Filtering Profanity: A Review of the TV Guardian
Welcome to T.V. - G
There are so many great movies and television shows out there, if it weren't for the tons of language in them these days. I certainly don't want to hear it and as a father of an impressionable little girl, I certainly don't want her hearing them. I searched for a solution and was told about the T.V. Guardian by a family we attend church with. They said that with this little device you could filter out most language in movies and television shows. I got one for Christmas that year and was pleased with the product. Now I am excited to share this awesome device with you and at a price from $70 to $90, I believe you will find that this product is money well spent.
Cons
- Cost
- Does not work with Dolby Digital Sound
- Does not work with Gaming Consoles, Netflix, Hulu, or other Streaming Services
Pros
- Good for Families
- Easy to Install
- Easy to Use
What You Get
When you order your T.V. Guardian it comes neatly packed and the entire system contains 5 items. You should receive the black box unit, A/C adapter, infrared transmitters, 2 input connector and yellow audio visual cord. The instructions and all product information are contained on the card that is placed in the back of the packaging.
Setting Up Your Product
So now that you have your Guardian unpacked and your TV ready to go all you need to do is grab your remote control and you will be ready to get started with your set up. I will walk you through this process one step at a time.
- First you will need plug your A/C adapter into the back of the TV-G base unit.
- Next you will connect the 2 connection black connector to the back of the base unit.
- Then you will run 1 yellow AV cord from your TV to one of the connection slots
- You will then run a second yellow AV cord from the second connection slot to the back of your DVD player, Satellite Receiver, or Cable Box.
- You will then connect the infrared transmitters to the back of the base unit and then adhere the 2 transmitters near the remote receiver eyes on your TV.
- Plug your TV Guardian up and the lights on top should come on
- Make sure the correct input light is selected on top of the TV Guardian unit and then hold the test button down until the selection light begins flashing
- Hold your remote a few inches from the front of your TV - G unit and hit the mute button this should stop the light from flashing and the unit will store the mute code for that TV
- Now hit test and your TV should mute then unmute, you are now ready to begin using your TV Guardian
What Score Do You Give The TV-G
How it Works
Now that you have your Guardian set up, you may be wondering how it all works. TV Guardian works by reading the closed captions that run in the back ground of movies and TV Shows. Because of this it will only work on movies that have the CC symbol on the case. Dolby Digital will not work at all on this product and I have had mixed results with discs that have both Dolby and Closed Captioning with mutes happening too soon and only catching parts of words that I chose to filter out. To the best of my knowledge live sporting events and news broadcasts are not edited by the TV Guardian and it will not filter over the air antenna broadcasts. The company urges the general public to petition companies that stream online video to open up read access to the closed captions in their videos so that the Guardian will work with them as well but at this time they will not be filtered by this product. This is because TV Guardian works by reading the subtitles running in the background and muting filtered words as they appear in the text. TV - G gives you even more control by allowing you to select from 3 different degrees of filtering as well as selecting some specific words to filter out. These features help put some control back in your hands when it comes to what is coming through your set.
The Authors Opinion
I know that this product is somewhat limited in certain aspects but I am sold on it none the less. It is well worth the money spent to protect my family from those things that I wouldn't want to hear myself. It is simple to set up and easy to use and if an old simple guy like me could use it then anyone can. Give it a try to I will doubt you would be disappointed.