Welcome to Incremental Social! Learn more about this project here!
Check out lemmyverse to find more communities to join from here!

homeassistant

This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

hendrik , in What's the software they use for their livestreams?

Not sure what they use (you could ask one of them.) Bue we've used OBS Ninja for similar things. As far as I remember it works well, has acceptable latency and everything is open source.

Edit: Obviously you have to put in some effort to configure OBS to your liking, make appealing slides etc.

unknowing8343 OP ,

That is absolutely amazing

towerful , in What's the software they use for their livestreams?

VMix popularity exploded during the pandemic. A lot of conferences became a blend of teams/zoom/Google and VMix.

Might be hardware based like a multi-m/e video mixer (blackmagic make cheap ones), or maybe more of a screen manager (like barco e2, analog way livecore). But, unless there are production requirements, vmix is much more likely. It's (now) proven, and much cheaper!

OBS can absolutely do it. There are other open source softwares that can do it.
I've seen people bastardise Resolume into something that looks decent.
There are some online studio systems so everything you do is virtualized. Streamyard used to be like this, till it was bought by hopin (I think it was hopin)

dinckelman , in What's the software they use for their livestreams?

OBS is practically the only sensible choice. Some people still use xsplit, for whichever reason, but good for them

helenslunch , in What's the software they use for their livestreams?
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Probably OBS

Strit , in A good zigbee repeater light switch?
@Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show avatar

I have been pretty lucky with the Aqara plugs. I have like 8-10 of them at this point and they work really well with homeassistant, giving energy readings and such.

lemann , in HA Voice Chapter 7 - Supercharged wake words and timers

Really nice to see improcements being made to local voice control.

I personally haven't opted for it yet due to the computing reqirements - instead been looking into dedicated offline voice recognition modules, since they use much less power. Downside is that they recognise a mostly predefined set of commands, and are just looking for patterns in speech instead of actually performing voice recognition

Would be interesting to compare the two voice control approaches side by side at some point

chaospatterns OP , in HA Voice Chapter 7 - Supercharged wake words and timers

I've been eagerly looking forward to the time when I can replay my Echo Dots with a self-hosted solution, but so far I haven't found hardware that I really liked the look and style of.

EarMaster ,

That is really a missing part of this whole thing. I get that I could build something myself, but I don't want to have the hassle of doing it and keeping it working all the time (because I am able to build it, but not on a "works perfectly all the time" level). I really hope that sometime in the future there is a standard for smart speakers (and screens maybe) that allows me to add them to my cloud service of choice.

isgleas , in A good zigbee repeater light switch?

I have installed LEDLUX smart wall socket (around 25€), MOES light switches (around 30€ for a 2-gang switch), both of which are quite easy to install as it replaces what you already have. I have used Sonoff zigbee relays (around 50€ for a pack of 4) as well as Avatto mini zigbee smart switch modules (around 20€, single and 4-gang modules), but it may require some modifications on your current installation

Or go with a zero, plug and play socket, like the Nous A1Z smart socket, around 15€ each. Just plug it onto your wall socket.

dream_weasel OP ,

Could I trouble you to link a relay you're talking about? Because if it's a naked board that's cool I'll hide it in the wall, but amazon is confused and thinks I mean a switch I think.

isgleas ,
dream_weasel OP ,

Thanks that's not what ai was expecting!

StrawberryPigtails , in A good zigbee repeater light switch?

My house is old enough that it doesn’t have neutrals, so I’m kinda limited in what I can install. I’ve been using smart plugs by thirdreality and battery powered buttons. No problems with the smart plugs yet.

THIRDREALITY ZigBee Smart Plug 4 Pack with Real-time Energy Monitoring,15A Outlet, Zigbee Repeater,ETL Certified,ZigBee Hub Required,Work with Home Assistant,Compatible Echo Devices and SmartThings https://a.co/d/05vm2VMC

dream_weasel OP ,

That's also what I've been using, they just don't look very permanent or polished in my high traffic areas.

glimse , in what's a good ip camera for home assistant?

Amcrest gets recommended a lot but I have no personal experience with them

ironhydroxide ,

I have a few. Some try and call home (mostly the doorbell, every 10s).
The others are easy to setup and run with frigate.

glimse ,

I thought the doorbell camera worked great with frigate, is that not the case? I don't have a need for cameras yet but that was on my shopping list...all cameras will be on a locked down vlan so it's fine if it TRIES to phone home if it still works "offline"

ironhydroxide ,

The doorbell does, except for no sub stream.
And the only way for mine to be setup is their bs app.

