|
As far as I know (which isn't very far) Hue (with their bridge) would be the easiest, least likely to disappear, but probably slightly/somewhat more expensive way but other options would be LIFX or OSRAM bulbs controlled via a Smartthings hub. I went with Hue, so can't help much with other options.
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 02:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 22:51 |
|
|
I can use python scripts to control my hue bulbs with indigo domotics
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 04:09
|
|
|
Choadmaster posted:Funny, I've had a Synology NAS for five years and it's been rock solid. It updates itself, nothing has ever broken, and all the add-on packages I've used have worked just fine. I just replaced the 4 3TB drives I had in there with 6TB ones and the transition went smooth as butter. I have had a DS1812+ for a long time, and I just bought a DS2415+ to essentially replace it. I am a programmer/engineer with a lot of Linux experience, ranging from perl/mysql to all the boring server daemons and firewall stuff. I have a house with 10 cameras running at 20FPS/4MP and I briefly considered using the Synology to manage the cameras, but ultimately did not. So with that in mind, here are my thoughts. 1. I really like Synology products for giving me a nice, big raid array that I use as network storage. When using them as intended, they work well and I have also never had a problem. However, I never upgraded past DSM 4.3 because I know a ton of people had a ton of issues with version 5 - my new DSM has version 6 on it already, so I think I avoided the train wreck that was 5 entirely. I think if you keep it simple and avoid any of the fancier stuff, it is a very nice way to get a nicely managed RAID array in a relatively compact, low power box. 2. This thing is not even close to a replacement for a Linux server. The packages are limited, they have awkward and incomplete interfaces, they lack normal updates. I tried to bootstrap some packages using ipkg one time on the 1812 and it ultimately crashed my volume. I would never try to do that again, because even if it worked it's still a junky and incomplete "distribution". It's nice that I can install Perl and at least execute some simple scripts on the machine, but I would never try to use it as a replacement for an apache/mysql server. 3. I chose to use Blue Iris and a PC to run my cameras. I built a computer with an I7-4790 3.6Ghz CPU, and the cameras eat about 40% of that processor constantly. There is no way the Synology processor could handle that. On top of that, video writes a ton of data to drives and in my opinion I'd rather use a dedicated throwaway disk on a separate computer to churn the video instead of constantly recording to my raid array. My video is about 6tb per week - I think it's a big disadvantage to write that much junk data to my nice raid array. I also believe the Synology camera licenses are relatively expensive. For my setup, I bought a $500 dedicated computer and a $60 copy of Blue Iris and it really is an awesome setup. If you only have a few cameras and you already have a fast computer (I still use the one I built in 2008 because I'm an old crank and hate upgrading), you wouldn't even need to buy a dedicated computer. Just install Blue Iris on your PC and let it run in the background. 4. Awhile ago, they took away the ability to transcode video from their media server and it pissed off a lot of people. I think the new servers have Plex available as an app, but I haven't looked at it and I'm not sure the processor would be good enough to handle HD video. I honestly don't know though, I haven't gotten that far setting up the one one yet. 5. I would never let Synology update my array automatically. They have pushed out plenty of buggy updates in the past and it's hard to tell exactly what they screw up until it's too late if you auto update. TLDR: I suggest is that you check out Blue Iris as a better surveillance solution, and I wouldn't count on Synology to act as a replacement for an actual Linux server.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 05:12
|
|
|
Is anyone running video over cat 5e or cat 6? I see Monoprice sells a 1x4 splitter and I am considering installing that. Looks like it converts to Ethernet and then back to hdmi on far end with powered wall plates. Currently, I have three 100' hdmi cable runs to three rooms that I run off two directv receivers. (Surround receiver has two hdmi outputs.) Is there an advantage to sending the signal over Ethernet vs hdmi other than cost of cable? All runs are short enough that isn't a concern. Access to all spots is no problem as there is attic above and conduit to each outlet location. Would it be smarter to go with hdmi splitter and cables or Ethernet splitter with wall plate converters?
