Turn off TV/Amp etc. when PC enters sleep mode

Talk about speakers, TVs, receivers, STBs, etc.
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pobmeister

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Turn off TV/Amp etc. when PC enters sleep mode

#1

Post by pobmeister » Mon Mar 09, 2015 1:48 pm

Does anyone know of a suitable device for turning off peripheral devices when the PC enters sleep mode.

Tester

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#2

Post by Tester » Mon Mar 09, 2015 2:39 pm

PulseEight HDMI device using your HDMI connection. I will admit that their support is awful and it was a pain in the a$$ to get it to work, but I am able to power cycle all my devices through the HDMI port.

dmagerl

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#3

Post by dmagerl » Mon Mar 09, 2015 5:38 pm

There are any number of "smart" power strips out there. They sense when a master device is turned off and then remove power to anything plugged into its outlets.

Here's one
http://www.amazon.com/Take-Charge-Smart ... B005DTBCD2

It's unknown though if the small current the PC draws while sleeping will be interpreted as being "always on" by the power strip. Radio Shack used to sell one that had an adjustable threshold and that worked just great, but its no longer available.

Also, if the devices being switched require a voltage to always be applied in order to retain settings, this solution wont work.

mdavej

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#4

Post by mdavej » Mon Mar 09, 2015 7:20 pm

It's much easier to just turn this around. Use your remote to turn things on/off with macros, and allow the PC to sleep whenever it wants. Doing it that way is free, simple and 100% reliable.

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mcewinter

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#5

Post by mcewinter » Mon Mar 09, 2015 8:59 pm

mdavej wrote:It's much easier to just turn this around. Use your remote to turn things on/off with macros, and allow the PC to sleep whenever it wants. Doing it that way is free, simple and 100% reliable.
I wouldn't say 100% reliable. It's the solution I subscribe to, but I wouldn't advise it as reliable or graceful. ...it's a band-aid at best.

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CyberSimian

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#6

Post by CyberSimian » Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:09 am

dmagerl wrote:It's unknown though if the small current the PC draws while sleeping will be interpreted as being "always on" by the power strip. Radio Shack used to sell one that had an adjustable threshold and that worked just great, but its no longer available.
The following website lists some power strips that have the master/slave capability:

http://www.tricklestar.com

Tricklestar produce units for various countries. I have one made for the UK, although that particular model is now discontinued. It has a continuously-variable sensitivity that can be adjusted to work correctly with my Dell XPS 420, which consumes around 8 watts when sleeping (i.e. I want a power consumption of 8 watts to be regarded as "off"!). Tricklestar may have stopped making the continuously-variable type, as some of the power strips on their site have only two sensitivity settings.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

pobmeister

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#7

Post by pobmeister » Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:59 pm

I was using a Belkin standby saver which did recognise the sleep mode on my PC and turn everything else off. It's started to malfunction though. I program it and it works for a day or two but then it fails to detect sleep and even shutdown.

I'll give the Tricklestar a go.

Do modern TVs turn off when a PC sends out no signal over HDMI or is some form of CEC needed?

mdavej

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#8

Post by mdavej » Wed Mar 11, 2015 2:35 pm

mcewinter wrote:
mdavej wrote:It's much easier to just turn this around. Use your remote to turn things on/off with macros, and allow the PC to sleep whenever it wants. Doing it that way is free, simple and 100% reliable.
I wouldn't say 100% reliable. It's the solution I subscribe to, but I wouldn't advise it as reliable or graceful. ...it's a band-aid at best.
Not a band-aid in my case. The TV and AVR turn on/off exactly when I want them to, and PC sleeps/wakes depending on usage, within a minute or two, for watching, recording, updates, serving extenders, etc. If I slaved the TV/AVR power off the PC, all hell would break lose in my system. If I wanted, I could also add sleep commands to my remote macros, but that wouldn't be pretty either.

Sounds like the OP could use Pulse-Eight to pull off what he wants to do over HDMI.

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