@Andreas F That’s all well and good. I also use a myStrom WIFI switch. However, in my opinion, your approach does not solve the problem I described, namely that the blue TV box is the only (!) device that does not go into standby mode immediately after being connected to the power supply. I have LG TV, SONOS surround speakers, Logitech Hub, Sony BluRay, Apple TV connected to the same myStrom switch. Everything goes into standby… apart from the Logitech Hub, of course.

This means that if you feed all the devices with power via myStrom (switch the whole thing on), but only use a native TV app such as Netflix, Disney+ or similar, then the blueTV box runs pointlessly, max. 4 hours. Unless you turn them off separately. The myStrom Switch doesn’t change anything. Or am I misunderstanding your input?

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I consider the consumption measurement and the associated awareness raising to be the greatest benefit of the myStrom switch. Incidentally, in c’t 22/2022, the myStrom switch emerged as the winner in a comparison test of 6 devices. It received top marks in the connectivity and measurement accuracy category, and good for features and operation. However, the myStrom switch was the second most expensive candidate and the self-consumption measured by c’t was the highest at 1 - 1.3 watts.

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@Andreas F Your approach sounds clever. 😊 But isn’t that intended for when you forget to turn off the devices? The “power saving” function of the myStrom WIFI switch is also intended for this. But in my opinion the procedure is not useful for my use case of switching on. Maybe it’s already too late and I need a strong coffee to get to your level. 😄 Very appreciative, btw.

Anyways: It’s up to Swisscom anyway to program the device so that it goes into standby when the power is added, except perhaps during the initial installation. And at least there is an option in the software that allows you to select this behavior. This is standard for all other devices.

On the subject of power consumption of the myStrom switches: The devices on my switch in question have 22 watts standby consumption. I’d rather use the 0.9 watts (even if it’s actually 1.6 watts) than waste 20-21 watts pointlessly. That alone saves a good 150 kWh per year. And of course: A power strip would be even better, but it usually doesn’t have “standby logic” like myStrom offers, which automatically turns everything off if you mess it up. 😉

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@“x”#155907Yes, I have the impression that you didn’t fully understand my post. The trick is to set the automatic switch-off by the myStrom WiFi Switch so high that it still switches off, even if the Swisscom Box 21 is switched on, i.e. not in standby. According to measurements using myStrom WiFi Switch, this threshold for me is 35 W. So if only the Swisscom Box 21 is switched on after the power supply and no other device such as the television is connected, then the myStrom WiFi Switch switches off the power after 4 to 5 minutes and the whole thing Home Theater is completely off the grid again. So there is no need to wait 4 hours. And note, if I turn on another device within those 4 to 5 minutes, then my threshold of 35W is exceeded. Since I have a rather old Sony television and switching it on far exceeds the threshold of 35 W and the television is a device that is usually in use anyway, the shutdown behaves the way I want and I can use my home theater system for everything possible use (radio, music, films, etc.). Despite a Swisscom Box 21 which unfortunately does not go into standby mode after power is supplied, my home theater switches off automatically when it is not actually being used. And if I want everything to be in standby after switching on the power supply, e.g. if I use a BD/DVD player, then I use the activity ‘All to Standby after power up’ with the Logitech Harmony Remote. One click to activate it, a second to end it and all devices are in standby (as mentioned, for me it’s not just the Swisscom Box 21 but also the Apple TV 4K, which is not in standby mode as desired after switching on the power) . I hope this is now described more understandably.

Andrew

P.S.: I would be interested to know which Apple TV is in standby after switching on the power. Or is there even a setting that I have overlooked so far?

And by the way, yes of course, I would also be in favor of Swisscom programming the Swisscom Box 21 in such a way, at least with an optional setting, so that after the power is connected it returns to the last state before the power was interrupted, like my old Sony television can do, for example, or always just in goes into standby. I say this because as a programmer I can well imagine that certain users would like the current behavior of the TV-Box (I don’t work at Swisscom and know little about these needs). Completely agree with @maecke, at least optionally offer the desired behavior via setting, but it doesn’t seem like I’m asking too much when everything is already talking about saving electricity 😉.

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@Andreas F

In my opinion, your idea does not relate to my case described here, or is not a solution to the problem described. I understand your approach, but it doesn’t help in my case. It goes like this:

I have all audio and TV devices in my living room on a power strip with the myStrom switch hanging in front of it. So just TV, blue TV Box, SONOS (Arc, Surround, Sub), Apple TV Box, BluRay etc. When not in use, these devices are disconnected from the power via the myStrom switch.

For example, if I just want to listen to SONOS radio, I turn on the switch first and all devices receive power. All of these devices then go into standby immediately or “briefly” (see below for ATV), except for the blue TV box. And then I turn on the SONOS and use SONOS Radio. The blue TV box is the only one I have to explicitly put in standby, otherwise the thing will run unused for at least 4 hours.

