Your Set Top Box Is Murdering Your Electric Bill. Heres What You Can Do. A recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC made headlines when it revealed that the biggest energy drain in your house likely isnt the fridge, air conditioner, or heater it is, unbelievably, the TV set top box. These ridiculously energy inefficient boxes, typically provided by your cable company, have received little scrutiny until now, which means the cable companies have had little reason to embrace readily available methods to decrease their energy use. Weve put together a list of the best and worst existing set top boxes, so you can at least know what youre getting. First, some background. YDfn1c1narw/VwN2HJw-zoI/AAAAAAAAJOo/ywsVU2M-CWsmV1tevpUaAPtfsUqkUzbew/s1600/EromUpgrade%2Bsoftware.jpg' alt='Dish Tv Set Top Box Software Update' title='Dish Tv Set Top Box Software Update' />IView TV Antenna HD Receiver and Converter Box DVR Ready 3500STBII Why spend money on a new TV or a cable subscription The iView 3500STB is the solution youve. I have 9 TVs throughout the house. I have a HUB in the basement that feeds CAT 5 and Coax to every room. Is it possible to have a shared set top box that. Sling TV doesnt offer enough for everyone. I barely watch cable TV as is, so Im perfectly fine with the cobbledtogether list of channels Dish has here. Operating system 1st Apple TV software 3. Based on Mac OS X 10. Tiger Released February 10, 2010 2nd Apple TV software 6. Based on iOS 7. 1. Shop BT Youview Set Top Box with Twin HD Freeview and 7 Day Catch Up TV, No Subscription. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. How could that little innocent cable box that provides so many hours of Monk reruns actually use more energy than a giant refrigerator The problem is that modern DVRs and other set top boxes arent regular one function appliances theyre just specialized computers, with a different exterior. They house energy sucking hard drives, modern processors, HD video cards, and all kinds of other components youd find in a regular computer. Except when youre not using a computer, you shut it down at least, we hope you do. Not so for set top boxes. The NRDC found that Todays set top boxes operate at near full power even when the consumer is neither watching nor recording a show, and that set top boxes are only in use about a third of the time theyre running. It raises the question Why dont people just shut down their boxes when not in use The answer is in two parts First, they dont realize they should, and second, set top boxes take awhile to start up like a computer which is what they are, rather than the instant on of a TV. Customers are not accustomed to waiting a few minutes for their TV to be available, and so leave the boxes on all the time, which in turn means the cable providers dont have any motivation to reduce startup time, let alone make them more efficient. The thing is, there are all kinds of options available to manufacturers that can reduce the energy use of these boxes. The Exorcist Tradition In Islam Pdf By Bilal Philips Books. There could be a stand by or sleep mode, often seen in some set top boxes in Europe, that greatly reduce energy use when the box is inactive. Even odder, most American boxes dont even have an actual off button pressing the button labeled off will merely dim the clock in many cases. The only way to actually stop these set top boxes from draining energy and raising your electric bill is to yank the plug out of the wall cathartic, maybe, but not very intuitive. To be fair, cable boxes arent whirring away, raising your electricity bill, for no reason. The benefit, at least for DVRS, of being always on is the buffer a DVR records constantly, usually an hour of footage from whatever channel youre watching, erasing as it goes so only the immediately previous hour is recorded. Thats why you can arrive late for Jeopardy Jeopardy and rewind it to the beginning of the episode so you can catch the easy questions in Single Jeopardy. If the DVR was in a deep sleep mode, with the hard drives spun down, it wouldnt be able to maintain its buffer 2. But there are still ways around it you could have it automatically go to a deep sleep during hours when youre at work and unlikely to need that buffer, for example. Some of the cable companies surveyed promised to deliver more energy efficient set top boxes in the future, but many noted that without public acknowledgment or interest, there was no real motivation to spend money on less energy hungry, more efficient hardware. