CEA Urges ‘Grace Period’ for ‘Hospitality’ TVs to Qualify for New Energy Star Spec

TVs used in hotels, restaurants and other “hospitality” settings will be not able to qualify for the Energy Star version 4.1 specification that takes effect Saturday unless the EPA modifies its test procedure requirement for the “download acquisition mode” (DAM), CEA said. The EPA’s “last minute” decision to adopt Rovi Corp.’s DAM test procedure for all TVs would deprive “hospitality” TVs of the ability to qualify for Energy Star, Douglas Johnson, CEA vice president of technology policy, told us.

The EPA specified that if TVs use DAM “you can use it only for Rovi electronics program guide,” said Bill Belt, CEA senior director of technology and standards. “But manufacturers want to use download acquisition mode for more than just electronic program guide,” he said. TVs used in hotels and other hospitality settings rarely implement the Rovi electronic guide, he said. They use DAM for other functions, including monitoring for new channel maps and for TV cloning, a function that allows the hotel to make all TV programming alike within the hotel, he said: But under version 4.1 and 5.1 “the only thing they are allowed to do during download acquisition mode is Rovi EPG,” he said.

Belt said CEA isn’t faulting the EPA for adopting the Rovi test procedure because that was only test procedure that was made available to the agency. But having only the Rovi test method “presents this massive problem for hospitality TVs, which were set to begin using the Energy Star program,” he said. In a letter to the EPA late Wednesday, the CEA told the agency that the existence of a test procedure for Rovi EPG “should not be the basis for limiting the Energy Star provision for DAM to implementation of the Rovi EPG.” Other DAM functions should be considered and allowed for Energy Star-qualified TVs as long as they meet other specified limits, it said.

CEA members are now working on a “generic” draft test procedure that covers the “full range of DAM activities,” the group said. A draft is expected for EPA review in the “next few days,” it said. But since public comment must be sought on any change to the test procedure, the generic test procedure will not be approved by the Saturday effective date, the group said. So the agency should allow a “reasonable ‘grace period,'” for qualification of TVs incorporating DAM for functions other than Rovi EPG. “Specifically we request that TVs that meet all aspects of the specifications” be allowed to display the Energy Star logo, the group said.

"We expect to make use of a temporary test procedure for hospitality TVs that use the DAM mode,” Katharine Kaplan, Energy star product manager, told us. All hospitality TVs must meet the efficiency requirements included in the 4.1 spec to qualify for Energy Star, she said. They must also meet requirements for submission of lab reports. The temporary test procedure will expire in two months, she said: “Over the next two months, EPA will work with stakeholders to vet and refine this test protocol for integration” into the Energy Star TV spec, Kaplan said: Absent an “approved” test procedure, hospitality TVs will not be eligible for Energy Star, she said.