I should've looked better when buying, but alas. I have this one and I'm lazy.

glimse ,

Are you running them with Frigate? I was thinking the lack of substream wouldn't be a problem because the frigate server could downscale if needed (but I haven't really looked into it yet)

ironhydroxide ,

Yes, the issue I have with no sub stream (only on the doorbell) is that it uses more processing for detection on such a large resolution.

glimse ,

Ahh gotcha, didn't consider that! I'll have to make sure my processor is up for the task. I think it will be...I'm doing 4 cameras + doorbell max and buying a NUC

ironhydroxide ,

Just make sure they have substreams and get a coral (or GPU) for detection. Then a pi could probably handle it.

I have enough processing to do it all on CPU (8 cams+doorbell) but it ramps up the power usage, so it was better to use the gpu I already had for transcoding, as detection.

Without you can still just record and overwrite. Not that it's extremely useful without detection and notifications.

glimse ,

I was planning on an Intel CPU that was recommended when I was putting my list together which I was told could handle detection up on to 8 cameras without issue (so I could skip the Coral all together)

ironhydroxide ,

Handle is much different than efficiently calculate.

glimse ,

Sure, I just figured if it worked well with 8 it would work well with 4 + 1 unoptimized stream. If it doesn't work, I can just spend $40 on a coral

Jimbabwe ,

I use Amcrest, mostly because the guy who makes frigate recommended them, and has affiliate links on his site. As a software developer myself, I have to say frigate (and HA) are two jewels of open source software and so I’m happy to support them however I can.

That being said, the cameras work well and are easy to integrate with both frigate and HA. They all try to phone home at first, but stop if you tell them to (I’ve confirmed this by monitoring the traffic on my dns servers).

I couldn’t find a privacy friendly wifi camera with a big enough battery to run continuously, so I ended up building my own with a solar panel, an inverter, and a 9ah lithium battery that sits on a fence post at the end of my driveway. It was a fun project, but I wish I could buy it.

Another small gripe is that the PTZ cameras from Amcrest all seem to be crazy expensive or have mixed reviews, so I’ve just held off on those for now.

glimse ,

Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep them on my list. I wasn't considering the PTZ cameras just the inexpensive turrets and plan on running them PoE so it looks like those issues won't affect me!

Jimbabwe ,

Bon voyage!

Mpeach45 ,
@Mpeach45@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve owned a bunch of Foscam cameras, a sub-brand owned by Amcrest.

Amcrest and its Foscam sub-brand seem very interested in getting access to your cameras, have less capable and less convenient software, and the cameras themselves seem less well built than Reolink.

I bought a half a dozen V1 Wyze cams, and at least two of them have failed. I won’t touch that brand again. I also would never have used Wyze at all except for the exploit that allowed custom firmware installation for real local access and control.

glimse ,

I thought Reolink cameras were just rebranded Amcrest...or is it just the chips and lenses?

I will be using them with Frigate so I'm not too worried about the janky software unless it affects how Frigate operates

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Are you using an Amcrest IP4M-1041B, can you have a look at this? https://lemmy.world/post/16883143. Thank you.

dmtalon ,

I've got amcrest and I integrate them into HA via mqtt using blue iris.

But amcrest cameras need something like pihole to help block all their taking to the home base

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Are you using an Amcrest IP4M-1041B, can you have a look at this? https://lemmy.world/post/16883143. Thank you.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Are you using an Amcrest IP4M-1041B, can you have a look at this? https://lemmy.world/post/16883143. Thank you.

Mpeach45 ,
@Mpeach45@lemmy.world avatar

Think you replied to the wrong person. I don’t like or recommend Amcrest.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Besides your take anything else against them?

Mpeach45 ,
@Mpeach45@lemmy.world avatar

Amcrest is all up in your business.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, but aren’t others as well? My ideia was to run them on an isolated VLAN without Internet access. What brand would you recommend instead.

Zadhu , in In-wall light switch recommendations

Anyone in Australia, as an electrician, the best option is Clipsal Wiser switches, dimmers, relays etc.

Zigbee that defaults to standard push button operation when the network drops out.

If using HA you DO NOT need to purchase the hub that they say is required to use the switches.

brownmustardminion , in Amcrest IP4M-1041B + Home Assistant

I use a bunch of Amcrest PoE cameras. None with PTZ though. I run them to a dedicated box running frigatenvr. From there I allow access from Homeassistant with the frigate integration.