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody cares that its raising everyones electric bill, why make a more efficient tree That analogy may not be as apt as it sounded in my head. We dug through the NRDCs data and pulled out the best and worst options for most of the major cable companies. The NRDC didnt bother with little regional carriers, in the interest of keeping the survey from being completely unmanageable, but most Americans subscribe to one of these companies and this is information they should have. If You Have Comcast. In terms of energy efficiency, Comcast comes out as the lesser of several evils, but not by much. Revealing Hidden Secret Service Menu in Dish TV DTH Set Top Box There are many DTH DirectToHome television service providers in India such as Tata Sky, Dish TV. Best Android TV Box NVIDIA Shield TV. Honestly, this isnt even a fair fight. NVIDIA, the graphics powerhouse behind most of the worlds top performing PC gaming. Comcasts most energy efficient boxes tend to be slightly more efficient than their equivalents at Verizon, Time Warner, and the satellite companies, and they also offer more choices in terms of hardware. The NRDCs data picks the Motorola DCH7. W while active, and 1. W while on standby, the Pace RNG1. W active, 1. 2W standby, and the Motorola DCX3. HDDVR 2. 9W active, 2. W standby. I spoke to a Comcast representative who told me that typically, the company installs whichever box they want, but that if you request a specific box that they have in stock, theyll happily install that one for you. This unit works great, first time set up does take a long time though. Downloading sfw update takes a while, but once it finished. They wont order you a box from elsewhere, and this kind of hardware rotates in and out of availability fairly quickly, but at least you might have the option to choose. If You Have Verizon Fi. OSVerizons most efficient boxes are just okay, while its least efficient are some of the worst of any surveyed. Even worse, Verizon gives the customer absolutely no option about which box they get you cant request a specific box at any point. That doesnt matter too much for the non DVR boxes, as the NRDCs findings only turned up one standard def and one high def box, but theres a big gap in efficiency between the companys best and worst DVRs. The most efficient is Motorolas QIP7. W active and 2. 8W standby, but the older Motorola QIP6. W active and 3. 5W standby. If You Have Time Warner. Time Warner has a smaller selection of set top boxes than either Verizon or Comcast, with only one averagely inefficient DVR and one startlingly inefficient standard def box. For a high def, non DVR box, the Cisco Explorer 4. HDC is the most efficient, at 1. W active and 1. 8W standby, but Time Warner told me that thats an older box that might be tough to find. The Time Warner rep was surprisingly, given the companys lousy reputation here in New York quite helpful, and offered to try to track down one of the 4. HDCs if that was what I wanted. If You Have Direc. TVHere we get to the satellite folks. Direc. TVs offerings are only slightly less efficient than Comcasts or Verizons, with the currently only standard def box coming in at 1. W active, 9. W standby, the best HD box the Direc. TV H2. 4 at 1. 6W active, 1. W standby, and the best HDDVR the Direc. TV HR2. 4 at 3. 1W active, 3. W standby. The DVR is pretty lousy, efficiency wise, but thats nothing compared to the Dish Networks craziness. If You Have Dish Network. I dont know what is happening inside the Dish Networks DVRs. Given the energy usage, they might well be powering nuclear reactors. The best DVR Dish offers, the Vi. P9. 22, uses 4. 3W while active, and 4. W while in standby but the worst one, the Vi. P7. 22, uses a ridiculous 5. W while active and 5. W while in standby. If You Use The Internet. Many are ditching traditional cable services for online services like Netflix and Hulu, and luckily, there are a whole bunch of gadgets that can play that content and more on a TV. They are also invariably more efficient than a cable box, to a startling degree. The Apple TV reviewed here, which streams Netflix and plays music, movies, and TV from Apples i. Tunes store, uses a mere 3. W while active and 0. W while in standby. Rokus XR HD, which streams Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, and a whole bunch more, uses only 7. W while active and another 7. W while in standby. The Boxee Box, a curiously shaped media streamer that uses the open source, ultra powerful Boxee software, can play Netflix, stream video from other computers on its network, play media from a hard drive or thumb drive plugged into one of its USB ports, and stream from lots of apps with Hulu hopefully to come soon. Direc. TV vs. DISH 2. Review. In our DIRECTV vs DISH review for 2. DISH and DIRECTV each have their benefits and drawbacks  and which one may be right for you. Ready to switch from cable to satellite tvAt a high level, DIRECTV is known for better customer service, but DISH is actually the provider with live 2. DISH has the Hopper, which lets you skip commercials in Primetime, but DIRECTV has some basic HD channels DISH is missing like ABC Family HD. Below are some other important things to consider as you compare DIRECTV and DISH, divided into relevant categories. Gift Card Limited Time Offer. Order New DISH service today and get a 1. Visa gift card. Just call 8. Legal Stuff 1. 