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HELPmePLEASE
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HELPmePLEASE

Anon

[STB] energy star compliant STBs?

Are ANY HD or DVR STB's energy star compliant?

PaulGo
join:2005-01-29
Gaithersburg, MD

PaulGo

Member

Re: [STB] PACE RNG110 HD Only Box (with no clock)

The DCX3501 (DVR) is Energy Star certified use the link below for a full list:

»www.energystar.gov/ia/pr ··· list.pdf

somms
join:2003-07-28
Centerville, UT

somms

Member

»www.huffingtonpost.com/2 ··· 670.html

Keep in mind that the 'energy star' label really means nothing...

PaulGo
join:2005-01-29
Gaithersburg, MD

1 edit

PaulGo

Member

When it comes to Energy Star STBs it means a lot. These newer boxes use a lot less energy than some of the older boxes. Several months ago their were many newspaper articles showing how much energy these older boxes use.
The DTAs don't uses much energy, but the older DVRs could use twice as much energy than the Energy Star DVRs.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad

MVM

Here is a recent article about power use by Cable TV boxes:

Energy Drain From TV Cable Boxes
E-The Environmental Magazine - January 29, 2012
»www.emagazine.com/earth- ··· able-box

Also, the document referenced by the article:

Better Viewing, Lower Energy Bills, and Less Pollution: Improving the Efficiency of Television Set-Top Boxes
Natural Resources Defense Council - June 2011
»www.nrdc.org/energy/file ··· oxes.pdf
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

A blog entry on the Multichannel News site about the CalPlug 2012 event, where the focus this year was on reducing the power used by STBs:

CalPlug 2012: Looking Entirely Differently at Electricity and Set-top Boxes
By Jimmy Schaeffler, Chairman and CSO of The Carmel Group
Multichannel News - March 3, 2012
»www.multichannel.com/blo ··· oxes.php

"A handful of weeks ago, I was asked to serve on an “expert panel” at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) covering the topic of America’s set-top pay TV boxes (STBs).

The event was called “CalPlug,” this iteration focused almost primarily on the topic of saving and using less electrical energy in the hundreds of millions of STBs that frequent, indeed, proliferate within the 115 mil. U.S. Television Households (USTVHs) ...
:
Indeed, in the past, I think it’s fair to say that I, like most people, just took my STBs and the electrical power needed for granted. It was actually a non-issue.

In the future, I do not see it that way.

For one reason, it is arguable that there is a subtle, yet growing possibility that STB alternatives like Cablevision’s Remote Storage-Digital Video Recorder (RS-DVR) will obviate the need for an in-home DVR. Instead, only a cable will be placed into a TV monitor, and that cable into the monitor will carry the signal from a server located elsewhere. Thus, no additional STB nor electricity will be required in many of the individual cabled homes of the future."
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

Another blog entry on the Multichannel News site about the efforts to make STBs more energy efficient:

On Making Set-Tops Use Less Power
By Leslie Ellis, Veteran technology analyst
Multichannel News - March 12, 2012
»www.multichannel.com/blo ··· ower.php

"The latest version (3.0) of the voluntary Energy Star requirements, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency with a deadline of September 2011, ask for set-tops to use less (15%) power (or drop 3 watts, whichever is greater) while in “on” mode, and for a “deep sleep” mode to kick in, just as your computers do after a while.

Note: While this is all happening, in labs and engine rooms, it’s tricky. Why? Three reasons. One: Set-tops live for a long time. Building in power efficiency is a going-forward thing, for the most part, just like every other feature you wish you could cram into set-tops.

Remember the one about “non-responders”? (More here: »translation-please.com/c ··· umnid=70) Boxes that get wired into the electrical outlet tied to the light switch. Turn out the light, turn off the box. Sounds great from a power draw perspective, right? But. Those powered-off boxes instantly become “non-responders” to the network serving them - bricks, essentially, until powered back on.

Then there’s the matter of operations. When do updates get shipped out to set-tops? In the middle of the night, of course, to minimize service disruptions. And when they wake up? If you’ve ever unplugged your DVR, you know about the wait that ensues while guide data gets reloaded.

These are the issues your engineering pals are facing, as they figure out ways to make set-tops better energy partners. They will get it done. Wish them luck regardless."
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

At least Comcast has started thinking about designing cable systems/equipment with energy efficiency in mind:

Comcast's Coblitz: Plan Now For Energy Efficiency, Or Else
Exec Urges Industry to Design Equipment, Services With Goal of Cutting Power Usage
Multichannel News - March 15, 2012
»www.multichannel.com/art ··· Else.php

"The cable industry must change the way it thinks about power consumption now -- starting with how equipment and services are designed -- or face a future in which their electricity needs outrun the supply, according to Mark Coblitz, Comcast's senior vice president of strategic planning.

Coblitz, speaking at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' Smart Energy Management Initiative Forum here Thursday, said focusing on long-range energy efficiency will ensure sustainable growth and contain costs as costs per kilowatt continue to rise.