IP cameras allow you to access the device via web gui where you can view and configure the camera for your needs. Once I’ve set them up I only ever access them again through frigate.

zelifcam ,
@zelifcam@lemmy.world avatar

I have the same setup
+1

TCB13 OP ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

IP cameras allow you to access the device via web gui where you can view and configure the camera for your needs. Once I’ve set them up I only ever access them again through frigate.

Thanks for the answer. What kind of management do they provide on their WebUI? Can the camera be 100% operated using the WebUI, standalone without anything else? I'm just trying to understand how dependent on external software (be it their apps, cloud or HA) the cameras are.

brownmustardminion ,

You can probably find a visual walkthrough of the GUI by searching youtube.

There's a login page. After you authenticate, there's a live view page, a review/recordings page if you are recording to SD card in camera, and a few settings pages.

I'd say you could absolutely access the camera standalone, but at least the cameras I have don't do any detection or notifications. That's where the NVR comes in. I know reolink has cameras that do all of the above including AI detection.

TCB13 OP ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Following your advice I found a video for another model and it seems complete, even motion detection was available on the WebUI. I’m assuming you’re on the exact model I was looking at and it doesn’t have that feature am I right?

brownmustardminion ,

Yep. The models I have don’t have motion detection.

brygphilomena , in In-wall light switch recommendations

I like zooz 5 button scene controllers. They are z-wave.

I also like kasa's switches. They are wifi, but being on mains powered I'm not concerned with wifi draining batteries and I have them in a vlan with minimal access.

Dave ,
@Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

How do WiFi switches do when you have a lot? Is it an issue to put in 50 WiFi switches, wouldn't that overload the network?

brygphilomena ,

They don't have a lot of traffic. I have over 40 kasa devices between switches, outlets, and bulbs with no issues.

Dave ,
@Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

I was under the impression that WiFi could only handle so many devices connected. 20 years ago if you got more than 10 or 20 some would start getting kicked off. Maybe that was my short router. Is that never an issue with modern routers? Even adding hundreds?

brygphilomena ,

You could have shitty routers. I use unifi access points, make sure I set the channels so I don't have a lot of interference with any nearby wireless networks, and I should be able to handle a few hundred devices at once. You could also have a small DHCP scope that limits the number of devices on the whole network.

Dave ,
@Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

Sweet, I was a bit wary of WiFi switches but maybe I'll consider them after all

Banzai51 ,
@Banzai51@midwest.social avatar

Doesn't Kasa phone home to China?

brygphilomena ,

They have an app and they do connect up to it. But they can be put on a vlan and null routed to only work locally.

lambda , in In-wall light switch recommendations
@lambda@programming.dev avatar

I do in-wall relays so that I can use regular, off the shelf switches and it looks like nothing special is there. I like the idea of people not knowing it's smart until I do something from my phone.

claude_flammang ,

@lambda @homeassistant
Is there something affordable with Thread?

lambda ,
@lambda@programming.dev avatar

I wish, thread just isn't there yet. I currently use Wi-Fi for most of my smart home stuff. I have a really good Wi-Fi setup though and it could support a lot of devices. I have been slowly moving to zigbee though.

aion OP ,

what relays do you recommend?

lambda ,
@lambda@programming.dev avatar

I love my Shelly relays. I don't use the stock firmware though. I have them overwritten with ESPhome.

I have heard that you can have full local control with them now and that it's not really necessary to do a custom firmware. I just like having a configuration file that tells me exactly everything that it can do. That and I have a script running that updates all my ESPhome devices automatically.

rustyricotta ,

I can appreciate that.

But does that mean if you phone it off, the physical switch is unable to do anything? Or does the switch just get inverted?

lambda ,
@lambda@programming.dev avatar

I apologize for the confusion.

It makes it so that the direction of the switch doesn't matter. Flipping the switch toggles to the off or on state that it's not currently in. I like to think of it as a three-way switch that you may already have in your house where up doesn't necessarily mean 'on' because there are two switches involved. The relay in the wall is the other switch. So if you have the light on in home assistant but you flip the switch, it'll turn the light off whether it was up or down. I hope I made more sense.

If my wifi goes out my switches function as normal too.

SickDisturbence , in In-wall light switch recommendations

Another vote for the zooz zwave switches. I think I have 6 of them so far and plan to put in more.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • incremental_games
  • random
  • homeassistant@lemmy.world
  • meta
  • All magazines