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MikeD · Mar 24, 2007, 05:38 PM

I don't see a way to turn it off. When I switch inputs its alway there displaying images which is nice. But what about 1) heat issues and 2) HD issues running 24/7???

Mike

chabig · Mar 24, 2007, 05:57 PM

Both of those issues are considered and handled by the designers. You don't have to worry about it.

brokenjago · Mar 24, 2007, 07:10 PM

You can press and hold the Play button to "turn it off."

I put that in quotes because I think it's more like a sleep mode, than actually being turned off.

MikeD · Mar 25, 2007, 09:18 AM

Thanks - don't know how I missed that. I just did it and will see if it 'cools it's head off!'

k squared · Mar 25, 2007, 01:18 PM

Here we go: the start of 'my appleTV is too hot to put on my lap' and 'my appleTV is overheating' complaints.

MikeD · Mar 25, 2007, 02:20 PM

It's been a few hours and it's still hot so it must be that powersupply in there. I'm not worried since I got the applecare for it. The glass top that it's on is pretty warm. I don't know who would put this thing on their lap though! Sure beats my old powerbook in terms of heat!

confuzedwizard · Mar 26, 2007, 07:26 AM

How did you know to hold down the play button. i don't think it says that anywhere in the manual.

Simon · Mar 26, 2007, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by confuzedwizard

How did you know to hold down the play button. i don't think it says that anywhere in the manual.

It's in the manual on page 29. It's the same behavior as on the iPod.

GORDYmac · Mar 26, 2007, 08:15 AM

It's really hot.

brassplayersrock² · Mar 26, 2007, 09:31 AM

some one on this forum had a take apart his appletv thread, and a pic in it shows a LOT of thermal grease. maybe that is the problem concerning the heat??

alex

Cozmo85 · Mar 26, 2007, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock

some one on this forum had a take apart his appletv thread, and a pic in it shows a LOT of thermal grease. maybe that is the problem concerning the heat??

alex

The system is fanless. The case works as a giant heatsink. It getting hot means the grease is working.

Cadaver · Mar 26, 2007, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by Cozmo85

The system is fanless. The case works as a giant heatsink. It getting hot means the grease is working.

Actually, I think the nVidia graphics chip has a low-RPM fan on it.
But, yes, like everything else Apple makes, it tends to run warm. Who needs to touch the AppleTV box anyway?

MikeD · Mar 26, 2007, 08:59 PM

umm who Doesn't want to touch an Apple product!

brokenjago · Mar 27, 2007, 12:08 AM

How did you know to hold down the play button. i don't think it says that anywhere in the manual.

I know everything

umm who Doesn't want to touch an Apple product!

Amen.

Boris_Noir · Mar 28, 2007, 06:55 AM

That's dissapointing that its not easy to turn off.

I think all consumer products should look at halting stand-by as much as possible. Who needs their TV on stand-by - its not like the army or something - needing to deperately call up Lost at the tick of a second.

I don't want to be part of the generation that totally screws up this earth. Time to take responsibilty.

It's like my Wii - you can't turn it off unless you switch it off at the wall.

stevesnj · Mar 28, 2007, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by Boris_Noir

That's dissapointing that its not easy to turn off.

How is holding a button make it not easy to turn off?

imitchellg5 · Mar 28, 2007, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Boris_Noir

That's dissapointing that its not easy to turn off.

I think all consumer products should look at halting stand-by as much as possible. Who needs their TV on stand-by - its not like the army or something - needing to deperately call up Lost at the tick of a second.

I don't want to be part of the generation that totally screws up this earth. Time to take responsibilty.

It's like my Wii - you can't turn it off unless you switch it off at the wall.

It's not hard at all. Works exactly the same as the iPod. Why should it be any different? Everyone who owns an iPod (or can read a manual) should be able to do it. And Apple TV doesn't use enough power to make it use up all the energy in the world- like all Apple stuff it's very efficient.

