Pik TV Box: "sleep mode" -- use it or not?

[cousinjunior]

I'm wondering about the "sleep mode" in my Telus Pik TV box

what exactly does it do, and should I use it or not?

if I do use it, is there any chance it could cause problems?

I'm asking because I just installed a new replacement box that Telus sent me, and I want to give this a fair shake... I had problems with my old one, and I had set a 1-hour sleep timer in that, NOT that I have any reason to believe that "sleep" was the cause of my issues

btw, when in sleep mode my box was still warm, so not sure if it's saving much energy at all... would love to find some actual technical specs for this box... anyone?

thanks

[WestCoasterBC · Accepted solution]

I never use sleep mode as the box is technically in a running state. The power savings are minimal in the device to warrant sleep mode.

[aasoror]

I don't think sleep is properly implemented on PikTV. As you noted box gets warm, what I have noticed that aside from killing HDMI output and timing out the BT remote box is still functioning (I can see it accessing my wifi network at full speed probably doing playstore updates or other maintenance background tasks).

If you are a daily user I wouldn't bother putting it to sleep, just turn off the display.

if you an occasional user and would rather not put the hours on the hardware then you might want to unplug it.

[Nighthawk]

The disadvantage of unplugging it is that once it's plugged back in, it'll have to run the updates that were missed, as well as download updated guide data. It would result in a much slower boot up time.

[aasoror]

You have a point but as I said, it depends on usage frequency, an occasional user may not find running the box 24/7 for 6 days worthy saving 10 minutes of updates (assuming there is that many every time) prior to his/her viewing session on the 7th day.

Another point is, if sleep mode doesn't really but the box tp sleep (be it by design or lack of) then calling it sleep mode will only confuse people thinking something is not right with their hardware, should be called "A/V mute" or something similar that wont indicate a "lower" activity state.