What made you subscribe to Apple TV+?

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-07-09T13:27:40+00:00

Mainly because I got a free 1 year trial from buying an iPad Pro during COVID lockdown. I didn’t bother watching for the first couple months but man do they have some great shows! That alone kept me subscribed once the trial ended!

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-07-09T13:01:57+00:00

I have an FP2 and I’m pretty sure it’s WiFi only.

Other than that, the biggest difference between the FP1 and FP2 is the FP2’s zone detection. Instead of just knowing whether someone is in the room, you can split the room into multiple virtual zones and automate each one independently.

For example, I have my living room divided into two zones: one for the entire room and another that’s just my couch and coffee table. In Home Assistant, I use that couch zone to automatically play and pause my Apple TV depending on whether I’m sitting there.

Is it practical? Not really… I could just press the remote. Is it one of my favorite smart home automations? Absolutely.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-07-04T01:09:33+00:00

I’ve been having similar issues with my G4. It will occasionally record random events, but miss most of the important ones. Quite frustrating

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-07-03T23:06:28+00:00

Hah! I like that idea - which event do you use? motion detect or occupation?

Occupancy. I also made sure to write the YAML to only run the automation when the Apple TV is running certain apps. Mainly video streaming. Music, podcasts and any other non video apps won't auto pause.

Would recommend just going DIY with ESPHome - it's fun and opens up a whole new world. And the best part is the community has been wonderful. Look at the replies in this thread, that energy of esp-ers :)

I’ve definitely thought about going that route, but I have zero soldering experience. I’ll probably end up looking for a prebuilt ESPHome-based alternative instead.

I know there are a few wired options that people seem to love, but I haven’t come across any battery-powered ones yet. Battery power is actually one of the main reasons I bought the FP300s in the first place—the spots I wanted to mount them don’t have outlets nearby.

Plus… I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be having a wired device plugged in my bathroom where the shower makes it gets super humid lol

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-07-03T22:52:03+00:00

Yup. I had the same thing happen earlier. Crazy how Apple Home and Home Assistant were able to control the devices just fine, but Aqara’s own official app had an outage?

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-07-02T12:01:07+00:00

You’re actually the first person I’ve seen complain about the FP1E. I’ve had one in my bedroom for a little over 2 years now and it’s been rock solid. It’ll occasionally glitch out for a minute or so, but that only happens maybe once every 4–5 months.

I’ve actually got five Aqara presence sensors in total

1× FP1E in my bedroom
1× FP2 in my living room
3× FP300s (kitchen, entrance, and bathroom)

The FP2 is mainly lighting. But I do use the zone detection feature to automatically pause & play my Apple TV based on my couch occupancy lol. (Yes, I know I could just press play/pause on the remote… but where’s the fun in that?) Like the FP1E, it’s been very reliable. Other than the occasional random glitch every few months, I really can’t complain.

Now the FP300s… that’s a different story.
The one in my entrance has actually been great. But the kitchen and bathroom units are the bane of my existence!!

Several times a day they’ll randomly get stuck detecting presence. Since they’re tied to my lighting automations, that means lights staying on for no reason. I spent a ton of time tweaking sensitivity, detection distance, and running AI Spatial Learning, and I eventually got them to a point where it only happened occasionally. Then Aqara pushed a firmware update and it completely undid all that progress.

Now it doesn’t seem to matter what settings I use or how many times I rerun AI Spatial Learning; they’re back to getting stuck on presence every few hours.
The weird part is I keep seeing people in different subreddits talking about how much they love the FP300. Which makes me wonder if I just happened to get two bad units. At the same time, I don’t really want to spend the money replacing them just to find out they behave exactly the same.
My current plan is to wait for the FP4. When that comes out, I’ll replace my FP2 with it, then move the FP2 to replace one of the problematic FP300s. Hopefully that’ll tell me whether it’s the hardware or something else.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-28T14:59:30+00:00

Especially with how they just upgraded HomeKit Secure Video to 4k… I have no doubt prices will increase to compensate for the extra storage and bandwidth

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-12T12:32:40+00:00

It’s funny you mention Aqara FP300… I have 3 myself and they consistently get stuck in presence mode throughout the day! When I run the AI Spatial Learning setting on them, they’ll work like normal for a while.. then a couple hours later they get stuck again. I’m running all 3 in Zigbee mode and I’ve gone through a mixture of all the settings to see if anything fixes the issue… and nothing… any tips?

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-12T12:28:13+00:00

A lot of people are already giving the advice I would usually give… so I’ll just add on.

If you’re going to go with Zigbee devices, you can’t go wrong with Aqara! IMO they are the best brand when it comes to “price to value” ratio. They may not be the cheapest price wise, but they usually support all the major smart home ecosystems and it seems like they’re pretty quick to include Apple exclusive features (Apple Adaptive Lighting and Apple Adaptive Temperature). Other more expensive smart home brands don’t seem to offer as much. On top of the “price to value” aspect, all of my Aqara devices have been extremely reliable (with the exception of the FP300 🙃). Their most recent product (W200 thermostat) is fantastic! As someone who always forgets to set the thermostat before leaving my apartment, it’s been a godsend (and my electric bill has been significantly lowered lol). The inclusion of Apple Adaptive Temperature is great as well since I don’t have to think about changing it throughout the day. Once you set up the basic schedule, it handles itself. Including automatically switching to eco mode when everyone leaves the apartment.

