[vdr] Greener VDR

[Dave P]

On Saturday 06 September 2008, jori.hamalainen at teliasonera.com wrote:

> I don't know how much watt savings could be achieved with this, but on
> conseptual level it sounds good or do you agree?
>
> I hope some 10-20 watts could be saved in 1xFF and 2xbudget environment.
> And less heat inside the box, on softdevices CPU runs lower power etc..

I've taken measurements of power consumption on my vdr boxes. Both have had 
a single DVB-T budget card and playback is via the VOMP plugin.

The present machine is a 2.3 GHz Athlon X2 64-bit. It idles at 42w, 
starting and stopping vdr has no measurable effect so I leave it running.

The previous one used a 32-bit Athlon mobile CPU in a desktop motherboard. 
That machine idled at 62w (less efficient power supply and higher-spec 
graphics card). With vdr running the CPU temperature increased by 1 degree 
C and power consumption increased about 1 watt. 

It would be possible to save a few more watts if the DVB card could be 
completely powered off (my new machine needs only 38w without the card 
installed) but AFAIK that's not possible for PCI. A better bet for 
a 'green' vdr is careful choice of components.
-- 
Dave