how do I REMOVE the v-chip from newer televisions

[lostinlodos]

Old

[Midzuki]

You forgot to describe how we should torture, rape and kill our
"intelligent", "educated", "democratic" and "good-intentioned" legislators.
Unfortunately, most people seem to love them.

+++++++++

[edDV]

Does anyone know how I could REMOVE, as in take out, stomp on, and mail back to the FCC), the evangelical censorship chip (aka v-chip) from newer televisions?

Can't the V-Chip features be turned off in the menus? Or do you mean you lack the password to change the features?

[lostinlodos]

Old

[edDV]

V-chip is a set of features not a physical chip that can be removed. It is activated by firmware and shows up as menus in the receiver's setup screens.
http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/516849

[lostinlodos]

old

[manono]

If you don't use it, nothing's censored. I don't get it. What's the big deal? It seems to me there are other, much more important things to get all worked up over.

[solarfox]

lostinlodos -- what, exactly, do you think the so-called "V-chip" is, anyway?

The fact that you keep calling it a "censorship chip" seems to suggest that either you're not quite clear on what it is and what it's for, or that you've been listening to some black-helicopter friends who've persuaded you that it's something other than what it is. (Of course, another possibility is that you're really some 13-year-old kid who's hoping someone will tell him how to circumvent the settings his parents have already programmed into the TV set. )

The "V-chip" (which, as others have said, isn't really a physical component, as such, as much as it is some extra code programmed into the microcontroller which runs the TV tuner section) does not allow outside agencies to "censor" your TV without your knowledge or permission. It's sole purpose is to let parents control what kinds of programs their kids are allowed to watch unattended, if they care to do so. All it does is allow a parent to program the set not to display programs tagged with certain ratings or content flags unless the parent(s) are there to override the settings with their PIN code. If you don't have any kids, or if you do have kids but don't wish to prevent them from watching certain kinds of shows (who knows, maybe you're one of those lassaiz-faire kind of parents who doesn't see anything wrong with their eight-year-old watching gangsta-rap videos), all you have to do is not activate that function in the TV set's setup menu.

[Heywould3]

I dont think the OP knows what the V-Chip is or does. no one is censoring anything on you with new tvs its just a safty precaution to keep kids from seeing anything YOU dont want them to see. if you dont care what is shown on your tv then ignore it. you wont even know its there if you dont go looking for it. and it wont block out anything you dont want it to.

[maca]

Let's get one thing clear: the evangelical types HATE the V-chip. They want to censor by simply banning whatever they don't like; while the V-chip lets the owner of the television choose. Whenever the right-wingers sit in Congressional hearings and demand censorship, some rational senator will say we don't need it because of the V-chip, and the right-wingers will ignore the statement and press on for censorship. And you want to GET RID of it in the name of anti-censorship? Sorry, but this has to be one of the stupidest, most ill-informed attitudes I've ever seen. If you don't want anything censored... don't activate the damn parental controls!

[edDV]

Let's get one thing clear: the evangelical types HATE the V-chip. They want to censor by simply banning whatever they don't like; while the V-chip lets the owner of the television choose. Whenever the right-wingers sit in Congressional hearings and demand censorship, some rational senator will say we don't need it because of the V-chip, and the right-wingers will ignore the statement and press on for censorship. And you want to GET RID of it in the name of anti-censorship? Sorry, but this has to be one of the stupidest, most ill-informed attitudes I've ever seen. If you don't want anything censored... don't activate the damn parental controls!

Similar demands for banning come from the "politically correct" left. Just ask Don Imus or listen to Sen. Tom Harkin and his censorship demands. "Parental Control" leaves the matter with individual family policy.

[lostinlodos]

I dont think the OP knows what the V-Chip is or does. no one is censoring anything on you with new tvs its just a safty precaution to keep kids from seeing anything YOU dont want them to see. if you dont care what is shown on your tv then ignore it. you wont even know its there if you dont go looking for it. and it wont block out anything you dont want it to.

