[mythtv-users] Shutdown directtv box when idle

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Oct 3, 2006, at 9:40 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:

> On 10/03/06 23:22, John Sutherland wrote:
>
>> Hi guys.. I have my myth backend setup on a machine that needs to be
>> up 24/7.. Its connected to a directv tuner via PVR350..
>>
>> What i would like to do is to turn off the tuner (in an effort to
>> save elect costs) when Myth is idle.. But not shut myth down..
>>
>
> I doubt turning it off will save any electricity.  Now, if you can rig
> up a system to unplug it when not in use...  A large percentage of
> consumer household appliances consume as much (or at least nearly as
> much) power when off as they do when on.
>
> http://www.gatago.com/misc/consumers/frugal-living/14979908.html
> http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/133065.aspx
> http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/topic/44502-1.html
> http://www.ez-living.com/index.cfm?Section=60&PageNum=686&titles=0#
> (direct link doesn't seem to work for the FAQ entry, but search/scroll
> down to "Should I power off the receiver when it's not in use?")
> http://mpiworld.com/rci/technical.htm#aq9
>
> Note that it's pretty much the same for all STB's--DirecTV, TiVo,  
> DISH,
> and likely all your cable-company "in house" designs.
>
> And much more...
>
> Find a friend with a Kill-A-Watt if you want to prove it to yourself.
> Or, spend $30 of the money you hoped to save on electricity costs  
> to get
> yourself one.  (Been meaning to get myself one, anyway--thanks for the
> reminder--so I'll let you know what I find with my DISH receivers once
> it shows up. :)
>
> You only need to power your receiver off once a month or so so it  
> can do
> (or, in my case, try to do) the phone-home thing...  (I actually  
> have to
> reboot my DISH receiver more often than my Myth box.)
>
> Mike

There is an on and off command if you have the box connected via  
serial port. Writing a perl script to query the database as to when  
it's needed next and turning it on a couple of minutes before and  
shutting it down a couple of minutes after shouldn't be a huge  
undertaking. Not something I would take the time to do since my  
DirecTV box is recording rather often but someone proficient in perl  
should be able to churn it out pretty quickly.