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Sony Android TVs waste 25W in standby due to built-in Google Chromecast

478 points| eisa01 | 3 years ago |avsforum.com | reply

247 comments

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[+] eisa01|3 years ago|reply
This may not sound bad, but it's the equivalent of 200 kWh per year and the set is only supposed to draw 0.5-1W from the specifications

This would cost more than 50 EUR per year at current prices, and is sizeable compared to the average German citizens consumption of 1500 kWh electricity

Let's just say this is not ideal given the current energy shortage in Europe...

[+] Someone|3 years ago|reply
It also is illegal in the EU for new devices. https://ec.europa.eu/info/energy-climate-change-environment/...:

“Network-connected standby devices

Modern appliances are increasingly connected to the internet during standby mode, consuming higher amounts of energy. This includes networked televisions and decoders, printers, game consoles and modems.

- Specific requirements for network-connected standby devices were introduced in 2013.

- Since January 2017 networked standby devices must not consume more than 3 to 12 Watts depending on the product.

This compares to 20 to 80 Watts previously. This decrease is expected to save an additional 36-38 TWh.”

I think this TV is from 2014, so it would have to comply with the older regulations, which I think are https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A..., but that doesn’t mention anything close to 80W.

It does mention 6W and 12W limits, but only starting at January 2015.

⇒ it seems this device doesn’t break that regulation.

[+] czottmann|3 years ago|reply
Not at the current prices for new customers. I'm currently paying 50,07€ct/kWh here in northern Germany.

25W * 8760h * 0,5€ = ~109€ per year.

The price hurts, yes, but the waste of power is _criminal_.

[+] xeromal|3 years ago|reply
200 kWh can run my tesla for about 1000KM just to give people a picture of the waste.
[+] MandieD|3 years ago|reply
More than 50 EUR per year at the prices a lot of us contracted for before the war for 2022, to make things clearer.
[+] explaingarlic|3 years ago|reply

  This would cost more than 50 EUR per year
Try: €200 at current forecasts :/
[+] Markoff|3 years ago|reply
> This may not sound bad, but it's the equivalent of 200 kWh per year and the set is only supposed to draw 0.5-1W from the specifications

Assumming you never use TV (if I calculated correctly it's 219kWh for 24/7/365 standby 25W waste). Many people have switched on TV for 3-10 hours per day, heck I don't watch that much TV and I have it switched from 8-11 PM plus my kids around one hour a day. I'm sure my retired mother would easily do 8-10 hours per day.

Also I mean if you are bothered with it just unplug TV or switch off the socket.

My whole household yearly consumption including AC (26C) is ~1200 kWh.

[+] Saris|3 years ago|reply
Especially since an android phone can idle for days on about 10Wh of battery, or something like 0.2W.
[+] blinkingled|3 years ago|reply
I have a 2020 model I bought from Costco and as slow and shitty the UI is it also still burns 16W in standby.

There isn't a way to disable Chromecast either so thanks for nothing Sony and Google.

I need a dumb tv and Nvidia sheild.

Edit: I take the standby power usage part back. After settings changes including Eco stuff and something to do with remote start and a restart it's at 4W which is very acceptable.

The UI inexcusably still sucks though.

[+] yumraj|3 years ago|reply
Go to Apps, “See all apps”, scroll down, find “Chromecast built-in” and then click Disable on the app’s settings.

At least that is how it’s on my Sony TV.

[+] pcdoodle|3 years ago|reply
4W is still pretty bad. Any modern computer will gladly sit under 1W ready for a quick wake up.
[+] crazysim|3 years ago|reply
There’s a dumb tv or pro mode on Sony tvs. Never used it though.
[+] pentae|3 years ago|reply
Yeah my Sony tv from about that same year is the worst TV i've ever owned by far. Theres crazy bugs like when you leave a show or youtube paused it will just randomly start playing again after 10 minutes. The UI is very slow and unresponsive. If you smash the up/down volume too fast it disconnects from the soundbar. The remote is like something from the 1980s with 1000 buttons on it.

By comparison my Samsung TV is an absolute joy to use. The UI is responsive, works like you expect it to, The remote is wonderful. It really amazes me how Sony was a leader in the 80s and 90s then ate the dirt hard after the iPod and now 15+ years later they still haven't reorganized and got their act together to be a leader in anything except maybe camera sensors for smartphones.

