Broadband Hardware Smart Home

What do the lights on my BT TV box mean?

BT has provided a series of Humax re-branded Freeview and YouView devices for several years now. But what do those mysterious lights on the front actually mean?

Find the picture below that matches your box for all the information that you need to know.


Although it looks like there’s only one light on the front, it’s a combination of up to three. Depending on how many colours are appropriate, different sections will light up. For example, if two are relevant then one half will be one colour and the other half another.

Blue: Powered on
Purple: Low-power standby
Red: Active standby. However, if paired with any other light, it indicates that a recording is taking place


Unlike the previous box, this has 3 different sections of coloured lights and, depending on the colours location, it can indicate different things.

Left

Red: Low-power standby
Purple: Active standby
Blue: Powered on

Centre

Red: Recording

Right

Blue: Connected to broadband


This box is bored of bars of light – circles are the new trend. It’s a bit less complicated too, as it only has two different colours to display.

Orange: Standby
Blue: Powered on


This one goes for the single circle of light too, as well as shaking up the design. Who needs big chunky boxes?

Red: Low-power standby
Purple: Active standby
Blue: Powered on

What do “low-power standby” and “active standby” mean?

3 out of the 4 devices listed here have both types of standby available. The difference, which can be configured by the owner, is to do with how much power is consumed when the box is put into standby. The less power it uses, the longer it then takes the box to wake up and become available.

So, “active standby” is one that consumes more energy but is available for use much quicker, while “low-power standby” uses less power, but will take longer to wake up.

READ NEXT: What do the coloured lights on a BT Whole Home Wi-Fi mean?

About the author

David Artiss

Works for Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr. Tech geek, international speaker and occasional PC Pro podcaster. Lover of Lego and video games.

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