As you may know, here at Crave we’re big fans of the off switch. But as we’ve previously noted, it’s an endangered species. Happily, Toshiba is keen to stop David Cameron from mounting a full-on campaign against LCD TVs by allowing its customers to turn them off properly.
You probably know what modern TVs are like. You’re pretty lucky if you can find one with a proper off switch–sometimes you get a second standby button on the TV, but the good clunking motion we remember from CRTs of the ’80s have long gone. This is, as you can imagine, rather a disaster for the environment, because even on standby a TV will munch its way through a fair bit of electricity.
There are claims by some companies that you need to keep your TV on in order to receive updates to the program guide and the TV’s operating system. The truth is, most TVs are turned on enough to keep them up to date without them needing all night to search the airwaves for a random download.
We’re certainly thrilled to see the off switch making a comeback. We watched the Toshiba representitive demonstrate it, and we’re very pleased to report it worked as expected. Pressing it once turns the screen off, pressing it again turns it on again. Of course that assumes it was turned on in the first place, but we’re confident most people will understand the process works just as well if you assume the set was turned off to start with.
All hail the off switch, for it has returned to bless us all with lower power bills.
(Source: Crave UK)