[+] whywhywhywhy|3 years ago|reply
The feature never even worked on mine, every time I tried to use it Chrome complained its version was too old or something similarly stupid excuse why it wouldnt work.
[+] Panino|3 years ago|reply
If you're wondering how much energy is consumed by your electronics, a base model kill-a-watt for about $30 will show you watts and cumulative watt-hours. It's a fantastic tool that pays for itself besides giving an eye-opening, interesting experience. You'd be surprised at the things in your house consuming electricity 24/7.

Almost everything in my house is either on power strip surge protectors or just unplugged.

[+] harry8|3 years ago|reply
I highly recommend the Athom smart home plugs preflashed with tasmota. No flipping cloud. None. Pick them up a fair bit cheaper than $30. And of course can turn them on and off over you local wifi - set timers over your wifi, or via mqtt for the whole smart home thing etc.

Point is they just work too if you don't want to do any of that. Plug them in, connect to their builtin wifi ap, read the power usage stats. Good button on the side that turns the power on and off too.

https://athom.aliexpress.com/store/group/Tasmota/5790427_517...

Esp8266 and a relay. Simple. Effective. Cheap. And just better than anything else I've seen in the space. Anyone has other recommendations I'm all ears.

[+] Rebelgecko|3 years ago|reply
You can also get power strips that toggle power based on how much juice the "control" plug is pulling. I have mine set up with the TV- when the TV is off, all the other plugs are disabled. But when I turn on the TV, it turns on power for the Xbox, Steam Link, etc
[+] Semaphor|3 years ago|reply
> You'd be surprised at the things in your house consuming electricity 24/7.

I was ready for that. But it turned out that besides an idling rPI, modem, router and APs, nothing actually does. I have a bunch of zigbee connected smart plugs, and when I got those, I checked all my devices. Turned out regulations really do help, because all the standby usage was miniscule.

[+] eisa01|3 years ago|reply
I’d actually recommend a wifi smart plug with energy monitoring

Easier to read the display on your phone ;)

[+] pcdoodle|3 years ago|reply
For sure!

I found a pioneer amp that sucked 200W sitting there doing nothing. No increase when volume was turned up either. I compared to an older 1970s model that started at 3w and went up from there with the volume.

[+] dpkirchner|3 years ago|reply
Some libraries have meters you can check out.
[+] stefan_|3 years ago|reply
My one misgiving with hard switching all devices daily is that they all have some kind of AC to DC power conversion with the cheapest capacitors imaginable that are subjected to high inrush currents every time I toggle them on.
[+] denysonique|3 years ago|reply
A generic plug consumption meter is around $10 on eBay
[+] londons_explore|3 years ago|reply
Chromecasts in general seem like big power hogs... I don't need you to use 20 watts all the time to show a shiny background image and a clock...

I really wish users who spend "Just" $/€/£ 40 on a Chromecast knew that it is going to cost them the same amount every year on their bill. I think many of those people wouldn't buy one if they realised they are almost buying a subscription.

Google could adjust them to just don't send out any signal unless someone is actually casting. The chipset can totally do 0.1 watt sleep mode with wifi connected.

[+] lock-the-spock|3 years ago|reply
It was a big eye opener for me when I realised that the Chromecast is always warm, even when the TV is off and it's not been in use for days. The extension switch is now always off, but I wonder how much this device cost me over the past years.
[+] ajross|3 years ago|reply
> Chromecasts in general seem like big power hogs...

The original Chromecast product was a stick that ran off a default 10W USB 2 power supply. I don't know what the current ones are drawing, but I'd be pretty surprised if it was any more.

This is a bug with this particular TV, which is running the Chromecast stack on a much less efficient SOC and clearly has some kind of integration bug which is preventing low power idle states. It's got nothing to do with Chromecast (or Android) as a product or protocol. They should fix the bug.

[+] Scoundreller|3 years ago|reply
I kinda doubt they use 20w.

I doubt my TV’s USB port pushes out 4A (@5V) and 20w in a heat-sink less enclosure like that would bake.

[+] freetime2|3 years ago|reply
Just checked my Sony Android TV from 2019 and found it is drawing 16W while turned off. Turning off the Chromecast built-in service, the remote start service, and enabling Eco mode did not seem to make a difference.

I already disliked this TV and was unlikely to buy another from Sony (for example occasionally it will “crash” while in standby mode and stop responding to any input, requiring me to unplug it and plug it back in). But learning this further damages my opinion of both Sony and Google.