My understanding was the V-chip was a physical chip installed on the circuitry board of a Television. I've read a few different threads over at AVS and Video Hack that discussed removing the (a) chip or pulling a 5 volt cable from the board, among other options. My (mine and my fiancé's) issue was when I read that it was based solely on ratings. You could block sex or violence, but not those bible people. Since bible preachers are not properly rated as being at the very least TV14, or more appropriately MA, the censorship of the chip, (or apparently software), is slanted to protect christian values.
That explained; am I correct in now understanding that there is no physical chip, just firmware instructions; and would a television from a region that did not rate television not have such abilities.

On two total side notes; I'm not 13, if I was I'd just pull the plug and let the TV reset itself. I'm 27, a political activist, an international electronics entertainment columnist (writing for a total of magazines full time and six more part time), a foreign war veteran, and a supporting member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I'm also a firm believer, and in complete agreement with many state and federal judges' opinions, that hiding the realities of the world around us (both real such as the news, and fantasy such as religion and movies), from younger persons creates culture shock when they are old enough to see such things on their own, or learn to simply pull the plug on the tv to do a hard reboot.

[edDV]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Ratings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_controls

[Midzuki]

Heywould3

wrote:

I dont think the OP knows what the V-Chip is or does. no one is censoring anything on you with new tvs its just a safty precaution to keep kids from seeing anything YOU dont want them to see.

Evidently, my definition of "censorship" is less narrow than yours.
"OMG, my parents brainwashed me when I was very young, now
I must do the same thing to my kidds" is not part of a realistic/healthy
Weltanschauung, in-my-not-so-humble-opinion.

**********

[rkr1958]

I'm also a firm believer, and in complete agreement with many state and federal judges' opinions, that hiding the realities of the world around us (both real such as the news, and fantasy such as religion and movies), from younger persons creates culture shock when they are old enough to see such things on their own, or learn to simply pull the plug on the tv to do a hard reboot.

I totally agree! That's why we let our six year old watch as much of the Fox News Channel & Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) as he wishes.

When he was younger we couldn't get enough of "Veggie Tales". Can you believe that some networks tried to censor some of the episodes by editing out parts of them.

[Scooter_NJ]

The OP is out of his knee jerk reaction mind. The V Chip actually loosens up content on broadcast by setting ratings. In the 60's, the movie industry was under fire for the adult content begining to emerge in film. They came up with a rating system that did the opposite of censoring. It freed up expression considerably!

Get a grip zippy....

[Denvers Dawgs]

What a loon......next thing you know, Hilary should be President, Bush should be, thrown out of office, and video games should no longe be sold, because if a kid plays gamses with guns, you know when he's older he's going to kill someone. . .

[Midzuki]

Let us see if I'm understanding the backwarders's POV:

--- censorship is when the "modern" State tells its "citizens" what
they can and what they cannot see/hear/speak;

--- "freedom-of-expression/thought" is when every stupid and ignorant
parent has the right to screw up the mental and psychic development
of their children in the name of The God Of The Jews, Of The Christians
And Of Muhammad.

In the 60's, the movie industry was under fire for the adult content begining to emerge in film. They came up with a rating system that did the opposite of censoring.

The better option would be to death-threaten the conservatists.
But courage seems to be quite old-fashioned nowadays.

*****

[mats.hogberg]

Now - This is going the wrong way. Stay on topic (How to remove the V-Chip from a TV, if someone has forgotten...) or stay out.

/Mats

[Constant Gardener]

You can always remove the V-chip with a soldering iron. Then dust off your library card, 'cause your TV is now dead.

[edDV]

In the early days of "V-Chip" it may have been a separate added function for USA destined analog TV sets but today it is part of the comprehensive DTV chip sets and controlled by firmware. V-Chip is tied closely with closed captioning since both monitor data in the vertical interval for analog and in TS stream headers for digital programming. "Removing" individual functions today would mean altering the firmware.

Still I don't see the point of removal since use of the "V-Chip" is optional in the menus. I wish they had a blocking category "TV-Infomercials". Then I would use it.

Curious that we have one camp "the politically correct" from left and right that want programming to the general public to be censored at the source by government edict according to their proposed standards and on the other side we have the argument that blocking should never be imposed for children. V-chip is just a tool that gives parents the option to block if they want.

