[nova828]

A month ago I upgraded to a 522 from my old 322 and noticed something. Whenever the 522 is turned off it is still running at full power. The HDD spins, and the fan comes on from time to time. Now the box is really only in use 3 hours a day on most days. Since I watch TV and record in the evening prime time hours the other 21 hours the box isn't doing anything. So what if I unplugged it whenever I am not using it and no timers are coming up for a long period of time? Would this cause any problems? I mainly just don't want to waste electricty. Judging from the thick power cord and the amount of heat, I'm guessing the 522 uses alot of power. I would plug it back in an hour or two before I started using it to give it time to download whatever updates it needs.

What do you think...bad idea?

 

[bidger]

I wouldn't do it.

 

[R_Childress]

Not A Good Idea

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Besides being a bad idea functionally... I think if you actually knew how little electricity it really uses you wouldn't even consider it.

Most homes the biggest uses of electricity are (in no particular order):

Central air/heating
Hot water heater
Refrigerator
Dryer
Stove/oven

You'll typically find most of your monthly electric bill comes from the above... then next up are other appliances like the washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, toaster or toaster oven, TV, various light fixtures in/on the home. Your DVR is pretty low on the list of things taking a lot of power.

I find, for instance, my electrical bill varies very little whether I turn my computer off or leave it on 24/7... your DVR is a similar device and by itself doesn't make a noticable difference in your electrical bill from one month to the next.

 

[kb7oeb]

The only risk you run is pulling the plug during a firmware update. Firmware updates are infrequent but loss of power during the flash process will probably kill your box. You get a very clear warning message on the tv during firmware updates.

Other than that you probably only need about 15 minutes for it to boot and download the guide.

Guessing on a lot of the numbers your monthly power cost for 24/7 use is probably around $5