default ones first).

You'll probably need to switch to a different skin to do that, as I don't think either Estuary or Confluence allow such additional nodes/playlists at the top level menu, but there are plenty around which do (personally I do something similar with the Amber skin and nodes). Then at the appropriate time you just edit the node or playlist and adjust the filtering.

[solidservo]

You could set up either video nodes (wiki) or custom playlists (wiki) on the kids profile which has a filter by age rating (having removed the default ones first).

You'll probably need to switch to a different skin to do that, as I don't think either Estuary or Confluence allow such additional nodes/playlists at the top level menu, but there are plenty around which do (personally I do something similar with the Amber skin and nodes). Then at the appropriate time you just edit the node or playlist and adjust the filtering.

Thanks! I will try the nodes!

And I think I will write up a feature suggestion, because I think that a pin protected age gate/filter for Movies and TvShows would not even be that much work to code, while it provides parental controls in a simple and quick form to the user.

[trogggy]

You could set up either video nodes (wiki) or custom playlists (wiki) on the kids profile which has a filter by age rating (having removed the default ones first).

You'll probably need to switch to a different skin to do that, as I don't think either Estuary or Confluence allow such additional nodes/playlists at the top level menu, but there are plenty around which do (personally I do something similar with the Amber skin and nodes). Then at the appropriate time you just edit the node or playlist and adjust the filtering.

Thanks! I will try the nodes!

And I think I will write up a feature suggestion, because I think that a pin protected age gate/filter for Movies and TvShows would not even be that much work to code, while it provides parental controls in a simple and quick form to the user.

That would be Pinsentry, which is banned here because of the Author's name.

[solidservo]

You could set up either video nodes (wiki) or custom playlists (wiki) on the kids profile which has a filter by age rating (having removed the default ones first).

You'll probably need to switch to a different skin to do that, as I don't think either Estuary or Confluence allow such additional nodes/playlists at the top level menu, but there are plenty around which do (personally I do something similar with the Amber skin and nodes). Then at the appropriate time you just edit the node or playlist and adjust the filtering.

Thanks! I will try the nodes!

And I think I will write up a feature suggestion, because I think that a pin protected age gate/filter for Movies and TvShows would not even be that much work to code, while it provides parental controls in a simple and quick form to the user.

That would be Pinsentry, which is banned here because of the Author's name.

I looked into it but it's not what I meant.

My idea:
1. setup kids profile
2. add TvShows share -> update database
3. add Movies share -> update database
4 .go to TvShows -> view -> filter -> age -> parental controls -> ASKS FOR PIN CODE -> set "hide content rated [value] or higher"
5. go to Movies -> view -> filter -> age -> parental controls -> ASKS FOR PIN CODE -> set hide "content rated [value] or higher"

This allows:
- have all TvShows in one folder on the NAS - no need to split content on filesystem level
- have all Movies in one folder on the NAS - no need to split content on filesystem level
- completely hide unappropriated TvShows / Movies from your kids
- easiely change to which TvShows/Movies your kids have access to as they grow up - just change the "age" value under "filter" inside TvShows / movies. no need to move files around on your NAS

[Ammeron]

Hi,

I have only just joined, looking for a new Media Centre to upgrade from Media Portal, and the first thing after putting on a new skin and setting up libraries for Kodi is to put the parental control on, I totally agree with Solidservo for his idea, simple parental control which hides all the Fan art posters and information for anything higher than the set value for movie and TV show, would be a great feature and is not available with the current options of Pinsentry, Universal parental control, as the movie may not play with the UPC option but the fan art is still displayed, it would also mean not requiring a complete re-sort of folders to make profiles work.

Kodi looks really good, keep up the good work all. I will be dropping by to see if this idea is picked up.

[DaVu]

For the time being I would do it differently. Ofc nodes and playlists might do their jobs, but for safely separate content I would start separating content on the host device (NAS).

Imagine you have the following folders on your NAS:

"kids movies" (from age 0 - 11)
"kids TV-Shows" (from age 0 - 11)
"Teens movies" (from age 12 - 17)
"Teens TV-Shows" (from age 12 - 17)
"Adult movies" (from age 18+)
"Adult TV-Shows" (from age 18+)

Then create different profiles on Kodi where users (Kids, Teens, Adult) need to login via password. The default profile (Kids for example) might have a non-password-login. Then add those specific folders as sources for the matching profiles. So...

