Direction of Hubitat

Hubitat is great, It would be even better if say the C-7 or C-8 Hub goes in this direction of having it's Hub incorporated into your television.

No thank you!
I don’t want 6 TVs in my office cabinet! :slight_smile:

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Now... if it was released as virtual.. that would be different!
I’ll have 10 please :slight_smile:

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What if the say (soundbar here) had the ability to act as multiple hubs, as a all-in one unit? Virtual Hubs, like we have virtual devices.

Virtual is fine (preferred actually). Tied to other consumer electronics (sound bars, tv, etc) is not. For me anyway.

Most consumer electronics have short lifespans, don't get updated as often as we would like and are somewhat quickly abandoned as new versions arrive. With more things, even virtual, tied up in a single device, I run the risk of having a much larger piece of junk to dispose of.
The Roku/Soundbar is a reasonable complementary combination but do you throw out the soundbar when a new Roku comes out. I wish TVs weren't smart. I would even prefer that they didn't include a tuner. Let me add my own combination of devices in anyway I want.

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So do home automation hubs. Hubitat is only 2 years old and already and on at least 3rd hub version.

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Nothing really changed in the hardware of the hubs so far, mainly just moving the USB stick inside the device to simplify things. I prefer separate devices myself so if I decide to change one thing I don't have to change multiple like WiFi routers I prefer to have separate Access Points.

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Choices are good. Everyone has different opinions which are also good. I myself would like to consolidate LAN requirements. Having 3 hubs and a soundbar requires 4 LAN ports of access, which I would like better if it were only 1. So adding more devices eventually requires adding network switches. Having the ability to reduce that by expanding the capabilities of each devices would be great.

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Amen.

23 posts were split to a new topic: Discussion about consumer electronics choices

I really couldn't disagree more. Unless a device has open, modular hardware, with open upgradeable firmware, having more integration is generally a bad thing for upgrading and repairing. What happens when the another function of your soundbar becomes obsolete or a component unrelated to your smart capability makes it unusable or insecure? It's easy enough to add a small, inexpensive local network switch if you need to.

You don't need to look any further than 5 year old smart TVs that are no longer actively updated, some have interfaces that don't even let you change inputs without going through the otherwise useless front end software. Even my 3 year old Samsung TV has become essentially unsupported and isn't being actively developed for. My previous TV had a single input and lasted 10 years because it didn't need upgrades to remain useful and secure.

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Exactly. I own a Roku because I want to be able to upgrade it when I choose. My "smart" TV probably has a tuner, but it only gets used as a Display.

My "soundbar" is dumb and I like it that way....well, actually it's a center channel speaker, but close enough.

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Remember the old days or flip phones, PDA's, MP3 players, and pocket digital cameras? I sure miss those days, you can keep all your sMarTPhonEs. (See what I did there? "sarcasm") :wink:

But seriously I don't know what one device could pick up the HA burden ala smartphone. Home servers have crash and burned every time they've been tried. Maybe a Google Home (yuck) or Echo device with Hubitat on-board will be the next big thing.

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Yes I remember when I had to have a Printer, a Copier, a Scanner, and a Fax machine, now they are all combined.

That is why I could see something television or television related being incorporated into a Hub as that is where the majority of people spend their time in front of while in their house.

As I mentioned in another post, it appears that the "current fashion" is for Home Automation companies to get into the hardware game. We saw the owners of Vera take over Centralite and Fortrezz. We see Homeseer selling switches. Fibaro selling fobs, and sensors, SmartThings selling a whole bunch of stuff. Of course, these companies don't really make the stuff, they just send the specs to their favourite factory in China, and presto - they have devices for sale.
Surely this is leveraging their software expertise into a related area.
However, all these companies need to be cognizant of the moves by the giants in this field - Google, Amazon, etc. They are both amassing powerhouses by combining products. I think that's what the rebranding of Google Nest is all about. Other, smaller, companies must be more nimble and search for niches where their competitive advantage allows them to excel.
In my humble opinion, Hubitat does have a number of competitive advantages over the competition. Leveraging that and solidifying their product would seem to be their future. In the final analysis, external events could overtake everyone in this arena.

Honestly?, for me all i want in a tv is a freaking display, no apps, no ui, no speakers, no hdmi cec, and one hdmi 2.1 input, just a god damn huge display....

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yeah - id rather a device that I can update the parts around it.
I had to update my last tv after 10 years, im sure the hub hardware would of changed in 10 years lol

Ive been a separates guy since day one, a little more bucks upfront, but way less money in the long run...

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I can see certain things being combined and it works, such as the printer/scanner/copier example. However, certain items are better separated due to advancements in the tech. Maybe a wall control unit with Hubitat integrated, but no on large consumer items.

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