The only reason I would use camera on my Home automation setup ( Homeseer)
would be for the ability to process/detect/recognize people locally, for occupancy ( without cloud). I guess i will wait a long time.
1-3 cams outside the house at low fps is enough for me ( for recording).
can hubitat control synology surveillance station profiles (armed/disarmed) state? from this thread it seems like it can?
You might post a separate question (new post) on this, it may/may not work with something like MakerAPI integration, I don't know as I'm not smart enough to know how to use it, but someone here would definitely know for sure many do use that integration. Otherwise they would point you to the right direction if it's possible.
EDIT
Just realized you meant change the mode on Syno not change the Hubitat mode, not sure that can be done.
As a blue Iris to Synology convert while I haven't done this exact thing but it absolutely can be done, simply alter the end points of the tutorial I put together using Surveillance Studio to activate a virtual motion sensor...
Cheers.
@jeubanks I'm willing to take some of those old Z-wave switches off your hands! Do you still have some?
I've got a whole box full of them.
GE
Zooz
HomeSeer
If you're interested I'll count them out and get you model info and prices on them.
If you already going to use HomeKit for mobile control you can use MYQ HomeKit bridge. Mine works great and you avoid paying anything extra for fees.
How do you mean bridge?
This thread is pretty old right now but as a Hubitat and HomeSeer user, I will share my experience.
My Home automation journey started with two HUE systems and 4 LIFX bulbs. Then I wanted to automate tasks and as you might have guessed, other than the Hue motion sensor, which works beautifully, there were nothing I could do. Nothing at all.
As many Hubitat users, my first hub then, was a SmartThings... which I hated with passion, I could not understand the two phone applications (the old and the new) plus the web and I truly believe the user interface is almost moronic. Sorry I donāt mean to offend anybody, Iām talking about a thing, not that smart but a thing. To make SmartThings use bearable for me, I subscribed to Actiontiles, which I have to say, itās a great add on that almost made SmartThings useable for me.
I started to look at some YouTube videos and found about Hubitat. Now we are talking... now I have a systems that relies on no internet connection whatsoever, some Tuya switches, Lutron Caseta which didnāt work with the standard hub, a Couple of NetAtmo which I didnāt find a way to make it work, very good SmartThings sensor support but not so good SmartThings outlet support, and a very good HUE integration. LIFX I didnāt like so I donāt care to remember if it worked well.
The web touch interface was good, people talked about the lack of an app but, I sincerely donāt know what is the app for since I could use the cloud connector to use my web dashboard so I didnāt really cared about the lack of app before the actual one which incidentally, is a sort of web browser for the dashboard.
Then I started to want more, make no mistake, I still love the Hubitat and still use it, and if somebody wants to enter the smart home ecosystem, I truly recommend it... unless of course, you start to develop IoT devices.
The first time I read about āhow insignificant is the cost of the controller because one spends so much money in switches, sensors, bulbs and the lotā I thought that was an arrogant and inaccurate way of thinking. Boy how wrong I was...
I started to look at integrations with mqtt brokers, and Hubitat was for me, extremely short on that front. I started to look elsewhere. OpenHab and HomeAssistant came to mind. I hate people saying those are free when comparing to Hubitat... it is ridiculous since you have to provide at least the RaspberryPi, the SD, the Case, the power plug, and the Zigbee/Z-Wave USB radio. Iām sorry, I can have all of that with Hubitat in a lovely package which also includes software for almost the same price so... letās forget the āfreeā thing.
I loved Home Assistant and didnāt understand OpenHab with the multiple UI... I reckon both are very powerful but HA has a lead here. I just grew tired of the automation engine. I simply didnāt like it although powerful, very annoying.
Then I bought HomeSeer HS3-Pro. I wanted everything and I wanted all... it was expensive compared to any enthusiast level home automation software but, it was at 50% Discount and I gave it a try... even at 50% it took me north of $900 with all the plugins plus I had to buy an Asus PN60 to run it but, I have to say, I love the thing.
I have no idea about how old is the GUI... I like it, I like it more than I like the Hubitat. It is insanely customizable, status graphics and everything. Sure it has room for improvements but... which one hasnāt?
The MQTT (MCSmqtt) plugin which by the way, is free is nothing less than fantastic, the Z-Wave is very good, almost all of the plugins are very well made and powerful but, the rule engine, or automations are simply on another level. It lacks Zigbees which I particularly find a little bit stupid but, you can buy a plugin to integrate with Hubitat and problem solved. I tried the Deconz thingy, had to buy a very specific Zigbee stick to find out it will only support a little above what the Hue bridge already supports. Hubitat is waaaaaaay better than the deconz as a Zigbee sidecar, since you can run automation on the Zigbees directly on the Hubitat... I have replaced all my SmartThings plugs with aeotec 6 smart plugs which are waaaay better, but I will use Hubitat for the SmartThings door multisensor a and SmartThings tags. Everything else is on the HomeSeer.
