TiVo power consumption 19.6W

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Skolink

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Topic # 96298 25-Jan-2012 00:09
Many people have wondered how much power a TiVoHD consumes, as did I, so I measured it. In 1720 hours (71.7 days) the TiVo consumed 33.7 kWh, so an average of 19.6 Watts. In a year it would use about 172 kWh, at 20c/kWh that would be $34.

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They see me trollin'
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Reply # 573010 25-Jan-2012 04:01
That's actually really interesting, I wonder what it's like compared to other hdd recorders. Michael Murphy [Twitter] [Last.fm] [IPv6 Sage] Anything written up there is my own view on life, the universe and everything.

dukester

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Reply # 573024 25-Jan-2012 07:48
Skolink: Many people have wondered how much power a TiVoHD consumes, as did I, so I measured it. In 1720 hours (71.7 days) the TiVo consumed 33.7 kWh, so an average of 19.6 Watts. In a year it would use about 172 kWh, at 20c/kWh that would be $34. Is that in standby mode ?

Jaxson

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Reply # 573076 25-Jan-2012 09:34
dukester:Is that in standby mode ? It appears TIVO doesn't have a real standby mode, it just turns off the video output only!

Skolink

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Reply # 573111 25-Jan-2012 10:49
Jaxson: dukester:Is that in standby mode ? It appears TIVO doesn't have a real standby mode, it just turns off the video output only! Correct. It is always recording from both tuners, even in standby mode AFAIK, though I have never tested that. We never use standby mode. FYI 'peak' power draw was 54W, probably during bootup I would guess.

JAYJAY

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Reply # 573148 25-Jan-2012 12:56
Thanks for this info. Very interesting. Would be interesting to see how this stacks up against other players. Doesn't seem like a lot of power usage for a year.

jonathan18

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Reply # 573180 25-Jan-2012 14:29
Skolink: Many people have wondered how much power a TiVoHD consumes, as did I, so I measured it. In 1720 hours (71.7 days) the TiVo consumed 33.7 kWh, so an average of 19.6 Watts. In a year it would use about 172 kWh, at 20c/kWh that would be $34. Thanks for that - just what I wanted to know as, I mentioned in another post, the TiVo manual doesn't give the figure. That's lower than what I've read for the US model (c. 30w), and low enough not to make me feel too bad about having a PVR that is on continuously.

JimmyH

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Reply # 573254 25-Jan-2012 18:57
Trouble is it's all cumulative. Neither the Tivo, or any other kit alone, may seem that significant. But when you add all the devices you may have continually sipping power (Tivo, Sky box, DVD recorder) then the collective draw can start to get up there.

Shoes2468

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Reply # 573257 25-Jan-2012 19:13
I wonder how this stacks up against myskyhdi anyone know the figures for that?

mattwnz

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Reply # 573260 25-Jan-2012 19:23
Shoes2468: I wonder how this stacks up against myskyhdi anyone know the figures for that? Maybe less, as it only has two tuners, while the sky has 3. I wonder how it stacks up against a media pc.

Skolink

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Reply # 573288 25-Jan-2012 20:45
JimmyH: Trouble is it's all cumulative. Neither the Tivo, or any other kit alone, may seem that significant. But when you add all the devices you may have continually sipping power (Tivo, Sky box, DVD recorder) then the collective draw can start to get up there. Yes it sure can. When we are away on holiday we still 'use' 6 to 7kWh per day, which is 250-300W! I would turn the whole house off, but then my wife would miss some of her precious reality TV shows, and the neighbor wouldn't be able to see when feeding the cat at night. EDIT: and, we would have to empty the fridge...

jonathan18

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Reply # 573323 25-Jan-2012 22:08
Skolink: JimmyH: Trouble is it's all cumulative. Neither the Tivo, or any other kit alone, may seem that significant. But when you add all the devices you may have continually sipping power (Tivo, Sky box, DVD recorder) then the collective draw can start to get up there. Yes it sure can. When we are away on holiday we still 'use' 6 to 7kWh per day, which is 250-300W! I would turn the whole house off, but then my wife would miss some of her precious reality TV shows, and the neighbor wouldn't be able to see when feeding the cat at night. EDIT: and, we would have to empty the fridge... Know the feeling. We went away on holiday at the beginning of the year. Having recently moved to Powershop I was in a power-saving mode so suggested to my wife we turn the power off at the mains while we were away. I then remembered the alarm wouldn't work; it took her brains to remind me the fridge and freezer may be of more significance! The alternative I went with was turning off every plug in the house bar the essentials. At least appliances are generally becoming more energy efficient with each generation, both in stand-by and while in use. And power consumption isn't generally enough to sway me for or against a purchase - I'd still choose plasma over LCD any day.

mattwnz

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Reply # 573328 25-Jan-2012 22:23
Skolink: JimmyH: Trouble is it's all cumulative. Neither the Tivo, or any other kit alone, may seem that significant. But when you add all the devices you may have continually sipping power (Tivo, Sky box, DVD recorder) then the collective draw can start to get up there. Yes it sure can. When we are away on holiday we still 'use' 6 to 7kWh per day, which is 250-300W! I would turn the whole house off, but then my wife would miss some of her precious reality TV shows, and the neighbor wouldn't be able to see when feeding the cat at night. EDIT: and, we would have to empty the fridge... Do you know what those appliances were, and how much each was using. I suspect fridges and freezers use alot.

Skolink

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Reply # 573333 25-Jan-2012 22:32
mattwnz: Skolink: Yes it sure can. When we are away on holiday we still 'use' 6 to 7kWh per day, which is 250-300W! I would turn the whole house off, but then my wife would miss some of her precious reality TV shows, and the neighbor wouldn't be able to see when feeding the cat at night. EDIT: and, we would have to empty the fridge... Do you know what those appliances were, and how much each was using. I suspect fridges and freezers use alot. No, I haven't worked that out yet. They would include fridge/freezer, TiVo x2, Dreambox, network switch, router, modem, clock radio x2, microwave, solar hot water pump. I agree re fridge. Things on standby don't use much these days - eg heatpump, xbox, TV, PC.

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Reply # 573954 27-Jan-2012 08:53
I brought a power use meters from Dicksmiths a couple of weeks ago. Generally use was as expected including as I had suspected the Telstraclear STB which uses ~9w regardless of it being in standby or on. The one unpleasant surprise was the Velodyne sub which uses 15w when on, standby or off (of course more when in use) :( Someone asked how the power of the Tivo compares to a HTPC. Unfortunately I do not think you can say as it comes down to what the hardware is which low power system at one end and a gaming type system at the other and of course what it is set to for instance our HTPC sleeps when not in use but some are left on all the time and I am sure some are shut down. Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

RXV

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Reply # 574018 27-Jan-2012 11:28
Shoes2468: I wonder how this stacks up against myskyhdi anyone know the figures for that? Just googled it .. http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=106&topicid=32073 According to that post, MySky HDi uses 28W when on, 26W in standby. So if TiVo is using only 19W, is not only cheaper in terms of subscription, it saves you about 20% on power usage as well.

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