Hmm. There are lots of smart plugs available, and lots of options in terms of hubs etc depending on how much fine grain control you want and whether you want to be able to add more different types of devices in the future. But my question would be, what’s to stop the kids just unplugging the smart plug and plugging the tv straight back into the wall? It’s what I would have done!

Maybe a couple of times a year there’s a problem with my HA + (mostly) zwave setup, but it’s usually something I can ignore until a convenient time. I’ve had a problem that needed fixing straight away maybe twice in four years.

If you have any wifi devices though, oh my god, don’t change your password. Apparently “just factory reset it!” is the standard way for smart device manufacturers to handle wifi network changes. How do you factory reset it? “Press this tiny button sixty times until it finally reconnects and then redo all your configuration changes”. Nightmare.

Noooope. I hate being recorded. My partner lets me know when she’s video calling someone so I can stay out of the room she’s in, because I do not want to be on camera. I would never agree to cameras inside our home, and she would never push it either.

If it has a way of connecting to the internet, then it can be hacked - but the risk with this kind of setup is much lower than with commercially available cameras that you can watch via a smartphone app. If you want to be able to view your feeds remotely, that’s where the risk comes in.