TV power-saving tips

Even after you've bought a TV, you can still make a difference in your power consumption. We've assembled a short list of tips that just about anybody can do to make their home theater more energy efficient.

Turn the TV and other connected devices off when they're not being used
Sure, this one's obvious, but it's easy to get into the habit of leaving the TV on as "background" when you're not really watching it. And while TVs still consume power in standby mode, it's a tiny fraction of what they draw when they're actually on. Old habits die hard, but you'll be saving yourself some bucks if you remember this tip.

Be careful to power down other connected devices, too, like game consoles and DVD players--which are easy to leave on accidentally even after you turn the TV itself off. A good universal remote that can "power down" the whole system with a single button-press can easily pay for itself in energy savings after a year or so.

Turn off the Quick Start option
Some HDTVs and some other AV gear have an option called Quick Start or something similar, which allows them to turn on more quickly when you press the power button. The flipside of this mode is that when engaged, it typically consumes more power (sometimes up to 50 times as much) during standby, which can really add up. Do your energy bill a favor and turn this mode off. That few extra seconds' wait for the TV to warm up is well worth it.

Turn down the LCD's backlight
Many LCDs give you the ability to control the intensity of the backlight in the TV. By turning down the backlight, you'll lower power consumption, but also make the TV less bright. While retail stores love to turn the backlights up all the way for their displays, we find that we get the best image quality when we turn down the backlight significantly.

Turn on the power saver mode
Many TVs these days come with a power saver mode that's designed to cut down the power consumption. Performance of this mode varies from model to model, with the effect sometimes being drastic and other times providing only a slight savings. The only downside is that the power saver mode usually makes the TV less bright, but we've found that sometimes this has a beneficial effect on the image quality, especially with the room lights turned off, in which case it's a win-win situation.

Reduce light output with other settings
Many people buy a TV, turn it on, and never think to change the picture settings. Not only is that bad for the picture quality, it's bad for power consumption. Most TVs are very bright by default, and that leads to using more juice. One of the first things a professional calibrator will usually do is turn down the light output--which is traditionally controlled primarily by "contrast" or "picture" controls--along with several other adjustments that will maximize the performance of your TV.

So what if you want some of the benefits of a calibration but don't want to pay the dough? Don't worry, CNET has you covered. All of our recent TV reviews are published with the settings our reviewers found appropriate for a dark room--you can access them at the dedicated HDTV picture settings forum or from links within individual reviews. Of course these settings aren't optimized for your specific home theater equipment as a professional calibration would be, but they come closer than the default settings for most people.

Control room lighting
Many of these tips are going to make the TV less bright, but that can be compensated by controlling the light in your home theater room. While this may be a little overboard just for power consumption, limiting the light in your home theater also goes a long way toward creating the "theater" experience, as well as getting the most out of your TV.

And beyond TV concerns, good-quality blackout shades offer thermal benefits that keep other energy costs low; they keep heat in during the winter and keep it out during the summer.

Buy a smaller screen
If you're looking to buy a new TV, you can limit your power consumption by buying a smaller set. This doesn't always exactly hold--for example, rear-projection sets are often larger and draw less power than plasma TVs--but once you pick your display technology, going smaller will almost always use less juice. As always, you can compensate for smaller screen size, to a point, by sitting closer to the screen. Check out our rough screen size vs. seating distance guidelines for more info.

Watch TV together
Having multiple TVs in a house is more of a norm than a luxury these days, but that also means your power consumption is going to increase as well. You can cut that power consumption by watching with your family or housemates. You might need to make a few compromises on what you watch, but sometimes it's more fun to watch with friends and family.

Watch less TV
Instead of sitting down for another dose of reality TV, you could opt for reality instead. Not only might you get some exercise, but you'll be cutting your energy bill.