[+] harry8|3 years ago|reply
I've got a sony google bravia and have disabled everything I can think of, chromecast, remote start, bluetooth etc. Cannot get it under 12W when switched off. Can't believe I got suckered like that. There really should be consequences. Nobody would reasonably think their tv is sucking juice like that when turned off.
[+] jerlam|3 years ago|reply
Could be a poor implementation of Chromecast standard when integrated into the TV's.

My Chromecast connected to my TV is also powered by a USB port on the TV. It seems to turn off when the TV is in standby, I have to wait for it to initialize when I turn my TV on. This detail could have been easily lost over the years.

I do agree with people who say the Chromecast was best when it first came out. It did one thing well (albeit in an indirect way). Like all hardware, it has been slowly adding more and more features that will require it to draw more power, connect to the internet more, track more usage, integrate with more Google services, etc.

[+] laweijfmvo|3 years ago|reply
Television isn’t my primary choice for media, but when I do I just unplug it when I’m done. 0W standby. Same for basically everything other than the refrigerator and wifi.
[+] interestica|3 years ago|reply
I've a 2015 model that's becoming harder to use because of the outdated software and I'm not sure of a fix. The panel still looks great.
[+] pier25|3 years ago|reply
Depending on what you do either get an Nvidia Shield or an AppleTV.

I'd recommend the Shield for Plex or the AppleTV for streaming Netflix, etc.

[+] huhtenberg|3 years ago|reply
In which way is it becoming harder to use? The smart TV part of it?
[+] bagels|3 years ago|reply
My 'smart tv', which is used once a week, is plugged in to a light switch. Small improvement in privacy and in power consumption.
[+] Rizz|3 years ago|reply
A modern phone with a 5 Ah ( ~ 18.5 Wh) battery can run for many hours streaming to a builtin screen, meaning it uses far less (anything over 45 minutes is more energy efficient) than a chromecast despite doing more. Same scenario with a laptop with a 60 Wh battery, which can also run a long time in idle, and even while streaming, and is able to resume from sleep in a second. Running more than 2.5 hours on battery means it's more energy efficient than a Chromecast.
[+] Nursie|3 years ago|reply
Misleading headline - it’s a discussion about one Sony TV, that was released in 2015.

Worth checking others, but the headline makes it sound like they all do this.

[+] brnt|3 years ago|reply
I have every single device plugged in to a switchable extension cord for this reason. No need to trust a manufacturer, not even a 1-5W consumption (times the number of devices).
[+] Forge36|3 years ago|reply
Sure enough my newer (2018?) TV was doing this. Dug into the settings and turned on eco mode. Idling around 0.5 to 1 watt now.

Probably time I go around looking at whats eating up power.

[+] cat_plus_plus|3 years ago|reply
If you run an always on server on every gadget you have at home, don't be surprised if you energy bill starts looking like a datacenter.
[+] drusepth|3 years ago|reply
I would imagine most people don't go behind their TV hook up their little HDMI dongle every time they want to use it, so it seems reasonable to have a comparable wattage drawn when it's built-in -- but this is significantly higher than what it looks like an idle Chromecast draws (1.8-2W). Why is it so much more?
[+] gempir|3 years ago|reply
I own a Sony A80J and this is also what I was measuring. I'm thankful I did measure this before just blindly turning the feature on.

I have a Bose Soundbar also with Chromecast and that one doesn't suck down 25W+ while on standby and can thankfully turn on the TV via HDMI CEC.

Sadly the whole OS experience is shitty on the TV. It's 2500€+ TV and the UI is sluggish, Tv takes at least 5-10 Seconds to turn on each time and still comes with the classic google ad like interface.

I bought a Chromecast remote that works via bluetooth to somewhat make the remote feel a bit faster, but it sadly just makes a tiny difference.

Nvidia Shield still feels like the only real option when you want a non sluggish Interface on your multi-thousand euro/dollar purchase.

[+] jbotdev|3 years ago|reply
I have a Sony OLED TV from 2020 with Android TV and Chromecast, and power usage on my UPS is reporting as 0W when off (probably rounding down). I never had to disable it, but I also never setup network connectivity or the Android TV features in the first place.
[+] ajaimk|3 years ago|reply
Doing the math… this would cost me $50 per year in electricity bill