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Next-Gen posted:I would say a lot of people run at 15 or 20 as well as stuff like 6 or 10, but even 30fps is not uncommon. The only real importance is the bitrate captured at and the shutter speed/exposure settings the cam is configured at to capture a clear picture. People will crank down framerate for situations that they want to maximize clarity but at really low rates it can affect quick movement capture between areas. While you are technically correct in that sometimes having smooth video is more important (casinos, for instance), those situations will never come up in a home setting. It's easier to just ignore the exceptions to the rule when they wouldn't apply anyways.
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Mar 24, 2016 20:15
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KillHour posted:While you are technically correct in that sometimes having smooth video is more important (casinos, for instance), those situations will never come up in a home setting. It's easier to just ignore the exceptions to the rule when they wouldn't apply anyways. Sure, but framerates on codecs like h.264 and h.265 also don't have a linear effect on image quality. If he's willing to just bump the bitrate 50% he could run double the framerate from something like 7 to 15fps with no perceivable quality difference. MJPEG streams would linearly scale. I personally think 15 is the sweet spot, and 30 is definitely overkill, as it gives some extra chances at good stills and i have a ridiculously oversized NAS for recordings anyways.
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Mar 24, 2016 21:11
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KillHour posted:While you are technically correct in that sometimes having smooth video is more important (casinos, for instance), those situations will never come up in a home setting. It's easier to just ignore the exceptions to the rule when they wouldn't apply anyways. most businesses I have done this for want both clear pictures and clear video specifically to watch & catch shop lifters. I concede that for home a clearer picture may be a higher priority as all the camera work I do is for businesses.
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Mar 30, 2016 17:06
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Sure, but when you want both, cost goes up or retention goes down. Most people would call 8 clear anyways.
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Mar 30, 2016 18:22
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Are there any third-party solutions for adding voice control to a Philips Hue system? The HomeKit base station requires iCloud Keychain syncing to be turned on, which I don't consider to be acceptable.
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Apr 7, 2016 05:33
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Lazyhound posted:Are there any third-party solutions for adding voice control to a Philips Hue system? The HomeKit base station requires iCloud Keychain syncing to be turned on, which I don't consider to be acceptable. Homebridge might do the trick for you (assuming you don't want to control from off the wifi network.) Requires some work to setup but it seems to work well. https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge (don't think it requires iCloud Keychain sync, though I do have it turned on, and don't have any Hue lights to test it with.)
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Apr 7, 2016 05:37
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Kalman posted:Homebridge might do the trick for you (assuming you don't want to control from off the wifi network.) Requires some work to setup but it seems to work well. This looks good, I guess there's a Raspberry Pi in my near future. e: Actually it turns out HomeBridge requires it too. Welp. Lazyhound fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Apr 7, 2016 |
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Apr 7, 2016 06:04
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Lazyhound posted:Are there any third-party solutions for adding voice control to a Philips Hue system? The HomeKit base station requires iCloud Keychain syncing to be turned on, which I don't consider to be acceptable. Not sure how averse you are to cloud, but Amazon Echo/Dot integrates with it no major problems beyond what you'd get with any system. Specifically I ran into a couple problems with lights that were similarly named; the system would ask me what light I meant. Rather than enunciating every time I wanted to change them, I ended up renaming the lights/groups to distinct names.
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Apr 7, 2016 18:22
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I think I'm probably going to to just suck it up and blow away the Safari autofill passwords on my phone and enable iCloud syncing. I have TouchID now, so filling from 1Password every time isn't much of a hassle.
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Apr 7, 2016 23:37
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Nest/ecobee question. I've always avoided looking at smart thermostats because someone is generally in my house most of the time and I don't want it shutting off accidentally on people. For geofencing, I'd assume I'd have to have it enabled on the phone of every person that might be in my house? If the activity sensor detects someone, would Nest/ecobee retain the default "someone is home leave it on/at a specific temperature" setting? Also my thermostat is in the hallway and people aren't necessarily walking by it ever hour, how accurate are the activity sensors going to be? Would I be expected to get Nest Protect to function as an additional sensor?
