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Siri Control of HomeKit Devices While On the Go Requires Apple TV as Hub
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Exactly, the Apple TV is only limited by software. For one, it could easily double as an Airport Express, but it doesn't.
Oh look apple knows it's apple TV sucks compared to alternative so yet another apple bs limitation to make you buy apple TV.
The give away in this is the fact that the automation for home works in every part other than siri with out the Apple TV. This tells me that there is zero processing done at home on what to do so clearly does not need the Apple TV. They just want a way to justify you buying the Apple TV.
The give away in this is the fact that the automation for home works in every part other than siri with out the Apple TV. This tells me that there is zero processing done at home on what to do so clearly does not need the Apple TV. They just want a way to justify you buying the Apple TV.
Smart lighting is utterly pointless and a perfect example of sheer laziness, nothing else really.
It's just an excuse to not get of your ass and flip a switch.
Smart heating and security and media is where it's worth while and we already have systems for that in place, although I would never trust Siri to lock my house! We are inactive enough in our lives already, to further reduce the small amount of activity we do is daft IMO. Perhaps the obese will be the new dominant human form?
It's just an excuse to not get of your ass and flip a switch.
Smart heating and security and media is where it's worth while and we already have systems for that in place, although I would never trust Siri to lock my house! We are inactive enough in our lives already, to further reduce the small amount of activity we do is daft IMO. Perhaps the obese will be the new dominant human form?
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The only thing not ideal about bloating out the ATV is that it wasn't built with shoving more software inside. Those few free Gigs of storage have to stay free enough to store downloaded updates not making much of that space usable. The ATV also isn't very powerful under the hood. (It stutters sometimes going back from Netflix to the main menu). Slapping something new in the existing box is really not a very great idea, but it does at least people with the latest version the opportunity to use a new feature without having to upgrade what is by tech standards, an ancient device at this point.
But being that at times the ATV is challenged with sending just one stream, monitoring multiple streams (from connected devices, power supplies, doors, etc.) is kind of scary in thought, which also might be why they've kept this hidden and not breathed a word of it to anyone in all the discussion about Home Kit. I bet Apple is finding these limitations an issue.
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I somewhat agree with you, but I also disagree to a point.
If you ever lived in an urban area where it's necessary to carry your ten grocery bags at once to your door, a system that could "smartly" unlock your door and turn on some lights would be simply brilliant. But for the cost I'll just struggle with bag, fumble with keys, and knock over a lamp once in awhile. Home kit also isn' the system to be aware of your needs. In my example, I'd have to stuggle with Siri... hope the b%#)%ch understands what I asked her to do ("siri, open the door and turn on the living room lights" and she instead turns on the garbage disposal and secures the dead bolt while turning on the neighbors television due to an IOS security bug)
I've had smart lights for decades now and find it quite useful. I never have to worry about coming home to a dark house, or leaving lights on , or entering a staircase and having no lights., or a dozen other situations. Hear a strange noise in the night, hit a button and every light in the house comes on.
I also use automatic door locks and heating controls. The automatic parts for Nest paid for itself in the first 6 months of savings on heat costs. I also have manual controls for all, but rarely need to use those.
Each person makes their own choices, but for me, it was worked well. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary...
Basically, all these new Homekit/Heath/ApplePay things all sounds good on paper, but the fundamental questions still stand...
a) will it work in reality seamlessly without effing you off,
or
b) will it instead be something that continually pisses you off at least half the time, and sends you notifications every time it does the most minor of things you don't care about (notification overload hell!).
"I have tuned on"
"I am synchronising"
"I am deciding what devices to connect to"
"I am checking options"
"Note: options not configured correctly. Please check and try again"
fiddle
fiddle
fiddle
fiddle (...20 mins later)
"I have tuned on"
"I am synchronising"
"I am deciding what devices to connect to"
"I am checking options"
"Note: options not configured correctly. Please check and try again"
...AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (throws very expensive sh-t device out the window, for dog to chew to pieces)
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Care to elaborate on what you've used for all this, then...
a) will it work in reality seamlessly without effing you off,
or
b) will it instead be something that continually pisses you off at least half the time, and sends you notifications every time it does the most minor of things you don't care about (notification overload hell!).
