Sony HDX870 and shutdown/sleep mode

johnwhy

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Just got a Sony HDX870 and very pleased with it...so far
except it doesn't seem to power down to standby or have a 'sleep' option?
-seems you can tweak just about everything else....

my unit is in my bedroom and i like to watch a recording until I fall asleep...
although it's pretty quiet it does have fan noise until the hard drive shuts down... i would expect a new(ish) machine to power down simply from a power saving point of view....

am i missing a setting?
 
not sure if this helps but I emailed sony about the fact it powers up during the night to get epg updates , and this feature cannot be turned off or have the time altered to a more convenient time like say 0900 , and the fan and hard drive do make a noise when this happens

they have wrote back saying their engineers decided this was the best time for the unit to do this ( they obviously didnt think of ppl using them in the bedrooms ) and that it could not be altered by the buyer

so I had also asked them if the unit could be switched off overnight when not in use and they said they could not see a problem with this

so I have added a 24 hours simple clock timer ( like you use to control table lamps etc ) and I have set it to turn off at 0100 am and turn back on at 0900am which is when the epg update now starts ( as soon as it comes on )

mine is also set to have no display in standby mode , so when I have put it onto standby the fan , hard drive and display all power off

in your case it seems you want it to auto-power off after setting a sleep timer , like on a tv , but I havent heard of recorders that do this for you , only a tv or radio

so may I suggest a clock timer device ?

I have just bought a set of 3 from flea bay at £7.99p with free delivery

I think there is a power saving mode on the sony but not sure what it does
 
so I had also asked them if the unit could be switched off overnight when not in use and they said they could not see a problem with this

Doesn't this mean you will miss the epg updates?

Putting it another way; I assume it is doing something useful at 5:00 AM, that you will miss if the machine is off? (Or if what it is doing at 5:00 AM is not needed, why does it do it?)
 
so I have added a 24 hours simple clock timer ( like you use to control table lamps etc ) and I have set it to turn off at 0100 am and turn back on at 0900am which is when the epg update now starts ( as soon as it comes on )

I think you missed the part highlighted in red above

as for why it does it at 0500am or 0300am or whatever time it does it , only sony know the answer to that and are not saying and it isnt in the manual either

here is a copy of their reply

quote
Dear Mr ************

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

As the EPG data need to be updated by the broadcaster daily the automatic update cannot be turned off. The designers chose a time of the day they thought was going to be less intrusive and did not include the option of changing the time. I suspect they did not consider it a requirement.

In this instance, because the unit is in your bedroom and does disturb your sleep I can see no problem in turning it off while you are not using it or have a timed record saved.
unquote
 
Sorry, yes I missed that.

So it does the EPG update as soon as it turns on? Can you tell that it is doing that?

The reply from Sony said they couldn't see a problem.. but I didn't see a confirmation that the EPG update will be downloaded as soon as the machine is turned on.
 
sony didnt tell me that , I noticed that it did it every morning when I turned it back on , as it says UPDATE on the lcd screen and you hear the fan and hdd spinning too

so yes you can tell it is updating , and it does this as soon as you switch it on , or in my case as soon as the clock timer I fitted switches it on , and it is doing it as I type this answer because the lcd says UPDATE

there is nothing in the manual about this , its purely my own investigations and tests that can show what is happening , and the clock timer was my idea too

as you can see , they said switching it off and on would be ok , so the clock timer does the job

as for this sleep timer function the op asked about , I have checked the manual and the menu and no mention of it whatsoever , and power save doesnt do it either , so a clock timer may help him too
 
Thanks - that's good to hear. I've bought an 870 for my in-laws, and whilst it isn't in the bedroom, they routinely turn everything off at the mains when they go to sleep, and it will be hard to re-train them.

For the original post, I agree, there is no mention of any sleep function on the 870.
 
Thanks for the replies...

As I understand it when the unit is on the hard drive fans whirl...
When switched to standby they power down...

I want the unit to switch to standby, say a few hours after I go to bed
(when I am asleep...)

What is the best address to contact sony on...?
 
there is no option for sleep mode on these recorders , or on any others that I know of , that is a tv function , not a recorder function

my plug in clock timer idea will turn if off for you if you set it to go off from say 0100am to 0900am or whatever you want to set it at

the function you are asking for is not in the specification , and not in the manual either

as for sony , you use the CONTACT US button on their website , which is what I did

but I believe they will reply saying that function isnt on these models , so you cannot have it
 
ramjet, I understand what you mean with a timer just feel i don't want to control an expensive bit of kit with a plug timer... OK forget the 'timer' comment why can't it switch to standby after, say, 50 mins of inactivity...

I'll follow your advice and contact them...
 
there are several features that would be useful on these recorders m8

1) allowing the user to either turn off epg updating overnight , or being able to alter the time the update occurs from say 0500 am to say 0900 am ( which is what I wanted and asked them about )

2) a sleep timer function like they have on a tv ( which is what you want and you will ask them about )

3) playback from usb sticks and hdd of divx files and not just from dvd

4) being able to link to a pc using ethernet networking

5) being able to specify an extension on the timer of a series link recording like you can on a manual recording , so you dont miss the end of anything

probably other ppl might add to the wish list
 
Having used the unit for a few weeks, realised if you dub a DVD it automatically turns off to standby mode...!! This is exactly what I would want it to do after a certain period of inactivity - in all uses - after all power saving is all the rage these days...
 
Having used the unit for a few weeks, realised if you dub a DVD it automatically turns off to standby mode...!! This is exactly what I would want it to do after a certain period of inactivity - in all uses - after all power saving is all the rage these days...

it also does this after recording a tv programme too

it still works fine on my cheap clock timer though :)
 

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