Cable box always ON?

[mod]

On the scale of important A/V questions, this one is probably a -30 or so. I'm figuring out my equipment setups and what I want to do with a remote and was just wondering......do other folks leave their cable box ON all the time or do they switch it On and OFF as needed? Not that it really matters. It's just another thing to control if I need to switch it on/off. Does it matter if it's on all the time?

 

[itschris]

On the scale of important A/V questions, this one is probably a -30 or so. I'm figuring out my equipment setups and what I want to do with a remote and was just wondering......do other folks leave their cable box ON all the time or do they switch it On and OFF as needed? Not that it really matters. It's just another thing to control if I need to switch it on/off. Does it matter if it's on all the time?

I have th SA8300, it actually does put out some heat. I just have it setup to turn on and off with the tv. It also has a power save mode that it goes into iin the wee hourse of the morning. I don't see any benefit to keeping it on. Even if the remote to your box is your only controller, you can easily have it turn your TV on and off with it. Save a couple of bucks on your bill and turn it off.

 

[MidnightSensi]

I keep mine on because of the DVR. It won't record if I shut it off. Also, when I leave it off for too long it needs to get the channel schedule data again and it is irritating. So, I leave it on a non-switched outlet. For a regular box without DVR I would probably shut it off though.

 

[aberkowitz]

I keep mine on because of the DVR. It won't record if I shut it off. Also, when I leave it off for too long it needs to get the channel schedule data again and it is irritating. So, I leave it on a non-switched outlet. For a regular box without DVR I would probably shut it off though.

That's the exact same thing I do with mine for the exact same reason. It's plugged into the "Always on" outlet of my power conditioner. The thing runs hot, but that's mainly because of the DVR (And b/c it's an absolute POS!!). I generally have to reboot the box about once a week or so.

 

[MDS]

I used to leave mine on all the time because it draws very little power and I was under the impression that it must be on to automatically update the program guide. Time Warner told me that it should be Off to receive guide updates and firmware updates.

The updates must occur around 3 am because if I am awake and the TV on, hitting guide will show the message 'Changing date to ...'. Sometimes it will hang for a long time and never actually updates. Turning the box off and waiting a few seconds will allow it to succeed the next time I hit the guide button.

So...I just have the box turn on and off with all the other equipment.

 

[Haoleb]

Depending on the system it is sometimes necessary to keep the box on at all times because they dont have discrete on and off IR codes and to prevent things becoming out of sync. In most smaller systems you can switch it on and off, but in more complicated ones and with people less inclined to know what they are doing its better to leave it on. Although it is best to turn it off at night and such to recieve updates as MDS mentioned.

 

[Audioholics]

Leave it on all the time. You can always force an update if you hear rumor of something that is needed. The power consumption hardly changes between On/Standby since the drive spins regardless unless power is completely cut (in which case you'd get no DVR functionality).

 

[Hi Ho]

I programmed my MX-900 to turn my Dish VIP722 on and off. I think the only thing it does is turn the cool looking blue, red, and green lights on/off. I don't think it makes any difference in power cosumption and I know it will update over night whether it's on or off.

Comcast cable boxes have discrete on/off commands in the URC IR database but they do not work so when I setup remotes for people with Comcast the box stays on.