Require PIN based on Ratings (R, TV-MA, etc) for all or individual users

Feature Suggestions
1

I know this has been suggested before and shot down several times, but since setting up Netflix with a PIN to restrict all family users access to certain content based in ratings I see how simple this is and find it a missing feature in Plex.

I know Plex has parental controls using a PIN, but the PIN restricts access to switch to a user with their own permissions. I would like to suggest (again) that the feature be added to allow parental controls via a PIN to restrict content by ratings for all or individual users.

I understand how parental controls work in Plex with “Family & Friends Home Users”, and I have it setup that way, but it can get very complex and is lacking in some situations. The problem is, I want to allow my older kids access to some PG-13 movies but not other PG-13 movies. And if I restrict PG-13 movies, they can’t see any of them. So I use labels to get around this but that’s a lot of trouble to setup and requires constant labeling for new media. I maintained it for a while but it got to be so much of a hassle I just let it go.

A much easier solution would be to allow me to require a PIN on certain rated media like PG-13, R, TV-14, and TV-MA. My family will still have individual logins and can see PG-13 and R movies in their library but can’t watch them without a PIN. This would require them to come to a parent for us to put in the PIN to allow them to watch it.

A few bonus features would be to

1.) Require a PIN on individual users if you don’t want all users to have to put in a PIN for certain ratings. This would also allow you to change ratings restrictions per user.

2.) Have the ability to show or not show certain ratings. For example if I want to allow my kids to see PG-13 movies and TV-14 TV shows and have the option to watch them if I put in a PIN, but not be able to see R or TV-MA media (This could be efficiently accomplished with Restrictions IF restrictions also had a DENY and not just ALLOW for ratings and labels). I guess you could allow all ratings except TV-MA and R and accomplish the same thing.

3.) This would require a lot of development, but it would be cool if kids can request to watch a movie and the request pops up on the parents phone and we can approve it or deny it (similar to Family sharing in the iTunes app store). I understand that the parent would need to be running the Plex app on their phone and be logged in as themselves for the request to pop up. This would be nice but probably too much trouble to implement.

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Honestly I don’t believe in the “rating system” cause its to flawed and could kick you in the mouth.
Take this for instance.

That scenario could happen at anytime. Granted though, there is no 100% safe method but IF I’m gonna pick, it’s going to be separate the libraries base on the level you what your kids to have access to.
And the best part about this method, you are done once you add the file where it needs to go. There is nothing else you will have to do and I think that’s why I use this one. It’s so fast and easy. The one and only thing you have to do is what everyone has to do, just add the file. done…

Again, more on your part. Meaning, you may have to change the very poster that gets downloaded cause some posters are enough to change your life forever(or a kid).

Or the very name itself.

Hidden Text

■■■■ — The Movie Database (TMDB)

3

I just looked and The Walking Dead in my library (I don’t watch it) is TV-MA, so they must have corrected it. I look at every rating when adding something to my library and I’ve found they are almost always correct. If not, then I correct it myself. So in my library the ratings are 95%+ accurate. That’s good enough for me to use it. I know it’s not a perfect science and I’m fine with that.

I used separate libraries in the beginning and it was an administration nightmare. I won’t do that again for sure.

I have very few R rated movies, and the posters and titles aren’t a concern. Thanks for the suggestions but I stand by my OP.

4

It did correct itself within a few days but I guess what I was saying to that point was it was TV-MA at one time… How (and why) it changed to TV-G is my only concern. I mean, if it can happen to The Walking Dead, it could happen to your favorite porn movie/show.

Oh, I wasn’t trying to make you change your mind. I was just giving my take on it and why I will not vote. Not saying my idea is better than yours. But given you possible alternates or at the very least, the issues that could arise from “a rating system” . To each their own.

Best of luck to you.

5

No offense taken, and hopefully you didn’t take offense by my reply.

I see your point but I certainly don’t have any porn or really any movies with nudity and stuff like that in it. An example of an R movie I have is “The Matrix”. But folks that do can put those in a separate library like you said.

Take care…

1 Like
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From my experience, there is an underlying issue that the ratings Plex pulls change randomly change.

4-5 years ago when I went to set up a G/PG account for kids, the movie Se7en was rated G. This movie has themes of serial killers, sadistic cruelty, perverse rape, torture and a beheading.

Seriously. It nevers stops having content wrongly labelled. It has gotten better.

A review of “G” films today includes:
Franklyn (rated R)
Straight Outta Oz (unrated, but PG-13 likely)

How does a movie that is unrated in IMDB and the MovieDB get a rating? I’ve checked , the file doesn’t have any data fields, no NFO files and I created it myself.