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Apr 11, 2016 18:43
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I have a Nest thermostat and I just don't use the auto-away feature. My wife and I have a routine schedule so I just built a heating and cooling schedule based on that. I don't really need it to learn our patterns and go into away mode when the programmed schedule already sets the temperatures to an energy friendly setting 30 minutes after we normally leave and come back to a comfortable setting 30 minutes before we normally arrive home. If we are going to be away for a while, I just set the thermostat in away mode manually. Of course, temps, modes, and away can all be set from a phone also so when we are on the way back home from vacation, I turn off away mode a couple hours before we will arrive home. The activity sensor is pretty accurate though from my initial testing when I first got it. It can learn the habits of people there or not there during the week vs. the weekend. It does exactly what you say, if it detects presence, then keeps the temperature where it was set until it no longer detects presence. Then it goes into the max high/low settings you give it. A Nest Protect would certainly help with accuracy with the thermostat in the hallway depending on where you place the Protect. If your house is occupied very randomly, I don't know that the auto-away with the thermostat by itself would be perfect, but it would probably be pretty good with a Protect to help out. I also installed Roost Desktop Notifier on my computer because I'm that drat lazy to get up and go to the thermostat to turn on the heat or AC when I'm in the computer room and my phone is still charging in the bedroom.
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Apr 12, 2016 01:20
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is there a good doorbell/camera/security system that records locally? I hate the idea of everything being "in the cloud" - originally just wanted home security but now I'm thinking it'd be nice to tie everything together. I just picked up a Netgear R7000 which has native support for Arlo cameras, but it doesn't seem like Netgear makes much else  I also need it to work in low canadian temperatures, so battery powered stuff might not be an option. Guitarchitect fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Apr 13, 2016 |
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Apr 13, 2016 15:45
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Im looking into buying either a Ring or Skybell doorbell camera and neither one of these looks like they are at a maturity point in terms of software to buy yet.AFewBricksShy posted:Wired. The system is most likely 25 years old. Its important to note that with a lot of panels nowadays support wireless takeover modules that work in the 300mh or 400 mhz bands (if you're outside the US). You can take those hardwired zones, add them to the Take and then wirelessly add the take into the panel. Its pretty simple to setup.
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Apr 14, 2016 18:56
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Guitarchitect posted:is there a good doorbell/camera/security system that records locally? I hate the idea of everything being "in the cloud" - originally just wanted home security but now I'm thinking it'd be nice to tie everything together. I just picked up a Netgear R7000 which has native support for Arlo cameras, but it doesn't seem like Netgear makes much else I spent a while hunting down decent doorbell cams and there's really only one that I know of that's a direct wire-in replacement doorbell that will actually support some level of local access is the doorbird. I believe it's pretty expensive starting at 350 bucks, but it does have ONVIF support which lets you use something like blue iris to monitor/record stuff yourself. I just gave up and installed a dahua cam pointing out from my front porch, although i just went with one way audio since I didn't want to bother screening people who come. You could try and find an outdoor cam with two way audio support and then use that pretty similarly to a doorbell cam if you wired up a z-wave/zigbee relay on your doorbell and made it give you a notification. it'd be more work and slightly less slick, but the video will be a billion times better, probably a hundred bucks all in and you would get full local control. spiralbrain posted:Im looking into buying either a Ring or Skybell doorbell camera and neither one of these looks like they are at a maturity point in terms of software to buy yet. Ring is broken as poo poo on Android right now, they pushed an update last week that made nothing work except on iOS. I'd agree with the software maturity point based on that alone. Depending on his wiring / layout of his old system, it may be a hassle to get the panel upgraded to a new one too. My ~30 year old system wiring was all weird and would have needed new wiring pulled to work, so I just upgraded to a wireless system.
