Sleep>Record>Sleep Mode?

[JWA]

Am I understanding Npvr's function correctly in that unlike WMC it won't allow my PC to return to sleep mode once its been awakened to record something? It seems I need to allow Win Power Management to do that for me?

My end goal is minimizing the "on time" the recording computer runs in theory to extend its life. BTW this is a stand alone machine, not part of a network etc.

[Reddwarf]

I never use sleep mode but my understanding is that npvr should allow the computer to sleep again once a recording is finished. As for extending the life of your computer, I have worked with electronics all my life and in my experience all electronics is best left in a stable state, it is much more strain to be turned on and off than left on. Provided you allow your harddrives to spin down they should last as well left on. If you are worried about power consumption that is another matter thou...

[JWA]

Power consumption per se isn't a real concern, the amount of time the machine isn't in sleep mode especially the hard drives is though. While I too have worked with/around/on electronic devices since the 60's I don't disagree them being in a steady state is beneficial overall---mechanical devices powered by electricity are another story though.

Would it be better to configure my power options to turn the HD's off after a period of time?

I ask this question only because over the past several trials of Npvr my machine does wake up and record as scheduled but won't return to sleep like WMC did.

BTW thanks for the reply---much appreciated!

[mvallevand]

NextPVR doesn't control the sleep function other than blocking sleep while recording, you need to define and configure Windows to sleep when your PC is idle.


Martin

[imilne]

WMC's sleep-while-recording mode is a bit of a con anyway, as all it's doing is not showing graphics output - the rest of the PC is running full whack as per normal.

For NPVR, I have Windows set to sleep after 5 minutes of idleness - that's a Windows control panel/power thingy option. It wakes up when needed, records for as long as needed, then goes back to sleep again afterwards. Obviously any user-based interaction like navigating the menus or watching something delays the idle timeout so it stays awake - just as it should

Putting HDDs into idle mode (while the rest of Windows is still awake) is fine if they support that, and it shouldn't affect NPVR's operation in the slightest. Some green drives can be a little funny about going into idle, and can take a few seconds to wake up again, but it'll save a few watts if it works.

Iain

[Reddwarf]

I have my HDD's set to go idle after 15 minutes of inactivity, and it works just fine. They'v been running for years now without a hitch but I'm planning to replace then with bigger HDD's anyway. (You never get enough space you know )

[JWA]

I have my HDD's set to go idle after 15 minutes of inactivity, and it works just fine. They'v been running for years now without a hitch but I'm planning to replace then with bigger HDD's anyway. (You never get enough space you know )

Don't I know that to be true! Recently added a 3 TB WD HDD to my existing 2TB machine because I had filled about 3/4 of it with recordings I'll watch sometime later in 2015.

I believe I'll change my power handling to go idle after a bit. Since I use Manual Record instead of the EPG it'll work fine that way I'm sure.

Thanks again all!