Yes, it was measured and posted in a thread dedicated to HR34 aka HMC. You should read it. Also ppl did more measures and posted in different threads.
Search feature would be very helpful for you.
Search feature would be very helpful for you.
H34 HMC power use
Hi,
I'm thinking of switching to Direct in part because my current DVR uses 55 watts 24/7, and I'd like to cut that back.
I noticed that most of the Direct DVRs are Energy Star listed, but this does not appear to be true for the H34/HMC?
Does anyone know the power use for the HMC when its active and when its not being used (in standby).
Thanks
Gary
I'm thinking of switching to Direct in part because my current DVR uses 55 watts 24/7, and I'd like to cut that back.
I noticed that most of the Direct DVRs are Energy Star listed, but this does not appear to be true for the H34/HMC?
Does anyone know the power use for the HMC when its active and when its not being used (in standby).
Thanks
Gary
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Well I read through the "official" H34 thread thread the the 51 page "anticipation" H34 thread and searched for various combinations of H34 and HMC power use -- no luck -- maybe I need a course on effective searching.P Smith said:Yes, it was measured and posted in a thread dedicated to HR34 aka HMC. You should read it. Also ppl did more measures and posted in different threads.
Search feature would be very helpful for you.
Don't suppose anyone just happens to know the answer?
Gary
well ... used search for "hr34 power watts" giving this http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=2874782&postcount=268
The energy star rating is misleading at best. Any DVR pretty much needs to be running continuously in order to be able to record. DirecTV DVRs are no exception. When they are turned "off", about the only thing that changes is the output is disabled, but all the internal components pretty much stay energized.
Given it's larger drive size, and more internal electronics, the HR34 draws more power than the HR2x series. I just measured one of my HR2x units and it draws about 34 watts (on or off).
Given it's larger drive size, and more internal electronics, the HR34 draws more power than the HR2x series. I just measured one of my HR2x units and it draws about 34 watts (on or off).
I would not think that this is a reason to change your service for. The difference in this one piece of equipments usage vs the one you have is so small it just doesn't warrant a change.GaryGary said:Hi,
I'm thinking of switching to Direct in part because my current DVR uses 55 watts 24/7, and I'd like to cut that back.
I noticed that most of the Direct DVRs are Energy Star listed, but this does not appear to be true for the H34/HMC?
Does anyone know the power use for the HMC when its active and when its not being used (in standby).
Thanks
Gary
On the other hand, the free equipment and special offers of low cost packages or no cost premium channels for months before you pay full price,
and
the more HD channels and multi screen views of lots of the sporting events.
Now that is a reason to save big and get more than you possibly have now.
I had a Kill A Watt plugged into the wall next to my HR24. I then plugged the power strip / surge suppressor into it.
I have an HP P7 chip tower computer, two 19" flat screen monitors and a set of powered sub woofer speakers all plugged into it.
I also have a Monster Cable Power Center, 37 inch Vizio TV and the HR24 plugged into it.
When the HP is in sleep mode and the monitors go to sleep and the TV is off / sleeping and the HR24 is basically still running, combined they use 52 watts of power. Again, this should not be the reason you are going to change your service, at least in my opinion.
Good luck with your decision.
Jimmy, he did ask about HR34/HMC specifically.
One can hope that the software can evolve so that drive(s) can be spun-down most the time. (AFAIK the internal drive still spins even when external is used; if true that's very wasteful and easily fixed in software)carl6 said:The energy star rating is misleading at best. Any DVR pretty much needs to be running continuously in order to be able to record. DirecTV DVRs are no exception. When they are turned "off", about the only thing that changes is the output is disabled, but all the internal components pretty much stay energized.
We have several Macs (Pro/Mini/Book) in our house and by default they spin down the drives often even when not asleep. They are UNIX-based - similar to Linux that DTV is based on.
If it were just recordings the drives could be spun-up 30 seconds before the next recording starts and then spun-down again after the recording was over.
I don't know what the pattern of guide (and other) data updates are. Presumably once the saved guide data is up to date it only infrequently needs to apply updates.