The same if I only want to use Netflix, Disney+ & Co directly via the TV’s app after I have turned on the power. Here too I have to explicitly switch off the blue TV box as the only device.

Apple TV: I have 3 ATVs. They behave differently. I have “Activate sleep mode after 15 minutes” in Settings>General. After 15 minutes, the ATVs go into standby at the latest. In two of the three (ATV 4K) they go out more quickly after power is supplied. Maybe it depends on the generation of the device? Don’t know…

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  • hed has responded to this post.

    @hed Nope, it’s too fiddly for me. Swisscom should solve this on the software side and comply with common standards.
    I can also turn off the IP2000 with a button at the back. Thx anyway.

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    @maecke read here, that’s a pretty clear statement as to why this probably won’t be implemented (at least with the current OS on the box).

    [https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Nutzung-mit-TV-Box/automatisches-Einschaltung-der-TV-Box-verhindern/m-p/728764#M61489] (https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Nutzung-mit-TV-Box/automatisches-Einschaltung-der-TV-Box-verhindern/m-p/728764#M61489)

    This isn’t meant to be an excuse, just to promote understanding. And remember, Swisscom doesn’t just have 20-year-old, technology-savvy customers… 😉

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    @kaetho Thank you for the note and link!

    @RomanE Your explanation is understandable. The only point is that all those who unplug both the TV set and the blue TV box at night and then switch them on again (via a power strip or similar) are faced with a similar situation if they use the STB remote control for both use the box as well as for the TV.

    If I give power to both devices, the STB goes into ON mode and the TV goes into standby. If I then want to switch on the TV using the ON/OFF button on the STB remote control, the box goes into standby and the TV turns on. At least if I do that as soon as the box is fully booted. So I have different operating states and have to wake up the box by pressing a button other than ON/OFF. And you have to know that first, even if it is written somewhere in the instructions as a solution to the problem.

    Since very few people seem to unplug their devices and this case is therefore much rarer, you will certainly have fewer calls to the hotline in this regard. An argument, but not one in the spirit of the energy saving efforts of all companies and people in the current situation.

    The call argument sounds fake at first. But now that I understand what’s technically behind it thanks to your explanations, I can understand it. Even if it’s still kind of stupid and the STB is the only one who wants special treatment like an annoying diva. 😉 And the latest box no longer has an ON/OFF switch on the box, which I think is an absolutely incomprehensible design error anyway.

    Only choosing a different hardware or operating system would probably help… Unless a resourceful developer finds a tricky way. 😉

    Thx anyway, both of you!

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    @hed wrote:

    @maecke

    I don’t know of any standard or RFC that would require or recommend this.

    Let me rephrase it for you: It is a “lived standard” from other manufacturers. No, there is probably no standard with a number and seal (…).

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    @maecke Ok, I understand your situation better now. Totally agree, it would be good for Swisscom to reprogram the TV-Box accordingly so that a case like yours would be less complicated. And a power strip with individual switches as suggested by @hed actually doesn’t solve your problem in my opinion, because in my opinion it really doesn’t make much sense to have such a power strip after a myStrom WiFi Switch, which makes more sense to use on its own would do.

    Well, as far as my situation is concerned, I benefit from the fact that I use a Logitech Harmony Hub. I solve your problem somewhat acceptable to me with the activity ‘All to Standby after power up’. It’s not that inconvenient since I can operate everything from my iPad using the following steps.

    1. I switch on the myStrom WiFi Switch using the widget (on home screen swipe right from left edge, one click).
    2. Then I start the iOS app ‘Harmony® Control’ and click on the activity ‘All to Standby after power up’ and have to wait a few seconds until it is finished.
    3. Then I end the activity ‘All to Standby after power up’ and everything is in standby mode, including Apple TV 4K and Swisscom Box 21.

    Yes, if I didn’t have the Logitech Harmony, after step 1 I would have to find the Apple TV FB, press the screen button there a little longer and then turn off the television, the Yamaha AV receiver and the Apple TV 4K with one click. Then I have the problem that the Swisscom Box 21 is still on, I grab its white FB, and when I try to put the TV-Box into standby, my television switches on again via HDMI linking (which I want via AV receiver because of the sound). and thus also the AV receiver again. However, the Swisscom Box 21 has put itself into standby and I have to think with some effort that now only the ‘home’ button on the white FB helps to switch the Swisscom Box 21 back on so that all 3 devices can be put into standby together. Then only by pressing the power on/off button on the white FB again can I put everything into standby as desired. Not that difficult for me, but for my wife and other family members, who are not as familiar with the complex home theater as I am, it was quite an imposition. And I admit, without Logitech Harmony, this elaborate and complex behavior of the devices would get on my nerves over time. I know that you can also achieve all of this in fewer steps using the iOS app ‘blue tv’ and iOS control center remote for Apple TV. But for my family members that is even further away than fiddling with the FBs.