"Kids"-profile would contain "Kid movies" and "Kids TV-shows"
"Teens"-profile would contain "Kid movies", "Kids TV-shows", "Teen movies" and "Teen TV-shows"
"Adult"-profile would contain any

That's the way I would do it for now if I would need parental control

[Csimbi]

Having kids myself, I'd like to see parental controls implemented within Kodi as well.
The way I imagine is far more simple.

First, we define what unrestricted means and define what restricted means (establish a vocabulary).
 - unrestricted would be defined by entering the maximum PEGI age rating that can be watched freely. Check here.
 - restricted would everything 'other than unrestricted' as well as movies without a PEGI age rating.

In Kodi, the admin could define:
 - the maximum PEGI age rating of the unrestricted movies.
 - the unlock password (to display all movies).
 - an auto-lock toggle.
 - manually assigning/overriding the PEGI rating of individual movies.

Initially, Kodi would hide all movies except those equal or lower to the PEGI age rating defined.
Anyone (other than admin) entering the unlock password could gain access to the full selection.
When an individual movie or a playlist is finished or stopped, and the autolock is 'on', the restriction is automatically engaged again.
Simple, no?

This way, you could watch, forward, rewind, pause the movies without disruption but you could make sure your kids can't abuse the system if you forget to turn your movie off.

Thank you for considering!

[AParent]

Hi all, I've been working on configuring Parental Controls in KODI and thought I'd share what I've found.

I took the approach of managing content by using separate directories, but cascading the content using the sources.xml configuration, and I also figured out that it's possible to use hidden directories on a Linux setup (haven't tried this on Windows/Mac/Andriod) to get around issues with a 'permanent' external USB drive.

You may be able to get away with just using the Settings > Media> General > "Show parent folder items" configuration to disallow browsing if your files are stored locally and not on an external USB drive.

Here's how I set it up on my Raspberry PI 4 with an external drive:
I have two profiles, one for "Kids" and one for "Parents"
I have two source directories for Movies and TV Shows, and within those directories I have sub-directories for Kids and hidden directories for Parents using a '.' character.
../KodiFiles/Movies/Kids/
../KodiFiles/Movies/.Parents/
../KodiFiles/TVShows/TVKids/
../KodiFiles/TVShows/.TVParents/

These directories are on an external USB drive that's configured as a 'permanent' mount via /etc/fstab (search this term if you're interested in setting this up).

The Kids profile has the two Kids directories defined as sources, but the /KodiFiles/ directory always shows due to it being an external USB drive, however having the hidden .Parents and .TVParents directories prevents that content from being discoverable in the Kids profile.

I modified the source.xml file for parents (mine were located in /opt/retropie/configs/ports/kodi//userdata/profiles/, but I'm running a RetroPie with KODI as an add-on module) so that it referenced the hidden directories, and this worked like a charm:

xml:
    <video>

        <default pathversion="1"></default>

        <source>

            <name>TV Shows</name>

            <path pathversion="1">/KodiFiles/TV Shows/TVKids/</path>

            <path pathversion="1">/KodiFiles/TV Shows/.TVParents/</path>

        </source>

        <source>

            <name>Movies</name>

            <path pathversion="1">/KodiFiles/Movies/Kids/</path>

            <path pathversion="1">/KodiFiles/Movies/.Parents/</path>

        </source>

    </video>

This approach could be used to split things out further between kids/teens/parents if needed.

Other thoughts:
It would be nice to see Kodi handle Parental controls in a more intuitive manner.  Right now as I see it this entails:
- Have a way to suppress the display of external USB sources (Parents will not want kids to be able to stick USB drives in and just load any content. This would also be beneficial for security purposes)

- It would be nice if the "Show parent folder items" configuration option was supplemented with an option that could prevent navigating out of the defined source directory, but still allow navigation within that defined directory.  As it stands this setting is a little wonky because you can't navigate out of a sub-directory with this setting enabled.

- It would be nice to have an option within the profile locks to enable/disable the PIN for selecting the profile.  You have to enable the PIN for a Kids profile to lock things down, but then the PIN is required to access the profile.  Default logging in to the Kids profile works, but this could be a hangup for adding a 'Teens' account.