"I have tuned on"
"I am synchronising"
"I am deciding what devices to connect to"
"I am checking options"
"Note: options not configured correctly. Please check and try again"
fiddle
fiddle
fiddle
fiddle (...20 mins later)
"I have tuned on"
"I am synchronising"
"I am deciding what devices to connect to"
"I am checking options"
"Note: options not configured correctly. Please check and try again"
...AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (throws very expensive sh-t device out the window, for dog to chew to pieces)
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Care to elaborate on what you've used for all this, then...
I think thats BS if true. If homekit requires ATV then it should be marketed as such; as an iOS feature for ATV, not idevices. This is apple being sly about forcing everyone to buy an ATV since they cant make the argument for it as the perfect media streaming device.
Here's one use-case. Streaming movies from an iPhone to an Apple TV buffers much more quickly when the ATV is on Ethernet.
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All this ranting about the need for an ATV is ridiculous. Yet again, you can't compare "apple" to "non-apples." Apple typically figures out a betterif not the bestdesign for a given system, and it doesn't matter what anyone else may already have out there. The Apple version will more than likely be a different, more-well-thought-out design.
Back around the early days of OS X, the "Digital Hub" concept was based on the computer as the hub. Now the hub has majorly moved to the cloud. But a hub for home automation/entertainment would indeed be the ATV. It's wireless, cheap, and a new version will most likely have any necessary additional "smarts" to properly administer a home system with its private access protocols, preferences, and restrictions; it could register devices; it could keep everything straight and provide a better intuitive user interface, all without the need for a computer.
Back around the early days of OS X, the "Digital Hub" concept was based on the computer as the hub. Now the hub has majorly moved to the cloud. But a hub for home automation/entertainment would indeed be the ATV. It's wireless, cheap, and a new version will most likely have any necessary additional "smarts" to properly administer a home system with its private access protocols, preferences, and restrictions; it could register devices; it could keep everything straight and provide a better intuitive user interface, all without the need for a computer.
I hope they eventually bring OS X into the HomeKit universe. I don't have a TV, and therefore don't have an Apple TV. I could use one just for this purpose without much misery, but I'd much prefer the ability to have a scriptable OS X interface.
Right now I've got the house wired using Insteon and Indigo. Kinda clunky, all told, but I like having the Mac Mini as a hub. It allows me to script interactions, and make decisions based on time of day and what-not. I haven't opened it up to the internet; if I'm not home, I can't access it-- by design.
I've got motion sensors that flip the lights on in the hallway when we get home because it's a pain with your arms full and dangerous otherwise.
I have several lights on timers to shut off because my family seems to like to just flip it on to look in the pantry and never, ever turn them off again.
I have the switch next to the door scripted so a double tap shuts down all the lights in the house and resets the thermostats.
When we're in bed, I can turn off the lights and reset the temperature controls without having to get up-- that qualify as lazy, but plenty of people keep a bedside lamp for just that reason. Mine's electronic.
Right now I've got the house wired using Insteon and Indigo. Kinda clunky, all told, but I like having the Mac Mini as a hub. It allows me to script interactions, and make decisions based on time of day and what-not. I haven't opened it up to the internet; if I'm not home, I can't access it-- by design.
Not true.
I've got motion sensors that flip the lights on in the hallway when we get home because it's a pain with your arms full and dangerous otherwise.
I have several lights on timers to shut off because my family seems to like to just flip it on to look in the pantry and never, ever turn them off again.
I have the switch next to the door scripted so a double tap shuts down all the lights in the house and resets the thermostats.
When we're in bed, I can turn off the lights and reset the temperature controls without having to get up-- that qualify as lazy, but plenty of people keep a bedside lamp for just that reason. Mine's electronic.
Except...
Sure, that's fine for streaming video with 1 ATV connected. However, as soon as you try to airplay anything, your available wifi bandwidth gets cut in half. Good luck trying to airplay on 1 ATV and streaming on another, even with a top of the line router.
Sure, that's fine for streaming video with 1 ATV connected. However, as soon as you try to airplay anything, your available wifi bandwidth gets cut in half. Good luck trying to airplay on 1 ATV and streaming on another, even with a top of the line router.
I have used Homeseer, which is software that would use a web based kit for all sorts of home automation systems, including X10 (from the 70's), and ZWave, among others.
I'm excited about using
TV as a Home Automation hub, and having a standardized way of doing it.
Also excited about the (rumored) newTV!
