To Standby or not to Standby?

Shaunio · 05-04-2007, 09:23

Do you guys put your V+ boxes into standby at all?

I see in the manual it says that your V+ box is designed to be on at all times, you might want to put it into standby when you are away from it for a while such as for the weekend or holidays.

What does standby do then? Is it best to put it in standby when I go to bed at night?

AndyCambs · 05-04-2007, 10:24

Personally, I leave mine on all the time.
The hard drive will go into hibernation anyway overnight after a period of rest and not being used.
It's important NOT to turn off completely at the mains though.

Tod · 05-04-2007, 11:34

Does any one know what standby actuarially does? Does it put the box into the hibernate state, or does it do something else?

**Graham M** · 05-04-2007, 12:04

Personally I think it just turns off the Scart/HDMI signal

MarkD · 05-04-2007, 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeph

Personally I think it just turns off the Scart/HDMI signal

It also changes the display from channel number to time, and has that helpful blue glow so you can see where you are going in the dark :-p

I seem to remember reading that someone had gone to the trouble of putting a test meter on and found the power difference wasnegligible. Only other reason for doing it would be that it will get an update slightly earlier when it becomes available.

Shaunio · 05-04-2007, 13:54

That's it though? It doesn't spin the hard drives down or anything like that?

If not then there's no point really is there

privateb · 05-04-2007, 14:15

Why should it not be turned off at the mains overnight?

MarkD · 05-04-2007, 15:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaunio

That's it though? It doesn't spin the hard drives down or anything like that?

If not then there's no point really is there

My impression is that the drives spin down anyway when the system goes into resting mode.

Murk · 05-04-2007, 15:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by privateb

Why should it not be turned off at the mains overnight?

It can be switched off at the mains because i do every night unless im recording something and i have been told by 3 engineers that its fine to do so

AndyCambs · 05-04-2007, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murk

It can be switched off at the mains because i do every night unless im recording something and i have been told by 3 engineers that its fine to do so

Then you miss out on the updates - also if you read the instruction manual that came with it (or there are plenty of links to it on the forum), it does specifically state NOT to switch off. Amongst other thing, it probably doesn't help stopping the hard disc abruptly when you switch off.

Murk · 05-04-2007, 20:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

Then you miss out on the updates - also if you read the instruction manual that came with it (or there are plenty of links to it on the forum), it does specifically state NOT to switch off. Amongst other thing, it probably doesn't help stopping the hard disc abruptly when you switch off.

But as mine is too loud to leave on standby i will switch it off and because i have been told by 3 engineers it is safe i will continue to do so

Remember the hard drive in the V+ box is just a standard hard drive so it is exactly the same as switching a pc on and off

hansi · 06-04-2007, 07:34

Personally, I like switching off at the mains, but it takes so long to boot up if there's something you want to get to quickly, and so I leave it on except when I go away for a weeekend or holidays, then I would disconnect form the mains for safety reasons, like turning the water off in case there's a flood!

**Graham M** · 06-04-2007, 07:37

Electrical equipment only has a finite lifetime of On/Off cycles so everytime you turn it off, you are shortening the box's life mainly because of the heating/cooling (expanding/contracting) the components do

foreverwar · 06-04-2007, 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murk

But as mine is too loud to leave on standby i will switch it off and because i have been told by 3 engineers it is safe i will continue to do so

Remember the hard drive in the V+ box is just a standard hard drive so it is exactly the same as switching a pc on and off

But you don't just switch a PC off at the wall - you power it down in a controlled manner.

If your box is noisy, it often helps to put something under the "feet" (as stated on other threads, which reduces the vibration noise - well, it did for me).

Murk · 06-04-2007, 09:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by foreverwar

But you don't just switch a PC off at the wall - you power it down in a controlled manner.

If your box is noisy, it often helps to put something under the "feet" (as stated on other threads, which reduces the vibration noise - well, it did for me).

Yea thats true i suppose

i have tried putting things under the feet but its not really a vibrating noise its just the hard drive itself