Questions about sleep and away functions

[R315r4z0r]

Ok, since this is my first time using a tuner and WMC for watching TV, I wanted to sort out a couple of questions I have before my first set of scheduled recordings happen. (I've already done some internet searches but haven't found answers to all my specific questions).

I am using a Ceton InfiniTV 4.

1. I've set my computer to wake from sleep mode when recordings are set to begin. However, when the recordings are finished, will the computer go back into sleep mode on its own?
2. Is it possible to set it up so that if the computer is in sleep mode and scheduled recording is about to start, that it wakes up to Away mode instead of coming into full operation? (And then goes back to sleep after the recording finishes).
3. If I'm using my computer for other reasons besides TV when a scheduled recording starts, will that interfere with the recording or will the recording interfere with my other business?

*4. If I'm busy using the computer for other reasons during the time of a recording and then finish up my other business, is it at all possible to tell my computer "Continue recording and then enter sleep mode when finished"? From my understanding, if I was to just enter sleep while the recording was in progress it would just screw with the recording, correct?
For example: Lets say at the time of a recording I'm playing some computer game (or doing work, or browsing the internet, etc). I decide to go to bed when I finish with the game, but the recording is still in progress (and will continue for at least another hour or so). I don't want to leave the computer running all night so it would be ideal for me to be able to either enter away mode right then and there or tell the computer to enter sleep on its own when the recording is finished. Is this possible?

[barnabas1969]

1) Yes, if you've set everything correctly in the power settings. The simple way to make sure everything is set correctly (if you're using Windows 7) is to download MCE Standby Tool (MST) from the link below. Install it, and set everything to defaults. You can then uninstall it if you don't want to use the active features of MST.
http://slicksolutions.eu/cgi-bin/downlo ... .9.102.exe

2) Yes. See my answer above. However, please understand that Away mode is just like being fully ON, but will have the video adapter turned off.

3) It won't interfere with the recordings unless you are doing something that keeps the computer really, really busy. If you max out the CPU (like when playing some of the latest video games) or hard drive I/O (like copying very large files), then the recordings could suffer. But for normal web browsing and stuff, the recordings will be fine.

EDIT: I missed the flip side of your question. No, the recordings won't interfere with normal use of the PC. They use very little CPU. Mostly, they just write to the hard drive.

4) If you set Away mode correctly (see # 1) you can tell your computer to go to sleep when you are finished using it. If there is a recording in progress, it will automatically enter Away mode until the recording is finished... at which time, it will go to sleep.

[R315r4z0r]

Thank you very much!

Also, yes I do understand what away mode is. What my reasoning behind using it is is that my computer has a few LED lights on is fans and stuff when it is turned on. I'd like to enter away mode so that the computer would function enough to record stuff without starting up all the LEDs and stuff (which can be quite jarring if it jumps on in the middle of the night).

[barnabas1969]

I'm betting that the LED's will all light up in Away mode. Your fans will run, your hard drives will power up, the CPU will be in a normal state just like the PC is on. The only difference with Away mode is that the video output will be turned off.

Away mode is what you want to use though. If you don't allow the PC to enter Away mode, it will go to sleep when you tell it to sleep, even if a recording is in progress.

If the LED's bother you, then you'll need to A) figure out a way to disconnect them, or B) buy new fans that don't have LED's.

[R315r4z0r]

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Ok. I'm probably gonna have to break out the soldering kit and attach switches to the LED fans.

Thanks again.

[clemon79]

So forgive me for resurrecting this, but my question's related and I figure it's wise to keep all of this information in one place, especially with "sleep" and "away" as keywords in the title.

I'm setting up a WMC7 machine. Don't have the tuner yet, but it will show up in a couple of days, and then I will be ready to retire the Tivo and put the WMC box online.

But I'm wondering about this sleep stuff. Right now, the machine is idle for fifteen minutes or I tell it to, it sleeps, great, and it responds and wakes up to Wake on LAN requests, or requests to connect from either of my Xboxen, etc.

But can someone go into more detail about this "away" state? Here's ideally how I want the box to behave:

* If I activate sleep (through the sleep button on the remote, the menu setting, timing out, whatever), it sleeps, UNLESS it's recording, in which case it doesn't sleep immediately but DOES sleep once the recording is done. (I assume this is where Away comes in.)
* If I'm just watching TV, box doesn't sleep unless the Xbox One is slept itself, at which point the HDMI connection is lost and the WMC machine should know it can sleep after the prescribed 15 minutes.
* When recordings are scheduled and box is asleep, box wakes up to make recording, and then sleeps when it's done, unless of course I'm watching TV at the time.

The second one I realize is a tall order, and it's possible I might just need to get in the habit of exiting out of watching TV before I shut the living room down, but I'm working on my personal Utopia here, just in case it might be possible. (That might also allow me to use the utility / hack I have read about that forces WMC to boot straight into Watch TV, duplicating the current behavior of my Tivo.)

So, what do I need to do to get as close as I can to make this happen? Basically, I'm concerned that I will set something up wrong that sends a "sleep" command to the WMC machine and it will sleep in the middle of the recording and I'll miss the recording as a result.

Thanks!

-- Chris

[dabronxkid]

"So, what do I need to do to get as close as I can to make this happen? Basically, I'm concerned that I will set something up wrong that sends a "sleep" command to the WMC machine and it will sleep in the middle of the recording and I'll miss the recording as a result."

If the WMC is recording, I believe it does not go to sleep until after the recording is done. It will actually not go to sleep if it wakes up to prepare for a recording.