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Level 2

306 points

How do you turn it off?

Seriously. With the old 1G TV you could use the remote to put it into standby - hold down the menu button for about 4 seconds and then do the same with the play button. Awfully slow, but it did work (mostly). Can you put the new 2G into standby/sleep the same way? Or is there another way, or have Apple forced you to use the menus?

That last would be a right royal PIA as there would be no way to use a universal remote to put it into standby:-(

Anyone confirm either way?

MacPro, MacBook Pro, Mini Server, TVs, iPad, iPhone 4, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 30" HD display,

Posted on Oct 6, 2010 12:39 PM

49 replies

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Oct 7, 2010 12:20 PM in response to a brody

a brody wrote:
Well it does allow you to go back and select the next item in the playlist without having to select TV shows all over again, doesn't it?

yes but that kinda defeats the purpose of making a playlist in the first place !

JPeaks

Level 1

0 points

Oct 7, 2010 12:25 PM in response to UKenGB

I'm curious, why are you bothered about turning it off? Its completely silent, hardly heats up at all, only gives off a tiny amount of light to indicate that its even on, and uses virtually no power at all. With all that in mind, I think Apple's intention is that you just don't even worry about whether its on or off, certainly thats how I think about it. Its just a change of mentality thing. I know the previous generation had good reasons for wanting to turn it off, but for this one the best thing is to just not even think about it.

a brody

Level 10

83,221 points

Oct 7, 2010 1:29 PM in response to Chenks

Not entirely. Your playlist can be many to one, one to many of any number you like. So say you want to separate by cameo appearance on a specific show for one person, you only have to make that search once on your computer, and never have to spell it out letter by letter on the AppleTV like you have to do with Youtube. Your organization is there in a separate room from the computer. Granted mixing shows continuously would be a nice next step, at least the Playlist saves you time from having to go back to the main screen or computer to find what you are searching for. I certainly would ask for "gapless plspayback" in the next release though.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Oct 7, 2010 1:32 PM in response to a brody

a brody wrote:
Not entirely. Your playlist can be many to one, one to many of any number you like. So say you want to separate by cameo appearance on a specific show for one person, you only have to make that search once on your computer, and never have to spell it out letter by letter on the AppleTV like you have to do with Youtube. Your organization is there in a separate room from the computer. Granted mixing shows continuously would be a nice next step, at least the Playlist saves you time from having to go back to the main screen or computer to find what you are searching for. I certainly would ask for "gapless plspayback" in the next release though.

well my playlists are essentially all tv episodes from 1 season (so i can play all the episodes back to back). this works perfectly in itunes, ipod, iphone and appeltv v1.

appletv v2 however can't manage this basic task, and once it finished playing the first item in the playlist, it stops.

UKenGB Author

Level 2

306 points

Oct 8, 2010 1:20 AM in response to ssstraub

ssstraub wrote:
No, it's not of paramount importance. You're missing a key factor here. THERE'S NO REASON TO TURN IT OFF/PUT IT IN STANDBY. Sorry to shout, but why do any devices have distinct on/off states? Merely to save energy, correct? Well the Apple TV uses about 2 Watts in the on state. (I happen to have a Kill A Watt meter to test these things with, but feel free to do a Google search on it)

Your figures are very impressive, but a. I didn't ask for opinions as to whether it needs to be turned off and b. the TV 1G uses so much power in standby it remains HOT all the time which makes it a very bad design in todays energy conscious world. Not that I'm a devotee, but I do believe any device should have a standby mode that consumes significantly less power than when on. It requires VERY little to keep the IR sensor active and monitor it for incoming ON signals, but when the device continues to use so much power it stays hot, that's bad and the main reason I am interested in switching to the new 2G. As a long time programmer of universal remotes I can promise you it is VERY irritating when manufacturers don't bother to include discreet on and off IR commands. Not only that, but Apple have seen fit to provide the Standby facility, so all I am trying to ascertain is how best to engage it.

Back to the earlier post that indicated a long press of the 'Select' button would put it to Standby, does that work if you are not in the main Menu. On the 1G you needed to previously press the Menu button to get back to the main menu, then the long press on Select would work. I would like to know if this is the same situation on the 2G or does the long press on Select work everywhere?

UKenGB Author

Level 2

306 points

Oct 8, 2010 1:27 AM in response to Chenks

Chenks wrote:
are you saying you actually want a dedicated sleep button on the remote ?

I think that's being more than a little simplistic. Incorporating a single command for Standby doesn't necessarily require a dedicated button. Why not use the long press on Select to do what now requires that long press on Menu first (at least on the 1G, haven't got an answer on the 2G yet). It wouldn't take a genius to figure how to implement a direct OFF (i.e. Standby) command without having to add a dedicated button.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Oct 8, 2010 1:33 AM in response to UKenGB

UKenGB wrote:
I think that's being more than a little simplistic. Incorporating a single command for Standby doesn't necessarily require a dedicated button. Why not use the long press on Select to do what now requires that long press on Menu first (at least on the 1G, haven't got an answer on the 2G yet). It wouldn't take a genius to figure how to implement a direct OFF (i.e. Standby) command without having to add a dedicated button.

the new appletv has the same process for putting it to "sleep" as the original appletv.

press and hold play/pause if you are at the home screen.
if not at the home screen then press and hold menu for 2 seconds and then press and hold play/pause (this can easily be replicated on a universal remote control as my harmony one achieves it with no problems).