"As we project consumer demand for our services in the future, we see an impending risk several years down the road -- the possibility that, without taking some important steps, we cannot always be assured of a sufficient and reliable supply of locally available power," Coblitz said.

Within the next five to ten years, Comcast "will be faced with the reality that our ability to grow will be constrained by the quantity and timing of obtaining electrical power," he said. "We simply do not have control over the availability of the energy we will need to sustain our rapid future growth."

The cable industry has become "one of the lightning rods in debates about managing in-home energy consumption," Coblitz said. He was alluding to a June 2011 report from advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council, which claimed that cable and satellite set-top boxes consumed approximately 27 billion kilowatts in 2010 -- equivalent to the output of nine coal-fired power plants."
:
"And vendors are heeding the industry's call. Broadcom this week introduced two new system-on-chip solutions -- one for gateways and the other for HD digital terminal adapters -- that can reduce energy consumption up to 65% over a 24-hour period with power-management features that put the devices into "stand-by" mode when they're not being actively used (»www.multichannel.com/art ··· ways.php).

Cutting in-home energy consumption of customer premises equipment, Coblitz said, "will allow operators to recognize measurable savings in equipment cost and maintenance."

Coblitz likened the industry's need to plan for energy efficiency to the way it has prepared for the years-long transition to the next-generation Internet protocol, IPv6. CableLabs made IPv6 a mandatory part of the first release of the DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem spec, and Comcast and others specified IPv6 in products they bought and also invested in training their engineering and operations teams."
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

The NCTA says the D.O.E. shouldn't regulate set-top energy usage:

NCTA: U.S. Shouldn't Regulate Cable Set-Top Power Usage
Trade Group Argues Department of Energy Does Not Have Legal Authority to Set Electricity Rules
Multichannel News - March 16, 2012
»www.multichannel.com/art ··· sage.php

"The NCTA says the Department of Energy's proposal to regulate the power consumption of set-top boxes would not save as much energy as free-market approaches the cable industry is already pursuing -- and that, in any case, the agency doesn't have the legal authority to establish such standards.

In December, the Energy Department issued a request for information and comments about how and whether it should regulate operator-supplied set-top boxes and network equipment to be more energy-efficient.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, in comments filed with DOE Thursday, said the cable industry is already deploying more power-efficient devices and argued that any government mandates would actually hurt those efforts.

"[T]he regulatory tools that the Department proposes to bring to bear on set-top boxes would slow or undermine more promising and rapidly developing voluntary energy-efficiency efforts and the development of innovative new services and features that would deliver immense benefit to consumers," NCTA said.

NCTA also questioned the Energy Department's legal footing, noting that under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, the agency is not allowed to adopt energy-efficiency standards that would not result in significantly better energy conservation than non-regulatory approaches.

"Given these concerns, and in light of the significant legal questions regarding the Department's authority to adopt standards for set-top boxes, the better approach to achieving the Department's and the industry's energy conservation goals would be to permit ongoing marketplace developments to proceed without the specter of government regulation," NCTA said.

The Energy Department initiated the proposed rulemaking on set-top boxes after a report from advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council, released in June 2011, found that cable and satellite set-top boxes consumed approximately 27 billion kilowatts in 2010 -- equivalent to the output of nine coal-fired power plants. The NRDC report concluded that the cost to power DVRs and set-tops will increase $3.5 billion per year by 2020 without more energy-efficient set-top and DVR designs."
:
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"NCTA called out the cable industry's voluntary efforts on this front. It pointed to the establishment last fall of CableLabs - Energy Lab, a new facility housed at the R&D consortium's Louisville, Colo., headquarters that will promote development, testing and deployment of technologies to let MSOs and their subscribers reduce and manage energy consumption in the home.

Meanwhile, cable operators are deploying set-top boxes with "light sleep" capabilities that reduce energy consumption when they are not in active use, a feature NCTA projects will save 350 million kilowatt hours in the first year alone. In addition, lower-power digital transport adapters (DTAs) are saving 2 billion kWh annually, according to the NCTA.

NCTA said the CableLabs - Energy Lab is now working on "deep sleep" solutions that will use even less power, while still meeting subscriber expectations for instant TV viewing. Set-top boxes with this functionality will be ready for field tests in 2014, the group said."
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

A press release today from CableLabs on the results of their tests of the "Light Sleep" mode for STBs:

CableLabs - Energy Lab Tests Verify Significant Set-Top Power Savings from "Light Sleep" Mode
CableLabs press release - March 19, 2012
»www.cablelabs.com/news/p ··· 912.html

"Digital set-top boxes being deployed by the U.S. cable industry this year are projected to offer energy savings of 20 percent or more when the devices shift into a new "light sleep" mode, according to recent evaluations by CableLabs - Energy Lab.

As part of a major new cable industry energy conservation initiative announced last fall, the six largest U.S. cable companies, serving approximately 85 percent of U.S. cable households, committed to deployment of a "light sleep" option for new set-top boxes beginning in September 2012. Some of those deployments already are under way. To further accelerate energy savings in the millions of existing digital set-top boxes, the operators will also begin providing software upgrades this fall to set-tops boxes already in consumer homes to enable light sleep in models capable of the functionality.

