How to lower your TV power consumption and save energy

Sony TVs come with various settings that can help you make your TV more energy-efficient immediately. Not only is it better for the environment but also for your power bill. Here are a few simple tips you can follow to save energy.

Note: The steps in this article might differ slightly or not be available depending on the TV model.

Enable the Power saving setting

If your TV comes with a Power saving setting, you can set it to either Off, Low or High. The Low or High options will adjust the brightness and panel control to reduce your TV’s power consumption.

1. Press the Quick Settings ( or ) button on the remote control.
2. Select Settings → System → Power and energy.
3. The next steps will depend on your TV menu options:
   • Select Power saving → Off / Low / High.
   • Select Energy saver → Power saving → Off / Low / High.

Lower the brightness of your TV and adjust the contrast

If power-saving settings aren’t available on your TV, you can always lower the brightness and adjust the contrast manually.

Select an energy-efficient Picture mode

If your TV comes with pre-set Picture modes (e.g., Standard, Vivid, Sport, Movie, Game, Cinema, Graphics, Photo), keep in mind that some Picture modes use more energy than others.

• Standard: The most energy-conscious picture setting recommended for everyday use at home.
• Vivid: Ideal for daylight viewing with clear colours, contours and enhanced contrast, but not recommended over a long time if you want to save energy.

Use the TV’s Ambient light sensor

A lot of the newer Sony TV models come with an Ambient light sensor setting. You can enable this setting to let your TV’s light sensor detect the amount of light in the room. That way you can ensure the screen isn’t brighter than what you need and save energy.

Turn off the screen when listening to music

Do you listen to Spotify or the radio on your TV? Chances are you’re interested in the music and not what’s displayed on the screen.

If your TV has the Picture Off setting, you can turn the TV screen off completely but still hear the sound.

1. To turn off the screen, press the Quick Settings ( or ) button on your remote.
2. Use the left or right arrows to find the ‘Picture Off’ tile.
3. To turn the screen back on, press any key on the remote.

If this setting isn’t available, we recommend you lower the brightness as much as possible when not using the screen.

Set a Sleep timer

If you have a habit of keeping your TV on until you fall asleep, consider setting a Sleep timer. With a Sleep timer, the TV turns off automatically when it detects the TV’s been idle for a set time.

1. On the remote control, press the Quick Settings ( or ) button.
2. You can either use the left/right arrows on the remote until you find the ‘Sleep timer’ tile, as shown in the screenshot below. Then select the desired time by using the up/down arrows on the remote (e.g., 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, 60 min, 90 min, or 120 min).
    

You can also set a similar timer function: Turn off TV after, or Auto turn-off, by following the steps below. The steps vary depending on your model:

1. On the remote control, press the Quick Settings ( or ) button.
2. Select System → Power and energy.
3. The next steps will depend on your TV menu options: 
   • Select Auto turn-off → Select Turn-off when inactive or Turn-off when watching → Select the desired time (e.g., 15 min, 30 min, 1h, 2h, 4h, 8h, 12h or 24h).
   • Select Energy saver → Turn off TV after → Select the desired time (e.g., 15 min, 30 min, 1h, 2h, 4h, 8h, 12h or 24h).

Switch to standby

Switching your TV to standby mode means turning it off using the Power button on the remote control or the power button on the TV. In standby mode, the TV is still connected to the mains power but consumes very little energy.

Turn off the TV completely if not used for a long time

If you do not use the TV for a long period of time (e.g., you’re away on holiday), we suggest you unplug the power cable when the TV is in standby mode. This step can save you energy especially if various external devices are connected to your TV.

TIP: You can make the process of unplugging the TV and the connected devices much easier by installing a power strip that you can turn off with an on/off switch.