V-Chip Features the Indescribable TV-Y7-FV, Plus So Much More

If you thought programming your VCR was tough, wait until you try blocking out offensive programming from your television.

Starting July 1, half of all televisions coming off the assembly line with 13-inch screens or greater will have to be equipped with the so-called V-Chip, a device that allows parents to block television programming that they believe may be harmful to their children. By the end of the year, all of these televisions will have to be manufactured with the chip. The program has been years in the making, having been part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

But while the concept is simple, the execution has been complicated, and television manufacturers such as Irvine-based Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Inc. have been working on its implementation for more than a year.

They’ve been trying to make the best of a bad situation, and the result isn’t pretty.

“It’s a complicated system,” said Marty Zanfino, manager of product development at Mitsubishi. “It’s confusing, but we’re going to try to make it more usable.”

The V-Chip, a misnomer in that it is more software than silicon, has seven categories, including the mind-boggling TV-Y7-FV, and four “content indicators” for violence, sex, indecent language and suggestive dialogue. Parents can program their televisions to block certain categories, and they can allow some types of content and not others. When a blocked show is being shown, a blue screen comes up and parents can enter a code to permit it if they so choose.

Mitsubishi includes a feature where the V-Chip can be automatically deactivated during certain times of day.

After reading the guidelines for understanding the categories and content indicators, parents using the system will have to wend their way through an unwieldy set of toggles and menus.

It’s a classic demonstration of flexibility leading to complexity.

Mitsubishi said parents may use the system if it’s easy enough.

“People are more willing to do the complicated things in the beginning if they know they don’t have to do it again,” Zanfino said. “We’re trying to make it easier to get in and out and make changes on the fly.”

Of course, they’ve been trying to get people to program their VCRs for decades, and they haven’t gotten very far there either.

Jonathan Gaw covers technology and electronic commerce for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7818 and at jonathan.gaw@latimes.com.