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STB Power Levels Proposed

Washington – The CEA, the NAB and three additional organizations sent a joint proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Telecommunication and Information Administration listing maximum power usage levels on next-generation digital-to-analog converter boxes.

The proposal was offered in response to the EPA’s call for the development of an Energy Star program for digital-to-analog converter boxes.

The parties — which also included the Consumer Electronics Retailers’ Coalition, the Association for Maximum Service Television, and the Natural Resources Defense Council — called for the EPA to adopt the following requirements for Energy Star qualification:

  • Converter box equipment shall use no more than 8 watts of power in “on” state;
  • Converter box equipment shall use no more than 1 watt of power in “sleep” state; and
  • Converter box equipment shall meet the auto power down requirements as described below:

Equipment earning the Energy Star shall provide the capability to automatically switch from the on state to the sleep state after a period of time without user input. This capability shall be enabled at the factory as the default setting for the device. The default period of inactivity before the equipment automatically switches to the sleep state shall be four hours. Eligible equipment may allow the current program to complete before switching to the Sleep state.

The default energy related settings may not be altered during the initial user set-up process and shall persist unless the user chooses at a later date to manually: disable the “automatic switching to Sleep state” capability, or adjust the default time period from 4 hours to some other value.

The CEA suggested that the sleep state measurements follow the industry standards CEA-2022 and CEA 2013-A, respectively.

“With respect to the EPA’s recent solicitation of feedback on its specification framework document, we state or reiterate our support for a modal approach which naturally accompanies the above requirements,” the letter states.

“Importantly, we believe the above specifications would maintain the Energy Star program’s traditional voluntary nature and focus on top-tier energy performers.”

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