Les the hdr powers down it's lnb's in low power sby so how can it update the epg ?

Is that not part of the 0300 'housekeeping'?

Could be the answer . Without knowing in advance of a overnight epg change it's going to be hard to check.

Would it really need to consume 50W though? My PC, which is quite a powerful one (for it's day), consumes 9W instandby mode, 1W more than when "off". I checked this with a meter. So, the logical conclusion is to keep it in standby most of the time as it then only takes a couple of seconds to start up.

I would imagine a much smaller computer such as a Humax box could provide a quick standby for less than 9W, though of course it would be too much to think it could be under the 1W forced on us now.

That EU rule does make me think though. Will all computers from next year not have a standby mode as it will surely be over 1W?

Anyone recommend a power meter? I fancy going round the whole house and auditing the standby mode on everything. Eg if the PC is pulling 9W it's going to get wall-switched!

The only measure I've got at the moment is "powertop" on the laptop, which claims it is pulling 15-18 watts atm, which doesn't seem too bad.

If you have a skybox and not have any heart problems read the sby power consumption. You can buy plug in energy meters but they are not very accurate at small power consumptions. Your domestic meter and a stopwatch is the best bet. On the front of the meter it says how many disc revolutions equate to 1 KWH. Time one revolution of the disc multiply it by the nos of revolutions specified to get the time to use 1KWH. For instance a 1W load would need 1000hrs to get up to 1 unit.

My power meter thing the electric company gave me currently says I'm using 1.41KWatt.
I suspect the dishwasher is on, but is it unusually high compared to you others on here?

Non-Power saving standby on the Humax products adds power to:
Front Panel Clock
SCART Active Loop Through

It's been a while since we specified the LNB settings but I don't think we keep the LNB powered unless it is manually set in the antenna settings (happy to be corrected on this as I am not in a position to check this morning).

Bob not sure you saw it so can I just draw your attention to my post no 25 as it contains a suggestion to overcome the complaint of having to wait for guide updates.

8 Watts on 'off' - that's terrible. Do PC's keep their motherboard powered up for wake on LAN type functions or is that only from standby?

I bought a cheap powermeter from Lidl. It might not be super accurate but good enough (the question is "does it take <1w, >5w >10w" rather than "is it 3w or 4w")

My second hand HP laserjet is the worst offender in my house. c30W when switched off.

I use the Maplin power meter which I find accurate enough for checking the consumption of domestic appliances. The disadvantage of this is that it's not possible to measure 'wired-in' appliances such as an electric oven. Also, the plugs on my washing machine and tumble dryer are inaccessible without pulling the units out from under the worktop.

I too, found my desktop PC consuming about 9W when shut down, (I think the PSU is the culprit), so I now always switch everything off at the socket.

It's a revelation to discover all the little things that consume a few Watts of power all the time, such as the Dect phone, the microwave clock, the aerial amp in the loft for FM etc. They all add up to a disturbing cost when calculated over a year. Some things cannot be switched off for operational reasons, such as the Humax HDR, but I'm prepared to accept the <1W standby consumption of my Sony AV equipment; the TV, AV Amp and BD Player combined use less than 3W and that's worth it for the convenience of power up by remote control.

Geoff

I am guessing it has to do with the various USB devices attached to it which still draw power like my ipod dock.

I had some nice surprises though. My main amplifier stated 30W consumption in standby in the manual, so I used to keep it switched off which was a hassle. But after measuring it, I found it only drew 2W in standby which I find quite acceptable.