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Apr 16, 2016 15:24
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Next-Gen posted:Ring is broken as poo poo on Android right now, they pushed an update last week that made nothing work except on iOS. I'd agree with the software maturity point based on that alone. I cant remember which company it was but some of them are freezing in Canada. They are supposed to be rated down to -40F and are failing before that. Im wary of buying anything that is at this level maturity at this point even though I really really want one.
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Apr 18, 2016 18:03
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Is it really impossible to turn on Philips Lux bulbs without opening the app and dragging individual sliders? ahahahahahaha
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Apr 19, 2016 08:29
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Lazyhound posted:Is it really impossible to turn on Philips Lux bulbs without opening the app and dragging individual sliders? Philips sells a Tap Switch or you can pair it to a third party voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Homekit.
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Apr 20, 2016 01:06
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Call Me Charlie posted:Philips sells a Tap Switch or you can pair it to a third party voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Homekit. Has anyone made it into the Hue 2.0 beta? Are things improved there?
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Apr 20, 2016 04:01
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Lazyhound posted:Has anyone made it into the Hue 2.0 beta? Are things improved there? I believe people also made widgets and stuff you can just put on your homescreen too. They have an API so there's probably some other integrations as well
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Apr 20, 2016 13:22
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Lazyhound posted:Is it really impossible to turn on Philips Lux bulbs without opening the app and dragging individual sliders? I use the Philips wireless Dimmer - has on/off buttons and 2 buttons for dimming. I also have it linked in Domoticz so I can control also control the bulbs with any other switches (e.g. Z-wave remote). I did hit one interesting issue with the Philips bulbs - they stopped responding when I was running a heavy download over wifi - the wifi was interfering with the Zigbee due to the overlapping spectrum. With normal browsing this isn't an issue, but when I'm throwing gigs over wifi then it saturates. Luckily my wifi router and devices also support 5Ghz so I bumped them all to that and now theres no conflict.
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Apr 22, 2016 10:15
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KillHour posted:This is because mortise locks aren't found in residential construction. Your condo palace needs one of these bad boys. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Prime-Line-Steel-Keyed-Mortise-Lock-E-2294/100123091 =) no not being serious...
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Apr 22, 2016 18:31
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Baconroll posted:
I haven't seen my Zigbee lights freak out yet, but I have seen WiFi disturb Bluetooth and Logitech peripherals. Such a noisy, crowded band.
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Apr 22, 2016 18:45
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Lazyhound posted:Is it really impossible to turn on Philips Lux bulbs without opening the app and dragging individual sliders? What phone OS? The official Hue app on iOS does this, you just need to set up Scenes. Open app, tap scene. Although mainly I just tell Alexa to do it.
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Apr 25, 2016 04:15
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beefnoodle posted:What phone OS? The official Hue app on iOS does this, you just need to set up Scenes. Open app, tap scene. No, you really can't add them if you create the scene through the Scene tab, though you inspired me to cast my net a little wider and I discovered that you can if you create the scene through the Light menu. Which is sensible.
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Apr 25, 2016 09:31
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Thinking of getting into home automation. I want a system that allows me to remotely lock/unlock doors and to stream video when someone is at the front door... nothing too fancy. What do you guys recommend? Also, is there a doorlock that is remotely unlockable but also has the ability to be unlocked by tapping a smartphone (either via bluetooth/nfc) by a reputable manufacturer? I looked at Schlage and it only appears they are z-wave compatible, but i don't see anything about quickly unlocked with nfc/bluetooth.
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Apr 30, 2016 22:43
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Mister Fister posted:Thinking of getting into home automation. I want a system that allows me to remotely lock/unlock doors and to stream video when someone is at the front door... nothing too fancy. I am just getting into this stuff too. I picked up the Schlage Sense. It is HomeKit compatible so if you have an Apple TV it can be operated remotely using the app. It also can be operated with Siri. If you're close enough, you can do it via bluetooth as well. So far I like it a lot. I know it has an Android app but I don't know if that works over the cloud or if you need to be in bluetooth range.