Yes, the HStouch designer software could use a little Icons shopping now and then since the included ones are horrific, and it has a steep learning curve but if you are only looking for price to review a GOOD home hub, just look at Hubitat. If you are looking for functionalities and loves the DIY customization, look at Home Assistant, Open Hab and Hubitat, if what you are looking is, to automate your home, first find out what you want to automate, then find out what you need to automate that and the amount of time you have to accomplish your desires. Then budget your findings and look for the best HA software you can afford with the budget and requirements you already have. The price only answer one question, and that question is not about how cheap, or free, or expensive a product is. It is about how much of your requirements that software will be covered, in the timeframe you have and with the sensors/bulbs/switches you want it to work With the amount of money you want to invest. Judging a product solely for the price I donāt think is a good decision.
So your preferred system is Homeseer and using the plugin to Hubitat for ZigBee ?
Homeseer might be nicer than Hubitat, but is it 9-10 times better? I really doubt it. You could buy a new Hubitat hub every year for the next decade, and be further ahead as technology improves, or changes over time. $900 for that, really?
Home Assistant might be more powerful, but it was a confusing mess to set up, and like you point out was not cheaper by the time you buy the Pi and radios, and the time required to set it up has to be worth something too. There also seems to be lots of complaints about updates totally breaking things.
I do think Hubitat needs some improvements, but for the price, you cannot beat it. Support team at Hubitat is the best, I can't imagine any hub that could exceed what they do here.
Except many people deploy it in VMs or Docker containers... Then all you are paying for is $45 for the Nortek HUSBZB-1, and then you have many multiples more CPU and I/O subsystem performance than a single Hubitat hub has.
So I think it is still a very valid comparison the way many people deploy HA or OpenHAB.
To be honest. Iām waiting to see what Homeseer 4 looks like..
I currently have the exact same system as you - HomeSeer for Z-Wave, logic and any real automations + Hubitat for Zigbee. I think I'm finally happy with the way things work.
I only paid $124 during the HomeSeer sale. IMO you don't really need the Pro version unless you're really into HStouch. McsMQTT basically negates the need for any external paid integrations as of right now.
Just have one question - where did you find your icon pack?
Im honestly thinking about this..
What logic does it give you over Hubitat ?
I wouldn't say the logic is better than Hubitat - just different. In fact I think rule machine is more intuitive than HomeSeer. However, with a little bit of work - I got most of what I need working just fine.
The biggest advantage is the way HomeSeer works - I have around 6 or 7 third party plugins and integrations and they all work separately from core HomeSeer functions. I.E your plugins can crash, act slow - whatever but your automations and core system will keep functioning. I also installed it as a VM on my x86 server. Everything is blazing fast and it needs absolutely no babysitting.
There are a lot of current, or former, Homeseer users on here. I wouldn't say the logic is better at all. In fact, it is seriously limited in many ways versus a groovy app in Hubitat, or RM.
But I will say having a larger, more performant, resource pool has its advantages whether you are talking about HA, OpenHAB, or Homeseer. On any of those 3 the system is much more forgiving on resource contention issues, as there is so much more of it.
Can you still bring any of those 3 to its knees? Yes, but you almost have to be intentionally trying to do so.
Aside from the larger resource pool cushion, I will say that Homeseer's curated integrations do seem to ensure fewer issues on the hub. Now, I think most of the integrations are 3x too costly for what they do, but that is a personal decision each person has to make. For me, I would have bought 10x more Homeseer integrations were they $9.99 versus $30-50 in many cases.
I also think that Homeseer's HS4 interface vs HS3 interface (most users will need BOTH interfaces for many years to come) is a horrible idea. There are a few homeseer 3rd party plugin developers on here, I'm sure they would have strong feelings on this as well if asked.
My opinion is that "power" home users won't be able to live within Hubitat's programming and resource restrictions for much longer, and many will make a hybrid system - whether it is with Homeseer, HA, Node-Red, or OpenHAB depends on what the user is comfortable with. Hubitat + HA will likely be the most common though. As soon as the MQTT app is finished for Hubitat it will be trivial to just use Hubitat as an I/O hub and dump everything into another system with just a few clicks - Home assistant will auto detect and import HE devices, for instance.
That is, of course, unless Hubitat throws us a curve ball and:
I don't see any of those happening any time soon, though. But I don't work for Hubitat, so don't know what I don't know. Those are all just my opinions.
I agree with everything but the above. Comparing Events with RM is fair comparing Events with groovy apps is not. To compare those you would have to compare a plugin or script to a groovy app. The playing field just changed drastically as HS scripts and plugins are not limited to only use some chosen subset of a predefined language (groovy). With this however comes complexity.
Yeah, I guess that is fair.
So I messed around the entire day with Homeseer.
Lots to learn but Iām not sure Iām at needs that are outside Hubitat. I wouldnāt even know what those needs would be to be honest...
Download the Hubitat app
