SecuritySpy to Homebridge to Scrypted and back
So super pleased with SecuritySpy - pretty much works flawlessly for months and months
When I do have minor issues, @Ben and the rest of the team are responsive either via email support or on this forum
When @Ben tweeted out that one can add SS cameras to Apple HomeKit using Homebridge I was intrigued - it would be great to have the camera views visible in the Apple Home App along with associated features
So, I followed his instructions and other than a couple minor hiccups, I got it working
However, there was no fancy features in the Home app that I had heard all about - notifications, iCloud recording, facial recognition, etc.
So, I did some digging and realized that although Homebridge gets the cameras into Home, what you don't get is HomeKit Secure Video (HKSV) - it's HKSV that gives you all the bells and whistles
So, I spent some time yesterday to install Scrypted on my Mac mini and then spent even more time to get the cameras added and working
Finally got it done and was able to see all the fancy HKSV features for each camera in the Home app
I turned on some notifications and facial recognition and iCloud recording etc. and some of the stuff worked (notifications) but others didn't (facial recognition, iCloud recording)
But, I wasn't surprised since this seems as a kind of a hack to get non-HKSV cameras into HomeKit
Then, I got to thinking, why am I trying to jump through all these hoops to get this done when SS pretty much has kept me happy and satisfied for years? I've already got everything setup with SS, so why am I trying to reinvent the wheel now?
I post this to simply say that going through these 'exercises' (ie, setting up Homebridge and then Scrypted) just made me appreciate SS even more
Keep up the great work @Ben and team!
Comments
I think it depends on whether you're on the Desktop, or iOS. As an example, I mainly view SS footage from my iPhone X. Using the SS iOS app I cannot see which clips contain humans, I cannot scroll through a timeline of the day or even a few hours to quickly look for something. I must click on each clip individually, view it, tap the X to close that clip, and hopefully correctly pick the next one in the list. Even being able to swipe to the next clip would help here. With HKSV, the little human icons, and the ability to scroll an entire timeline makes the process much smoother. Hopefully Ben will make this workflow more useful in future updates. I'm guessing the new iOS 16 Home App will just widen the usability gap for security footage. HKSV definitely has its place in my setup. As another example, since I'm not going to open up ports on my router, I have to start my VPN on the phone before I can connect to SS to do any of the above. Not so with the Home App. That's not a SS or Ben issue, but for some, having video in HKSV is worth the hassle, and yes, Scrypted can be a hassle sometimes. Or rather, HKSV and the entire Home App as a whole can be a hassle. Hoping iOS 16 fixes a lot of the issues.