The trick is to buy reasonably open devices, then provide the smarts yourself.
If it can talk to / be configured by HomeAssistant, and doesn't require internet to work, it'll probably be fine.
GreatAlbatross
That's indeed useful information!
My boiler control for the central heating has the very useful function of a 30 minute button.
Which means even if I torpedoed HA in the middle of winter, I could still get the house warm.
Similar with snails: Never pull them off something to avoid hurting them as the sucker detaches.
I bought it, played a little, but was working 60 hour weeks.
Housemate starting playing on my savegame, so when I next got back to it, I had no idea what was going on.
Haven't gone back to it since, though I have nearly finished IV a few times now.
Turkey's main source of renewable power is Atatürk spinning in his grave.
I just run mine without ever connecting it to the internet.
I run an Apple TV (shock, walled garden!), as it is the only device I've seen that consistently matches frame rates properly on the output.
This is why I often refer to 4K as UHD: The WCG and HDR being available to consumers is far more impactful than end users having a few more pixels.
(Also because I'm a snarky pedant, and consumer 4K UHD is only 3840 wide, while DCI4K is actually 4096)
Thank mechanical Jesus.
I'm sick of staring down north of £200 for a reliable UHD spinner. And that's second hand!
Edit: Never mind...
"A hunting accident? In the New Forest? What a strange and unexpected occurrence!"
I love my Reolink one.
It's powered by PoE, which means running an ethernet cable, and either using a PoE capable switch, or injecting the power just for that cable with an injector.
If you're planning a few cameras, a switch is worth it, as you can power them all easily. Basic ones are £20.
Because it's powered, it will stream all day/night without worrying about batteries.
It stores video locally on a microSD, and dumps clips to FTP happily.
The clip capture is pre-rolled too (30s, I think?), which is always nice.
Currently, I have the feed in dashboards, and I have an automation that flashes the lights and sends a picture to my phone when someone presses the bell.
Eventually, I'd like to integrate it directly into HA so I can speak to people without using the Reolink application.
I like Reolink's other cameras too (they do quite a few). I have an 810A, and a 510, if you wanted any feedback on them.
It's a joke. They actually use FXP orchestrated by a third party, unencrypted.
It's very efficient.
A little late to the party, but yes, I can confirm that Hue bulbs can be controlled directly over zigbee. You will need a zigbee radio if you haven't already bought one (£20-ish).
They literally just appear like a zigbee device inside that integration.
You may need to reset them before they will pair.
I forget the pattern, but iirc it's on 2s, off 8s, repeated until you see an acknowledgement flash.
Sometimes, you'll get one that takes forever, then the next bunch will just hop right on.
I have several Hue hubs I still need to offload, as I sometimes buy the combo packs that include another hub.
I also found that the response time was a lot quicker over direct zigbee than farting around with Signiant/Philips' API.