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Apr 30, 2016 23:07
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Jose Oquendo posted:I am just getting into this stuff too. I picked up the Schlage Sense. It is HomeKit compatible so if you have an Apple TV it can be operated remotely using the app. It also can be operated with Siri. If you're close enough, you can do it via bluetooth as well. So far I like it a lot. Oh thanks... i did a quick look on the website... so it's not z-wave compatible?
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Apr 30, 2016 23:14
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Mister Fister posted:Oh thanks... i did a quick look on the website... so it's not z-wave compatible? I don't recall anything in the manual about Z-wave. I think the Connect line is though.
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Apr 30, 2016 23:17
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So, I need some sort of security camera-type setup. I only need one right now, and maybe a second in the future. I am borrowing a buddies Nest Cam, and I love everything about it...except for the subscription fee. I wouldn't mind, but I don't need 95% of what it offers; all I need is the ability to store 24 hours of video at a time. Motion detection would be nice, but not needed. I know some of the Samsung cameras will do what I need them to, but apparently the app/web interface is garbage, given that I'm spending $nest on them. Any other options? I don't mind something clunkier, but I don't want to spend $200 for it.
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May 1, 2016 03:40
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IuniusBrutus posted:So, I need some sort of security camera-type setup. I only need one right now, and maybe a second in the future. I am borrowing a buddies Nest Cam, and I love everything about it...except for the subscription fee. I wouldn't mind, but I don't need 95% of what it offers; all I need is the ability to store 24 hours of video at a time. Motion detection would be nice, but not needed. I know some of the Samsung cameras will do what I need them to, but apparently the app/web interface is garbage, given that I'm spending $nest on them. Any other options? I don't mind something clunkier, but I don't want to spend $200 for it. If you have a newer netgear router (like the Nighthawk) home automation is built in with their Arlo software. Add a couple of wifi cameras and youre good to go. http://www.arlo.com/en-us/?cid=PSarlogoogleps10.26AW-Brand
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May 2, 2016 16:55
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The Arlo has a decent free cloud recording system (7 days of motion alerts for up to 5 cameras for free), but the cameras themselves are gonna hurt for the cost. Fry's has the arlo q on sale this week for 169, but you have to be signed up to their email promo codes to get it. Otherwise, there's a (somewhat lovely) 4 hour plan with Amcrest ProHD cams but they're decent if you want PTZ and really robust software/local recording options (Dahua makes them). The other option would be the LaView Panda which, despite their lovely name, is a good camera made by Hikvision that has PIR motion detection and also good local recording options but no cloud recording that I know of.
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May 3, 2016 13:57
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Next-Gen posted:The Arlo has a decent free cloud recording system (7 days of motion alerts for up to 5 cameras for free), but the cameras themselves are gonna hurt for the cost. Fry's has the arlo q on sale this week for 169, but you have to be signed up to their email promo codes to get it. I checked out the cameras at ISC West at the beginning of April. They are expensive but they are top notch. I didnt know that Arlo was built in until the Rep told me about it. They're probably the cameras Im going to go with. The bigger problem with Netgear is their crappy configuration software.
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May 3, 2016 18:06
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Apparently SmartThings has some really predictable security issues: https://iotsecurity.eecs.umich.edu/ Basically what it boils down to is: Don't use Zigbee or SmartApps till they can implement a satisfactory fix. I'm not too worried though. If I understand correctly, someone has to be actively listening for your information, or you must provide it to them via an app, in order to exploit you.
