Hi all,
3 years ago we moved to Bali and I had to leave my smart home behind. We have finally bought a place here so I’m back on the HA trail.
I have a blank canvas so would love to hear some ideas?
Also, whats everyones thoughts on the best direction to head in, is Wi-Fi still a good option or has Zigbee or Z-wave taken over? Also, whats this new Matter - is this going to be the future?
Lastly, what are the best brands these days?
Looking forward to hearing some great ideas!!!
Hello pretious,
whats new?
Not much.
Oh wait, VoicePE, AI, Green, Blueprint Templates, Python 13, and Supervised and Core are un-supported, no more 32bit, and all of that was just in the last year…
Ha ha, I was expecting a few changes…
No more soldering switches!!!
i still use wifi devices but im changing to zigbee , tasmota is getting less and less and is being replaced with esp home more and more (esp32 all the way),
matter is a good option but no so many devices yet
in the last 3 year homeassistant change so much, alexa and google is gonna be replace with voice assistant on esphome ( not quite yet , but almost) , music assistant, oficial amazon devices integration, so many new integrations
frigate NVR is huge right now and you need a better system to run it so think about that if you want to have cameras . 64bit system only now
the new automations is so easy now.
less and less yaml edit (configuration.yaml)
Actually LMAO
All good answers, above. I’ll add that WiFi is a great option - IF you use ESPHome and not some off-the-shelf device which always wants to go through the manufacturer’s cloud. I’ve been very happy with Zigbee and ZHA, which is where I look first for new devices. Matter is interesting but until I see more mass-market products I’m holding off.
Oh, and three years ago RPi was a good option for host hardware. Not any more. HA has grown and RPis have gotten more expensive than comparable (and even better) hardware.
There has been a concerted effort to get away from YAML configuration and toward using the UI. I won’t say this is a bad thing, but I do feel like something has been lost. Some options are simply not available in the UI after a change, and for me it’s easier to see everything in plain text, in one spot, rather than scrolling and tapping around all over the UI. Documenting, copying and duplicating existing device configurations is also easier with YAML files. I admit this is a personal thing, and YMMV, but it is a noticeable change.
The whole backup process has changed. Probably for the better, especially if you want to automate backups. But there’s a learning curve there. Manual backups are still possible, albeit with a few extra clicks.
Be glad you’re starting over from scratch. Soooooo much broke over the years.
Pick a simple infrastructure and stick with it. Personally I like mqtt.
Lot of things are new. My list will be rather short since for 2 years only have various test setups, no normal live server:
This has piqued my interest.
Only various test setups and no normal live server?
I assume the test setups are used to control a home?
Thing is that I live in unstable environment )
Thanks Warlion, how good is the voice assistant? Should I go down this path and put up with it until is improves, or will it be a while before it is useable? I have one alexa left (the rest slowly died over time) that I can use in the main room.
Also, can frigate NVR be used with any camera as ong as its 64bit?
Thanks CaptTom,
I also quite liked YAML, I found it quite easy as long as everything was organised well.
Why Are you holding off on Matter, do you think that it will be slow to take over, or don’t you think that it will?
It’s just part of my KISS philosophy. For me, HA is a production system. Today I can build ESPHome devices and buy Zigbee devices inexpensively, and they just work. Minimal effort on my part, no new hardware, no new integration, no learning curve. Matter shows great promise, but it’s likely to continue to evolve. Once it’s a bit more stable, and Matter devices are a commodity, I’ll be there.
Or, as you say, maybe it won’t take off. I’ve already heard rumblings about the manufacturers trying to take their devices proprietary, or require their cloud to set up the device or use certain functions. That would be a hard “no” for me.
hi mate voice assistant still need more time is almost 80%, if you had echo devices you can try this
this can replace a esphome device with alexa and it works pretty well , need a little bit of coding and a extra invocation word , but is really good option to have voice assistant in your echos.
the 64bits is not for cameras , homeassistant will drop support for 32bits systems this year so you better change to 64 right away.
frigate is getting pretty big, you will need also a google coral to work a lot better
is about 60 usd
but first get a system like a mini pc with at least n100 processor, i5 or i7 will be much better 10th generation to up, (14 is the latest) and 4 to 8gb of ram (if you can go higher much better)
im using a intel nuc with i3 about 13 years old and is getting slower, but there is a lot of new pc with better processor ,
Btw ESP-IDF already develop a esp32 with zigbee and matter , so it will take a little time for developers to give the ability to user to make his own zigbee or matter devices. and a boom of new devices in the market
Maybe soon the devs of esphome can add this board.
you can already made a zigbee device using arduino ide but still in development