Aqara Launches 'G2H' Camera With HomeKit Secure Video

[name99]

Of course. How do you expect to connect to HomeKit without internet.

Actually HomeKit "proper" runs just fine without internet. The devices connect via local WiFi or BT, the hub (eg aTV schedules everything locally) there is no need for a remote connection.
Against that

(a) plenty of HomeKit hardware requires its own internet connection. This is especially true if it's of the "Works with Alexa, Google Home, and HomeKit" variety; it doesn't seem to be true for pure HomeKit stuff.

(b) If you want to record your HomeKit video on Apple Servers, then, well sure, of course you need an internet connection!

(c) it's not clear that Apple's current implementation of all this is optimal. There is value in the idea that your home keeps working without an internet connection. BUT the current Apple implementation doesn't seem to have very good handshaking between your phone, iPad, aTV etc. So you get things like slow status updates at times because your phone wants to engage in its own handshake with every device, rather than just asking your Apple TV what's up. (This is especially bad, in my experience, soon after you leave the house and are now on LTE rather than WiFi. I frequently have five minutes of various devices displaying as "No Response" until the iPhone gets its act together and figures out maybe it should talk to the aTV.)
It's hard to tell how much of this general HomeKit irritation is lousy, buggy programming and how much is a flawed design.

 

[1rottenapple]

I’m knocking on 150 houses a day right now for the election. I see a lot of these devices being deployed across a spectrum of homes. Some of them are really 👻 and make noise when you approach. I think it’s a double-edged sword, because in one way it protects packages and prevents theft...but on the other hand it must really suck to be a child in America with these things being deployed.

You can’t roll people’s homes with toilet paper with reckless abandon like the days when emojis weren't PC. Also if I was a parent & I had a teenager, I would just place one right by the garage to catch their vehicles pulling in and out and know exactly what they are up to.

It has Pros & Cons. I’m for freedom and against “tyranny”. These devices are the definition of the latter, but these serve a good purpose for society as a whole...but you lose a little piece of humanity each time one is set up, IMO

Yah statistically it’s much safer snd crime is low but with gadgets like these and what we see and hear in social media it’s the opposite. I live in of of the safest cities in the USA where I can walk at 2am and feel safe here. And I see these cameras in my neighbors. You’d thing we were in the badlands lol

 

[idrewuk]

The Eufy Security 2K Indoor cam is $35 right now on Amazon. B08571VZ3Q. Works with HKSV. Doesn't need a hub.

On Amazon UK people are saying the model being sent out doesn’t have the HomeKit code and therefore still needs to be connected to Eufy servers to work, so that’s pretty confusing.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Also if I was a parent & I had a teenager, I would just place one right by the garage to catch their vehicles pulling in and out and know exactly what they are up to.

If you have a teenager they are going to have trust issues when they grow up. Why would you “just place one right by the garage to catch their vehicles?” Only overly protective helicopter parents would do that. It’s up to the parents to decide how to parent. Nobody is forcing you to use it.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Of course. How do you expect to connect to HomeKit without internet.

Most HomeKit devices don’t necessarily need an internet connection since it runs on a local network via a router.

 

[TVreporter]

How do these hold out in the cold - like Canadian winter cold?

 

[farkleboy]

How do I these hold in the cold - like Canadian winter cold?

We don't recommend the G2H Camera be used outdoors. The operating temperature is -10~40°C (14°F~104°F)

 

[giv-as-a-ciggy-kent]

I think it’s a double-edged sword, because in one way it protects packages and prevents theft...but on the other hand it must really suck to be a child in America with these things being deployed.

It has Pros & Cons. I’m for freedom and against “tyranny”. These devices are the definition of the latter, but these serve a good purpose for society as a whole...but you lose a little piece of humanity each time one is set up, IMO

Installing a camera on private property is "tyranny" ?

It's a valid point - these cameras really are a double edged sword. There are cases such as the video below where law enforcement was able to capture the perpetrator in large part thanks to the footage from this camera. But at the same time, since camera footage is now available and can be subpoena'd governments essentially get a mass surveillance network they didn't even have to pay for in areas that would normally be off limits.

But seeing this video, on a purely emotional level it doesn't bother me so much.

 

[eas]

Please stop knocking on people's doors.

I don't like being bothered either, but I don't think we can have a functioning democracy if no-one (or even most people) can't be bothered. I realize that wanting a functioning democracy puts me in the minority of Americans, but I'm sticking by it, call me old-fashioned...