Thursday, June 4, 2009
Motorola/Comcast, Can You Make a Cable Box that Sucks Less (Electricity)?
Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 05:00 AM
During some of my past reviews of power saving devices, I've used my Kill-a-watt to measure the power draw of a variety of my devices. One of the biggest frustrations has been my cable box. I had a Comcast/Motorola DCT 6200/2005 that constantly drew 29 watts regardless of it was on or off. This is one of the main reasons I've been using the Bye Bye Standby to cut power to my home entertainment system when it is not in use. Of course this presented its own problems since every time the cable box looses power, it looses all of the guide information and takes about an hour to re-download it after being powered up. But, by powering it down for 18 hours a day, I'm saving around 190 kWh per year in electricity that would have otherwise been wasted. Read more...
