Tech Brand Talk

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It happens quite often. You switch the TV on and, after a few minutes of watching, something draws you to another room of the house for what you expect to be a quick moment.

And it turns out to be a long time.

The TV is still there, showing its content to an empty room. Wouldn’t it be great if it turned off when no one was there?

Well there is at least one product on the market that does this for you.

Sony’s Presence Sensor

Sony introduced this technology over a year ago in its premium TVs and now looks to be moving down the line to other models.  Depending on the setting, if there is no one actively watching TV, it will either dim, turn off the video, or completely go into standby mode. 

But what if you are very still while watching a movie?  No worries, the sensor also detects body heat in the room and stays active if someone is still in the area.

Falling asleep in front of the TV?  Well that’s covered too. The sensor does facial recognition to determine if anyone is actively looking in the direction of the TV.

Depending on the ambient light and heat sources in the room, this feature might not work as expected. Your pets do have body heat too and might keep the TV on when no one is in the room.

But over all, it’s a very interesting feature worth talking about. And I haven’t seen duplicated by other TV manufacturers.

Ambient light sensors

Brightness of the display is one of the big reasons for high energy usage on TVs, and you’ve probably noticed how the brightness setting doesn’t seem optimal in all lighting situations.

Well this is what an ambient light sensor is designed to deal with. It senses the light in the room and then adjusts the brightness on the TV as needed. From an energy saving perspective, what this means is you no longer have to crank up the brightness to get a good viewing experience at all times: the TV will do it for you.

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Unlike the presence sensor by Sony, ambient light sensors are becoming pretty common across different product lines from different manufacturers.

More is coming

With the ever more aggressive ENERGY STAR guidelines for TV energy efficiency, product manufacturers are looking for more unique ways to reduce the total energy footprint of their units.

When you’re shopping for a new TV, take a moment to check out the energy saving features the unit offers beyond the ENERGY STAR label.

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