It seems much better than five years ago. But the question in my mind is where are these random ratings coming from? My settings prefer “PLEX MovieDB” for which IMDB is the first source. When neither IMDB or MovieDB suggests either of these ratings. In the past I had a lot of international ratings for U.S. movies. I don’t know why.

Content gets complicated and ratings group like the MPAA haven’t made it easy with changing guidelines that don’t mean today what they meant 20 years ago. And every country is different.

I find the current Plex ratings ignores the Ratings in local NFO files. (well actually I find that if Plex has access to the Internet, Plex often ignores local nfo/poster/fanart since 2013)

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is showing up G. It is PG.
My NFO file, last modified January 3, 2016, has “Rated PG”
When I go to Edit the movie, it puts up the rotating circle while it does something, and then eventually shows PG. Now the movie is PG in Plex. ?why? I’m not really sure what rules this field plays by.

Philadelphia Experiment is G. But when I edit it, it does something and now the rating became PG.

Barbarella is rated PG in Plex. LOL She wears an outfit with clear plastic domes to see her breasts with molded nipples. PG seems a bit tame for the ■■■ and drugs and innuendo of this campy one. But it is PG from when PG-13 didn’t exist. So PG ratings means BOTH PG & PG-13 depending upon the film’s age.

IMDB has:
United States:PG (Approved No. 21677)
United States:Approved (Suggested for Mature Audiences)
United States:TV-MA (TV rating)

But looking at the many ratings around the world, PG is in the minority of opinions:

Argentina:13 Australia:SOA (original rating) Australia:M (1984, re-rating) Brazil:14 Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) Canada:13+ (Quebec) Canada:G (Quebec, cut US version) Finland:K-16 France:16 Iceland:L Ireland:15 Italy:VM14 Netherlands:18 (1969, original rating) New Zealand:R16 Norway:15 Norway:16 (1969) Singapore:NC-16 Sweden:15 United Kingdom:X (original rating) United Kingdom:15 (1986, video rating) West Germany:16

Conan the Destroyer is PG – same deal. Pre-PG-13

So on top randomized ratings, not using NFO file data (which should have eliminated the spin-the-wheel ratings from the internet) there are serious considerations for any parent about movie ratings that make the original Theater Release ranking not useful as a content filter.

This system has never worked enough to trust. I’d rather see a certification list, countries and any conditions–like PG for an edited/cut version of the movie for TV, which should be disregarded. Then allow me to forcibly exclude content if there are certain ratings from other sources/countries. If any US/British/Canadian/Austrailian rating show mature content or age limits, then the presence of G or PG shouldn’t matter. The goal here is to allow UNSUPERVISED viewing by kids.

Five years ago I created different libraries to solve this. Here’s the basic disk directory structure:

/Movies
/Movies/Movies G
/Movies/Movies PG

The main movie share looks at the top directory. It has every movie for full-access accounts.

Movies-G Library only Movies G,
Movies-PG library only PG folder.
These libraries do not get Include in dashboard" checked. This avoids them in On DECK multiple times.

I then have kids accounts that has these two Movie libraries in it. When I add a film, I drop it in the G or PG group when I know it is corrected rated for them.

For adults who have young kids, I give them access to all three. IF someone is looking for something for very young, it is easy to go into the G library and flips through a much smaller selection, with no inappropriate content and movie posters listed as they scroll through. Not everybody needs that (I personally don’t).

Please note that this only works for movies and music. Plex cannot handle nesting TV shows like this. You have to have separate TV show roots per Y,Y7,G,PG and include all the roots in a full-access account.

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7

@willieb1172 Can I suggest that instead of (or in addition to) a PIN, that it be a push notification for an “adult” (aka Managed User" ) to approve/decline.
I’m thinking something like how Apple Family allows parents to approve or decline App store purchases etc for their kids.

This way you

  • Don’t have to be there to enter the pin, or give the pin out.
  • Don’t have to remember a pin.
  • The phone would show a pop-up, no nagging kids at your side dragging you off to enter the pin.
  • The workflow is streamlined and the logs could show who requested, what was requested to watch, and who approved.
  • It should fit nicely into Plex’s UX.
  • It would allow the parent to define the approval e.g. watch the movie requested, or allow PG-13 movies for the next 4 hours etc…
  • I assume most Plex Pass users have the app on their phones already.

MC

1 Like
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Early 2021 clean-up: implemented via Plex Home (managed users, restricting shared libraries)