supervisor VS amcrest2mqtt

I recently discovered the home-assistant supervisor [0] repository. It's awesome to see such a well-designed, mature, and actively maintained open-source python application. I've found that there's no shortage of high quality python libraries and frameworks to learn from, but open-source applications aren't as common. I love coming across repos like this so I can study their design.

[0] https://github.com/home-assistant/supervisor

Nice to see HA getting some love on HN. A colleague recommended it to me about 3 years ago as an alternative to Domoticz. I've migrated back than and haven't looked back since. I consider myself a real Home Assistant enthousiast. I've contributed some small amounts to the project, created and maintain my own add-ons and love to share my configuration with others.

Although most of the things currently just work, especially with the (migrated) UI integrations. Some things still feel very unfinished, like blueprints. Which was a terrific idea, but maintaining and keeping those up to date is an absolute nightmare and you will have to that yourself [1]. Same with battery powered devices. When they work, it's all great, but having to watch their battery level is just a hassle. You can create your own automation to do that for you, but it seems unnecessary.

For me the community also sometimes feels very hostile. For instance, you can have a Portainer add-on, but installing other Docker images makes your system 'unsupported'. Same with some blacklisted images [2], which break Home Assistant Supervisor. Or when the maintainer of one of the add-ons completely ignores a breaking issue after a day [3].

1. https://community.home-assistant.io/t/reload-automations-aut...

2. https://github.com/home-assistant/supervisor/blob/main/super...

3. https://github.com/hassio-addons/addon-adguard-home/issues/1...

I've also tried giving the container access to real dev by following the suggestion mentioned here (followed by a supervisor reload/restart from the UI), but that also doesn't always work and gets overwritten with the next supervisor silent update.

Would you consider a comment on one of the open| issues so they can see it's a biggish problem? Might save someone else some precious time.

I wouldn’t hold my breath on it being changed, based on the GitHub issue about it.

But you can setup alerts when someone presses the doorbell, using this software running under docker. https://github.com/dchesterton/amcrest2mqtt

There's a way around that to keep it completely offline. Ive got mine offline and 2 way audio works through the tinycam app

I've just ordered an Amcrest AD410. I handle my video footage through https://frigate.video hooked into Home Assistant, and the Amcrest cameras are pretty open and compatible with this setup, apparently. They have a (somewhat hidden) API, with some open source solutions like https://github.com/dchesterton/amcrest2mqtt about which expose it to more common standards, and Home Assistant has an official integration for them too.

I've been really happy with my Frigate setup and previously wrote a few words about the switch: https://senryu.pub/afternoonrobot/articles/replacing-unifi-v.... It has taken me ages to find a viable doorbell, however, which is why I've only just ordered the AD410. I'm pretty hopeful for it, and a colleague already has one and really likes it.