Another hidden $5/month DVR cost

[mike123abc]

I was reading a review of another DVR product and they had a chart at the end of the review:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/prem_review_01.pdf

Skip to pages 18/19. This list the wattage of 18 different DVRs. The 622/722 use more than any of them. It costs $4.64/month in electricity for each Dish DVR. Of course that is assuming 4 hours use a day and average electricity rates.

I wonder what the 922 does?

Dish needs to work energystar certification!

 

[navychop]

Maybe. I suspect Verizon is not the best source for this information.

 

[mike123abc]

Maybe. I suspect Verizon is not the best source for this information.

It is an individual using VZ's fios as a web server. It is not a VZ document.

 

[riffjim4069]

It is an individual using VZ's fios as a web server. It is not a VZ document.

Additionally, the document is well-written and focuses on comparing the Tivo HD models (Premier, Series 3 and Tivo HD). The information about power consumption is easy to measure and easy to verify using a $20 Kill-A-Watt monitoring device like [ame="http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU"]Amazon.com: P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor: Camera & Photo@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/11SD37G6Y8L.@@AMEPARAM@@11SD37G6Y8L[/ame]. I have three VIP 622 (now in the closet) and currenty a TivoHD, Verizon's QIP HD DVR, and a Sony DHG-HDD500 currenly connected to our FiOS TV service. Based on the measurements I took with my Kill-A-Watt, those figures coincide with mine. Although I don't recall the specifics, I recall my Tivo, Verizon and Sony DVRs power consumption was similar - only marginally different. Whereas my 622s sucked-down at least 50% more juice. In fact, I stopped folding with my PS3s (older 60GB models) after seeing how they were costing $15 per month (each) to keep them running 24x7, and I powered down the 622 in the Home Theater Room (only used on weekends) when not in use.

 

[Drdeceased]

Sat rcvrs also supply power to the dish unless an switch is involved.

 

[mike123abc]

Sat rcvrs also supply power to the dish unless an switch is involved.

True but the DirecTV HR23 is the second lowest power consumer at $1.88/month.

 

[crazybrit]

I was reading a review of another DVR product and they had a chart at the end of the review:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/prem_review_01.pdf

Skip to pages 18/19. This list the wattage of 18 different DVRs. The 622/722 use more than any of them. It costs $4.64/month in electricity for each Dish DVR. Of course that is assuming 4 hours use a day and average electricity rates.

I wonder what the 922 does?

Dish needs to work energystar certification!

Hmmn.

"The TiVo Premiere consumes 22 watts at startup, 23 watts in standby, and 25 watts while recording".

Did he hook a power monitor upto every device? Or are the standby/recording specs published for other devices?
For the Dish he says "59 watts" when recording/playback. Did he extrapolate Dish standby consumption based on the experience of the Tivo (which I'm not sure is valid).

59w x 4h x 30 days = 7.08kw/h x $0.1176/kWh = $0.83

$(4.64 - $0.83) = $3.81 balance for remaining 20 hours a day
Which is 32.39 kW/h over 30 days

So thats 53.98 watts in standby/startup.

 

[mike123abc]

Dish never turns off the receiver. It is always going. It just puts up a screen saver when you
"push the power button".

 

[crazybrit]

Dish never turns off the receiver. It is always going. It just puts up a screen saver when you
"push the power button".

It doesn't even spin the drive down?

 

[drdroo]

Does someone have a Kill-a-watt? I do but I don't own a 922 yet.

 

[DishSubLA]

It doesn't even spin the drive down?

NO. No Dish DVR's after the 50X's spin down the HDD. However, TiVo Series 3 never spins down either. In fact, TiVo series 3 is ALWAYS recording video on each of its 2 tuners, even in stand by mode, which seems to only turn the OLED clock and program title off.

 

[Scherrman]

OMG!!! How many different things will people come up with to PISS and MOAN about. If it's that big of a deal move out to the country, live in a cabin, get some cheap ass TV and hook it up to an antenna.

What's the next thing someone will find they can complain about?

 

[Van]

Its a valid point but it looks like you came up with the next thing to complain about which is bringing up that others pointed that dish equipment uses the most electricity out of the STB's tested. But hey if your keen on throwing away your money hows about you send me a few grand just for the heck of it.

 

[magnum2066]

Nickel and dime, nickel and dime...

 

[Slamminc11]

OMG!!! How many different things will people come up with to PISS and MOAN about. If it's that big of a deal move out to the country, live in a cabin, get some cheap ass TV and hook it up to an antenna.

What's the next thing someone will find they can complain about?

Best post in this thread! :up My thoughts exactly!

 

[mike123abc]

OMG!!! How many different things will people come up with to PISS and MOAN about. If it's that big of a deal move out to the country, live in a cabin, get some cheap ass TV and hook it up to an antenna.

What's the next thing someone will find they can complain about?

Well with 3 Dish DVRs, it costs me $15/month ($180/year) in electricity. It is not like it is bankrupting me or anything, it just is annoying to have to pay for something that they could probably design out. Looking at the competition, it appears that cutting 1/3 the usage (down to 40 watts) would not be that hard.

Remember one of the problems a lot of people complain about with Dish DVRs is that they overheat easily in enclosed areas. This relates directly to that problem. These things turn your cabinet into an easy bake oven.

 

[Jhon69]

True but the DirecTV HR23 is the second lowest power consumer at $1.88/month.

Now we know what's causing the slow operations,hangups,reboots with DirecTV's HR2xs, it's not getting enough juice to run!.

 

[weidner6]

Does the fact that one dvr feeds two televisions
balance that out a bit?

 

[Jhon69]

Does the fact that one dvr feeds two televisions
balance that out a bit?

That is an excellent question.

 

[toddjb]

Well with 3 Dish DVRs, it costs me $15/month ($180/year) in electricity. It is not like it is bankrupting me or anything, it just is annoying to have to pay for something that they could probably design out. Looking at the competition, it appears that cutting 1/3 the usage (down to 40 watts) would not be that hard.
...

I agree completely and I also have 3 DVRs to consider. There are plenty of products right now which have energy saving settings.

If energy reduction is not given as a requirement to the designers, nobody considers it. It would be very easy and likely low cost for Dish to design a receiver that consumes less power, just by component selection and smart powering down of hardware that is not in use. However, even with existing hardware (i.e. 722) they could probably put out a software release that powers down and only wakes up periodically to check for updates or download new guide info. No reason that Linux box has to be running 24x7 when they are used much less.

In most homes one of the boxes gets used regularly and the other 1 or 2 are used very sparsely.

This is a very fair request for Dish. Green is a HUGE marketing factor right now and I'm sure they'd hate to become known as the power hogs of content providers!