# Standby mode: Good or bad long-term?



## t-towndude (Feb 2, 2007)

Hi

When my S3 was dying from the bad hard drive/9.4 update, I was talking to a TiVo customer service rep. As we were talking about what was going on, I told him that my troubles started when I tried to "wake" the TiVo from overnight standby mode.

The CSR seemed baffled that I put the TiVo in standby mode when done watching it for the night. I figured if anything it'll save a bit in electricity over the course of a month, but the CSR said he thinks most people just leave their TiVos on 24/7. He also suggested that part of the reason my TiVo died was because I use the standby mode (which made me wonder, if the standby mode is bad, why is it there?)

So to you all that know way more about electronics/hard drives/TiVos than I do: Which should I do, put my S3 in standby mode when done watching it for the night, or leave it on overnight? Which is better for my TiVo's long-term health? (NOTE: I frequently go 18 to 24 hours without watching it, so often when it's in standby mode, it's that way for a while. I rarely watch a bit, put it in standby mode, come back an hour or two later, watch some more, back to standby mode, repeat).

Thanks in advance for the advice.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

went to tivo central and did search, keyword: standby
this is the result

Standby Mode07-27-01	Search Reference Number

Putting a TiVo DVR into Standby mode does the following:
Stops sending video and audio from the DVR to the TV.

Causes the lights on the front of the unit to go out.

Re-enables Parental Controls if they have been temporarily disabled.

Enters KidZone Now Playing screen upon return from standby (if KidZone is on).

Programs that are being recorded or are scheduled to record will still be recorded (if a program is being recorded the red light will turn on.)

If you used an RF coaxial cable to connect a program source to the DVR and to connect the DVR to the TV, Standby mode provides RF pass through. This means you can watch channels on your RF program source while the DVR is in Standby mode.

You will not be able to control live TV (pause, rewind, etc.) while the DVR is in Standby mode.

To enter Standby mode, go to TiVo Central by pressing the TiVo button on your remote control. Select Messages & Settings, and then Standby.


To exit Standby mode, press either the TiVo button or the LIVE TV button.


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## rvsj (Dec 20, 2007)

Teeps said:


> If you used an RF coaxial cable to connect a program source to the DVR and to connect the DVR to the TV, Standby mode provides RF pass through. This means you can watch channels on your RF program source while the DVR is in Standby mode.


Not possible. The S3 doesn't have a coax output connector.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

As usual, CSR = moron. Standby mode does not add any wear or tear to your S3. It's true that many if not most users ignore it, but there's no reason to except laziness. It _does_ save a small amount of electricity. I always use it.


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## sinanju (Jan 3, 2005)

Teeps said:


> went to tivo central and did search, keyword: standby
> this is the result


It also misses the fact that recordings will not be interrupted by emergency broadcast messages on TiVos with CableCARDs.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

...and suggestions will supposedly start recording sooner.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I use standby on all my units but especially with the S3 units. The OLED screen doesn't have an infinite life.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

i use it all the time on both my S3's so the kidzone gets turned back on when it shut the tv off. no issues. 

I also am under the impression that the drives will never power down so there is no real effect to the moving parts.


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

I used a Proffesional "Watt" meter and checked wattage consumed between an S3 in standby mode & a S3 _NOT_ in standby mode.

They both use the same amount of power. There is *NO "POWER SAVINGS"* from putting an S3 in standby mode.

TGC

Edit:
P.S. There is also no power consumption difference as noted on the wattage meter (To the nearest tenth of a watt). When the unit is recording your shows. As the S3 is always "Buffering" both tuners to the hard drive anyways. I tried various features on the S3 doing different things. The wattage meter read about the same no matter what I was doing with the S3. It never fluctuated more then .2 (2 tenths) of a watt one direction or the other. The same also applies to the TiVo HD unit. Although the TiVo HD unit in my house uses 5 watts less of electricity then does the S3.