    Swisscom should program the TV-Box better, in my opinion you are absolutely right with your suggestion. But since the Swisscom Box 21 is not the only device that has problems with it, I had to find a solution and maybe someone will benefit from this idea. That’s why I simply described my system. By the way, I also had to do a bit of puzzling until I got everything to the point where the desired state could be achieved fairly elegantly in 3 steps. And if my family members just take the first step and then watch a DVD, then unfortunately, as you complained, the Swisscom Box 21 runs for 4 hours before it switches off automatically and of course it wastes electricity, sic.

    But I think we understand each other completely now, don’t we?

    HG Andreas

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    @kaetho Ok, I read what it says. I understand that. Therefore my suggestions to Swisscom would be:

    • Either introduce a TV-Box option that not only after 4 hours but also after say 10′ of non-use the TV-Box automatically goes into standby (seems easy to implement to me, since the same function with just a different parameter and just an extension of the existing user Interfaces with another option to choose from)
    • Or a new option so that the TV-Box goes into standby after the power is connected, but is switched off by default. More experienced people can then activate this option and can probably quickly understand that after connecting the power, the OS on the TV-Box must first start up completely until it is fully ready for use.

    I hope Swisscom employees, e.g. @RomanE, will take this into consideration. M.W. There are a lot of TV boxes in use and according to many statistics, a lot of electricity is wasted on standby and I can’t imagine that many people use power strips if this results in as many inconveniences as the many descriptions in these forums suggest. With my easy-to-implement first suggestion, Swisscom could perhaps make a contribution to saving electricity, because today it’s not just about minimizing calls to the Swisscom Help Center, but also about supplying electricity to the whole of Switzerland.

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    @maecke wrote:

    @hed wrote:

    @maecke

    I don’t know of any standard or RFC that would require or recommend this.

    Let me rephrase it for you like this: It is a “lived standard” from other manufacturers. No, there is probably no standard with a number and seal (…).

    @maecke

    Living standard?

    For me, the TV, the receiver, the DVD player and two different PC monitors all start up independently after switching on via the power strip. Only the ancient HP printer only goes to standby. If Swisscom were to change the design of the TV-Box, I would have a problem.

    Anyway, have you tried HDMI/CEC? This means that the booting TV-Box should also “wake up” the TV, which only starts up to standby.

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    @hed

    @maecke

    Living standard?

    For me, the TV, the receiver, the DVD player and two different PC monitors all start up automatically after switching on via the power strip. Only the ancient HP printer only goes to standby. If Swisscom were to change the design of the TV-Box, I would have a problem.

    Anyway, have you tried HDMI/CEC? This means that the booting TV-Box should also “wake up” the TV, which only starts up to standby.

    Huh… exactly the opposite for me. All my devices (TV, Bluray, Sonos, etc.) go straight into standby. At all 3 TV locations with their respective suppliers of various brands.

    And I use HDMI-CEC, but that doesn’t help here. If both devices (TV + STB) receive power at the same time, only the STB comes on, the TV goes into/remains in standby. Despite HDMI-CEC: the TV continues to “sleep”. 😉 All TVs (Samsung and LG).

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    3 months later

    @maecke My solution that I’m currently living with looks like this: I have defined an extra activity in the Logitech Hub, which has to be turned on once after switching on the power supply and then turned off straight away, i.e. two clicks and everything is fine desired in standby. For me this activity is called “All to Standby after power up”. It is programmed so that a minimum of devices are switched on (with muting so that you are not disturbed) and then switched off again when you leave the activity. Unfortunately, this takes a while, but afterwards the system is in standby mode and the actual activities of the Logitech Hub can then be used.

    These are the limitations of the Logitech Hub, that you always have to switch it on and off during an activity and there is no automation for this, e.g. automatic activation of an activity after switching it on, with the Logitech Hub. For programming reasons, I don’t think it makes sense to use another solution such as including the TV box and the Apple TV in all activities in order to just send a switch-off signal. Why burden the programming of all activities with something like this? In short, the path I have taken seems to be a sensible and pragmatic one given the available options and simply requires two clicks of switching on the power and waiting a bit.

    BTW, very specifically: I have the Harmony app in the widgets right after the myStrom widget and I do the first two clicks, turning on the power and starting the activity “All to Standby after power up”, right there in the widgets. From there I immediately start the Harmony app where I just have to exit the “All to Standby after power up” activity to have the system in the desired standby state. So everything is almost “elegant” ;-).

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