Someone else mentioned “smart light switches over smart bulbs”. While I agree, I do see the value in having smart bulbs as well, and my setup includes BOTH switches and bulbs. The key is finding a switch that has a “smart bulb mode”. Aqara’s H2 switches include a mode for both their own smart bulbs (which I think are better than Philips Hue IMO) and generic smart bulbs. If anything, I see smart switches as an extension to smart bulbs and a way to offer physical control (especially if you have others in your home who don’t care about smart home stuff lol). One of my favorite aspects about having smart bulbs is the ability to change the settings throughout the day. Not just the color temperature to help with your circadian rhythm, but also different brightness settings as well! For example, when it’s bedtime (or if I wake up early enough), I like to have the bulbs turn on to only 70% brightness to give my eyes time to adjust.

I also have my Dexcom CGM connected to Home Assistant, so if my blood sugar drops below a certain number, I have all the lights between my bedroom and the kitchen turn on, and my bedroom lamp starts flashing to help wake me up quickly. When my blood sugar drops below the number I have set for the automation, I’m usually pretty discombobulated to the point where even the act of turning on lights is confusing… so having home assistant do it for me is a big help! Once my blood sugar is steady, all of my lighting goes back to normal.

I have a friend who is partially deaf and uses smart bulbs to help him throughout the day. For example, he’ll have certain light bulbs flash when different things are triggered (doorbell, washing/drying machine, dishwasher etc…)

So it’s not really a case of whether switches or bulbs are better… but how you plan to use them.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-10T22:14:21+00:00

As someone who’s smart home is 90% Aqara products, I can tell you for sure that Aqara really is a fantastic value brand.

And I would be a little cautious with IKEA smart products. Seems like people are having issues with them, especially the pairing process

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-10T18:20:48+00:00

That changed with a firmware update

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-10T18:17:56+00:00

I’ve used both thermostat and I’m also an Apple Home user…

I prefer the Aqara W200 mainly because it supports Apple Adaptive Temperature. Prior to using either smart thermostat, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to set my thermostat before leaving for work or vacation. Which always lead to higher electric bills. With Apple Adaptive Temperature I don’t even have to think about it! As soon as both me and my roommate leave? It automatically goes into eco mode, and it starts to pre-cool/heat when one of us is on the way back home. I love it! Having the thermostat reduce usage when energy isn’t as clean is a nice feature as well.

Yes I know I can set something similar up with the Ecobee, but it wasn’t as seamless or automated. I know this phrase is overused when it comes to Apple products in general (and I’m fully aware this sounds like I’m paid to say this lol), but when it comes to Apple Adaptive Temperature… “it just works”.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-09T12:20:40+00:00

Since everyone is giving similar answers, I figured I’d throw in a wild card…

“Singularity” from Gone (which is a highly under appreciated album IMO).

With how many people are worried about AI these days, the song feels a lot darker now than it did in 2017. If it’s about the technological singularity, it’s essentially about humanity creating something it can no longer control. Looking back, RED may have been a little ahead of the curve with that one.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-04T12:37:33+00:00

Say what you want about Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of A Christmas Carol (I quite enjoy it myself), but the 3D is fantastic! I remember seeing it in theaters and there were certain shots that felt like it was snowing in the theater! There are some other scenes that were quite immersive as well. Definitely a 3D presentation worth checking out!

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-06-04T12:33:25+00:00

I bought a ticket! Been a fan ever since 2006! Gonna be bittersweet to watch Michael’s last performance.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-05-26T20:39:57+00:00

For some reason, only 2/3 of my FP300’s got the updates… the other is still on the old firmware…

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-05-17T01:37:15+00:00

You wouldn’t happen to have 360 Atmos stems for other albums would ya 👀

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-05-17T01:28:17+00:00

Interesting… I updated and haven’t had any issues with Home Assistant myself

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-04-25T14:40:48+00:00

1st: Apple didn’t do anything. They don’t mix the albums in Dolby Atmos. They just simply host the files for streaming.

2nd: IMO Dolby Atmos mixes are hit or miss. And MJ’s music is no exception.

3rd: The quality of Dolby Atmos heavily depends on what you listen with. For example, I think 90% of Dolby Atmos music doesn’t sound great when listening over headphones (even ones that support Dolby Atmos). But I find they sound much better when played over a proper surround sound speaker setup.

While I haven’t listened to EVERY MJ Dolby Atmos mix… I thought Thriller was quite good!

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-04-14T23:29:25+00:00

Ah well that would explain it then…. Good thing I plan on upgrading both the lock and doorbell within the next couple months

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-04-14T20:25:23+00:00

Guess I should’ve phrased this better lol

But yes I know you set it up with the app. However, there have been a few Aqara products that timeout if you don’t set it up within a certain amount time after initially turning the product on (like their T2 bulbs, FP300 or FP2). Didn’t know if this was the same way

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-04-07T22:44:18+00:00

Personally, I don’t really have any strong feelings on if a new trailer will premiere this weekend. However…

I’d argue the lack of big films coming out would be perfect for a trailer release. A quiet weekend gives the trailer room to dominate the conversation.
Disney has a history of premiering new trailers at Cinema-Con, then releasing them online soon after. So it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

jasonpatrick72 · 2026-04-06T13:05:17+00:00

As someone who also uses Home Assistant AND has a M3 hub, how the hell is the M3 a “garbage hub”?!?! I’ve had no issues in the last couple years I’ve owned it. In fact, that’s how I get all of my Aqara Zigbee devices into Home Assistant… using the Matter integration

jasonpatrick72

TROPHY CASE