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## jrm01 (Oct 17, 2003)

TexasGrillChef said:


> Although the TiVo HD unit in my house uses 5 watts less of electricity then does the S3.


The THD manual says it is 80 watts, the S3 manual is silent. What numbers did you get?


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## sinanju (Jan 3, 2005)

Also, the fans are variable speed based on internal temperature. Are they both housed in the same space? Otherwise, the difference may just be one fan working harder than the other.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

TexasGrillChef said:


> I used a Proffesional "Watt" meter and checked wattage consumed between an S3 in standby mode & a S3 _NOT_ in standby mode.
> 
> They both use the same amount of power. There is *NO "POWER SAVINGS"* from putting an S3 in standby mode.
> 
> ...


I'm worried about saving the life of my OLED display since I use it regularly.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

TexasGrillChef said:


> There is *NO "POWER SAVINGS"* from putting an S3 in standby mode.


Others have found different results, as you can see in this thread.


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## sfm (Oct 3, 2006)

Let me preface this with the acknowledgement that I have no idea how hard drives work and what is bad or good for them... but I would think that if Tivo would disable the live buffer writing (but keep the hard drives spinning) when you put the Tivo in standby this would perhaps reduce power consumption as well as perhaps save wear and tear on the hard drive... if both of these were true then I think standby would be even more useful. I know the Motorola 6412 cable box we have does this (when "powered off" it shuts down the obnoxiously bright display and the live buffer writing stops but the disk still spins).


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

jrm01 said:


> The THD manual says it is 80 watts, the S3 manual is silent. What numbers did you get?


S3 gave me 85.2 watts
THD gave me 79.8

TGC


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> I'm worried about saving the life of my OLED display since I use it regularly.


I *think* you can turn OLED display off, &/or at least reduce its brightness

TGC


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## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

wmcbrine said:


> Others have found different results, as you can see in this thread.


I saw that... but at 1 to 2 watts difference between normal and standby I call that to small a difference to really be a difference.. It's less than 10% difference. If you were going by Military spec. They would classify that as non-difference as well.

TGC


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

TexasGrillChef said:


> I *think* you can turn OLED display off, &/or at least reduce its brightness
> 
> TGC


Standby is easier for me to do. I don't put every box in standby all the time, but probably 85% of them time I put them in standby.


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## jrm01 (Oct 17, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I'm worried about saving the life of my OLED display since I use it regularly.


You must have good eyesight or sit close to it. I find it worthless.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

jrm01 said:


> You must have good eyesight or sit close to it. I find it worthless.


I'm around 9 feet away from the two in my main room and 5 feet away from my other Series 3. I had 20/15 vision after LASIK a few yeras ago but now its a little over 20/20.


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## cmontyburns (Nov 14, 2001)

aaronwt said:


> Standby is easier for me to do.


I find standby to be ridiculously inconvenient. My DirecTiVos have standby buttons on the front of the units, and my Sony DirecTiVo has one on the remote, as well. With the THD, your TV has to be on and you have to call up the menu and then drill two levels in and arrow down several times to put the unit in standby. Absurd (or a TiVo making a statement on what they think of the utility of putting the thing in standby mode).


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

cmontyburns said:


> With the THD, your TV has to be on and you have to call up the menu and then drill two levels in and arrow down several times to put the unit in standby.


There's a discrete standby code that you can program into a programmable remote; I have it mapped to "Power" on my URC 6131.

Failing that... why wouldn't the TV be on? You put the TiVo in standby, and then you turn off the TV. No reason to be messing with it when the TV is off. But you _could_ still do it blind: Channel-, Up, Up, Select, Channel-, Select.

Of course I also put a standby button on my network remote program. 

But, yeah, TiVo's menu design doesn't exactly encourage using standby.


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## cmontyburns (Nov 14, 2001)

wmcbrine said:


> Failing that... why wouldn't the TV be on? You put the TiVo in standby, and then you turn off the TV. No reason to be messing with it when the TV is off.


