Is it ba for my Plasma TV if i turn it completely off instead of switching to standby?

Question

As putting yout TV on standby still consumes some energy, I bought an extra socket, so I can turn the TV's power completely off.( The TV itself can only be put on standby, but not completely off. )
Now is it bad for my Plasma TV (42 inches) if I turn the power compeltely off at night, instead of putting it on standby?

Answer 1

In reality setting the television to standby uses about as much electricity as it just being plugged in. There are arguments that indicate that shutting the unit actually on and off is worse for the unit because the constant heating (expanding) and cooling (contracting) can be very hard on the circuitry.

On the other hand there are those that argue that leaving the unit on will cause excessive heating causing the circuity to become weak and fragile causing undue breakage.

It's a catch 22, your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Most manufacturer's recommend leaving the unit on standby, as that is the standard option, and still should leave you with the standard viewing time of a plasma which is approximately 100,000 viewing hours (10 years)

Answer 2

There is a lot of B-S around on the standby issue. The standby mode on modern TVs uses very little power indeed.
You can buy a plug in power consumption meter (Lidl once had one for about eight pounds) that you just plug into the mains and plug your appliance into the meter, which displays the real consumption.
I've tried this with pretty well every electric gadget in the house. My main TV takes under 2 watts in standby - i.e. virtually nothing.

An ancient TV (that I've now thrown out) used to take about 18 watts in standby - a hell of a lot.
My Sky box takes 18.2 watts in operation and 17.9 in standby, i.e. almost no difference.
In fact, I suspect the Sky boxes was the original reason for the "switch off" argument. Sky boxes don't have a true standby, they are still operating in case there is a signal sent to disactivate an unpaid subscription!
I've checked the consumption of the various modes of the computer while I was at it.
I've even seen in one magazine article a recommendation to unplug your phone charger. In fact, the phone charger (unless it's faulty) consumes zilch when the phone is not plugged in.

Although I haven't tried it on a plasma (want to lend me yours?), I suspect the power supply in a plasma is very modern low consumption type. Buy or borrow one of these meters and check it.
If you do decide to unplug it from the mains, I would recommend that you go into standby first and wait a short while before unplugging it.

Answer 3

A TV with an energy star Logo uses uses less than 1 watt.

As long as you don't care if you have to wait about 20-30 seconds for your TV to boot it is perfectly OK to power it off completely.

Answer 4

I can't see how that can possibly be bad for your plasma.

Besides risking clearing out your specific user-settings, powering off any device is better than not.