When the unit is on the live buffer generates an enormous amount of data (50+ MB/min for HD). That's 4GB+ for 90 minutes. If there was enough RAM the live buffer could certainly be done without the drive. Maybe cutting the live buffer length could get it down to a reasonable amount of memory. Unfortunately this would add significant cost for a small energy benefit.
At the rate SSDs are advancing (and price dropping) it probably won't be too long before disks are history and it's a mute issue.
Hi,
Thanks for the help.
I guess the thing that got me into this is that we have been trying to systematically reduce our power consumption for the house. Going through and improving lighting efic, finding vampire loads, etc. We've come down from just over 1000 KWH a month to less than 500 KWH a month. While the money saving is nice, the main motive is CO2 emissions -- nearly 10,000 lbs a year reduction.
So, in looking at the DVR I have now, it uses 55 watts all the time -- 480 KWH a year -- more than our fridge uses, and the largest single remaining load in our house.
In the Energy Star listing for DVR's several of the Direct TV DVRs come out at well under half what my current DISH DVR uses -- this seems like a worthwhile saving to me
I'd post the URL for the listing at energy star, but I guess I'n not allowed yet -- anyway, for example, the H24-700 is listed as 13.7 watts on, and 11.5 watts in standby -- 107 KWH a year -- about 1/4 of my current DVR.
I thought as long as we were thinking about changing anyway that I'd look at all the DVRs Direct has, and that's where the H34 question came up.
Gary
Thanks for the help.
I guess the thing that got me into this is that we have been trying to systematically reduce our power consumption for the house. Going through and improving lighting efic, finding vampire loads, etc. We've come down from just over 1000 KWH a month to less than 500 KWH a month. While the money saving is nice, the main motive is CO2 emissions -- nearly 10,000 lbs a year reduction.
So, in looking at the DVR I have now, it uses 55 watts all the time -- 480 KWH a year -- more than our fridge uses, and the largest single remaining load in our house.
In the Energy Star listing for DVR's several of the Direct TV DVRs come out at well under half what my current DISH DVR uses -- this seems like a worthwhile saving to me
I'd post the URL for the listing at energy star, but I guess I'n not allowed yet -- anyway, for example, the H24-700 is listed as 13.7 watts on, and 11.5 watts in standby -- 107 KWH a year -- about 1/4 of my current DVR.
I thought as long as we were thinking about changing anyway that I'd look at all the DVRs Direct has, and that's where the H34 question came up.
Gary
Perhaps you could follow many other 'energy cutters': switch to OTA, get energy efficient OTA DVR and live happily forever. 
This was published in 2010 and lists the HMC-30 which I assume was changed to the HR-34.
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partne.../settop_boxes/DIRECTV_Commentsc.pdf?ba51-ab06
I called DirecTV and talked to tech support and she did not have anything with specifics on this unit. She did direct me to this site for the pdf of the HMC 30.
Edit : Add: I found this. It shows the running is below 55 watts and standby is less than 30 watts.
https://www.perfect-10.tv/webstore/spec-sheets/HR34.pdf
For those that just want the details of the power:
Power
• AC Input for internal PSU
• Input: 100V-240V ~50-60Hz
• Standby Power Consumption below 30W
• Active Power Consumption below 55W
• Complies with Energy Star requirements
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partne.../settop_boxes/DIRECTV_Commentsc.pdf?ba51-ab06
I called DirecTV and talked to tech support and she did not have anything with specifics on this unit. She did direct me to this site for the pdf of the HMC 30.
Edit : Add: I found this. It shows the running is below 55 watts and standby is less than 30 watts.
https://www.perfect-10.tv/webstore/spec-sheets/HR34.pdf
For those that just want the details of the power:
Power
• AC Input for internal PSU
• Input: 100V-240V ~50-60Hz
• Standby Power Consumption below 30W
• Active Power Consumption below 55W
• Complies with Energy Star requirements
I really don't understand this hand wringing over the amount electricity a DVR uses in a years time. In my area of the country 480 KWH a year would translate to about $24-28 dollars, with Electric rates averaging between .0489 to .063 cents per KWH.
