Home Theater - cable box off

[Steve Q]

I'm trying to be a little more green so I thought it might be a good idea to make sure the cable box is turned off when not in use. I have a comcast Motorola DCH6416 Hi Def cable box. I looked up the specs on the Motorola web site. The specs say the power consumption is 46 watts (depending on the accessories). I measured the current draw of my box an found it was about 390ma which corresponds to about 47watts. What the specs did not say however was the power consumption in standby mode. I measured this and found it to be - 45watts! Which means the box uses essentially the same amount of power whether it is off or on. So I am thinking about putting an X10 appliance module on the cable box and turning it OFF from 1:30AM to 5:00PM.

Is there any reason why I would not want to do this? I know the Program guide is sometimes updated overnight. Is that the only issue?

I did a quick calculation and found that I would save 408Kw of power by turning off the cable box. That's $40 a year in savings.

Steve Q

[Rupp]

Go for it. Does the box have to rescan the channels when it's powered back on?

[Fletch]

Steve to test it you can try unplugging the unit for a short period of time and then plugging it back in. I myself experience with Motorola cable boxes though is you will lose all guide data if the receiver is unplugged for an hour or so. Then once it is plugged back in, which is essentially what the appliance module would be doing, the box will need to download the data again. One other thing is the 6416 a DVR? If so unplugging it will no doubt also effect scheduling recordings, and of course it would be unable to record when unplugged. Just some thoughts, but give it a try and see.

Aaron

[mrhappy]

I tried this with my cable box (Samsung one) but found that it lost all of the program guide data and depending on how many channels will depend on how long it takes you to re-download them...I just pull the lead out of the back when not in use now as I don't tend use it that often.

[Steve Q]

Steve to test it you can try unplugging the unit for a short period of time and then plugging it back in. I myself experience with Motorola cable boxes though is you will lose all guide data if the receiver is unplugged for an hour or so. Then once it is plugged back in, which is essentially what the appliance module would be doing, the box will need to download the data again. One other thing is the 6416 a DVR? If so unplugging it will no doubt also effect scheduling recordings, and of course it would be unable to record when unplugged. Just some thoughts, but give it a try and see.

Aaron

Yes, it is a DVR. So I would have to be careful about scheduling a recording. I wonder if there is some way to know if a recording is scheduled? If there is, Homeseer could disable the X10 shut off.

I have no idea how long it takes for the guide to reprogram. But maybe I could just turn the box back on at 3 or 4 so it would be ready for the evening.

Steve Q

[Rupp]

The question you have to ask yourself - is it really worth 77 cents a week to automate this considering the hassles?

[Steve Q]

Rupp,

You are absolutely right! It is probably not worth the effort. However, I am concerned ( and I think we should all be concerned) about the total waste of energy that is occurring because of a poor design from Motorola/Comcast. Homeseer has designed and offered the Hometroller which is a more energy efficient way to run Homeseer and provide all of its 24/7 benefits. Why shouldn't the big guys also act responsibly and offer products that are also energy efficient! Just think about how many cable boxes are out there running 24/7 eating up power for no good reason!

Yes!!! I do want my cake and I want to eat it too!!!!

Steve Q

[Rupp]

Well you could do as I do - do not use any of those devices from the cable company. I use no boxes, converters, nothing. Of course you do not get the PVR this way. So it's up to you and where your priorities lie.

[Steve Q]

Unfortunately, I am in a rural area and I don't have much choice. If I want to get TV and have internet access my only real choice is Comcast. Direct TV is available but I would have to put the dish at the top of the hill. Not so easy to get above the trees.

Steve Q

[jackpod]

Steve, the solution is called a chain saw At least the new dishes are stationary, many years ago I lived in South Lake Tahoe and had a C Band that traversed a polar arc, removing selective branches solved my issues.

Jack

[lpcalcaterra]

Well you could do as I do - do not use any of those devices from the cable company. I use no boxes, converters, nothing.

I am a Comcast customer & would love to get rid of the box. Not sure I can recieve HD programming without a box? I guess if you have a newer TV with a cable card slot you could accomplish both.

[Steve Q]

My original goal was to make sure my cable box is OFF (standby) when not in use. I use the USBUIRT to control my home theater and it works great for the TV and surround sound because both of these Sony products have discrete IR codes for ON and OFF. So when you send an OFF command from Homeseer, they will always turn OFF. The cable box (as far as I know) does not have discrete codes so the best you can do is toggle between OFF and ON. But it is easy for the IR code to get out of sync if someone presses the cable remote power button by mistake, etc.

I would still like to make sure the cable box turns ON/OFF with the rest of the home theater components. Anybody know if there is a discrete pronto IR code for a Motorola DCH6416 cable box. I could not find anything at Harmony Central!

Steve Q

[sbwright]

Did you try here

http://www.remotecentral.com/index.html

[lpcalcaterra]

No descrete codes

There are no discrete codes for the Motorola Box.

Oops, sorry Steve I lost sight of your original goal. I have a similar setup as you & have elected to leave the cable box on 24/7 because of the reasons you stated. My biggest "problem" with the Motorola box is the amount of heat is generates.

[Fletch]

I too have never found discrete codes for the motorola boxes. And currently don't have one. But looking at the online manual for the DCT6400 series of cable boxes, there appears to be a switched outlet on the back of the box. Isn't it possible to plug a dc adapter into the outlet, which in turn is connected to a powerflash. Which has the result of sending an X10 on signal whenever the unit is turned on and the corresponding X10 off signal when the device is powered off? Thus allowing you to know the status of the cable box.