Need to Setup Emby with strict video restrictions for child

[sciphi 1]

So i'm not sure how to solve this problem and am open to any suggestions. 

I have an autistic 22 year old step son who lives in supported independent living on his own and we would like him to have limited access to our Emby video library. Specifically the kids movies and some kids tv shows that he likes, but there is a lot on the existing emby server that would be a problem for him to access, even shows like Futurama which would be better if he couldn't access them but they seem to be kid rated.  

Emby client will run for him on a fire tv stick configured to just start emby on boot. That much at least is sorted. 

I have poked around the settings a bit, but it doesn't look like there is anyway to setup emby so he can't switch to any other user and we can specify exactly which shows he can watch. The current server had a half dozen different users and I don't want to require passwords on them locally as everybody has their own account and switching and having to enter a password on a fire tv or other device will quickly annoy everybody on the local network. 

I was thinking of solving the problem by setting up a second emby server either running in docker and sym linking the videos we want him to have access too and none of the others. That would build the library as usual with the more limited collection. Create him a user and what no on this new server and let him have at it and just add new movies and shows as needed with more sym links. I had originally thought of reinstalling plex for him that I used to use and run it in parallel but the stupid thing wont install and see the server and i've had enough, I didn't miss it after I switched to emby and I miss it even less now. 

Is there another way I should be doing this to solve my problem or is my parallel server probably the best approach? Perhaps keeping one server but making special libraries for him distinct from the main ones? 

[Guest]

I do this using tags. Think up a tag specific to the user account, then add that tag to any items you don't want them to access. On the user properties under parental control add that tag under "Restrict Items with Tags" and set the tag restriction mode to block.

This way I can give a user access to a library restricted by rating but block additional items by adding a tag to them.

[sciphi 1]

Thanks that is helpful. I will take a look at that as an approach. I'm also fiddling with just making a couple of specific libraries the theory being that will be very easy to tell what is in the "allowed to watch" pile and restrict the set of available libraries to those for his user. I've also got 3k of movies and the price of missing one could be quite high. 

But tags for the allowed list would work too wouldn't it and probably easy enough to maintain. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by sciphi

[ebr 16187]

Hi.  He is in a remote location from the server, correct?  So your local users certainly have passwords defined that are necessary for remote access, correct?  In that case, as long as none of them log in on his device, he should not be able to switch to them.

Then you can either use custom ratings, tags or Folder Based Access Control for his user.

[sciphi 1]

Thanks everybody. After the suggestions I think the tags and restricting his account to "only with the tag" is the perfect solution.