EU probes TV makers over energy efficiency test scores

The European Commission says it is "following up" two reports that raise concerns that software used in TVs may be skewing their energy rating scores, he 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.

However, one environmental campaign group has likened the accusations to the Volkswagen diesel scandal, in which the German car firm admitted to programming its cars to deliberately cheat emissions tests.

Televisions' energy efficiency ratings are based on the power they use while screening a 10-minute video, which contains a mix of fast and slow-moving content shown at different brightness levels.

Manufacturers run the test themselves and then file the results. Some of these are then double-checked by various countries' energy regulatory bodies.

The study involving Samsung was carried out by ComplianTV, a consortium that represents various non-governmental organisations including the UK's Energy Saving Trust (EST). News of the study was first reported by the Guardian newspaper.

ComplianTV's researchers found that the power demands of one of the South Korean firm's LCD TVs dropped from 70 watts to about 39 watts within a minute of the test video starting.

"That's not normal, it's an anomaly," explained Richard Kay, an EST spokesman.

But he added: "We don't have any evidence to back up the accusation that Samsung has a technology to recognise when it is tested."

Samsung said it "firmly rejected" suggestions that it had designed its TV settings to deliberately produce misleading power performance results.

But it acknowledged that "motion lighting" - a feature introduced in 2011 that controls TV screens' backlights - was causing the discrepancy.

"It is a standard out-of-the-box feature, which is switched on when the customer takes delivery of their TV, and remains on whenever the customer chooses to watch their TV in standard viewing mode," it said in a blog.

"It is a default setting which works both in the lab and at home; delivering energy savings and helping us to reduce our environmental impact."