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 03:02
|
|
|
I put a few pairs of the unpowered Monoprice HDMI to cat5 plates (two cat5 runs per HDMI) in the office at work and they work fine. But if you already have the HDMI run, why replace it? As far as I know, the whole purpose is to run HDMI signal where it's a pain to run HDMI cable. In our case the whole office was wired with cat6 so it was easy enough to slap some plates on the ends. Actually one minor advantage is that they (the ones I used at work) carry and repeat infrared if you need that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 03:25
|
|
|
I want to add a couple more runs. That's the reason for asking. I could get extra directv receivers but that would up my monthly fee and we won't need to watch more than the two directv sources we have now simultaneously. I think I'll go ahead and do the cat6. One other advantage is future proofing to an extent. Once hdmi changes, cat6 should still be able to carry that signal with upgraded converters.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 05:44
|
|
|
At my office we had to do some pretty long HDMI runs (200ft+). We opted for powered HDMI-cat5e baluns because reading various A/V forums almost everyone who ran HDMI farther than 50ft had problems with video unless they went down to 1080i or 720p. That said, if you already have 100ft HDMI runs and are not having any video problems there is no advantage to ripping that all out and replacing it with cat5e or cat6. Fake edit: Yeah, if you're doing more runs might as well go cat5e/cat6 to ensure no loss in signal when you start running 4k or whatever newfangled resolution they do later.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 05:47
|
|
|
The two non-main runs are to 720p tv's and the new runs would be to 1080p minimum. Subs like cat5e/cat 6 is the way to go. Thanks for the input.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 06:21
|
|
|
Scrapez posted:I want to add a couple more runs. That's the reason for asking. Remember that cat 6 is harder to properly create your own terminations because of shielding requirements and getting the proper twist ratio. When the cable plugs in, the devices will do a signal to noise ratio test and probably just negotiate down to 5e speeds anyways (gigabit/100Mb/s). For Cat6 I would just buy premade lengths. I'd also get a punch down tool and keystone jacks, and terminate in one of those.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 13:44
|
|
|
OSU_Matthew posted:Remember that cat 6 is harder to properly create your own terminations because of shielding requirements and getting the proper twist ratio. When the cable plugs in, the devices will do a signal to noise ratio test and probably just negotiate down to 5e speeds anyways (gigabit/100Mb/s). For Cat6 I would just buy premade lengths. Good to know. Is there even much of an advantage to going cat6 as opposed to doing cat5e? I'm not set on cat6.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 15:38
|
|
|
Scrapez posted:Good to know. Is there even much of an advantage to going cat6 as opposed to doing cat5e? I'm not set on cat6. Ehhh... in my opinion, not so much. Nor do I think that there will be one in the near future. You have to consider that the internet infrastructure in most of the US is still severely lacking, and only the densest metro areas are getting fiber service with gigabit speeds, which is still on par with 5e capability. And that's even assuming whatever you're accessing is capable of serving at gigabit speeds. I mean, raw 4k with zero encoding whatsoever is somewhere ~93 Mb/s, and encoding that can drop it down to somewhere ~25 Mb/s. Granted, TV's are changing fast, but the difference between say 1080 Blu-Ray and 4k UHD isn't exactly the same as the difference between VHS and DVD, and I don't see there being such a rapid move to adopt that for most people. Once you're into 10 GbE, you're getting into the realm of optical fiber SFP transceivers, and only connecting point to point links, like for trunking switches, not from switches to clients. At least, that's where the standard currently sits. Practically speaking, there's just not much you can do with it as of now (or from my perspective the foreseeable future), unless you're in a large corporate environment or datacenter or something. But I could be wrong, I'm sure someone here knows a lot more about this than I do, networking isn't my immediate focus area... I just know enough to be a danger to myself and everyone around me.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2016 17:48
|
|
|
Can the harmony hub cause interference witb other devices, specifically an apple tv? It seems like ever since I setup my hub my apple tv works like poo poo. Its extremely slow, gets stuck buffering frequently and I have to restart it almost every time I try to use it. Never had a problem before. Edit: just spent 10 minutes trying to get a movie to stream. Restart the apple tv. Reset my modem and router and nothing. Finally i unplug the hub and it immediately loads and has been playing fine for 30 mins now. How far away do I need to put this thing to kill the interference, or do I just have a bad unit? Keystoned fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Dec 11, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 00:11
|
|
|
Is your appletv hardwired? Have you tried hardwiring it as a test?
