CableLabs: 'Light Sleep' Cuts Power Use 20%

According to recent evaluations by CableLabs - Energy Lab, digital set-top boxes being deployed by the U.S. cable industry this year are projected to offer energy savings of 20% or more when the devices shift into a new "light sleep" mode.Last fall, the six largest U.S. cable companies, serving approximately 85% of U.S. cable households, committed to deployment of a "light sleep" option for new set-top boxes beginning in September 2012. Some deployments already are under way. The operators will also begin providing software upgrades this fall to set-tops already in consumer homes to enable light sleep in models capable of the functionality."Light sleep" refers to a lower-power condition that allows essential activities within a set-top box to continue while energy consumption associated with other tasks, such as channel tuning and video display, is discontinued.