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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

#111

Post by timc3 »

I have about 60 hue devices. Its useful enough to me that i would just buy the bridge if I had to. In fact I WANT them to release a new bridge that supports even more devices.

If you ask why - first is I am very sensitive to bad lighting as it seems to be a cause of migraines, Hue has amazing quality. Second I like the automations, not just turning on and off at the right time but also changing colour temperature. Having motion sensors so walking around triggers lights turning on is something that I got really used to.

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

#112

Post by spectramax »

vosper wrote: post #109
jb775 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you bought a hammer 8 years ago and the hammer company had a way to "deactivate" certain uses of the hammer so it only worked in a few situations, would you say "8 years is long enough for a hammer, it's perfectly reasonable they force you to buy a new hammer in order for it to work properly." ? Philips has the resources to keep this up and running.

A Hue Bridge is not like a hammer. Your analogy is cute and appealing, but not actually analogous (the biggest problem with analogies...) > Philips has the resources to keep this up and running. See how your analogy doesn't work? A manufacturer of a hammer doesn't have to continually expend resources to keep your hammer operating, secure, and compatible with other devices. Because it's just a hammer.

That's not right. You've just based your assertion with a faulty assumption that a bulb has to be smart - sure the analogy breaks down. But, the parent is making an analogy about a "dumb" bulb - both hammer and bulb are tools. Hammer is used to hit nails and a bulb is used to illuminate dark spaces.

A manufacturer of "dumb" bulbs doesn't have to continually expend resources to keep your bulb operating, secure, and compatible with other devices - simply by the virtue that the bulb isn't a smart bulb.

To fail your analogy criteria, the bulb just have to be a "dumb" one or the hammer can be a smart-hammer (you can concieve that for the sake of a thought exercise).

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

#113

Post by microtonal »

kelnos wrote: post #79
foobiekr wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or embed a $2 3g dongle.

The real cost there is data usage, and just keeping the SIM live. Even with large volume discounts, that's not gonna be cheap. (Wireless carriers don't price machine uses cases the same way they do retail phone SIM cards.) And then there's obsolescence: you said 3G... how long before carriers have shut down their 3G networks, or at least have reduced coverage to the point where it's hard to get a 3G connection in mos…

The real cost there is data usage, and just keeping the SIM live. Even with large volume discounts, that's not gonna be cheap. (Wireless carriers don't price machine uses cases the same way they do retail phone SIM cards.)

I don't buy this. Here in the Netherlands, every house is fitted with a smart electricity/gas meter, that connects over cellular. The Kindle 3G has worldwide connectivity.

If Samsung or Sony goes to a major carrier to get a low-data rate 3G or 4G connection to send viewing habits, etc., times a gazillion units, they will get it. Such analytics are worth a lot, so I guess the cost is easy to offset.

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

#114

Post by huseyinkeles »

jedieaston wrote: post #86
kozak wrote: post #15

I need to buy a new TV, and I'm desperately looking for a "dumb" one. I just need a HDMI input and that's it.

https://www.cdw.com/search/?key=hospitality%20tv&searchscope... These are TVs with the smart stuff removed for use in enterprise/hotels that don't want it. Pick your favorite!

> 403 Error: Access Forbidden > We’re sorry, but you don’t have access to this page.

Could be because of GDPR :/

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

#115

Post by rorykoehler »

mockie wrote: post #89
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…

Have you looked at IKEA's offerings? I have 5 bulbs and 3 dimmers switches + Home Assistant and am very satisfied. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/tradfri/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2017/04/17/ikea-tradfri-i...

I was curious about those. How do they compare to Philips Hue in terms of colour spectrum and bulb quality? They are much cheaper and it would be great to be able to mix and match.

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

#116

Post by dividedbyzero »

rorykoehler wrote: post #115
mockie wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked at IKEA's offerings? I have 5 bulbs and 3 dimmers switches + Home Assistant and am very satisfied. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/tradfri/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2017/04/17/ikea-tradfri-i...

I was curious about those. How do they compare to Philips Hue in terms of colour spectrum and bulb quality? They are much cheaper and it would be great to be able to mix and match.

I non-scientifically feel like they are actually a shade more accurate and pleasing than the Hue bulbs. No idea what the actual numbers are, but at equivalent settings, the Ikea ones make the room feel a bit more like I want it to. I have a suspicion they have the better spectrum as well, but I may be wrong on that. The Trådfri bridge is a complete disaster though; color temperature can only be set to 3-ish presets that cannot be changed, even though the bulbs can do the whole spectrum, switches are very limited in what they can be programmed to do, etc., wayy behind Hue. I use their bulbs with a Dresden Electronic Conbee Stick on a Raspberry Pi and their software, works very well. The Ikea bulbs very occasionally flicker off and on again for a millisecond when paired to a Hue bridge; it's not frequent (every few days?) or very noticeable, but it's there.

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

#117

Post by cs02rm0 »

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…

a relatively flawed v1 device -- when a v2 device is available for £25

So... the v2 device isn't flawed and we're not about to see a v3 device before v2 is shelved in a few years?

Also, where's it £25? They seem to offer it for £49.

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

#118

Post by oarsinsync »

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…

They market their bulbs as having a 15 year lifespan. It's not unreasonable for consumers to expect the hub to have at least the same lifespan. There's arguments both for longer and shorter lifespan expectations on the hub depending on perspective (it's not a regular-replacement component / it has outside dependencies that can't be maintained without cost), but a reasonable middle ground of the life of the bulb is hard to argue against. Especially as the 'starter kit' is three bulbs and a bridge.

I remain extremely glad that my IoS components at home are all based around my own central service offering. This is a massive amount of work despite me knowing what I'm doing, requires regular upkeep, and is absolutely not what is being sold to consumers when they pay a premium for products like Hue.

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

#119

Post by catblast »

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.

The lifx bulbs require a bridge/base station.. it just happens to be a much more ubiquitous standard: WiFi.

The Philips Hue bulbs are pretty open. I use them with a Zigbee module on a raspi with no Philips Hue hub. Ie they work fine with standard Zigbee kit. You can theoretically pair them direct to other Zigbee devices without even a controller, at the expense of flexibility.

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

#120

Post by kwhitefoot »

kelnos wrote: post #77
nickthegreek wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least until TV manufacturers start having them try and connect to open wifi points or try and piggy back off of a connection thru HDMI ARC.

I recall a comment on HN a few months ago from someone who said they deliberately didn't connect their smart TV to their wifi, but then found that the internet-enabled features were in fact working. Turns out the TV had indeed found an open wifi network on its own and had automatically connected. They had to create a locked-down VLAN on their own network (with no outside connectivity), and connect to that in order to…

I wish my laptop were as clever!
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