Well, sure there is. I wouldn't bother with putting it in standby for an hour, but I would for overnight and the next day. Maybe I turn the TV off at 8, expecting to watch one more thing before bed, but then don't. Now I've got to turn the TV on just to put the TiVo in standby. That kind of case happens to me all the time, but it has never been an issue before since the DirecTiVos have a physical button for standby.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

cmontyburns said:


> I find standby to be ridiculously inconvenient. My DirecTiVos have standby buttons on the front of the units, and my Sony DirecTiVo has one on the remote, as well. With the THD, your TV has to be on and you have to call up the menu and then drill two levels in and arrow down several times to put the unit in standby. Absurd (or a TiVo making a statement on what they think of the utility of putting the thing in standby mode).


One button press on my Harmony and it's in Standby.


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## analog4 (Aug 1, 2003)

If I put a TiVo HD in standby does it stop buffering to the disc?

Also, if I put it in standby and a show is set to record - will it record or not?


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

analog4 said:


> If I put a TiVo HD in standby does it stop buffering to the disc?


No.



> _Also, if I put it in standby and a show is set to record - will it record or not?_


Yes, it will record.


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## cmontyburns (Nov 14, 2001)

analog4 said:


> If I put a TiVo HD in standby does it stop buffering to the disc?





wmcbrine said:


> No.


Interesting -- is that so? My DirecTiVos do stop recording the buffer when in standby mode. I can't think of a benefit to standby mode otherwise.


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## AllYourBase (Oct 24, 2007)

DirecTivo's do stop buffering from Satellite a short time after hitting standby, but Standalone units do not. I believe the HR10-250 will still buffer OTA while in standby (in that respect, it's unique).

Some say that the original intent of the standby mode on the SA units was to allow one to watch TV (without tivo) while the unit was stuck recording a show (by tuning the TV to the RF pass through).


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

cmontyburns said:


> I can't think of a benefit to standby mode otherwise.


1. Saves power.
2a. (S3) Suppresses interruption of recordings by the emergency alert system.
2b. (S2) Allows RF pass-through.


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## Dennis Wilkinson (Sep 24, 2001)

wmcbrine said:


> 1. Saves power.
> 2a. (S3) Suppresses interruption of recordings by the emergency alert system.
> 2b. (S2) Allows RF pass-through.


3. (if you like suggestions) allows suggestions to record immediately on available tuners


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

sfm said:


> Tivo would disable the live buffer writing (but keep the hard drives spinning) when you put the Tivo in standby this would perhaps reduce power consumption


'Some, yes. 'Not much. Most of the power dissipated by the drive is dissipated as heat directly from the drive motor's inefficient use of power.



sfm said:


> as well as perhaps save wear and tear on the hard drive...


Hard drives do not suffer greatly from "wear and tear". Wear is caused by friction, and there is very little friction in the hard drive mechanism. There are no gears, pulleys, cables, belts, cams, or pistons. The only lever is the head arm assembly, and it only makes contact with the head arm bearing. The only bearings are those for the head arm assembly and the drive motor. Neither is under any significant load or lateral stress. Drives virtually never fail due to worn bearings. I administer a large number of computers - over 50 - with ordinary conventional hard drives which have been active 24 hours a day for between 15 and 18 years. Physical hard drive failures are rare in those systems. While they do not read or write the vast amount of information a DVR does, they are Unix systems, so their hard drives are continually reading and writing files.


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## markus2 (Sep 16, 2003)

wmcbrine said:


> There's a discrete standby code that you can program into a programmable remote; I have it mapped to "Power" on my URC 6131.
> 
> : Channel-, Up, Up, Select, Channel-, Select.
> .


I need help with this discrete standby code. When you say "Channel", do you mean pushing the channel rocker switch? And then you say up. So do you mean push the channel rocker switch up, up, select... but then you say channel again. Push it up?