00 Gift Card is courtesy of US DISH, shipping and handling fees may apply. Visa prepaid card is given to you as a reward or gift and no money has been paid by you for the card. Visa prepaid card is issued by Ohana. Order New Direc. TV service today and get a 1. Visa gift card. Just call 8. Legal Stuff 1. 00 Gift Card is courtesy of USDIRECT. Visa prepaid card is given to you as a reward or gift and no money has been paid by you for the card. Visa prepaid card is issued by Mpell. Why did we pick DISH Well, after spending countless hours examining each satellite provider, DISH offered the best balance of channels, tech features and cost. While DISH lacks the NFL Sunday Ticket a DIRECTV exclusive, their Hopper and Joey boxes have proven themselves again and again as reliable pieces of hardware. Moreover, the Hopper allows you to skip commercials on major network TV channels after 2. Internet connection. Lastly, their 2 year price lock guarantee removes the sticker shock that often comes when a 2 year contract is half way complete. In other words, you wont be surprised by a spike in cost, provided you opt for this feature. Get DISH Today 1. Packages. Each provider offers six different packages to choose from. DIRECTV Packages. The DIRECTV Premier package includes HBO, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax. In all packages, local channels are included. With 1. 85 HD channels, DIRECTV boasts the most HD offerings. For example, DIRECTV offers Disney Channel HD and ABC Family HD, while DISH does not. If you dont get the Premier package, DIRECTV also offers discounts on premium channels at the beginning of service and you can also get discounts on additional premium channels once you add one. With all packages, DIRECTV also gives you access to thousands of On Demand shows and movies as part of your package and though its taken the company a while to get technologically savvy, you can now watch a selection of shows anywhere on your laptop, tablet or cell phone. Update as of 1. 02. AT T recently acquired DIRECTV. Now you can bundle your DIRECTV with your AT T Wireless bill. The packages are as follows Add DIRECTV to your existing AT T plan and save 1. One bill for both. AT T Wireless to your DIRECTV Package and save 1. Again, one bill for bothll in One Plan Over 1. Connect up to 4 TVs with HDDVRs, up to 4 smartphones, and 1. GB of shareable data. Cost 2. 00month for 1. AT TUnlimited Data Bundle and you can now receive unlimited data on the AT T network throttling occurs at 2. GB per billing cycle. T T may have discontinued these bundles as of Jan 2. It doesnt hurt to ask, though. DISH Packages. DISH, on the other hand, also has thousands of movies and TV shows on demand at the push of a button. They also offer DISH Anywhere, which allows you to watch programs on your smart device, such as an i. Pad or Android phone. If youre a big sports fan, DIRECTV is probably the best choice. No matter where you live, DIRECTV offers every out of market NFL game every Sunday DISH has other sports, but not the NFL with the popular NFL Sunday Ticket. You can also watch college football and basketball and purchase add ons like NBA League Pass, Fox Soccer Plus and MLB Extra Innings. And if youre wondering what channel is what as in what channel is Fox on DISH, be sure to checkout our easy to use, and searchable, DISH Network Channel Guide. Winner DIRECTV, which offers more options and isnt missing any basic channels. Get DIRECTV service today and get a 1. Visa gift card. Just call 8. Legal Stuff 1. 00 Gift Card is courtesy of USDIRECT. Visa prepaid card is given to you as a reward or gift and no money has been paid by you for the card. Visa prepaid card is issued by Mpell. Price. DIRECTV packages range from 8. HBO and 1. 3. 9. Showtime. Required contract 2. DISH packages range from Update As of 1. DISH discontinued first year pricing. Replacing that is DISHs 2 year pricing guarantee. DISH charges 1. HBO and 1. Showtime, 1. Cinemax, 1. Starz, 7 for Epic and 6 for Encore. Though they offer Premiums Free for 3 Months HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, and DISH Movie Pack62. Update DISH now includes HBO for the first 1. Required contract 2. Update DISH now offers a 2 year contract with pricing locked for 3 years. That means your monthly bill wont suddenly sky rocket come month 1. Moreover, theyre only asking you to sign a 2 year contract and offering 2 years of the same price. The price wars are on Direc. TV offers a discount for the first 1. As of 1. 02. 72. Direc. TV is now the only provider to offer a first year discount, with pricing increasing in month 1. Since you must sign a 2. Both DISH and DIRECTV offer 3 months of free premium channels for new customers on select packages. Winner DISH, which has the cheapest options and cheapest teaser rates, plus they now offer locked pricing for 2 years on a 2 year contract.