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Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

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Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#91

Post by bufferout »

ViViDboarder wrote: post #84
donatj wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifx has an entirely open and very well documented local UDP API, and a pretty open and well documented REST API. On top of that, no need for a bridge or base station. They can operate entirely locally with no need for a mother ship if you don't need to control them away from home. I make pretty heavy use of the UDP API from my local server and help maintain a Go library.

Those are WiFi though, no? Not exactly the same thing. Personally, I prefer a hub/bridge and then a mesh network for Home Automation. I’ve got Hue, Z-Wave, and WeMo. I much prefer the experience with the first two now.

It's all just different flavours of radio waves.

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#92

Post by ViViDboarder »

bufferout wrote: post #91
ViViDboarder wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are WiFi though, no? Not exactly the same thing. Personally, I prefer a hub/bridge and then a mesh network for Home Automation. I’ve got Hue, Z-Wave, and WeMo. I much prefer the experience with the first two now.

It's all just different flavours of radio waves.

Frequency matters for interference, also mesh versus access point makes a big difference in the real world.

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#93

Post by ssalazar »

bufferout wrote: post #91
ViViDboarder wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are WiFi though, no? Not exactly the same thing. Personally, I prefer a hub/bridge and then a mesh network for Home Automation. I’ve got Hue, Z-Wave, and WeMo. I much prefer the experience with the first two now.

It's all just different flavours of radio waves.

Wifi, Bluetooth, cellular, bespoke solutions, etc. are all "just radio waves" yet entail a vast spectrum of engineering and business requirements including cost, power usage, implementation complexity, reliability, interoperability, and range.

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#94

Post by jpindar »

jibbit wrote: post #12
Sanzig wrote: post #6

Well - they've done a pretty good job of ensuring that if I get smart lights again, I'm definitely not buying Philips. This change breaks all the digital assistant integrations ("Hey Google, turn on the lights"), which is pretty much the only reason to have smart lights in the first place. If you can't use voice commands, you might as well just use the wall switches. Who wants to pull out their phone and switch the l…

Is there a viable alternative? The website and app are pretty terrible. I assume it's because they have no real competition?

There are many, many apps for Hue lights.

The one I use most is Hue Pro by Prismatic LLC. I like its highly customizable widgets.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.benchevoor...

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#95

Post by tomjakubowski »

donatj wrote: post #68
4rt wrote: post #66

my problem with being too critical of this is that hue is very open, very well documented and nothing else is. declaring that you'll never buy another philips product ever again because they shut off hosted services support for a relatively flawed v1 device -- when a v2 device is available for £25 -- is pretty petulant imo. it will still work on your lan. i've got 15 hue bulbs and a hue bridge but i don't use any of…

Lifx has an entirely open and very well documented local UDP API, and a pretty open and well documented REST API. On top of that, no need for a bridge or base station. They can operate entirely locally with no need for a mother ship if you don't need to control them away from home. I make pretty heavy use of the UDP API from my local server and help maintain a Go library.

Newer Hue bulbs also work without a bridge, now that they implement Zigbee!

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#96

Post by wlesieutre »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #95
donatj wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifx has an entirely open and very well documented local UDP API, and a pretty open and well documented REST API. On top of that, no need for a bridge or base station. They can operate entirely locally with no need for a mother ship if you don't need to control them away from home. I make pretty heavy use of the UDP API from my local server and help maintain a Go library.

Newer Hue bulbs also work without a bridge, now that they implement Zigbee!

The old Hue bulbs are Zigbee which is why they need a bridge. The bridgeless ones have Bluetooth.

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#97

Post by cududa »

davidy123 wrote: post #47

While there are reasons for concern, I don't really blame Philips (Signify) for this. They released the v1 hub quite early in the smart home space. It wasn't compatible with Apple Homekit features when they were released due to hardware limitations for reasons they presumably couldn't have predicted (unless they made it a more capable and expensive device in the hopes it would support unknown requirements). They made…

There protocols are well documented and there’s plenty of open source configurations based on raspberry pi to run it.

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#98

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

userbinator wrote: post #88
grawprog wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>for 100 years with ~20 minutes of maintenance. While I get your point, are you honestly saying a hoe has lasted 100 years and still completely usable to its original standards with absolutely no sharpening, oiling, cleaning or care of any kind other than changing a screw? Stainless steel wasn't exactly common back then, so I'm assuming this hoe was probably iron with a wooden handle? The iron would definitely need t…

To give a better and perhaps more relevant example: The wiring and many electrical devices in my house are over half a century old, yet all the switches and outlets still function perfectly fine.

If they use aluminum wiring, the situation may be less rosy than you think.

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#99

Post by stordoff »

tschellenbach wrote: post #54

When I moved my Philips Hue bridge got damaged. Turns out there is no way (and I tried) to get your lightbulbs to reset and attach to a new bridge. Not very happy with Philips Hue, wish there was a better option out there.

You can search for them using the serial number. I did this recently when I bought some second-hand Hue gear that was still connected to an old bridge.

You can also reset them using the dimmer.

Failing that, https://huetips.com/lamp-finder/ has worked for me in the past for finding awkward devices that I didn't have the serial number for (older LivingColours devices).

Re: Philips Hue Bridge v1 online services will be shut off after April 2020

#100

Post by yellowapple »

I'll have to check whether or not this'll affect my grandparents' lights. Probably not the absolute end of the world (90% of their usage is "Alexa, (back/front) porch (on/off)"), but I know they do like to control the porch light with the app (it's on a schedule, too).
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