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 00:41
|
|
|
My Harmony hub sits directly on top of my ATV4, to no ill effect.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 03:59
|
|
|
Keystoned posted:Can the harmony hub cause interference witb other devices, specifically an apple tv? It seems like ever since I setup my hub my apple tv works like poo poo. Its extremely slow, gets stuck buffering frequently and I have to restart it almost every time I try to use it. Never had a problem before. Yes, Zigbee and Z-wave devices operate on the unlicensed spectrum, right around 2 Ghz, and older 802.11g uses 2.4 Ghz. Hardwire your devices, or pick up a wireless access point and set it to an unused channel, though that's going to be difficult on 2.4 Ghz. Also, TV's basically act like a giant RF shield, and if your apple tv is right behind it, try moving it out to a clearer line of sight.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 06:09
|
|
|
What's the best & easiest Alexa-controllable light switch out there?
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 16:47
|
|
|
smoobles posted:What's the best & easiest Alexa-controllable light switch out there? I'm interested in this, too. This WeMo unit is $20 if you order it from Prime via Alexa by voice. Not sure how well it works. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BB2MMNE?tag=slickappfp-20&ascsubtag=78d65dbac14e11e6acc66ac303b07ce40INT
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 17:10
|
|
|
Scrapez posted:I'm interested in this, too. I have that. It works just fine. It's bulky as hell, so don't buy it if you need it to be in an outlet behind a dresser or couch or something. Once it's set up, it just shows up as another device that alexa can turn on or off. You can put the wemo switch into groups with other devices too. So I have a wemo switch controlling a lamp in my living room where I also have Hue bulbs (not in the lamp). They're all grouped, so I can say, "Alexa, turn off living room" and she'll turn the bulbs and the wemo off. edit: I see a lot of people complaining about wemo and the wemo apps, but I've had two for three years now and really haven't had any problems with them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 18:42
|
|
|
Anyone know of smart switches in this form factor?
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 18:49
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:Anyone know of smart switches in this form factor?
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 08:15
|
|
|
So I've been holding off on posting this, but my home was broken into my first day of a European vacation. The good: my smartthings setup notified me of knocks on both the front and back door as well as the intrusion when they opened up the back door to get in. I knew the moment they went inside and was able to call the police immediately. I didn't have alarm.com service setup, so I had to take care of it myself. The police just missed them and they unfortunately were already gone with about $3000 in various possessions (I'm still traveling and haven't been able to verify all that is missing). Honestly I'm not sure if the monitored service would have seen any different results. I called the police immediately and they dispatched units. The burglars must have been listening to a scanner and heard it called in, as there were MANY things they left that were far more valuable than what they stole. I was able to contact friends who went to my place to retrieve them so there were no repeat attempts to obtain the things they didn't get. That said, I really wish I had a siren setup with this system. I think it would have immediately deterred them. Funny thing is that it was during the day (1:30pm on a Monday). I'm sure they were banking on people not being home during the day. housefly fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Dec 14, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 10:09
|
|
|
Insteon just released a siren. I'm sure the others will follow suit shortly.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 13:14
|
|
|
Sorry for the burglary  I agree a monitored service wouldn't have responded any faster. I used to have a true monitored alarm by a company and during the one time that I thought it wasn't a false alarm and had them send police, it took well over an hour for them to show up. I think now with my home monitoring (Smartthings) and cameras (on Blue Iris), me calling 911 myself to tell them SOMEONE IS RIGHT THERE NOW, might get a quicker response.There are several Z-wave siren options and they aren't expensive. I have a Fortrezz strobe/siren in the living room and two GoControl siren/strobes in a couple other places. When I accidentally trigger the Smartthings intrusion, it's freaking loud in the house. I think it would be a deterrent. They have battery backups so will keep going off if they find them and yank the cords out. ...also fun back when Smartthings was having a lot more cloud issues and I couldn't send the disarm command... Also, put a UPS on your Smartthings hub and Internet modem/router if you rely on it for security. Pitre fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Dec 14, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 13:29
