Jan 20 Podcast #1083: Home Automation Golden Rules and Switching Back to Cable
This week we look at an article in the Washington Post that talks about Four Golden Rules of Home Automation and we discuss whether switching back to cable is worth it. We also have your emails and the week’s news.
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Today's Show:
News:
- Samsung's SmartThings Station Helps You Keep Track Of Your Smart Home And Connected Devices
- Sharp Plans to Enter U.S. Smart TV Market With New Sets Based on Roku's New 'OLED Reference Design'
- YouTube Experiments With FAST Channels
- Google’s next 4K Chromecast remote will wave goodbye to batteries
- Denon Releases AVR-X4800H Receiver Featuring 3D Audio And 8K Video
Other:
- The Future of Screens Is So Top-Secret, I Can't Show It Yet - CNET
- Ara's Woodworking
- Join the Flaviar Whisky Club and get a free bottle
Home Automation Golden Rules
Washington Post columnist Geoffrey Fowler has four Golden Rules for automating your home. These rules were posted in the Washington Post online on January 6, 2023 (Your smart home can be dumb. Here’s how to do it the right way).
1) Don’t fall in the app trap! Be wary of installing any critical home feature that only works with an app. You need to be able to unlock your door or turn on lights the old fashioned way as a backup. This is why I stopped using Philips Hue bulbs, even though I know they have many fans.
2) Build your smart home in Switzerland … metaphorically. Many of these products limit your options. For example, Amazon’s smart plugs only work with Alexa. You might love Alexa today, but you don’t know what voice AI, smartphone or face computer you might be using in five years. If you can, pick products that say they work with Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit and a new smart home standard called Matter.
(Note: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
3) Look out for spies. Some companies collect and store a suspiciously large amount of data. I’m looking at you, Amazon. In some cases, you can adjust settings to tell them to collect less information — our Privacy Reset guide can help. But the best products don’t live in the cloud and collect as little data as possible, like ones made by the brand Eve.
4) Security is your responsibility. You need a different password and two-factor authentication for every home product, or you’re inviting hackers into your home. Shira, I can tell you’re about to say, “This is why a dumb home is good!” But if you get this basic right, you’ll be fine.
Why I’m Switching Back to Cable TV
Cord-cutting—the act of ditching traditional cable TV—has been gaining popularity for over a decade. Streaming is great, but it’s not the home run it used to be. In fact, I made the decision to switch back to cable. Full Article here…
The author of this article goes through the same progression we have. In the Early days he says:
The rise of streaming live TV services came at a perfect time for me. I was living on my own for the first time, and cable wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. When Sling TV was announced, I was very excited, and I signed up immediately,
He does what we all did. Because there are no required boxes or commitments he tried them all! We both have done the same. And for one reason or another Braden ended up with YouTubeTV and Ara with DirecTV Stream.
His thoughts:
The early days of streaming live TV was great. The channel packages were small and very affordable. Most services let you choose from add-on bundles to expand your channel list. It was pretty easy to get the channels you wanted without much extra “fluff” jammed in.
However, in the years since, I’ve watched as these services have ballooned in channel lineup size and price. The dream of “al la carte TV” never really materialized. This brings us to today, where streaming live TV is not much different than cable TV.
All true! So the author looked at going back to cable.
To my surprise, I discovered I could save a whopping $30 per month (taxes and fees included) by ditching Sling TV and adding a TV package to my internet package. Ah, but I’ll need a clunky cable box again, right? Turns out Comcast finally gives you the option to only use the Xfinity Stream app.
As much as I don’t like Comcast, it was hard to pass up this deal. I could get the same channels I had, save $30 per month, and still watch it on my phone or smart TV—no extra hardware required. I never thought I would say this, but I am a cable TV customer again.
We are in the Cox Cable world and our plans would cost us about $115 more to get similar TV service and we would need a streaming box. Our current IPTV service runs us about $80 so it is not as cut and dry. Plus we don’t need a box! We will not be switching back to cable anytime soon!
Reader Comments (5)
Hi Guys.
Love the show. Listen every Sat morning while at the diner.
You mentioned in the latest episode that the Denon 4800H was their new flagship receiver and that you liked the price. Just wanted to correct the info you have in that it isn’t their flag ship for 2023. Their new flagship is actually the A1H and its price point is far north of the 4800H. See the avsforum link below for more info.
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/the-official-2023-denon-avr-avc-a1h-15-4ch-flagship-avr-owners-thread.3255409/page-28#post-62278058
Regards,
Rob
Hello,
You have mentioned ATSC 3.0 or NextGen TV occasionally; and it is in its infancy.
While I love being an early adopter, now am part of the folks who are helping make it better.
Had bugged my wife about getting a Zapperbox, a converter that can receive ATSC 3.0 signals, made by a company in Iowa. We had a lot of fun about my wanting one, since no one beside me knew what it was!
In September, I finally did get one. And for fun, took a picture of my wife in the back of our car, while the Zapperbox box was belted into the front seat. Our kids laughed.
Anyway, as I have used the device, in the Baltimore market, at least, certain digital transmission issues caused mine to stop receiving the local stations. (There are four broadcasting ATSC 3.0 out of one RF channel--25.)
Not only did the folks at Zapperbox work on software changes but they pushed those updates directly into my device to check if they work! The CEO messages me; and sent a mini-computer that I hooked up to my central antenna via a very expensive USB tuning stick, so they can continue on their own to make upgrades.
Apparently, Baltimore, Phoenix and Seattle have had the same software issues. And they have early adopters, elsewhere, doing the same. This is being done for the love of helping improve the next generation of TV broadcast signals, not for money, since I am not being paid.
And it is fun for me to be very far ahead. ATSC 3.0's time will come in a few years, still. The local stations only send out their HD signals, though the 1080 signals are 1080p, which is slightly better, visually.
I also receive the DC NextGen channels. While there is great promise, NO ONE is actually broadcasting in 4K.
Zapperbox is slowly adding features such as the ability to record and guide, etc.
How much will it catch on and how fast? Who knows. But wanted to let you know my experience and hope for the broadcast future.
Bob Costantini
Hi Rob,
Thanks for catching that we inadvertently called the 4800H Denon's Flagship Model.
Kind Regards,
Ara
On the topic of avoiding smart home vendor lock-in, one thing that can trip people up when purchasing new home automation devices is seeing that they support the major hub ecosystems (Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung) but not realizing that they do so via cloud middleware operated by the manufacturer of the product. If that manufacturer goes out of business or decides to stop operating their cloud infrastructure, you're out of luck. This is why Matter is so important, since it requires that devices can be controlled over the local network without any cloud pieces in between. So with that, I would strongly suggest to listeners that they should not purchase Wi-Fi only devices that do not support Matter. Prefer devices that use a radio technology like ZigBee, Z-Wave, or Bluetooth, and if you are going to go with a Wi-Fi device, make sure it supports Matter.
One small correction: I know in at least some cases HomeKit devices that use Wi-Fi support local control. If you're sure that's the case for your device, that should also be fine. If you find yourself needing to create an account with the device manufacturer, that's usually a red flag and should be avoided if possible, especially for smaller manufacturers with a higher likelihood of failure or change in priorities.