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As documented in this question, I recently bought a new Samsung monitor and connected it to my computer using a HDMI connection; this monitor just doesn't seem to support any power saving mode: it won't shut down when the computer tells it to do so, and it won't turn on when a HDMI signal is received if it was previously shut down manually or using its internal inactivity timer.

I asked the Samsung support about this, and they told me this is by design, because the HDMI protocol doesn't support power saving and turning devices on or off.

What I want to know is: is this a real limit of HDMI, or is it just a lazy implementation by Samsung? Do other monitors/TVs support power saving when connected via HDMI, or is it actually not possibile to properly handle power saving over a HDMI connection?

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Samsung are wrong, quite simply.

I am using HDMI and my monitor (HP Pavilion 23xi) is perfectly able to sleep.

Check your graphics settings, and if the monitor goes to sleep within say 30 seconds after switching your PC off, then you know that it's a driver issue.

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  • The monitor just refuses to sleep, there's no difference if the PC is on, off or even if the cable is disconnected; the monitor just keeps displaying a "no signal" warning. It has a setting to shut down after 15 minutes of no signal received, but then it completely shuts down: it doesn't wake up when there is a signal again, and it needs to be turned on manually. And Samsung says this is exactly the way it's supposed to work, because HDMI doesn't support power saving.
    – Massimo
    Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 18:55
  • Just looked up the monitor, this is a mainly TV panel. Therefore, it will not sleep, as it isn't designed specifically for PCs.
    – user424484
    Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 19:36
  • So, this is just bad (or at least lazy) design by Samsung, and not an intrinsic limit of HDMI like they told me?
    – Massimo
    Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 20:01
  • @Massimo Yes. HDMI does not have that limitation.
    – user424484
    Commented Mar 6, 2015 at 16:09
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    I have the same issue and there does appear to be something that occurs over DVI and not over HDMI. The monitor I have is a Samsung SynMaster 910t. They only have DVI or VGA however if I use a HDMI cable with an DVI adapter these monitors will not go to sleep when the computer is off. When using a DVI cable the do.
    – sschueller
    Commented Mar 24, 2019 at 13:16

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