Less than 30 dollars per year to guarantee all the programing I like will always be waiting for me.
John
Less than 30 dollars per year to guarantee all the programing I like will always be waiting for me.
John
In my area (S CA), the base electric rate is $0.13/kWh. However, as your usage goes up so does the rate.
For a 30day summer month:
<306kW/h(baseline) $0.13/kWh
306kWh to 398kWh (100%-130% baseline) $0.16/kWh
398kWh to 712kWh (130% to 200% baseline) $0.25/kWh
712kWh to 918kWh (200% to 300% baseline) $0.28/kWh
>918kWh (>300% baseline) $0.32/kWh
This summer we were in the $0.25 -$0.28 range ($0.16 -$0.25 range in winter), so for us 480kWh is about $120
For a 30day summer month:
<306kW/h(baseline) $0.13/kWh
306kWh to 398kWh (100%-130% baseline) $0.16/kWh
398kWh to 712kWh (130% to 200% baseline) $0.25/kWh
712kWh to 918kWh (200% to 300% baseline) $0.28/kWh
>918kWh (>300% baseline) $0.32/kWh
This summer we were in the $0.25 -$0.28 range ($0.16 -$0.25 range in winter), so for us 480kWh is about $120
Be happy your average daily high was not 105 degreeszhezhang said:This summer we were in the $0.25 -$0.28 range ($0.16 -$0.25 range in winter), so for us 480kWh is about $120
I used 1710 KWH, and paid $207 last month.
My DVR is on an outlet strip and goes really off every night until about noon the next day, unless I know something is scheduled to record. The hard part is remembering to turn it on 15 minutes before wanting to watch something.
That's not exactly the best thing for the DVR.tigerwillow1 said:My DVR is on an outlet strip and goes really off every night until about noon the next day, unless I know something is scheduled to record. The hard part is remembering to turn it on 15 minutes before wanting to watch something.
1. You're not doing a proper shutdown.
2. You're not allowing the DVR to do its "housekeeping".
3. Your guide data may be bad or corrupted over time.
4. You have the DVR off during the time it would be downloading any update.
We got to 106 for a couple of days, I was using 42kWh a day.Davenlr said:Be happy your average daily high was not 105 degrees
I used 1710 KWH, and paid $207 last month.
Most days last month it was about 95 max, but at 9pm, it is down to 70.
Best part is the relative humidity is only 20%.
If you're truly concerned about your electricity usage and its affect upon the eco-system, get rid of your TV and the DVR to which it is attached. There, carbon "problem" solved.
The H24 that you show the draw on is not a DVR, it is a single tuner HD receiver.GaryGary said:Hi,
Thanks for the help.
I guess the thing that got me into this is that we have been trying to systematically reduce our power consumption for the house. Going through and improving lighting efic, finding vampire loads, etc. We've come down from just over 1000 KWH a month to less than 500 KWH a month. While the money saving is nice, the main motive is CO2 emissions -- nearly 10,000 lbs a year reduction.
So, in looking at the DVR I have now, it uses 55 watts all the time -- 480 KWH a year -- more than our fridge uses, and the largest single remaining load in our house.
In the Energy Star listing for DVR's several of the Direct TV DVRs come out at well under half what my current DISH DVR uses -- this seems like a worthwhile saving to me
I'd post the URL for the listing at energy star, but I guess I'n not allowed yet -- anyway, for example, the H24-700 is listed as 13.7 watts on, and 11.5 watts in standby -- 107 KWH a year -- about 1/4 of my current DVR.
I thought as long as we were thinking about changing anyway that I'd look at all the DVRs Direct has, and that's where the H34 question came up.
Gary
Better yet turn the electrical service off and save 100%.....zkc16 said:If you're truly concerned about your electricity usage and its affect upon the eco-system, get rid of your TV and the DVR to which it is attached. There, carbon "problem" solved.
1 - 20 of 32 Posts
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