I've successfully set up Homebridge to run both of the IP cameras that Sighthound is also running. The main reason I wanted to do this was the ability to get a (native) rich notification for motion events through iOS which includes an image snapshot.
To get the snapshot working, I had to emulate a motion sensor trigger in the same "room" as the cameras are assigned in HomeKit.
To do THAT, I am having Sighthound run a command when a rule is triggered for either of the cameras, which runs a shell script and ultimately triggers the homebridge motion sensors for a few seconds, sending me the notification. If anyone is interested, I'm happy to elaborate on the process I'm using.
The only flaw in all of this is that the snapshot Homekit takes from the camera to feed me in a notification is delayed by several seconds from the time the rule was triggered. So, while the email Sighthound sends me showing an image of the triggered rule is perfect, the HomeKit snapshot has been consistently missing what I'd like to see in the image.
Has anyone else experienced this dilemma, or have ideas of "speeding up" this process? At this point I'm not positive where the greatest lag is but will do some testing to find out.
Homebridge / HomeKit Setup
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Kbond - Posts: 162
- Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2017 5:51 pm
Re: Homebridge / HomeKit Setup
Hello,
The lag that you are seeing is most likely due to Sighthound Video. There will be a few second delay from when the object is detected to any alerts or notifications. The reason behind that is because Sighthound Video runs some analytics on the data to confirm what the detected object is. Unfortunately, there is no way to speed this up since that functionality is necessary. We do apologize for any inconvenience there. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns, thank you!
Regards,
-Kevin
The lag that you are seeing is most likely due to Sighthound Video. There will be a few second delay from when the object is detected to any alerts or notifications. The reason behind that is because Sighthound Video runs some analytics on the data to confirm what the detected object is. Unfortunately, there is no way to speed this up since that functionality is necessary. We do apologize for any inconvenience there. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns, thank you!
Regards,
-Kevin
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JamesLaugesen - Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2019 4:34 pm
Re: Homebridge / HomeKit Setup
Just replying to this old discussion for the sake of future folk.
I have the same setup described by YoKev7, and experiencing the same delay on the snapshot from HomeKit.
In my case the vast-majority of the delay is within HomeKit itself, not Sighthound.
Sighthound fires the command action shortly after the detection criteria has ended (difficult to measure accurately, but I'd say a ~1 second delay on my Mac Mini i5 server.).
I then have a ~4-7 second delay before receiving the motion notification with snapshot from HomeKit.
I've confirmed this by triggering two motion sensors in Homebridge from my command action; one sensor in a HomeKit Room with a Camera, and one in a Room without a Camera.
On firing the command in Sighthound (immediately triggering two Homebridge motion sensors.), I receive a motion notification from the sensor without a camera almost immediately (maybe 100ms.), then receive a motion notification with snapshot ~4-7 seconds later.
I can also see this delay in the Homebridge log when the snapshot is requested from the camera, confirming the majority of the delay appears to be within HomeKit itself, not within Homebridge. As-in, HomeKit seems to take a while to determine that a motion sensor is in the same room as a camera and that a snapshot should be included with the notification.
Which means using a static image as the still image source in homebridge (such as with camera-ffmpeg.) doesn't help much, at-least not in my case.
It would be interesting to see if a "genuine" HomeKit-compatible camera and/or motion sensor has this same delay.
For now my work-around is firing the two motion sensors on locations I want to see a snapshot.
So for example when someone approaches our driveway, I'll receive a "Motion on driveway" notification immediately, then receive a "Motion on driveway snapshot" notification ~4-7 seconds later.
PS; It's also worth noting that HomeKit pushes a separate motion notification for each camera in a Room, which can give the impression of multiple motion events.
I have the same setup described by YoKev7, and experiencing the same delay on the snapshot from HomeKit.
In my case the vast-majority of the delay is within HomeKit itself, not Sighthound.
Sighthound fires the command action shortly after the detection criteria has ended (difficult to measure accurately, but I'd say a ~1 second delay on my Mac Mini i5 server.).
I then have a ~4-7 second delay before receiving the motion notification with snapshot from HomeKit.
I've confirmed this by triggering two motion sensors in Homebridge from my command action; one sensor in a HomeKit Room with a Camera, and one in a Room without a Camera.
On firing the command in Sighthound (immediately triggering two Homebridge motion sensors.), I receive a motion notification from the sensor without a camera almost immediately (maybe 100ms.), then receive a motion notification with snapshot ~4-7 seconds later.
I can also see this delay in the Homebridge log when the snapshot is requested from the camera, confirming the majority of the delay appears to be within HomeKit itself, not within Homebridge. As-in, HomeKit seems to take a while to determine that a motion sensor is in the same room as a camera and that a snapshot should be included with the notification.
Which means using a static image as the still image source in homebridge (such as with camera-ffmpeg.) doesn't help much, at-least not in my case.
It would be interesting to see if a "genuine" HomeKit-compatible camera and/or motion sensor has this same delay.
For now my work-around is firing the two motion sensors on locations I want to see a snapshot.
So for example when someone approaches our driveway, I'll receive a "Motion on driveway" notification immediately, then receive a "Motion on driveway snapshot" notification ~4-7 seconds later.
PS; It's also worth noting that HomeKit pushes a separate motion notification for each camera in a Room, which can give the impression of multiple motion events.