Power Consumption

If you are shopping for a TV set and are taking power consumption as important criteria when it comes to making your final choice, you may be surprised on how it affects you. In reality, most similar sized flat panel sets, regardless of brand, model, or screen type (plasma or LCD) have nearly identical consumption patterns. In order for you to better understand, let’s take a look on how, and when, our set consumes energy.

As soon as it is plugged in your set will consume some energy, unless there is a physical power switch (not the power button) that allows shutting it off completely. Since stand by consumption is generally below one watt, the power switch becomes more of a safety feature if you are leaving for extended periods of time.

When in use, both LCD and plasma displays consume relatively low amounts of power compared to their DLP and CRT counterparts. As an example a 42 inch unit may consume roughly 150 watts when turned on. This is about 100 watts less than older model CRT sets.

In order to reduce power consumption most modern displays are Energy Star (TM) compliant, meaning that they employ power saving tools such as auto standby. This means that if as an example your movie on your DVD stops, the TV will go into a standby mode after a preset amount of time elapses. It is often possible to set this feature in your unit’s menu under the power management section. On many models you can also program a timer to automatically shut down the set at a specific time if you wish to record a show for example.