JLL · Mar 30, 2007, 05:27 AM

Originally Posted by stevesnj

How is holding a button make it not easy to turn off?

Because it's not turning it off. It's basically just turning the video output off as you can still see it from iTunes and sync to it.

FastAMX79 · Mar 31, 2007, 12:23 AM

Originally Posted by MikeD

2) HD issues running 24/7???

Mike

My Dish Network DVR's HDD runs all the time. Even when in standby. It uses a Seagate 160GB drive. It is active 24/7 and I have yet to have issues. I assume it would be the same thing (as in always running). I doubt there is anything to worry about. Also, I'm sure Apple has been working on the AppleTV for some time now with testing, and believe there are no major issues. Granted if the drive is a defect, then yes, it would have a problem, but I doubt it.

Sorry for rambling, in short... don't worry

Hildy · Apr 4, 2007, 07:38 PM

I'm finding the same heat issues with appleTV, I've even put mine on standby for almost a day and it is still warm but not as bad as when it isn't on standby. When the system is on standby does it still pull media from iTunes...? Using the top of the unit as a heat sink makes good sense but a few firmware enhancements are necessary.

It is imperative that the next firmware version include a power saver mode, (apparently like standby) that could be timed out to as a screen saver option, or as a screen saver secondary option that kicks in after a second time limit is reached like with most mac screen savers power down options.

On that note it would be really nice to have the option for the picture screen saver to include intermittent use of album art including song title etc. when music is playing.

I'm sure these aren't new issues for the development team and they are on a feature list somewhere, if not I hope they read posts like yours.

Thanks, I was worried that I was the only one noticing this issue and the support center said if it persisted I should take it into the store.

k squared · Apr 5, 2007, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Hildy

...
Thanks, I was worried that I was the only one noticing this issue and the support center said if it persisted I should take it into the store.

What is the issue? That it 'gets warm'? If so, how is this an issue? My TV gets warm...is this an issue? My coffee maker gets warm too, is that an issue?

mdc · Apr 5, 2007, 12:09 PM

When mine melts and stops working I'm going to think it got too hot. Until then it sits on all day. Two weeks of it going all day long and it still works. I'm going to give Apple the benefit of the doubt.
If it does melt, I'm going to take it back to Apple and get it swapped for a new one.

@Hiddy. Do you want the photos screensaver to include album art or do you want an album art version of the photos screensaver? There is both a pictures and album art version under settings. A mixed one would be neat though.

TETENAL · Apr 7, 2007, 05:23 AM

According to macnews.de TV consumes between 25 and 28 Watt in standby-mode. I don't think that's acceptable (and really embarrassing for Al Gore). In Germany this adds at least €40 to your electricity bill annually.

bri-guy · Apr 17, 2007, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

According to macnews.de TV consumes between 25 and 28 Watt in standby-mode. I don't think that's acceptable (and really embarrassing for Al Gore). In Germany this adds at least €40 to your electricity bill annually.

That's really what I am concerned about! The machine should turn off when not in use to save electricity. But then that brings up the question - when is it not in use? Isn't it always at the ready to sync up with your Mac?

Recontech · May 5, 2007, 09:38 AM

For any of us that have home theater stuff, we're used to very hot devices. Anyone that has a DVR knows these things get hot (and electrically pricey)

red rocket · May 5, 2007, 10:26 AM

People concerned about the environment and the health of their electronic devices should invest in surge protectors. I've got all my computers and all of my home entertainment equipment plugged into the things.

Apart from surge protection, they also have off switches.

kupan787 · May 5, 2007, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

According to macnews.de Home TV consumes between 25 and 28 Watt in standby-mode. I don't think that's acceptable (and really embarrassing for Al Gore).

That is one third of a light-bulb. And we are talking about an electronic device, something a lot more complex than a light bulb. Are you going to start the march against light bulb manufactures for using unacceptable amounts of electricity?

If you are that worried, plug it into a powerstrip that switches off.

Originally Posted by TETENAL

In Germany this adds at least €40 to your electricity bill annually.

