[mythtv-users] Shutdown directtv box when idle

[Michael T. Dean]

On 10/04/2006 12:40 AM, 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.
...
> 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. :)


Well, I finally got around to doing the test (with my new Kill-A-Watt).  
It took all of 2 minutes to see--and to be sure I kept the receiver 
powered off and hooked to the Kill-A-Watt for a while (no change over 
time--it doesn't "eventually" power off completely).  I'm satisfied that 
my DISH network receivers officially take /exactly/* the same amount of 
power whether turned on or turned off.  DirecTV is probably the same.

My DISH 4922 receiver takes 16W--on or off.  My DISH 311 takes 11W--on 
or off.  Turning off the receiver (without unplugging the receiver) is 
useless.  Unplugging the receiver is too much effort.

I've heard that the PVR-style DISH/DirecTV receivers take ~40W (on or 
off), so if you have a DISH DVR/DirecTiVo/DirecTV DVR and want to save 
power on your receivers, "downgrading" to a plain old receiver should 
help.  Otherwise, going to cable/antenna is your only "easy" option, or 
rigging up some kind of switch between the wall socket and the receiver 
is an "is it really worth the time" option.

Mike

*OK, so, technically without the "power" LED glowing and any other 
less-visible changes caused by powering off, there may be a difference, 
but any difference is below the resolution available on the Kill-A-Watt 
(seems to be a 1W resolution).