Sorry, I too have a URC, and would love a simple way to program a standby button by creating a macro. But I need further explaination of your code!


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

You're quoting two separate, unrelated passages. That sequence has nothing to do with the discrete standby code. It's just what you'd press on the remote to go into standby from the menus.

If you want to program the URC, see here:

http://www.hifi-remote.com/cgi-bin2/ueic.cgi?PVR_0618


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## alansh (Jan 3, 2003)

Seriously, standby just shuts off the video output. There's no significant savings on power or wear. The only way to save power is to pull the plug, which has its own disadvantages, obviously.


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## DallasFlier (Jan 23, 2003)

wmcbrine said:


> *1. Saves power.*
> 2a. (S3) Suppresses interruption of recordings by the emergency alert system.
> 2b. (S2) Allows RF pass-through.


Again, no, it does not save power. TGC gave the power readings in this thread. The other thread you referenced to support a claim of power savings listed 40 vs. 38 watts on an S3. That's 5%. Any measuring equipment the typical consumer has available, that's within the margin of error of the measurement - and/or the margin of error introduced by the variable speed cooling fan over a few minutes.

The disk spins and writes, the electronics is all powered on, the cooling fan is running. It makes NO sense that you could save noticeable power - and you can't!

(*IF* the 2 watt savings that the other user in the other thread reported is real, and there's no reason to believe it is - then putting it into standby for 20 hours per day, over an entire 365 day year, at my electric rate - would save $1.80 - for the YEAR!)


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

DallasFlier said:


> *IF* the 2 watt savings that the other user in the other thread reported is real, and there's no reason to believe it is


There's no reason to believe it isn't, and good reason to believe it is. The TiVo is clearly doing less work (i.e., not generating a video signal) when in standby.



> _- then putting it into standby for 20 hours per day, over an entire 365 day year, at my electric rate - would save $1.80 - for the YEAR!)_


I never said it was _much_ of a savings. Is the effort worth $1.80 a year? For me, easily, especially since I use the discrete standby code. (Plus, there's reason 2a.)


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## DallasFlier (Jan 23, 2003)

wmcbrine said:


> There's no reason to believe it isn't, and good reason to believe it is.


I gave you plenty of good reason, and that's a professional opinion based on 30+ years as a degreed electronics engineer. Believe what you want, but sure would be nice if you quit putting it into threads like its fact.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

DallasFlier said:


> I gave you plenty of good reason, and that's a professional opinion based on 30+ years as a degreed electronics engineer. Believe what you want, but sure would be nice if you quit putting it into threads like its fact.


Two equal units, one with the video output off and LEDs off, the other with everything on. Common sense says that the one with the video output off and the LEDs off, have to draw less power. While I agree the difference would be minuscule, there has to be a difference since the LEDs do draw some power when on.

Now whether that difference is .1 watt, 1 watt or 2 watts, I don't know, but there has to be a difference.


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## riz (Dec 30, 2000)

aaronwt said:


> One button press on my Harmony and it's in Standby.


can you be more specific on how to do this? I want to make a LCD key 'standby' but don't know where the source button is from? thx!


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

there isn't a source button for standby on current tivo remotes that you can copy (or any tivo branded remote that I can recall)

There is a code though for remotes that can be manually programmed. harmony has it in their database. I'd assume remotecentral has it on their site for other manually programmable remotes. Or if you can get your hands on a remote from the Sony series 1 then you could "learn" from that as it had the button.


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## Dancar (Oct 8, 2001)

If you really want to reduce wear & tear of your hard drive, you could set both tuners to stations you don't receive when you're not in live TV mode. The buffer does not write when there is no signal.

But as the IT pros point out, hard drives are designed for 24/7 operation, and just like the "standby for energy saving" idea, I'm not convicned there's any measureable benefit to this.


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## DeWitt (Jun 30, 2004)

For what it is worth my unscientifically supported research.

My Tivo HD will occasionally reboot itself. Sometimes this results in a hung grey screen untill the plug is pulled for a hard recycle.