This year, two times you think about eating out at a restaurant, don't do it and you solved the money issue. Wow, that was tough.

Nexus5 · May 5, 2007, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

According to macnews.de TV consumes between 25 and 28 Watt in standby-mode. I don't think that's acceptable (and really embarrassing for Al Gore). In Germany this adds at least €40 to your electricity bill annually.

nexus5.

Simon · May 6, 2007, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by kupan787

That is one third of a light-bulb. And we are talking about an electronic device, something a lot more complex than a light bulb. Are you going to start the march against light bulb manufactures for using unacceptable amounts of electricity?

Bad comparison. Old light-bulbs with filaments had 75W power consumption. A modern fluorescent lamp uses about 12W and gives about the same brightness (the only downside is a short delay when turning them on). I have replaced all my old bulbs with new lamps. And actually in the European Union it won't be long before the old bulbs are banned and will have to be replaced by more efficient modern lamps.

The real point IMHO is that the device uses almost as much power in standby mode than in on mode. And that's basically because standby mode is nothing else than on mode w/o video output. That's something that should be changed in the future. At the very least the device should have an off switch. I guess once again design came before common sense. That said, it's not that bad because you can just yank out the power cord. I would do that. And anybody else who's concerned about wasting power for no reason can do that as well.

kupan787 · May 6, 2007, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

Bad comparison. Old light-bulbs with filaments had 75W power consumption. A modern fluorescent lamp uses about 12W and gives about the same brightness (the only down side is a short delay when turning them on). I have replaced all my old bulbs with new lamps. And actually in the European Union it won't be long before the old bulbs are banned and will have to be replaced by more efficient modern lamps.

It might not be long before they are banned in the EU, but what percentage of people still have the "old" style bulb? I live in an apartment complex, and I know they use all filament bulbs for their fixtures. I also know that all my lights have old style bulbs. Why? Probably because they are cheaper, and they were easier to find.

But on a side note, I wonder how acurate the 25W number is. If you read up here: http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Power_Usage you see that:

Measured power usage

Measured with Kill-A-Watt, 119V input, tested with 720p output to LCD (not plugged in to wattmeter)
Note: These figures have also been confirmed with a 240V unit.
Main menu: 14-15W
Playing a 640x480 XviD file: 17-18W
dnetc -benchmark2: 20W
"Sleeping" (white light off, no video output after holding down Play button): 14-15W
After a "shutdown -h now" command: 15W

So according to this, when on and fully powered playing a movie, it uses 18W, and when it "sleep" mode it uses 15W. So close to half of what was quoted here, and now a lot closer to your new light bulb.

Nexus5 · 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by kupan787

It might not be long before they are banned in the EU, but what percentage of people still have the "old" style bulb? I live in an apartment complex, and I know they use all filament bulbs for their fixtures. I also know that all my lights have old style bulbs. Why? Probably because they are cheaper, and they were easier to find.

But on a side note, I wonder how acurate the 25W number is. If you read up here: Power Usage - AwkwardTV you see that:

So according to this, when on and fully powered playing a movie, it uses 18W, and when it "sleep" mode it uses 15W. So close to half of what was quoted here, and now a lot closer to your new light bulb.

Ok, but how did they connect the LCD? HDMI or component? I have heard that using component instead of HDMI makes the tv running a little bit cooler. Less heat = less power consumption. Can someone confirm this?

nexus5.

msuper69 · May 7, 2007, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by kupan787

It might not be long before they are banned in the EU, but what percentage of people still have the "old" style bulb? I live in an apartment complex, and I know they use all filament bulbs for their fixtures. I also know that all my lights have old style bulbs. Why? Probably because they are cheaper, and they were easier to find....

Funny how the green people don't talk about all the mercury in those new
flourescent light bulbs. You break one of those here in the US and you have to have a professional hazardous materials cleanup company come to your home or place of business to clean up the mercury. You can't just vacuum it up unless you want to scatter mercury all over the place.

The old style light bulbs are much much safer.