I'm excited about using
TV as a Home Automation hub, and having a standardized way of doing it.Also excited about the (rumored) new
TV!I started with X10 gear in the late 70s and 80s. Over the last few years I have converted to Insteon gear, which is far more reliable. The dual band components are fairly solid in performance and reliability. I use their hub to control things, but also have an older PC controller from the X10 days. I use it to deal with a few remaining X10 motion detectors (which work well) for things like stairwell lighting.
The Insteon motion sensor is also quite good, but eats batteries. The one I have has a battery eliminator I wired, so batteries are no longer an issue. Eventually I will convert the remaining X10 motion units to Insteon, but they work well and don't eat batteries at all.
I use Nest for heating control and the combination of Insteon MorningLinc and MiLocks for lock control. I have an assortment of apps, both PC and iPhone based, that also do both manual and automatic processing.
I'm a software person, so don't blink at doing custom apps and pieces to meet my needs. Ive been in the software business for over 40 years.
I think it sounds good that Insteon is going to make their new hub HomeKit compatible. That will likely open up some easier methods of dealing with the various components.
The Apple TV hub part may or may not help me with what I have. Time will tell after we see how that part integrates in with the rest.
Home automation has been around since the 1970's (1978) with X10. It is/was a bit flaky, and used the power line to carry the signals, so if there was a pulse on the line, such as when a refrigerator compressor kicked in, sometimes the lights would go on/off.
Other technologies were introduced later, such as ZWave, which is an RF web between devices that needed a controller to turn on/off. Devices added would dynamically add themselves to the RF web and each device could/would ensure that the command would get to the destination. A web could be built to ensure that remotely placed devices (ie. out in a barn) would get the signals.
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So are cars, that make walking to your destination lazy.
So are credit/debit cards. People should carry cash.
So are books. People are lazy, and don't want to use scrolls.
So are computers. People are lazy, and should do math problems on paper, or even less lazy, in their heads.
So are light bulbs. People are lazy, and should have a candle that they make from their own ear wax.
So are cell phones. People are lazy, and should just go to their nearest pay phone, and make a call. Come to think of it, telephones are making people lazy, and they should just drive (wait... I already covered that...) walk to the person they want to talk to.
In 100 years, people will be calling each other lazy for the latest invention that comes out some inventor's mind, and would blow us (todays' people) away.
One other benefit of this:
The customers get a device that will let them watch movies on it, and add to their Apple experience, from brand new users to experienced ones. It, in other words, expands the Apple universe to many more people!
To address your points from my perspective:
1) A PC or Mac... Along with your points, an
TV gives the customers another way to consume Apple products and services in the living room.2) Airport/Time Capsule is too "hidden", and doesn't give the customer a "wow" experience, plus what you said.
3) There are current devices that do this already, and you're right, they're expensive. I'm thinking about ZWave (This is the one that I am familiar with), that has each device act as a receiver/transmitter for the web vs. X10, which is all devices are receivers, and one transmitter. Having the
TV as the controller makes a lot of sense, as it is already a communications device that all it needs is the software and the protocol to use.
Read the bloody title of this thread:
"Siri Control of HomeKit Devices While On the Go..."
In other words, the Apple TV is used to control your HomeKit devices when you, and therefor your iOS devices, are not at home. Acting as a central receiving for your remote commands. If you only plan on controlling them when you are at home, then you don't need it!
Look at it closer. You can still remotely control stuff with the app remotely. It is the voice control part that requires apple tv
I thought the same thing until my 3 year old ATV's wifi died.Glad it has ethernet now...but I suppose that's beside the point....
How did the Wi-Fi "die"? That makes no sense. Did the box get too hot because it couldn't breathe and fry the internals or something?
You are the first person on this site to actually use the term 'dBags'. I especially like your capitalizing technique.
Usually people who don't like AppleTV don't buy one. They certainly don't use it. I can't figure where you stand.
Hmm... I don't see that in the text, but still I can see a perfectly logical reason for it to be that way: When you send a physical command from your phone, you're sending it directly. Whereas when you send through Siri, you're actually going through a remote Apple server (Siri doesn't process your voice locally). Having to go back then forth then back again seems rather inefficient.
Then again, HomeKit is supposed to support bluetooth as well as WiFi. So some devices would potentially need a bluetooth capable device (such as the AppleTV) to connect to.
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No idea. Box sits by itself in front of TV, completely unobstructed, and I really don't use it a ton. Tried resetting and restoring and everything, was about to throw it away when I decided to try the ethernet. Glad I did - as good as new.