Since apple designed this to be "on" all the time weather truely on or in standby mode, could there be any harm with unplugging it every day?
Yup, mine turns itself on too. I'm wondering if it's picking up a infrared signal off my TV remote/Satellite/DVD!
Yes. With the screensaver you get a display on the TV (you have a choice about what is displayed). With sleep mode you get no display.
The Apple TV is supposedly still able to sync with the Mac in either mode.
Since it should certainly be "less than or equal" heat, I put it to sleep when not in use. I can't find any statement about it by Apple, and I haven't done an informal experiment on it.If theTV is in the sleep mode, does it generate same amount of heat?
Since apple designed this to be "on" all the time weather truely on or in standby mode, could there be any harm with unplugging it every day?
It would make me uncomfortable pulling out the plug every day. I once told a "Genius" that I very occasionally pulled out the plug on my iMac when my kid is too slow to log off when being told it's bedtime or time to go somewhere (and I mean she takes 15-20 mins to log off) and the Genius cringed and said its a bad idea to pull the plug on computers; will ultimately damage it. Not that I typically believe that the Geniuses have any particular technical insight into anything complex but...