Redoing my entertainment center.

[insaneintenti0n]

This'll be a long rambling post, almost just documentation for me. It might give some helpful hints for others, or just scare the crap out of em for how much power I have the potential to be using.

I have comcast for my TV/Internet provider. HD, DVR, all that stuff. But, as with everything else, the price just keeps going up, and I'm sick of it. I can't give up internet, I don't have any other good options, and I can't just drop to using my iphone because i almost need to be available for work, or at least be able work from home if i need to. So... I'm going to drop their TV service. (phone too, though, it never worked, and was cheaper to keep 3 services vs. 2)

My primary goal: get rid of comcast TV, and be able to record, easily, over-the-air ATSC.

I've gotten VERY use to having a DVR (I had a standalone one years before a comcast one, so it would be a huge change to get rid of that all together)

I've mentioned somewhere in here before that my entertainment center is a HUGE power draw:

42" Vizio Plasma TV (actually one of the best rated for power)
Surround Sound Receiver
Surround Sound Amplifier
Mini Disc Player (yes, I still have one)
Record Player (yup, one of these too)
Standalone DVR/DVD Player
Comcast DVR
PS2
Xbox
Wii

About a year ago, I unplugged components I don't use much/ever (record player, minidisc, standalone DVR)

For recorded TV I used the comcast DVR.
For DVDs I used my xbox or plugged in the standalone DVR.
I'm getting rid of comcast TV, and the standalone DVR doesn't have an ATSC tuner.

I figured I'd try to find an all in one device to do this for me, plus make the next step with video technology and get something with blu-ray.

I've always wanted a flat out all in one media center. Something I could play MP3s, divx, DVDs, record TV, etc, etc. So, I finally found a PC that does all this for me running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Quad Core processor
8gb ram
750gb HD (already added another 500gb)
HDMI Out
Blu-Ray player
ATSC TV Tuner
Remote Control

Window Media Center has a TV guide that is populated over the internet that allows you to select what you want to record, and when, for over the air ATSC TV, just as the comcast DVR (or TiVo) does.

The PC doesn't have to be ON to do this. But it does have to be in standby. The PC will come out of standby, record the show you want, and after your set 'go to standby time' it will go back to standby.

I've had it about a week now, and have been pretty happy. But, I needed to know how bad the energy use was. I took out my trusty Kill-a-watt and found a few numbers (didn't do kwh, cause that would take forever) but here are the on-the-fly numbers (in watts) for various components of my system:

XBOX:
Off - 1
On - 63

Comcast DVR:
Off/Stanby - 30
On - 30

Standalone DVR:
Off/Standby - 16
On - 30

Media Center:
Off - 1
Standby - 4
On - 95
Heavy use(Recording & Blu-ray) - 110

TV:
Off - 1
On - 146-310 (huge range)

So, without kwhs, I can't get a GREAT feel for things, but look at it this way... for me to watch a DVD before, the comcast DVR was on standby (30w), and if i used the xbox (63w), that was 93w. Now, just the media center is 110w. Yes, that's more. BUT, at most, i only use this stuff 2-3hrs a day. the other 21hrs, everything is off/standby. So comcast DVR (30w) or media center in standby 4w. I 'kinda' hope that over the long run, that actually works out slightly better. When i know I'm not going to be using the media center much, it's OFF, so 1w.

I did just remembered one more thing... and i didn't get power numbers for it... now that i'm using ATSC, I have a powered antenna, so, oops, a little more power being drawn.

Once the comcast DVR comes out completely (still testing the media center, cleaning off shows I recorded on the comcast dvr, etc) I'm going to rewire a LOT, but so far i moved the xbox, ps2, and wii onto a power strip, and they are all now OFF when not in use. I'll see if I can do anything else, but the PC & antenna will need to stay on to record. (though, they have 'smart' power strips, right? maybe that would buy me something)

As far as price of the media center is concerned... it'll pay for itself with the savings from dropping comcast in 6 months to less than a year. After that, I'm just using the free TV signal, i own the PC, not 'renting' it, and will just being paying for the power for it.

Also, had to rebuild some of the entertainment center just to accommodate the new item. Took a shelf I wasn't using and built the xbox a cubby hole.



um, yea, that was long. comments, questions, queries, suggestions? I should go play outside more, lol... trust me, i visit my garden about as much as i watch TV.

[Daox]

Sounds like you got a decent handle on all of that. I wouldn't worry too much about 30 more watts. Its not like you just leave everything on all the time. I know people who do that and it drives me crazy!

[roflwaffle]

I think the biggest gains would be had from nabbing an LCD TV of the same size and turning off the back light if you can stand it. I have a 42" Vizio that sucks down ~65 Watts in that state. Course, it's not worthwhile if you don't use it a lot, or if it's too dark w/o the backlight. What's really crazy is that some of the huge DLP TVs, like in the 67-73", only suck down about 150 Watts once they're calibrated! Now I'm just rambling... Anyway, 30W for 24 hours is about a third of 100W for a couple hours, so right there you're cutting out about 15kWh per month.

[Daox]

What is a DLP TV? A projection tv?

[insaneintenti0n]

essentially. they're smaller than CRT, but larger than LCD/Plasma.

Definitely not worth my money to buy a new TV to cut the TV watts in half, lol.

[roflwaffle]

Yeah, you would only gonna save about a kWh/day, so that's what, $36/year,maybe $72/year in CA? It'd take ten to twenty years just to amortize itself, maybe less if you sold the plasma, but the way TVs move it'd probably be worthwhile just to wait as LCD prices keep on dropping and maybe pick one up for a couple hundred used. Then it might be worthwhile (payback in about three to six years).

[NiHaoMike]

Try setting up cpufreq for higher efficiency.

[insaneintenti0n]

Originally Posted by NiHaoMike

Try setting up cpufreq for higher efficiency.

I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium. Looks like cpufreq is linux only

[Daox]

I believe intel's speedstep and amd's cool'n quiet are enabled by default, but I'd double check that.

[insaneintenti0n]

Finally just flat out rewired the entire system yesterday. Pulled out the Comcast DVR even though I still have a few things on it I want to watch, so I left wires hanging out the back that I can get to easy enough to plug it in to watch it.

To control power I'm using:
Surge Suppressor
Power Strip 1
Power Strip 2

On the Surge Suppressor are the things I use 'daily'
TV Antenna
TV
Amplifier & Receiver
Media Center PC
DVR/DVD Player - This is a ATSC DVR I bought 2+ years ago. This way, if needed, I can record two things at once using it and the Media Center PC, but really, I just needed the Clock on it, and it's 'off' watts is 1.

On Power Strip 1 are the 'Music' things I use occasionally.
Record Player
Mini Disc
Wireless iPod Dock (lets me transmit to a receiver on another stereo w/in the house)
VCR - I use this more often for recording stuff to DVD for other people.

On Power Strip 2 are all the video game stuffs:
PS2
Xbox
Wii
and the Charger for my Logitech remote.

Power Strips 1&2 are in spots that are easy enough to get to to turn them on when I need the devices on them.

Sustained Watts with Power Strips 1&2 off, and everything else in stand by is 13 Watts. I'm fairly ok with that since before it was almost 40 Watts with the Comcast DVR plugged in. So not only will I get money from a lower monthly payment to comcast, but I also cut my power consumption a bit.