The Hue motion sensors are great and can run on Zigbee in lieu of the Hue bridge. I just transitioned my setup to Zigbee2MQTT after hearing their future account requirement and am very happy with the results. Same can be said for their light bulbs for that matter. I have multiple Reolink cameras and love them. You get a lot of bang for your buck and I send all the data to an FTP server so no cloud required.
I see quite a few on eBay. I would ask the seller if it has an ESP Wi-Fi chip to be sure it can be flashed
I bought the Govee leak detectors and paired them with a Tasmota flashed Sonoff RF Bridge 433. They’ve already saved me multiple times from leaks that would’ve gotten out of control without me being notified. The Sonoff Bridge can’t be flashed with Tasmota as readily as before but you can probably find a compatible version somewhere
I use the Sonoff RF Bridge flashed with tasmota https://sonoff.tech/product-document/gateway-and-sensors-doc/rfbridge-doc/. It’s been rock solid. It looks like there are newer versions that can’t be flashed so do some research before buying. For IR, I purchased a Tuya IR Wi-Fi device and replaced the Wi-Fi chip with an ESP-12f flashed with Tasmota. The process isn’t the easiest but I’m happy with the results. This is the device I bought: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144473686315?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=z4O68KxtR8S&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=aQmoJOvlQJy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY. Range is good but placement is key due to how the IR blasters are positioned. Good luck!
I was planning on using the Full Kiosk app but after buying a tablet that only had Android 12 Lite, I didn’t feel like ponying up double or more for a tablet with the full Android version. I tried to run Full Kiosk anyway, but had stability issues. Running just the Home Assistant app has worked great
I bought a $60 Android tablet and run the Home Assistant app with a dashboard I created using the Wallpanel integration. I spent more time than I care to share getting the dashboard how I wanted it but I’m very happy with the result. I also have a smart plug that turns off when the battery reaches a certain level to avoid battery swell. Wallpanel is very cool. I set this up to replace an Amazon Echo Show I got rid of because I missed the clock and weather display. Check it out if you’re still looking for ideas https://github.com/j-a-n/lovelace-wallpanel
To be honest, I don’t do anything super special with my Hue bulbs but after adjusting the transition period, I can barely notice any difference, except that they respond more quickly and consistently on Zigbee2MQTT. Anything in particular you’re curious about?