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May 4, 2016 02:27
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By saying "install a malware app", it requires the user to copy paste the code into the developer site as a new smartapp/device handler and learn how to personally publish it. If someone is doing that without knowing what the code in it is doing, that's a bad idea. SmartThings probably does need to have distinct permissions on smartapps but they have a super anal smartapp publishing process right now that prevents any apps like that from being in there. Funny that they glossed over that, because there's no way they got that in the smartapp area of smartthings. It's like manually compiling and installing an apk on a phone. Not sure what you mean by don't use zigbee, though. Is that in reference to the blackhat talk where he sniffed out the encryption keys during handshake? That's due to the zigbee spec that handles insecure rejoin, and you can disable that here
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May 4, 2016 13:48
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Next-Gen posted:By saying "install a malware app", it requires the user to copy paste the code into the developer site as a new smartapp/device handler and learn how to personally publish it. If someone is doing that without knowing what the code in it is doing, that's a bad idea. SmartThings probably does need to have distinct permissions on smartapps but they have a super anal smartapp publishing process right now that prevents any apps like that from being in there. Funny that they glossed over that, because there's no way they got that in the smartapp area of smartthings. It's like manually compiling and installing an apk on a phone. Thanks for the clarification, I didn't watch the YouTube videos yet and took the news articles' word that the API was inherently unsafe. Also, they made it sound like SmartThings never released the feature to disable the insecure rejoin. That's what I get for trusting tech journos.
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May 4, 2016 17:50
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I've got a wink hub and some GE bulbs, a nest, and an Echo at home, and after not really doing much with the wink for a year I'm trying to get things moving again. Anyone have good ideas or IFTTT recipes or even just good blogs to read for ideas to make this thing better than just a clunky way to turn lights on and off? I tried playing around with some geofencing but that seems to be more useful if I lived alone? Am I wrong here? I also have a couple window/door sensors, so I was thinking of putting one on the overhead garage door and one on the other garage door, so when you open or close either of the doors it will turn on the garage lights. Anything else really great that I'm missing? I know Wink isn't the most robust platform.
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May 19, 2016 13:43
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The most useful thing I did was turn on an LED strip and set it to red when the bedroom/bathroom doors open so you're not feeling your way back and forth in the dark. On the days I work, I have a light turn on downstairs too, so I can get down the stairs without tripping over cats.
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May 19, 2016 14:47
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What is the recommended outdoor camera system, preferably with poe and a dome? I'm looking at Amcrest, hikvision, or ubiquiti. How does this look? Amcrest ProHD Outdoor 3 Megapixel POE Vandal Dome IP Security Camera - $119 http://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-Outdoor-Megapixel-Vandal-Security/dp/B01E7QO3AA With Amcrest NV1104E 1080p POE NVR - $129 http://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-NV1104E-1080p-Network-Recorder/dp/B00X4UDG36 And a surveillance harddrive, probably a WD purple drive.
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May 21, 2016 03:34
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The amcrest is a rebranded Dahua IPC-HDBW1300E; all of Amcrest's IP cams are dahua to the best of my knowledge so they're gonna be decent. You can theoretically get the cam cheaper by buying the dahua directly but you don't get firmware upgrades/support/warranty with them. Hikvision would be a good choice too, haven't seen much new from ubiquiti lately but i seem to recall to get 1080p+ it's at least 400 bucks from them. As for the NVR, it looks fine as long as you aren't expecting to go over 4 cams.
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May 24, 2016 14:22
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I live in a house that has four old-style CCTV security cameras watching the doors, etc. The wires all end up in a rack in the basement. I put a PC there with a GeoVision GV-800B card. It works, but the software for the GeoVision is total crap. (Bad UI, constant 100% CPU, proprietary recording format, etc.) Unfortunately I can't use something like iSpy instead, because the card doesn't expose the camera feeds as DirectShow devices - they''re in Device Manager as some sort of "DVR" objects. So I'm looking for a different capture card that can handle four BNC inputs, and either has good software (haha) or works with iSpy or similar. USB is fine too. Any recommendations? And does anyone want a lightly used GV-800B without the packaging? :p
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May 26, 2016 05:36
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