The pieces I have do not do everything I want to do yet.pete_c said:I am a consumer level person who just wants to connect a bunch of prefab building blocks to create the solutions I need.
Aren't you already doing this?
You have all of the pieces already.
If you have your "requirements" then you will spend your whole life trying to piece together something that will meet them. It will never happen. Instead, look at the new technology out there, pick some that might work, and start building out from there.upstatemike said:The pieces I have do not do everything I want to do yet.
I am always looking for better, simpler, more reliable, more scalable ways of doing things.
I'm trying to strike a balance that avoids a system that has single points of failure while at the same time not creating something so complex that I am constantly fixing or updating some aspect of it (I would rather spend my time implementing new ideas than maintaining the existing stuff.)
ano said:If you have your "requirements" then you will spend your whole life trying to piece together something that will meet them. It will never happen.
I am a little more optimistic. If you define what you want then at least you know what to look for and what to avoid.
Instead, look at the new technology out there, pick some that might work, and start building out from there.
Pretty much what I have been doing since the mid 70s.
Today using some very cheap pieces, like hubs, and Amazon Echos, you can do just incredible things. With these few pieces I can control all my lights and locks, WITH MYVOICE, I can change channels on my TV with my voice, I can give TTS messages through my house, I can update my shopping list with my voice. I can play any music in any room by just asking. And almost daily there are new features. For example, Echos can now monitor the house for glass breakage, and notify my remotely if that occurs, and they can monitor my smoke alarms and notify me if they go off. The cost to add these features? $0.
I currently have 36 Echos deployed in my house so I will be leveraging them to accomplish some of what I need.
While I can't do what my 20 year old home automation system can do, it can do so much more. Times change.
Happy to add new things or find new and better ways to do the old things but I don't see why I should have to give anything up. Technology changes but core requirements don't... at least not for me.
Newer HA systems don't do much more HA, but they do so much more remote control. The basic HA requirements haven't changed much except we don't save money on lights left on, which destroyed a good portion of the main HA wants. LOLano said:<snipped>
While I can't do what my 20 year old home automation system can do, it can do so much more. Times change.
Today there are many "motion" switches to prevent lights being left on. UPB lights can be controlled in groups so you really don't need a central controller anymore. It can control large banks of lights using scenes. And hubs can automate lighting controls, if that is what you want. Plus today, LED lights use so low of power, that you will probably spend more trying to control a light off, then you'll ever spend paying for electricity for the light. There is even AI. Yesterday, Alexa noticed that we left a garage light on that isn't normally on at that time, so she asked if she should shut it off. I don't remember Stargate doing that. :rofl:LarrylLix said:Newer HA systems don't do much more HA, but they do so much more remote control. The basic HA requirements haven't changed much except we don't save money on lights left on, which destroyed a good portion of the main HA wants. LOL
upstatemike said:Over on the Homeseer forum I notice a lot of folks who are unhappy with some aspect of that product (usually the UI) making statements like "Homeseer better get their act together or they will be displaced by newer systems like Hubitat or Polisys." This has got me wondering if that is in any way actually possible so I thought I would put the question out there.
Yes thanks I am aware of HS4(already purchased my upgrade license). My point with this thread was that I don't think it is possible to replace Homeseer with any current or upcoming hub based product but because the threat gets thrown around a lot I wanted to see if somebody could show me how it could really happen. While folks here convinced me that products like Hubitat and Polisys are useful to enhance Homeseer, all the hub offerings have gaps in their feature set that prevents them from being a complete Homeseer replacement (at least for me).macromark said:Mike - not sure if you've gotten any of our recent announcements but we are working very hard on HS4... which has a strong focus on GUI improvements. If you've not already heard about it, check out the HS4 vs HS3 features here:
https://homeseer.com/hs4-smart-home-automation-software/
upstatemike said:Yes thanks I am aware of HS4(already purchased my upgrade license). My point with this thread was that I don't think it is possible to replace Homeseer with any current or upcoming hub based product but because the threat gets thrown around a lot I wanted to see if somebody could show me how it could really happen. While folks here convinced me that products like Hubitat and Polisys are useful to enhance Homeseer, all the hub offerings have gaps in their feature set that prevents them from being a complete Homeseer replacement (at least for me).
ano said:Hubs are certainly less full-featured than Homeseer. HOWEVER, they do have benefits and this was the biggest reason I left Homeseer many years ago. Homeseer using "Plugins" as a means to interface with hardware. Many "Plugins" are written by developers, many are good and keep their plugins updated, while others disappear and the plugin stays in suspended animation. Hubs have plugins as well, but they are written by the device manufacturers and made available to the hub to use should you install that device. When a hardware manufacture updates there hardware or adds new hardware, the manufacture is motivated to update their plugin so they can sell new hardware. The end result is plugins in hubs are always pretty current.
I don't know if this is a problem that has been addressed in Homeseer, but it certainly was one when I used it.
Does HS4 support custom scripting? I am still running HS2 version 2.5.0.49, I have purchased HS3 but have not been able to use it as it would not replace all the functionality I have via HS2 due to the lack of scripting support. The issue with plugins will remain forever as the older ones would tend to be abandoned/discontinued, so the custom scripts could fill the need for people who do not want to tear up their old but well operating systems, or use non "strategically important" components. HS2 is the best system I know that would allow the mix of professional and custom components. HomeAssistant could be a distant second, as its UI interface is not comparable to the old Homeseer.macromark said:Mike - not sure if you've gotten any of our recent announcements but we are working very hard on HS4... which has a strong focus on GUI improvements. If you've not already heard about it, check out the HS4 vs HS3 features here:
https://homeseer.com/hs4-smart-home-automation-software/