Sky Auto Standby and other 'innovations'

Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

In article .com, Ed
writes
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!


It's part of the latest software "upgrade", HD boxes only at the moment
and only some of them, as yet (haven't got mine, word is that some
issues arose with it and the roll out was put on hold while they were
sorted).

It's apparently optional, you can disable it in the menu,. If you don't
touch the remote for two hours, the box goes to standby. I can see a lot
of irate calls to Sky Customer Services, when people are just getting to
the climax of a movie and the box turns itself off, or towards the end
of a football match, with a striker through on goal and off it goes :-)

It's all very green, I suppose, but mine will be disabled as soon as I
get the update. My Sky box is on 24/7 and will continue to be so, as
it's linked to my TiVo, besides, I'm perfectly capable of switching
something off myself, if I want it off.

--
Sean Black

Sean Black wrote:
In article .com, Ed
writes
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!


It's part of the latest software "upgrade", HD boxes only at the moment
and only some of them, as yet (haven't got mine, word is that some
issues arose with it and the roll out was put on hold while they were
sorted).

It's apparently optional, you can disable it in the menu,. If you don't
touch the remote for two hours, the box goes to standby. I

Two hours? FFS! Like you say, many films run over 2 hours and if my box
switched itself off five minutes from the end I'd go fcuking ballistic!


As there isnt really a better way of deciding that the box isnt in use
than no interraction from the remote for a set period of time, there
should be some extra logic in that program that asks whether the same
channel/programme is being watched.

If a programme overruns the set 2 hour period, the logic would make the
auto stand by wait for the end of the currently viewed programme/film,
then a banner could come up saying 'autostand by in one minute' and off
it goes unless you back up the banner to confirm you are still there?

Ed wrote:
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.

--
"Hello. I'm Leonard Nimoy. The following tale of alien encounters is
true. And by true, I mean false. It's all lies. But they're entertaining
lies. And in the end, isn't that the real truth? The answer is: No."

"Cardinal Chunder" wrote in message
...

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.

No. Because the EU should not exist.

Fred.

"Cardinal Chunder" wrote in message
...
Ed wrote:
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.





define "used"?

Which devices are not "used" and left powered on, apart from possibly street
lights.

Heracles Pollux wrote:
"Cardinal Chunder" wrote in message
...
Ed wrote:
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.





define "used"?

Which devices are not "used" and left powered on, apart from possibly street
lights.

VCRs, cookers, microwaves, tv decoder boxes, tvs...

"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Heracles Pollux wrote:
"Cardinal Chunder" wrote in message
...
Ed wrote:
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.





define "used"?

Which devices are not "used" and left powered on, apart from possibly
street
lights.

VCRs, cookers, microwaves, tv decoder boxes, tvs...



All of which are in constant use.

Heracles Pollux wrote:
"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Heracles Pollux wrote:
"Cardinal Chunder" wrote in message
...
Ed wrote:
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.





define "used"?

Which devices are not "used" and left powered on, apart from possibly
street
lights.

VCRs, cookers, microwaves, tv decoder boxes, tvs...



All of which are in constant use.

No, all of which should power off completely when not being used. There
is no need for a cooker or a microwave to have a clock. A timer, yes,
but that can come on at zero when the unit is powered up.

Devices that need clocks like PVRs need to remain on at a very low
power so that the time isnt lost and recordings can be made. TVs can
and should be switched off completely when not in use, i.e. about 12
hours a day, 20 in some houses.

"Ed" wrote in message
ups.com...

Heracles Pollux wrote:
"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Heracles Pollux wrote:
"Cardinal Chunder" wrote in message
...
Ed wrote:
Heard today that Sky boxes will have a new feature enabled in the
next
software package to make them automatically go into standby, as
apparently they use half as much electricity when in standby mode.

I wonder what other exciting stuff is lined up!!

Sounds like a damned good idea. I wonder if EU law should mandate
that
that all consumer AV devices go into standby by default if not used
for
some reasonable period of time, e.g. 5 hours.





define "used"?

Which devices are not "used" and left powered on, apart from possibly
street
lights.

VCRs, cookers, microwaves, tv decoder boxes, tvs...



All of which are in constant use.

No, all of which should power off completely when not being used. There
is no need for a cooker or a microwave to have a clock. A timer, yes,
but that can come on at zero when the unit is powered up.

Devices that need clocks like PVRs need to remain on at a very low
power so that the time isnt lost and recordings can be made. TVs can
and should be switched off completely when not in use, i.e. about 12
hours a day, 20 in some houses.



Ok, so now we want on to semantics.

But do you not agree that if a user wants their TV set receiving and
responding to Infra Red commands, the TV set needs power to that part of the
system?

If you want to stipulate that microwaves no longer have clocks, timers, and
memory, then that is all very well, and you should make your argument for
it. I doubt that would be popular with consumers though.

You know full well that if the E.U. abandoned the TV stand by function,
Europeans would do what Americans do instead, and simply leave the TV on all
day.



Or are you arguing for better transparency and improvements in stand by
circuitry?