But....

To date, it has never done this while in standby. That alone is enough reason for me to leave it in standby when I am not watching.

Monday night I forgot to do it, didn't watch anything on Tuesday, Wednesday grey screen. All Tuesday shows failed to record.

No explanations, no theories, just my experience.


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## CCourtney (Mar 28, 2006)

Out of curiosity, how much power are people seeing consumed on their TiVo HD or S3's?

I had a power meter on my AV equipment for a while. I never checked it with just my TiVo HD. At a minimum I also had my SA8300HD in standby and my PS3 in standby mode along with my TiVo HD in standby mode. 

All total it was 106Watts for the three of them in standby. I read the PS3 is consuming 1.9W in standby mode.

I've read reports of the SA830HD consuming 23W in standby and 30W when in use. This I don't fully accept as it read the same power consumption turned on or off. Maybe the 30W is with two things being recorded as it'll only buffer one tuner.

Anyway that would imply my TiVo HD was consuming 74W of power.

FWIW, I see no power consumption difference between TiVo HD powered on and in standby mode. My meter is down to the Watt though. So let's give it 1W worth of consumption difference -> 7.3KW extra consumed if I only watched it 4hrs/day or less than $1. Meanwhile my PS3 is consuming almost $2/yr in standby.

CCourtney


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

I can't remember how it was confirmed but while in standby tuners will change the channel without prompting you for permission. This is both for scheduled recordings and suggestions.

BTW the Sony TiVo remotes had a green power button which put the TiVo into standby


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

CCourtney said:


> Out of curiosity, how much power are people seeing consumed on their TiVo HD or S3's?
> 
> I had a power meter on my AV equipment for a while. I never checked it with just my TiVo HD. At a minimum I also had my SA8300HD in standby and my PS3 in standby mode along with my TiVo HD in standby mode.
> 
> ...


The only difference in standby mode is that the video output is turned off. But also that power usage seems high for the TiVos. All my TiVos only draw between 40 and 45 watts when in use with the two tuners.


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## TerpEE93 (Nov 3, 2006)

If you have a Harmony remote, just tell the Harmony app that your receiver is the old DirecTV HR10-250. Harmony includes the Standby function for that box (thought there is no Standby button on the HR10-250 remote). Now your TiVo will "power on" via the LiveTV command and "power off" via the hidden Standby command.

I've done this with my TivoHD and Harmony 880. It works great. The only nit was that I have to rename the DirecTV button to TiVo, but otherwise it's 1:1 mapping.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

you can also 'power on' with the tivo button (mapped to menu usually on the harmony remotes)


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

(and you can even make your "watch Tivo" activity through the tivo button command at start)


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## TerpEE93 (Nov 3, 2006)

MichaelK said:


> you can also 'power on' with the tivo button (mapped to menu usually on the harmony remotes)


Absolutely. Just a matter of whether you prefer to start up with a video stream or a menu asking what you want to do.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Dancar said:


> If you really want to reduce wear & tear of your hard drive, you could set both tuners to stations you don't receive when you're not in live TV mode. The buffer does not write when there is no signal.


The real benefit is faster TTG transfers (to your PC). I wish the standby would turn off the live buffers. Would make sense.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

TerpEE93 said:


> Absolutely. Just a matter of whether you prefer to start up with a video stream or a menu asking what you want to do.


yep- personally i like to avoid stumblin into the middle of a sporting even of a show that i dont want to ruin a surprise so that's why i picked the tivo button. But othes might prefer live tv for other reason.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

lew said:


> The real benefit is faster TTG transfers (to your PC). I wish the standby would turn off the live buffers. Would make sense.


in some cases it would make sense- others not so much.

for one the only reason I use standby is it's the only single button remote command to turn the kidzone back on. I like my live buffers but like to turn the kidzone back on when the parents are done with the tv. So I'd be bummed without the buffers still recording...


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