Auto Standby on Sky Receivers
Sky set top boxes need to be on, or in active standby, so the Sky Guide is always up to date.
Sky have already halved the power consumption of the standard Sky box since its launch and have signed up to the voluntary European Commission Code of Conduct on Energy Efficiency in Digital TV Services. And Sky’latest digiboxes will not use more than three watts of electricity in standby mode
Auto Standby
In March 2007 Sky launched the worlds first Auto Standby feature for set top boxes. This automatically puts them into standby mode if they are not being used overnight. Sky claim that since March 2007 Auto standby has reduced carbon emissions in UK households by over 52,000 tonnes – this incredible saving is more than Skys own carbon footprint of 45,555 tonnes .
More than 4 million Sky+ and Sky HD boxes have this function, saving our customers £12m a year from their electricity bills. Roll out of this world-first software is being planned for a further 9 million set top boxes. This will result in even greater energy savings for Skys customers. And it is being enhanced to detect a lack of activity during the day, as well as at night, so that we are helping our customers save energy and money even more.
And more recently basic Sky receivers have started to have the Auto Standby function deployed. However this has caused some problems, as sometimes the box has gone into Auto Standby mode which can be a problem if you are planning to record to a VCR something from it.
How auto standby works
Auto standby monitors whether people are using the Sky receiver at certain times during the day If the box has not been used for a period of two hours after 11pm, or for four hours during the day time, an ‘Auto Standby’ message will pop up on screen for three minutes. If there is no further use the box will go into Standby mode automatically, until the customer turns it back on. This is not a problems for Sky+ or Sky HD receivers are these receiver will automatically record to the Sky Planner even if the receiver is in Standby mode.
How to turn Auto-Standby off on Standard Sky boxes
To turn Auto-Standby off on Standard Sky boxes follow the procedure below:
Press the “Services” button on your Sky handset
Press button 5 for “Sky Setup”
Press the handset UP button twice which highlights “Auto Standby”
Use the left or right handset buttons to turn auto standby OFF
Press the handset down key to highlight “Save New Settings” and then press select
To turn Auto-Standby off on Sky+ boxes follow the procedure below:
Press the “Services” button on your Sky handset
Press button 6 for “Auto Stanby”
Use the left or right handset buttons to turn auto standby OFF
Press the handset down key to highlight “Save New Settings” and then press select
Eco Mode on Sky HD Digiboxes
Auto Standby, is the mode that puts your Sky digibox into “Standby” should the box be left on a channel for so many hours without a button being pressed on the remote control. This, the Sky digibox assumes, means their is no one watching the box. And so, the Sky digibox will power down into Standby mode.
Standby mode is shown on the Sky digibox, as the “on / off” lights will be orange.
An addition to Sky+HD digiboxes allows you to put the box in “Eco” mode.
So instead of powering down into “Standby” mode, the Sky digibox will power down to “Eco” mode, and will automatically put your Sky digibox box into RED standby mode overnight if you don’t have any recordings scheduled. Supposedly this saves more in power than leaving your box in “Orange” Standby mode.
However while the box is in this state it is essentially turned off an no recordings will take place.
You can change this option in the Sky digibox menu system.