TV Standby myth

BUFF

Apodemus said:

So I tried the Firestick/USB socket experiment last night, with mixed results.

The USB port (on a Toshiba TV) does power down on stand-by and did manage to power the Firestick for long enough to watch a two and a quarter hour film with no problems.

However, the boot sequence on the Firestick takes a full 2 minutes, which is quite a long time to wait, when you switch the TV on, so I'm not sure this would be popular with impatient viewers.

To make matters worse, when one programme ended and we switched to a different streaming service, the Firestick decided it needed to reboot and then got stuck in a repeating boot-loop.  After a number of iterations, I powered it down to force a proper start and at that point I reconnected the A/C power adapter.  This time, as part of the boot process it decided it needed to optimise "system storage and applications..." which it said would "take approximately 10 minutes to complete", but seemed longer.  Google suggests if you see this message you should unplug the USB and reconnect the proper power supply! 

So the bottom line is that the Firestick doesn't like a 500mA supply and we are back using A/C adapter and accepting that we just need to make sure that the Firestick is back to "Home" before we switch the TV off.

I have a 4K Firestick driven from the USB of my ~ 7+ year old Sony "smart" TV (not a Google OS one though).
Yes, I do get occasional warnings but it certainly doesn't take 2+ minutes for the Firestick to boot. ( can't see the output of the USB socket given in the specs. & it is inconvenient to try to check).

For my TV standby power is claimed at 0.5W or 1.5W networked

Apodemus

Buff, so again the network connection means another 1W when the TV is on standby.  Where is this 1W being used?  Is it a matter of the TV constantly monitoring its connections?  Or some sort of reverse PoE thing?

BUFF

I imagine that it's the TV powering/monitoring the network adapters (wired & wireless) but I don't claim to know.

brig001

That’s the thing, it isn’t that
the solution here https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/standby-mode-high-power-usage-sony-oled/m-p/2602088
says that the TV is listening for messages from Apple HomeKit (we have a HomePod), and also gives the solution 

I guess that there could be a similar problem if you have an Alexa or Google Nest where the TV knows that it is there and keeps listening for commands, even though you haven’t set it up yet. I am only guessing as I don’t have either of those devices 

Brian

BUFF

brig001 said:

That’s the thing, it isn’t that
the solution here https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/standby-mode-high-power-usage-sony-oled/m-p/2602088
says that the TV is listening for messages from Apple HomeKit (we have a HomePod), and also gives the solution 

I guess that there could be a similar problem if you have an Alexa or Google Nest where the TV knows that it is there and keeps listening for commands, even though you haven’t set it up yet. I am only guessing as I don’t have either of those devices 

Brian

My TV doesn't have Google OS (nor is it OLED) so that link isn't relevant for mine.
Network adapters do need power if you want them to work, they don't run on air. I do believe that if you have them connected/enabled they will listen for wake-on type events etc. (mine has Remote Start set to off)

Apodemus

I'm guessing that in the case of the Firestick you are both correct.  I had forgotten that the Firestick comes with Alexa installed - it's not something I normally use.  But I think it is also constantly checking connections - when I changed to ethernet, I had to disable the wireless signal as I think it was getting confused between the two and at times was accessing a weak wireless connection rather than ethernet.

Please understand that I am not so MSE that I grudge 0.5W of electricity, it's just interesting to know what this device is doing!