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Parky · Nov 18, 2004, 06:11 AM

I have discovered an issue with the 6.1 update for Airport Express Base Stations.
I think it is related to the addition of the Keyspan Remote Control capability.

If you set your screen to sleep when there is no user activity this no longer works while you are streaming music to the AE Base Station.

If you play music to the computer speakers the screen will sleep, but as soon as you stream music to the base station the screen will never sleep.

I have tested this on an iMac G5 and a 12" PowerBook and it is repeatable on both 100%.

The best way to see it and understand it is to set the screen sleep time to 1 minute.
That means that after 30 seconds on most machines the screen will dim to half brightness and then after the full minute it will go off totally. T
This works OK unless you are streaming music to the AE.

Once you start to stream music and you then leave the computer alone to let the screen sleep the following will happen.
The screen will dim after 30 secs and then it will come back bright again.
How long it takes to come bright again can vary as it think it depends on a cycle of communication that is being made between the AE and the Mac.
This is why I think it is related to the Keyspan Remote, I think it is a regular heartbeat communication that the device requires to work.
I think there is a communication event happening every minute from the AE to the Mac, which looks like a user event and therefore prevents screen sleep.
Depending on when you fall into that 1 minute cycle with the screen sleep, it affects how long it takes for the screen to come bright again after it dims.

Give it a try, see what you think.

It looks like a bug to me and a bad one, I really don't want my screen to be on full for hours a day when all I am doing is streaming music.
It worked fine before the update, but now this has made iTunes / AirTunes and AE a problem as using them will shorten the life of my screen due to no sleep.

Ian Parkinson

Parky · Nov 18, 2004, 05:17 PM

Having tested this some more, it now seems that it affects all machines not just my iMac.

It is 100% repeatable on iMac and PowerBook

Ian

ratlater · Nov 18, 2004, 10:42 PM

Confirmed here too. Ugh.

-matt

Parky · Nov 19, 2004, 03:41 AM

Originally posted by ratlater:
Confirmed here too. Ugh.

-matt

Thanks for the confirmation, I thought no one else was going to try it.

I might not be a big deal for some people, but I like my screen to go black (off) when the machine is not being used by me, but I still want to stream music.

Ian

ghporter · Nov 19, 2004, 08:38 AM

Note that modern displays will not be injured by being left on; the flat panel display itself is solid state and lit by very long-life cold cathode fluorescent tubes. It may light up a dark room, but it won't hurt the display to have it stay on.

Ricky · Nov 19, 2004, 08:48 AM

I'm glad that I've stopped downloading updates as soon as they come out.

.saNNic. · Nov 19, 2004, 11:06 AM

Originally posted by Ricky:
I'm glad that I've stopped downloading updates as soon as they come out.

No kidding........

Parky · Nov 19, 2004, 11:56 AM

Originally posted by GHPorter:
Note that modern displays will not be injured by being left on; the flat panel display itself is solid state and lit by very long-life cold cathode fluorescent tubes. It may light up a dark room, but it won't hurt the display to have it stay on.

Then why do Apple give a warning in the Energy Control panel if you set the screen to 'Never Sleep'

They say 'Not sleeping your screen may shorten it life'

Ian

ratlater · Nov 19, 2004, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by GHPorter:
Note that modern displays will not be injured by being left on; the flat panel display itself is solid state and lit by very long-life cold cathode fluorescent tubes. It may light up a dark room, but it won't hurt the display to have it stay on.

That's not true actually. LCD displays will lose brightness over time as they are used. The backlight can be replaced, but at great expense. If you aren't using that big beautiful LCD, you want it off. I really hope Apple fixes this soon.

-matt

Parky · Nov 19, 2004, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by ratlater:
That's not true actually. LCD displays will lose brightness over time as they are used. The backlight can be replaced, but at great expense. If you aren't using that big beautiful LCD, you want it off. I really hope Apple fixes this soon.

-matt

I agree with that !!