|
|
|
That is unless someone just cuts your cable/DSL line at the source.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 15:03
|
|
|
We had a burglary in a nearby neighborhood where the first thing they did was cut the outside line/internet, which cut off the cameras the owner had. They didn't have local recording (sd card, etc.) either which may have helped as the thieves didn't mess with the cameras, apparently. Word on the street (i.e. my neighborhood Facebook group, which loves to obsess over things like this and has several local police members) is it was an inside job because someone knew the homeowners were away on a trip and only had basic cameras (Dropcams I think) not an alarm or other type of security system. I have Alarm.com service myself; while cell jammers are a thing they can be very tricky to use (it's not as simple as turning it on and bam, all cell service in the area is 100% jammed) and not all that common. I've read about a couple commercial stores that got burgled in the US where jammers were suspected. Still, they are better than internet-only methods since those are extremely easy to defeat/cut and becoming more common. How well it works depends on the service and your local police, really. I already had an incident with mine where my brother stopped by to meet a contractor while we were out of town and didn't disarm the alarm (or text me so I could do it remotely) and the following happened: The alarm.com service (I use Livewatch) called me immediately and alerted via app - my wife's app too, we were in Dublin at the time and all our gadgets started going off like we were being burgled right there - and once I confirmed it was a false alarm asked for my passphrase. Which being the dummy I am (I only used it once at setup) I thought was something else. They didn't tell me "wrong, try again", just "thanks, we're disabling your alarm" and then promptly called police, under the theory that I may have deliberately given the wrong passphrase. So the cops were at my door in 5 minutes, hands on pistol butts. Caught the whole thing live on my Ring doorbell. Fortunately we got everyone to stand down quick but it was interesting. The moral of this story is a monitored service can be a very good thing that you supplement with your own Smart Home stuff - I only use Livewatch for the alarm system and monitoring, all my cameras, etc. are stuff I've set up on my own. Livewatch is one of the better services - no contracts, monthly fees are very reasonable, and overall compared to the normal shitshow that is the alarm industry they have been very good. And they provide a cell/GSM radio for their gear.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 16:24
|
|
|
Anyone in here use Arlo or Arlo Pro and can give their thoughts on it?
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 18:39
|
|
|
Pitre posted:Sorry for the burglary I have the same siren and it really is loud. I agree that it would be a good deterrent in case of a break in. We have a cleaning lady come every couple weeks and once in a while I forget to disarm and it goes off on her and she's commented on how loud it is. This week I unplugged it knowing she was coming and forgot it had battery backup. It went off.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 19:47
|
|
|
Work with your cable co. to bury or mask your line, and then put a false line in plain sight.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 20:53
|
|
|
MrYenko posted:You'd need to wire the fan lights to a separate (smart) switch, and get a (smart) fan controller. Some fans allow the lights to be separately switched, some don't. This is from a long time ago, but if you have a smartthings hub, you can try a Z-wave network repair. I had added a smart switch that behaved like that (right after I added an identical switch 20' away that worked fine) and the repair fixed it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 22:06
|
|
|
housefly posted:So I've been holding off on posting this, but my home was broken into my first day of a European vacation. The good: my smartthings setup notified me of knocks on both the front and back door as well as the intrusion when they opened up the back door to get in. I knew the moment they went inside and was able to call the police immediately. I didn't have alarm.com service setup, so I had to take care of it myself. The police just missed them and they unfortunately were already gone with about $3000 in various possessions (I'm still traveling and haven't been able to verify all that is missing). Honestly its more important imo to have cameras than a siren. A doorbell camera and a camera inside the residence somewhere out of view. If your security system is monitored then when they break in the central station will immediately get notified of a sensor that was tripped (a verified alarm), your cameras will get images and the images uploaded to alarm.com's backend. The advantage of monitored service is that someone like alarm.com can listen in to the premises without the intruders knowing and dispatch police without it going over the air for everone to hear. You'll also get the notification of an alarm and will be able to see the pictures from the break in almost immediately. Monitored systems definitely have their advantages and can respond even if you cant.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 00:39
