[mythtv-users] Cable box always on

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Mar 25, 2008, at 4:21 PM, Steve Peters - Priority Electronics wrote:

> Well, I know it's always on whether I "turn it on" or not...but as  
> for power
> usage, I have two boxes right now, and am having trouble getting the  
> ir
> blaster working on the second unit, so I turned off the second unit  
> till I
> could troubleshoot it some more. The second unit now is still  
> technically
> powered on, but it is noticeablly cooler than the other unit that I  
> have on
> all the time. So it seems like there is some power saving stuff  
> going on.
>
> The main reason for my original post is that how would myth know if  
> the box
> was turned off...seems it wouldn't at this point. It'd be great if  
> myth
> checked the recording to see if it was all black, and if so, turned  
> the
> cable box on.

Do you have a serial port on your cable box? You might be able to  
check the status of the box with that so you can send the power on  
command before the channel change. Then again, I support if you had a  
serial port on the box, you'd be using that to change channels,  
wouldn't you? Worth a shot, anyway. I know lots of boxes have stuff  
like that.

-Brad