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EU Probes TVs Over Energy Test Scores
joesreviewss writes: The European Commission says it will follow up on evidence that Samsung and another TV-maker use software that alters their screens' power use during tests. The BBC reports: "One study indicates that some Samsung TVs nearly halve their power consumption when a standardised test is carried out. Another accuses a different unnamed manufacturer of adjusting the brightness of its sets when they "recognise" the test film involved. Samsung has denied any wrongdoing. It acknowledged that it used software that altered its televisions' performance during tests, but said this was the effect of a general energy efficiency feature that came into effect during normal use and had nothing to do with the testing process."
Not quite the same thing. What VW did was recognize the test and change operating modes only during testing. What Samsung did was build a "Home" mode for optimum energy savings and other modes (including changing settings from the defaults in Home mode to give a custom mode) that optimized viewing experience at the expense of power use. The EU's tests use "Home" mode and don't test any other modes, while most consumers immediately adjust the TV for optimum viewing regardless of power consumption, so of course TVs in normal use use more power than their test scores indicate. But the TV doesn't change anything on it's own and it doesn't run any differently during the test than it does in the same mode in normal use, it's just that the EU didn't bother testing the TV in the configuration most consumers are going to set it to. Myself, I'd run the test in every mode the TV has and compare results because you know consumers aren't going to ignore additional modes.