Oct 8, 2010 1:49 AM in response to UKenGB

Back to the original question.........

I don't know if it has been answered yet (I couldn't be bothered to read through 3 pages), but it is possible to put ATV2 to sleep in exactly the same way as ATV1;
Make sure you're at the top level menu (i.e. you can see "Internet", "Computers", "Settings" etc., then just press and hold the select button for 2 seconds, and it goes to sleep, just like ATV1.
Or have I missed something................?

Bob.

Message was edited by: Robert Farthing

Oct 8, 2010 1:46 AM in response to UKenGB

Beaten to it by Chenks (o;

UKenGB Author

Level 2

306 points

Oct 8, 2010 2:42 AM in response to Chenks

Chenks wrote:
the new appletv has the same process for putting it to "sleep" as the original appletv.

press and hold play/pause if you are at the home screen.
if not at the home screen then press and hold menu for 2 seconds and then press and hold play/pause (this can easily be replicated on a universal remote control as my harmony one achieves it with no problems).

That's all I wanted to know, thanks. It's only taken 3 pages of discussion to establish the 2G is the same as the 1G:-)

However, I also use Harmony (logitech) remotes and it is far from 'no problem' since you have no facility to create long button presses and have to ask Logitech to add the commands specially. This they have done for the 1G and I was hoping it wouldn't need changing for the 2G. This is one of the limitations of the Harmony remotes, but otherwise they are good which is why I have so many of them.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Oct 8, 2010 3:48 AM in response to UKenGB

UKenGB wrote:
However, I also use Harmony (logitech) remotes and it is far from 'no problem' since you have no facility to create long button presses and have to ask Logitech to add the commands specially. This they have done for the 1G and I was hoping it wouldn't need changing for the 2G. This is one of the limitations of the Harmony remotes, but otherwise they are good which is why I have so many of them.

i didn't have to ask Logitech to specifially add any commands.
when i added the device to the remote, it asked if i wanted to put power off/sleep the device when changing activity and it added the necessary commands automatically.

tgibbs

Level 1

70 points

Oct 8, 2010 7:25 AM in response to UKenGB

UKenGB wrote:

Your figures are very impressive, but a. I didn't ask for opinions as to whether it needs to be turned off and b. the TV 1G uses so much power in standby it remains HOT all the time which makes it a very bad design in todays energy conscious world. Not that I'm a devotee, but I do believe any device should have a standby mode that consumes significantly less power than when on. It requires VERY little to keep the IR sensor active and monitor it for incoming ON signals, but when the device continues to use so much power it stays hot, that's bad and the main reason I am interested in switching to the new 2G.

The appleTV2G differs from most older electronic devices, which consume substantial amounts of power whenever they are on. Because it is based upon portable device technology, which is designed to maximize battery life, adjusting power drain based upon demand. With this kind of technology, the distinction between "on," "off," and "standby" is less meaningful. While "on," it is barely warm, even though it has no ventilation slots.

I also found that the standard Harmony appleTV configuration works just fine, including putting the appleTV in standby when not in use. With that configuration, Apple devices see the Harmony as an Apple Remote with ID of 1.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Oct 8, 2010 7:34 AM in response to tgibbs

also, the new appletv has a setting where you can set it to go to standby after a set period of time (1hour, 2hour etc)

ssstraub

Level 1

10 points

Oct 18, 2010 7:04 AM in response to crh24

crh24 wrote:
Not strictly true--at least with the current incarnation of the firmware. Often my ATV2 will 'forget' to send 5.1 audio and will revert to two channel PCM. The only way I've found to correct this issue is to put it to sleep and upon re-awakening it once again sends 5.1 correctly. A single button 'sleep' command is far easier than always navigating the menu's.

Interesting... I'll have to keep an eye on that.

ssstraub

Level 1

10 points

Oct 18, 2010 7:21 AM in response to UKenGB

UKenGB wrote:
Your figures are very impressive, but a. I didn't ask for opinions as to whether it needs to be turned off and b. the TV 1G uses so much power in standby it remains HOT all the time which makes it a very bad design in todays energy conscious world.

Yes, but we aren't talking about the ATV1 so what relevance does that have? The power usage figures for the ATV2 are not an opinion.

UKenGB wrote:
Not that I'm a devotee, but I do believe any device should have a standby mode that consumes significantly less power than when on. It requires VERY little to keep the IR sensor active and monitor it for incoming ON signals, but when the device continues to use so much power it stays hot, that's bad and the main reason I am interested in switching to the new 2G. As a long time programmer of universal remotes I can promise you it is VERY irritating when manufacturers don't bother to include discreet on and off IR commands. Not only that, but Apple have seen fit to provide the Standby facility, so all I am trying to ascertain is how best to engage it.

We agree then. The ATV1 should have a dedicated on/off button because it DOES use significantly more power when on and for the ATV2 it's not relevant because it does NOT use significantly more power when on.

Now that you know the actual power usage figures, why do you still want to program "on/off" into your universal remote for ATV2? I guess I don't see the purpose when the power usage is insignificant and it has an automatic sleep option anyway.

Message was edited by: ssstraub

Message was edited by: ssstraub

How do you turn it off?