Purchase Phillip Hue now, or wait?

[hokiepokie07]

I've decided to purchase the starter set, and over time, start replacing my bulbs with the Phillips Hue bulbs. My question is, should I wait for a few months until this HomeKit thing is settled incase Phillips updates the Hue bulbs? I'm hoping they will work on HoneKit, and it sounds like they will, but I'm not shelling out all this money only for them in a month or two tell us those bulbs won't work on HomeKit or I have to update them.

Also, for everything the Hue bulbs can do, they are the best out there right now, right? I read their CRI rating is 90+, which is exceptional.

Thanks.

 

[hokiepokie07]

Anyone have any idea, hunch, or scoop as to if Phillips is going to use HomeKit and if they are going to update their Hue bulbs or require people to purchase other bulbs in order to work with HomeKit?

I'd love to purchase them, but am just worried in that regards. Thanks!

 

[hokiepokie07]

I know I ask a ton of questions, but with only producing 600 lumens (not the BR30 ones), are they bright enough? I have two nightstands in my bedroom and each one has a bulb of 800 lumens.

Thanks.

 

[mw360]

As far as I know...

Hue bulbs don't communicate via WiFi, they use Zigbee.
An up-to-date AppleTV supposedly has the HomeKit code all ready to go.
Current AppleTV's don't have the necessary hardware for Zigbee.

If all the above is true it seems unlikely that HomeKit will control Hue bulbs directly unless the bulbs had a major design change to incorporate Wifi and the Apple HomeKit chip. I can't see Phillips going for that. More likely the Hue bridge would handle all communication with HomeKit so Phillips only need to buy one chip per set-up. In which case, you may need a new bridge.

 

[kurzz]

So far we know Philips is planning to add HomeKit soon..best case scenario is it's just a software update to the bridge, and worst case is you have to buy a new bridge. You won't need to buy new bulbs..that'd be ridiculous.

 

[hokiepokie07]

So far we know Philips is planning to add HomeKit soon..best case scenario is it's just a software update to the bridge, and worst case is you have to buy a new bridge. You won't need to buy new bulbs..that'd be ridiculous.

Sounds good to me! Any idea when they plan to add HomeKit?

I ended up purchasing the starter pack, but I have 90 days to take them back, but it sounds like Philips Hue will support HomeKit.

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So far we know Philips is planning to add HomeKit soon..best case scenario is it's just a software update to the bridge, and worst case is you have to buy a new bridge. You won't need to buy new bulbs..that'd be ridiculous.

If it's true that the new Apple TV will be the bridge for HomeKit, I'll just wait until that comes out and purchase it. I haven't read a date that is due out though.