Matter Launch Event Nov 3 2022

[brians]

Exciting stuff...

 

Philips hue is matter certified, and other product announcements.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/3/23438320/matter-launch-event-smart-home-news-products

 

 

[larryllix]

25 minutes ago, brians said:

Exciting stuff...

 

Philips hue is matter certified, and other product announcements.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/3/23438320/matter-launch-event-smart-home-news-products

 

 

Nice! I wonder how Hue is handling the switch over? Can they drop new firmware into their bulbs and hubs? Will it be compatible with any other brands or devices? I assume it should be compatible with their lines of devices. Hue always seemed to be very close to the Matter protocol right from the beginning.

Time will tell, and maybe reveal how many of these devices were just modified WiFi anyway. Hopefully this works out after we all fill our junk boxes with more gadgets.

[brians]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

Nice! I wonder how Hue is handling the switch over? Can they drop new firmware into their bulbs and hubs? Will it be compatible with any other brands or devices? I assume it should be compatible with their lines of devices. Hue always seemed to be very close to the Matter protocol right from the beginning.

Time will tell, and maybe reveal how many of these devices were just modified WiFi anyway. Hopefully this works out after we all fill our junk boxes with more gadgets.

The bulbs themselves will not be direct matter compatible, but instead the bridge is updated with new firmware, the article says, 

"Hubs will be a reality for a long, long time

Like Aqara, Ikea, and others, Signify will be leaning heavily on its bridge for years to come in order to help Hue device owners extract maximum value from their existing smart home setups. Even though Matter promises a future without such proprietary hubs, the reality for many smart home owners is that they’ll continue to be needed for a long, long time."

So if they can do this, it should be possible for Polisy/EISY with a ZMatter board to bridge into other systems which use Matter. Not sure how all this will work though because ISY users generally design their home around the idea of it as a main controller. But another option it seems is that we could just setup HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, or Google home (or all of them LOL)  and the Polisy/EISY will act like just a bridge to support non-matter devices eg. Insteon, Z-Wave etc. I am actually doing this now for years using HomeBridge... but would be nice to get something official. The only reason I use HomeBridge is for Siri and I think the way the Home App works in iPhone is better than any other alternative for simply turning lights on/off etc. All the back-end complexity of linking Insteon scenes, timers etc. is setup and done using ISY still.

 

[larryllix]

17 hours ago, brians said:

The bulbs themselves will not be direct matter compatible, but instead the bridge is updated with new firmware, the article says, 

"Hubs will be a reality for a long, long time

Like Aqara, Ikea, and others, Signify will be leaning heavily on its bridge for years to come in order to help Hue device owners extract maximum value from their existing smart home setups. Even though Matter promises a future without such proprietary hubs, the reality for many smart home owners is that they’ll continue to be needed for a long, long time."

So if they can do this, it should be possible for Polisy/EISY with a ZMatter board to bridge into other systems which use Matter. Not sure how all this will work though because ISY users generally design their home around the idea of it as a main controller. But another option it seems is that we could just setup HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, or Google home (or all of them LOL)  and the Polisy/EISY will act like just a bridge to support non-matter devices eg. Insteon, Z-Wave etc. I am actually doing this now for years using HomeBridge... but would be nice to get something official. The only reason I use HomeBridge is for Siri and I think the way the Home App works in iPhone is better than any other alternative for simply turning lights on/off etc. All the back-end complexity of linking Insteon scenes, timers etc. is setup and done using ISY still.

 

I have gone through many bridge systems (MiLight, Hue etc..)  and now have none except my own custom software built into polisy.

I only use two Insteon lamp dimmers now and all my other dozen or so lights are WiFi. They are very dependable in a smaller environment and the protocol is well polished, supported, and known by so many.  I do not use any cloud services except for Alexa vocal control boxes that connect through ISY Portal cloud services. All can be operated locally via WiFi apps and BT or local pushbuttons on some, even  if WiFi failed.

When you hear negatives about WiFi devices, I live in a high rise apartment with 800 other units, all screaming WiFi signals. I don't use mesh LAN anymore. Single AP with any SSID still works better and faster  than any repeater or mesh system I have seen yet.