That PVR Sure is a Hungry Little Device

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.neowin.net/news/cable-boxes-and-dvrs-use-more-power-than-refrigerators' target='_blank'>http://www.neowin.net/news/cable-bo...n-refrigerators</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"It&rsquo;s no surprise that the use of DVRs is increasing as more and more people become used to time-shifting instead of watching television on the networks&rsquo; schedule. DVRs are compared to competitors so that customers can find the best fit for their lives. Now the New York Times is reporting something that may surprise many people: Your set-top boxes consume more energy in a year than your refrigerator."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1309377482.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Unless you want to go through a whole bunch of tweaking and limitations, if you have cable, or even satellite TV, your options for a PVR are usually quite limited.&nbsp; It comes as no surprise then that those boxes that your Cable/Satellite provider hoists on you is hardly the bastion of energy efficiency.&nbsp; Sure, you could turn the PVR off, but powered off, it really is limited in what shows it can record for you.&nbsp; The current implementation of the PVR will probably disappear in several years with the rise of streaming and other efficient ways of delivering video.&nbsp; Until then, I guess the convenience of being able to watch Dancing with the Stars whenever you want will cost you a pretty penny.</p>

[Jeremy Charette]

This is one of many reasons I dumped cable last year. I plugged a Kill-O-Watt into my Time Warner HD DVR, and it was sucking down 28 watts of electricity. On, off, recording, watching, didn't matter. Always 28 watts. Just under 250,000 watt-hours per year, or around $50 at New York City prices.

No thanks. I'll stick with my antenna and 60+ channels of OTA content.

[Chris Gohlke]

Yep, noted the same thing a few years back when I got a kill a watt. Honestly, kind of disgusting. The fact that turning them off makes no difference is certainly misleading. I'm still fighting the fight to cut the cable with my wife, and this is just one of the myrid of reasons why I dislike the cable companies. I'm sure if they were willing to pay $1 or $2 more for the boxes at the design phase, the investment could be recouped 100x by their customers, not to mention the natural resources that would be saved.

[Jeremy Charette]

Yeah, call it a "green" initiative, and roll out an ad campaign to go with it! BAM.