[usually_quiet]

IMHO, forget the v-chip exists. Like closed captioning it is just another government mandated feature on U.S. televisions that people have the option to use or ignore. Although I am not one of them, there are also people around who have moral objections to being forced to pay for a CC feature that they never use on every televison they buy.

...and even if you could remove a physical V-chip from your TV, information that is added specifically to allow a TV or other devices to determine whether or not to block something when this kind of feature is activated will still be coming into your house with the majority of available programming, including commercial DVD's. I suppose you could remove that too, or limit what you watch to things that don't include it, but what an inconvenience that would be.

Personally, I don't think much of the V-Chip as a substitute for adults monitoring what their kids watch on TV, as unpleasant as that can be.

[Edit] I went back and looked at the OP's 2nd reply. I don't believe the V-Chip desciminates on the basis of anyone's religious beliefs. Venues for agnostic, athiest, and specifically anti-Christian viewpoints opinions are not as common as the ones you object to, but there are some outlets for them, and if I wanted to protect a child from hearing such opinions, I don't think the V-Chip could do that either. (For example, I often watch Charlie Rose and this year I recall several guests on that show who freely expressed such viewpoints. I did not notice a change in the show's ratings for those episodes.)

However, since you are a technically savy person, and assuming cost is not a great consideration, perhaps you would consider buidling your own media center PC. There are some fairly large computer monitors that I don't think include a V-Chip. I don't know whether MS's Media Center OS's include any such things, but even if that's true not every TV card, capture card, and video-related piece of software requires it.

[lostinlodos]

.
BUT
BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST TOPIC:
Thanks to all who posted reasonably to my question. Point is taken, I was just getting more and more pissed off at the "set function for this show" type warnings. I've since switched to non-v-chipped TV tuner cards and watch tv on a PC monitors. No more censorship.

Oh, and I use subtitles/CC regularly. Helps when watching TV when others are sleeping. =)

[edDV]

BUT
BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST TOPIC:
Thanks to all who posted reasonably to my question. Point is taken, I was just getting more and more pissed off at the "set function for this show" type warnings. I've since switched to non-v-chipped TV tuner cards and watch tv on a PC monitors. No more censorship.

Oh, and I use subtitles/CC regularly. Helps when watching TV when others are sleeping. =)

Every recent TV I've seen has V-Chip fuctions turned off at delivery. You need to activate blocking and set a password to turn it on.

[redwudz]

Further discussions of religion or politics will result in this thread being locked. Please stay on topic. Fair warning.

Moderator redwudz.

[usually_quiet]

I did set up the V-Chip recently -- for my 80-something mother, at her request. Mom has a bad heart, and would like not to be exposed to subject matter that will upset her. Now, she has fair warning in case she has no idea about the rating or content of the program/movie she has tuned in on.

[CogoSWSDS]

OK I have to put my $0.02 in here. I actually like the control that my set-top cable box gives me. I can block shows by title that I do not want my children to watch. I can even block specific episodes if I so choose. Personally I do not trust the TV ratings, so I do not use the ratings to block shows. And I can always turn the blocking off.

I use my blocking authority sparingly because, as was previously mentioned, there's no substitute for parents supervising their child(ren).

CogoSWSDS

[jagabo]

V-chip is just a tool that gives parents the option to block if they want.

And we all have to pay for it.

[usually_quiet]

V-chip is just a tool that gives parents the option to block if they want.

And we all have to pay for it.

Your TVs don't have other features that you have paid for but never use? Let's see, one of my TVs had a timer to turn itself on and off at specific times of the day, but I never used it. My parents' new TV has audio controls that they'll never use. Some people never use closed captioning. Others don't need and will never use an ATSC tuner or QAM tuner because they have a set-top-box. The V-Chip is only present because enough people wanted a way to prevent their children from watching programming they don't approve of when they are not watching TV with them.

[jagabo]

V-chip is just a tool that gives parents the option to block if they want.

And we all have to pay for it.

The V-Chip is only present because enough people wanted a way to prevent their children from watching programming they don't approve of when they are not watching TV with them.

No, the v-chip was mandated by the government.

I actually like the control that my set-top cable box gives me.

Me too. If I don't like what I see I change the channel.