HDTV energy consumption
HDTV energy consumption
David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech
David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
- Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
I just got my electric bill, and being wary of , I got to thinking: how much of this is my TV? According to one test described in an informative article in the Christian Science Monitor (via Mark Schubin's Monday Memo from June 27), I have one of the more efficient kinds of TV: a direct-view CRT. Still, the EPA's methodology for rating TV power consumption is way out of date, so you can't really go by the Energy Star ratings of TVs as an indication of how much power it draws. Until the EPA modernizes its ratings, a few quick rules of thumb: big screens draw more power (duh), turning down contrast reduces consumption, and HDTVs--especially plasmas--are hungrier for watts than other TV technologies. Turning off the TV once in a while also helps.
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