@TRS-80 said:
Your concerns are absolutely valid! And, BTW congratulations for being one of the few nowadays that question these sort of things (privacy, security) in general, instead of just blindly accepting them!
Why would you not consider rolling your own? There are a number of inexpensive hardware available, and a number of software choices (and/or combinations of softwares that integrate well together) that will let you do almost whatever you want.
Going the commercial "out of the box" route may be the easiest to get started, but you may eventually run in to proprietary lock in, incompatibility, and/or missing one or more certain features that you really need (some of which, may not even be apparent at the current time).
It is for these reasons that I tend personally to lean more in the direction of rolling my own, and using open source software, hardware, etc. You can do whatever you want to, and it's almost always costs less money.
If things end up not working out with one system, you can change software later and go in another direction, you still own your hardware. But, you will need to spend a little time learning some things. Is that so bad?
There are many guides, much useful information, and many helpful communities (like this one!) on the internet nowadays; it's really not that difficult. Plus, it is very rewarding learning and figuring things out and accomplishing them.
How much/what kind of data do you need to store? Just the HA setup? Sounds like maybe security system video as well? Video can take up a lot of HDD space (or bandwidth, so much in fact that it is probably not practical to upload). Do you also need a backup solution also for perhaps photos and/or other data?
Give us a little more information about what you want your ultimate, complete dream system to eventually look like and include, and that will allow us to recommend some hardware and software which will (eventually) meet that goal.
Begin with the end in mind, I say. It will save you a lot of time, headaches, and $ down the road.
Thanks for effort! However, I just feel that it's way more complex, which is a bit unfortunate. It's not motivating for me to change software/hardware over time, it feels a bit unnecessary and it may increase the odds of adding devices in an non-optimal way. The things is that I don't have so many devices to start with and I see this as a project. Therefore, getting a solution, that will eventually solve all my problems, is more suitable for me. I don't need to think so much about the hardware/software, instead, I can focus on the devices and what they can do together
I don't mind learning new stuff, it's just that I already have a pile of those things already haha, or at least time consuming hobbies/duties.
In the future, I would like to have the following:
lamps, sensors, kitchen appliances, blinds, speakers, TV, smoke detectors, alarm system, assistance/surveillance for pets and kids. I want multiple integration and communication to set up scenarios; Moreover, dinner time, movie time, gaming time, morning routines, alarm package, party or social gatherings and so forth.
