most TVs are then still using almost full power, some still aren't "black" when a black screen is up (it provides light at night, enough to see with in my case!), and still puts off heat.
It's a hack that might work for something personal, but I wouldn't be comfortable selling a product that did this.
Fair points. I'm really kind of tied to the idea that someone is going to do this as a set-top box format. What you mention is a major issue though. Maybe it can use the video output only if the TV is already on, and just failsafe to audio in those cases, like a regular echo.
That's the only way I can see it working, and I'd be interested in something like that, but I am dreading the technical support system needed to handle all the issues like CEC not working, IR codes (if you go that direction), shitty TV firmwares, passthroughs, various amounts of audio delay (if you plan to switch between on-device audio and TV's audio), and all kinds of other stuff.
But I would be interested in a device that could pull it off. Doubly so if they were cheap enough to get one for each TV.
Its annoying that a "smart" TV is defined as supporting an API Yahoo removed three years ago, but there are no "smart" TVs that understand their inputs and could go into some kind of sleep mode.
The "smart" booting up does take 20 seconds, but as you can see in a laptop going to sleep to wide awake should take less than a second.
Just because smart TVs are poorly designed doesn't imply there's a technical limitation to display technology. Its technically possible to make a useful smart TV, even if there are none today.
Of course, but if you are going to try and make a product which relies on well working and fast "smart" (or otherwise) TVs and there aren't any (or enough) of them today, your product isn't going to get very far.
It's a hack that might work for something personal, but I wouldn't be comfortable selling a product that did this.