|
|
|
Coredump posted:Anyone in here use Arlo or Arlo Pro and can give their thoughts on it? Arlo cameras are pricey. The functionality is built into their routers like the Nighthawk though so you don't have to buy the base station.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 00:41
|
|
|
I received that FLIR camera system that was linked in here earlier at a stupid markdown price and my first impression just from unboxing the cameras is that they are beefy as gently caress and way more solid than the Ubiquiti cam I had previously.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 03:33
|
|
|
HEY NONG MAN posted:I received that FLIR camera system that was linked in here earlier at a stupid markdown price and my first impression just from unboxing the cameras is that they are beefy as gently caress and way more solid than the Ubiquiti cam I had previously. Yeah, I'm really impressed with the build quality as well. I just finished pulling cables into my attic to get mine permanently mounted. I'm really glad I got these over the Unifi camera system I was previously contemplating--much cheaper, and better resolution. Heck, they're better than the cameras that were part of the 20,000$ Tyco system my workplace installed a few years back. And the dvr network client doesn't require activeX and IE8 running on a dedicated server!  Plus, with my shiny new cyber power 1500va battery backup, I've got roughly two hours of runtime after a power outage, running my entire home network, from the modem/router/switches, to the wireless access points, microcell booster, nvr + cameras, and smart things hub. And it'll auto shut down my file server so I don't have to worry about that either. I'm super happy with the way all this smart home security stuff has shaken out. When I bought the house, it didn't even have a locking back door and now it's got probably one of the best home networking and security systems in my rural rear end village.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 05:39
|
|
|
Pitre posted:Sorry for the burglary Yeah they dispatched a unit immediately when I called. I was in Europe when it happened and couldn't call 911, so had to call the local number. From soup to nuts it was a total of 10 mins for them to be in my apartment arms drawn, but the thieves were already gone. Totally an inside job, I think. They left DNA at the scene (blood from smashing the glass). I suspect it was someone who had been watching my house and also had a police scanner on since they left easily transportable high value items behind in favor of some smaller stuff. Whatever. I'm still not home. I suspect it was about 3k give or take that they nabbed. I'm insured so it's not a big deal. And instead of replacing some things I'm totally investing in a camera or two for the house.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 09:03
|
|
|
You know what an inside job is, right?
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 09:05
|
|
|
spiralbrain posted:Arlo cameras are pricey. The functionality is built into their routers like the Nighthawk though so you don't have to buy the base station. Wait really? So if I upgrade my router and just get some of the cameras I should be good?
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 15:42
|
|
|
Coredump posted:Wait really? So if I upgrade my router and just get some of the cameras I should be good? I went to ISC West last year and this is exactly what the Netgear Rep told me: "You dont need the base station if you have the nighthawk router, the functionality for the cameras is built in". Unless they changed something, yes, you wont need that base station. BTW: The Nighthawk router kicks rear end. I love it. Tacos Al Pastor fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Dec 15, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 18:04
|
|
|
Not sure where to ask this question so I'll try here. I setup Anymote to control my Onkyo receiver and it works great. The only thing is that you can only change the volume up or down by 1. I'd like to be able to send a value (number) to set volume to. Is this possible? As an aside, controlling the receiver with my Echo via Anymote is really slick.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 04:02
|
|
|
A tip for Hue users - if you use 2.4Ghz wifi then move your hue hub as far away from your wifi router as you can. I found even an 'idle' wifi was reducing the Hue reliability when the Hue hub was sat 1 foot from the wifi router. Now the Hue hub is in another room about 20 feet away I've found that my Hue wireless dimmers (which are in every room) have gone from 'have to press 5 times to switch on' to being 100% reliable on the first button push.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 15:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 22:51 |
|
|
I wish IFTTT had the option of one more "if." I like the hue triggers I have but some would be more useful if you could also have them not run if it is like 4:00 am.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2016 15:40
|
|