Measurements taken from the new CableLabs - Energy Lab show the significant improvement in average overall power consumption when the new software shifts the set-top boxes into a "light sleep" mode when they are not in active use. "Light sleep" refers to a lower-power condition that allows essential activities within a set-top box to continue while energy consumption associated with other tasks, such as channel tuning and video display, is discontinued.

"Our CableLabs Energy Lab test measured further reductions of 20 percent or more by implementing light sleep," said Ralph Brown, CableLabs Chief Technology Officer. "Applying EPA estimates for how long a typical set-top powers down and the average energy savings we measured, this indicates annual energy savings of about 35 kilowatt hours per set-top. We anticipate that operators will have more than 10 million set-top boxes in light sleep operation by the end of this year."

"We applaud the cable industry's initial efforts to reduce the energy consumed by its set-top boxes and look forward to even greater efficiency gains in the future. Due to this light sleep initiative, more than 10 million installed DVRs will now use 20 to 30 percent less energy when they are not being used. This one change alone will save consumers over $44 million per year in electricity costs," said Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council."
telcodad

telcodad

MVM

Only the more recent STBs will be capable of the "light-sleep" mode:

CableLabs: 'Light sleep mode' can reduce energy consumption, but only in new set-tops
FierceCable - March 20, 2012
»www.fiercecable.com/stor ··· 12-03-20

While CableLabs said Monday that cable operators can reduce energy consumption in subscriber homes by shifting set-tops into "light sleep" mode, only newer set-tops from Motorola Mobility, Cisco and other vendors offer that power option.

CableLabs said tests conducted at its Energy Lab facility in Colorado have found that newer set-tops deployed by U.S. cable MSOs can offer energy savings of 20 percent or more while in light sleep mode, which is "a lower-power condition that allows essential activities within a set-top box to continue while energy consumption associated with other tasks, such as channel tuning and video display, is discontinued." The technology consortium said it anticipates that U.S. MSOs will have 10 million set-tops capable of light-sleep mode deployed by the end of 2012.

But the vast majority of digital set-tops that have been deployed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other CableLabs members aren't capable of light-sleep mode, including legacy digital set-tops such as the Motorola DCT-2000 or the early Scientific Atlanta Explorer set-tops (a brand now owned by Cisco). There are 86.8 million digital set-tops in U.S. cable homes, including 35.4 million standard-definition set-tops, 22.6 million DVRs, 14.9 million high-definition set-tops and 14 million digital terminal adapters, according to Consumer Electronics Association.

This fall, CableLabs said major cable MSOs will begin to send software upgrades to some existing digital set-tops in subscriber homes "to enable light-sleep mode in models capable of that functionality." It didn't say which set-top models will be capable of light-sleep mode."

Mike Wolf
join:2009-05-24
Tuckerton, NJ

Mike Wolf to HELPmePLEASE

Member

to HELPmePLEASE

Re: [STB] energy star compliant STBs?

TiVo Premiere is energy star approved.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad

MVM

A blog item on the Multichannel News site today about STB power use:

A Deeper Dive on Set-Tops, Power Use
By Leslie Ellis, Multichannel News - April 2, 2012
»www.multichannel.com/blo ··· _Use.php

An excerpt:

"Here’s the issue when it comes to set-top boxes and energy consumption: Invention is underway to introduce light- and deep-sleep modes for new set-top boxes, which is great. I’d go so far as totally great. But there exists a big backlog (in the double-digit millions) of deployed set-tops that went into homes long before technology options existed to reduce per-device energy consumption.

That means it’s a big numbers issue, say the engine-room technologists focused on reducing power usage in CPE: A few watt hours per set-top box, times millions of them, is a big number.

Which is why the recent news about sleep modes (»www.multichannel.com/art ··· Labs.php) is such a big step in the right direction.

Let’s look at some numbers. Here in my lab, the cable set-top draws 32 watts when on, 30 watts when off. An absolute worst-case scenario is the old-style HD DVR, drawing 47 watts for 24 hours a day.

That older box can consume 1,128 watts per day, of which an estimated 282 watts involves the power associated with actually watching TV (assuming six hours/day of viewing). The remaining 846 watts is used to receive guide data, authorizations, firmware updates and other “back-office” activities.

Contrast that with current-model DVRs, drawing in the range of 28 watts, in service, and 22 watts when turned off - which cuts overall power consumption to 564 watts/day. That’s half the power consumption. Translation: On/off modes can make a very big difference.

From a dollars-and-cents perspective, let’s say power costs 12 cents per kilowatt hour (your mileage may vary). That means the new sleep-mode box burns about six cents per day, or just under $22 per year. (Double it for older boxes.)

So why not just ditch all those power-hungry deployed boxes, and flash cut to the new, power-mode beauties? Sorry. It’s just not an option. Too expensive! Just as only some small, very-eco subset of us is motivated to replace the existing HDTV set with one that saves $70/year in power, so it is that no video service provider — cable, satellite or telco — is financially equipped to trash millions of deployed boxes."
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