Power settings (1 Viewer)

[ErickTreetops]

I've just installed MP on a home built HTPC and I'm not sure if I have configured the power options correctly.
I'm running win8.1 64bit
My remote is a Harmony 650

The Harmony "All off" button switches my TV off but has no affect on my HTPC
On the PC Off options the setting it set to sleep when the power button is pressed.

The Harmony remote has a number of power options and I have chosen "Keep this device on when switching Activities and only turn it off when pressing the Off button"

Is it possible and how can I achieve putting the HTPC to sleep/power off for the pc using the "all off" button.
Or is it preferable to have the HTPC on always and having it sleep if it is inactive for a set period ?
My suspicion on this last option is that if the tv is turned off that the HTPC will still detect MP and the tv tuner running and will never enter sleep mode.

Can you assist me ?

Erick

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Hello again,

The Harmony "All off" button switches my TV off but has no affect on my HTPC
On the PC Off options the setting it set to sleep when the power button is pressed.

This would normally send your PC to sleep, but as long as the idle time of MediaPortal (as defined in the settings) has not been reached, the PC is recognised as being in use and therefore the sleep command is correctly ignored.

Is it possible and how can I achieve putting the HTPC to sleep/power off for the pc using the "all off" button.

You could theoretically force the PC to go off by defining a hard shutdown when pressing the power button. However, you don't really want to do that as it would cut off every activity including running recordings.

Or is it preferable to have the HTPC on always and having it sleep if it is inactive for a set period ?

This is the best option. Don't worry if the PC remains on after the remote has switched off TV and AVR. The PC will follow on its own after the idle time defined in the MediaPortal settings.

regards,
HTPC_Sourcer

 

[ErickTreetops]

By idle time do you mean the value set in the Power Scheduler.It is set to 15 minutes and it did not power down the PC even after 30 minutes.I believe that after a few hours it does go into Hibernate. I assume it is hibernate as the remote can no longer power the PC back on and the physical button must be pressed. I'm not sure why this happens but it appears like a complete reboot, my account name comes up , windows desk top comes up and then MP starts.

 

[HTPCSourcer]

By idle time do you mean the value set in the Power Scheduler.It is set to 15 minutes and it did not power down the PC even after 30 minutes.

Then there is a problem. The first thing to test would be if Windows shuts down with MediaPortal and TVServer switched off. So you may want to quit MediaPortal, set the idle time to something short, e.g. 2 min, and then stop the tvservice in the Windows service section. If then PC then goes into standby after said 2 min, the problem is with the TVServer settings - most likely EPG - and you should post your complete logs (don't forget to set your TV Server to debug level).

By the way, not much value in allowing the PC to hibernate these days anymore. The difference in power consumption might be 1-2W, more than offset by the loss in user comfort if you can't switch it back on with the remote.

 

[ErickTreetops]

Thanks for that will test it tonight. One additional piece of information is that when I woke up this morning the HTPC and MP were fully active. Something kicked it off during the night. Might be the same thing which prevents its shutdown.

 

[The_Stig]

Something kicked it off during the night

From my various experiences with standby issues:
-check bios which devices are allowed to turn on pc (wireless mouse/keyboard?)
-check energy setting of your network device (preferred only wakeup by magic packet)
-disable EPG idle grabber at TVServer Setup (this prevents standby on my htpc)