Taiwan-based smart home company StarVedia recently unveiled a doorbell camera that also doubles as a Z-Wave gateway, to enable a variety of smart home capabilities, besides providing home protection.
Taiwan-based smart home company StarVedia recently unveiled a doorbell camera that also doubles as a Z-Wave gateway, to enable a variety of smart home capabilities, besides providing home protection.
StarVedia’s latest D1 doorbell camera allows users to talk to visitors at the door while away. The product features full HD 1920×1080 resolution and provides two-way conversation. When a visitor presses the doorbell, users will be able to answer it from their phone.
The doorbell is also embedded with a Z-Wave gateway. As such, if the home is outfitted with a Z-Wave door lock, homeowners will be able to control it remotely. “They may lock and unlock doors for a deliveryman, and receive packages even when they are travelling abroad,” said Carter Liu, an account manager at StarVedia.
This product may serve as an Airbnb solution as well. If homeowners install a Z-Wave lock from brands like Yale and Schlage, they will be able to set up temporary PIN codes using StarVedia’s app. Guests can then enter the PIN on the lock’s keypad to enter the house.
Property owners may also utilize the User Management feature to grant guests access to home automation functions. There are Home, Away and Sleep modes preset by homeowners, to turn on or off multiple devices simultaneously when users come home, leave home and go to the bed, respectively. Guests can just tap on a Sleep hot key, for example, to enable a scene.
Property owners may also selectively grant appliance control capability to guests, so that they may turn on or off lights and air conditioning, for example, from the StarVedia mobile app.
The gateway works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, so that users can use voice commands to control Z-Wave devices.
Thermostat schedule
The gateway’s Thermostat Schedule feature allows users to set the temperature in a particular room at a pre-defined time. For example, set the temperature in the living room to 23 degree Celsius at 6:30 AM, in the study room to 22 degree at 10 AM, in the bedroom to 21 degree at 11 PM. Also, temperatures may be defined for different rooms for the Away, Home and Sleep modes.
The three modes may be activated automatically by geo-sensing. The house will switch into the Home mode, which may entail turning on lights, drawing the curtains and disarming the alarm system, when users approach home. Their location will be tracked using the GPS technology on their smartphone.
One button recovery
StarVedia’s gateway features One Button Recovery that lets users transfer a gateway’s automation settings to another gateway easily. This feature is especially handy for users who want to change gateways and don’t want to bother with setting configurations. Users don’t need to worry about losing the settings because they are backed up regularly.
StarVedia’s product portfolio includes another cameras that may help ensure home security. If a sensor is triggered, whether it is PIR motion sensor or door/window sensor, the camera will turn to the location where movement is detected. It can be set up so that the camera will start to record, the siren will sound off, or another device will send push notifications to the police or a security company. All these may be set up from StarVedia’s mobile app.