Thread and Matter Are NOT The Same: Key Differences Explained

Smart homes are great, other than the fact that there are hundreds of devices from dozens of main manufacturers - leading to various incompatibilities and integration issues.

While 'smart hubs' can help with this problem, they can only do so much.

That's why the Matter project is so important, which this video explains. I also cover what 'Thread' is, and why it's technically completely different to Matter.

0:00 Intro
0:55 Communication Protocols
2:00 The (Current) Flaw With Smart Homes
2:45 CHOIP (Matter) To The Rescue..!
3:34 The Elon Musk Speaker
4:26 Enter Thread
5:38 Downsides of Thread
6:10 How Thread and Matter Are Linked
7:04 Why Matter Won't Matter (Much)
8:00 Final Thoughts On Matter
8:42 Wrapping Up

I cover this topic on my blog at:

Some of the websites I referenced (screenshotted) are:

Thanks to the following for sound effect(s):

#Thread #Matter #SmartHomes

[victorschechter]

Tristan, thank you for being so systematic and clear in your presentation, I’m a newbie, but you help me understand and learn the home security language. Thank you

[justinsamsel]

Absolutely the best explanation of how Thread is the protocol of the future. Concisely detailed, thank you.

[NickBham]

This was the best explanation of matter I've heard!

[kaas]

Very clear and concise explanation! Thank you very much.

[davidbosshart]

Thank you for explaining. Very helpful.

[belovedinbox]

you're so good with explaining, thank you so much!

[farispartage]

Hi Tristan! Thank you so much. I understand it better now. I like the way you are story-telling things, together with the joke-aside. haha. Keep it up! Looking forward to learn more from you.

[JonathanHess-vmbl]

Best reality summary that I've seen!!! As a developer I can relate to your depiction. So many protocols (languages), and so little and out of date documentation.

[patrikhedlund]

Great video! Another thing that speaks for the future of Thread is that other buildings automations standards like KNX, DALI and BACnet also will be using Thread as a new wireless protocol.

[The_Waraba]

Great explanations. I’m glad my search brought it to me. The Musk Speaker ad was too much geekiness for me but I’ll take it, and don’t get me wrong I loved the presentation style. Cheers!

[kaneserver]

Thanks for this! Perfect explaination give me more! Subscribed 😊

[eddiezhao]

Thank you very much for your explanation!

[NicolasRabault]

Very interesting and clear video thank you!
It's very interesting to see how the market is moving.
Actually I'm working on something close to matter but also compatible with devices internal bus. This is allowing hidden electronic boards to be also accessible from the outside world! We are studying how to be matter compatible...

[yermukhanmaikhanov]

Thank you very much for your video!
Will Thread be backwards compatible?
For instance, if make smart home now, with Router (that can be smart home hub as well) and several iot devices on zigbee, When Thread becomes reality, would i need to change all the equipment?

[dankelley]

Great explanation of these two new terms. A little ambiguous in exactly if you can have matter without thread. Like some of the past concepts, choip, etc., seems these two methods seem to be gaining ground. I’m unhappy that companies are still fighting standards & hoping that more adoption becomes the norm for the sake of Home Automation.

[YuBrian]

thanks for the great video. One question based on what I understood, Thread outruns other "languages" simply becuz it was written in Matter, correct?

[bigice]

There is one thing that you didn't explain correctly I think.
For thread you don't need a hub, you need a border router and there is a difference. All IoT devices that are permanently plugged in to a power outlet can also be a border router. So if you have - for example - just one smart plug that acts as a border router as it's side job then that's all you need for your thread network. No dedicated hub for that.

[hollisross]

I MUST have the Musk Speaker!! Does the sound come out of the ears?

[kubamaliszewski]

Fun fact. My first thread devices — nanoleaf bulbs won’t be getting update for matter, instead nanoleaf will release new version. So I have bulbs I can only use with HomeKit for now. Maybe I will integrate them into homeassistant somehow

[Siximis]

I have a reliable ASUS router and only Apple devices in home. I had all Philips Hue lights and they were great but you need the hub therefore making the response time for the lights noticeably slow. I recently upgraded to Nanoleaf bulbs and light strips that don’t require a hub because the HomePod mini and the Apple TV support Thread. So, cutting out the middle man, the Nanoleaf lights respond instantly.