1. Yes, it's a whole new look! Have questions or need help? Please post your question in the New Forum Questions thread Click the X to the right to dismiss this notice
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Seeing tons of unread posts after the upgrade? See this thread for help. Click the X to the right to dismiss this notice
    Dismiss Notice

DVR Energy Use

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by Villager, Jun 26, 2011.

  1. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2006
    Messages:
    2,512
    Likes Received:
    19
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/us/26cable.html?_r=1

    "Those little boxes that usher cable signals and digital recording capacity into televisions have become the single largest electricity drain in many American homes, with some typical home entertainment configurations eating more power than a new refrigerator and even some central air-conditioning systems..."
     
  2. Mike-and-Kim

    Mike-and-Kim Member

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2009
    Messages:
    584
    Likes Received:
    19
    If I'm doing the math right about 50 Watts if run non-stop.

    Here's another one that does not get much press: every 3dB of loudspeaker sensitivity cuts power required in half. Not many people look at that when buying speakers. Tends to be how much power can they handle, which is equivalent to saying how much gas can your car burn...

    Most speakers are less than 1% efficient. Where does all that power go? Heating up the loudspeaker voice coil. In fact one of the things that allowed speakers to "handle" more power were high temperature adhesives for speakers....
     
  3. '03 Cavalier

    '03 Cavalier New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2010
    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    1
    The 8300HDC box from OpenBand draws around 20-25 watts give or take depending on what it's doing. So around 175-219 kWh/year. That's less than half of what this article states (at most). These days I'm guessing the majority of people with DVRs have DVR/cable box combos like this, not two separate devices.

    TVs have also become far more efficient. We had a 42" plasma we bought 3-4 years ago that used less energy than this article states for an LCD of the same size. New 42" LCDs can draw well under 100 watts.

    Regardless, these devices still use a ton of power over the course of a year, but the numbers cited already seem way outdated.
     
  4. lilpea

    lilpea Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2005
    Messages:
    3,079
    Likes Received:
    16
    I would be curious to know the figures on OpenBand's new DTA50 (Digital to Analog) box. There is no effective way to turn these new boxes off, except to unplug it.

    OB's new boxes get pretty hot and when I say hot, I mean really hot. A few months ago my little guy touched the dta and screamed. I borrowed a thermal temp gadget from a friend and I measured the temp of OB's DTAs and they both registered 158 degrees. So we leave them unplugged if we are not using them.
     
  5. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2010
    Messages:
    1,789
    Likes Received:
    54
    Damn...that's really hot and Im concerned from a safety view here. I wonder if someone put them near a curtain or something else...can potentially start a fire, perhaps? No?

    OB should have warned us about the propensity for these items to get SO hot.
     
  6. Hegelsfolly

    Hegelsfolly New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2011
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
  7. Mike-and-Kim

    Mike-and-Kim Member

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2009
    Messages:
    584
    Likes Received:
    19
    UL 1950 (which I think was the consumer stuff, it's been a while) allowed a 45C rise for external metal, which with ambient at 25C would put you at 70C which is right at what is the max allowable (measured was 158F ~ 70C).

    Around 60C you can usually touch it for a few seconds...50C is a much nicer temp.
     

Share This Page