Newb with Questions About Reolink Cameras

[HomeWPoe]

@wittaj, thanks again for your reply. I'm very clear on the good cam/bad OEM software and bad cam/good OEM software relationship.

However, what would be helpful, at this point, is knowing how the DMSS iOS app handles alerts. Yes, overall the DMSS iOS app may be seen as inferior to Reolink; however, it's possible DMSS may handle alerts in a way that makes it useable and functional for us. Would rather not go with BI or other VMS unless we have to. We're just homeowners in a near zero-crime neighborhood looking for a system with a basic alert capability: 1) immediate access to alert videos from our iPhone and 2) access to a running log of all current/past alerts (viewed and not viewed). About as basic as it gets.

What gives me a small sliver of hope is the DMSS iOS app's 4.8 rating (35k reviews). The Reolink iOS app rates a 4.0 (5.9k).

 

[mat200]

@wittaj, thanks again for your reply. I'm very clear on the good cam/bad OEM software and bad cam/good OEM software relationship.

However, what would be helpful, at this point, is knowing how the DMSS iOS app handles alerts. Yes, overall the DMSS iOS app may be seen as inferior to Reolink; however, it's possible DMSS may handle alerts in a way that makes it useable and functional for us. Would rather not go with BI or other VMS unless we have to. We're just homeowners in a near zero-crime neighborhood looking for a system with a basic alert capability: 1) immediate access to alert videos from our iPhone and 2) access to a running log of all current/past alerts (viewed and not viewed). About as basic as it gets.

What gives me a small sliver of hope is the DMSS iOS app's 4.8 rating (35k reviews). The Reolink iOS app rates a 4.0 (5.9k).

note, the mobile app alerts is one reason why I throw in a few cloud cameras into my mix .. I don't have iOS mobile devices, so you have to see which cloud cameras work for you here.

My basic setup is a hybrid one.
1) A few cloud cameras for mobile app needs
2) a core IP PoE camera setup for quality image capture needs

Yes, I know would be nice to have it all in one system .. just have not found that yet.

 

[wittaj]

Well people also say Reolink's are great cameras LOL

One of many areas where I think BI does a better job is how it displays the alerts/timeline, and I believe it is still the same as when I last ran SmartPSS and DMSS, and was the same for the NVR I recently set up for a neighbor.

He has to wait for the recording to finish before he can play it back.

As we can see from this screenshot, it gives a green timeline with lines at various times to show when it triggered. Over to the right is a graphic/text representation of each trigger, but no image of the trigger.

So when I wanted to find or look at something, I needed to click each one until I found what I was looking for.

Wanna know when UPS came by in an NVR....well just start clicking on the timeline triggers till you see the UPS truck. May take awhile depending on the amount of traffic that goes by.

With BI, it gives alert thumbnails, so I can quickly scroll and find UPS way quicker than I ever could with an NVR playback timeline.

So if you are ok with generic images instead of images of your cameras, then DMSS is for you LOL...

Are Dahua NVR event 'thumbnail images' visible on any mobile apps?

The DMSS app uses placeholder thumbnail images for event snapshots. This leads me to believe actual snapshots could / should be available. I've set all events to record snapshots as well as record. One can see in the NVR interface - there are lovely cropped images. This would be an ideal way...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[HomeWPoe]

@mat200, surprised to hear you had to go hybrid to get the alert coverage you needed. Hope we're not asking for too much from one app. Time will tell I guess.

 

[HomeWPoe]

@wittaj, I only used BI for a few hours, but I did notice the thumbnails pop-up for each alert---nice feature. For us, not a deal breaker. Our cameras will not be pointed at any high-traffic, public areas. On a typical day we usually received 4-6 alerts when we had our cheap wifi cams. We tried to view the alerts realtime, but when we didn't it took less than a minute or two to manually review them all. Thumbnails are nice, but we have our sights set lower.

If DMSS will allow us to view the video for a simple text alert near real-time (within a few seconds of receiving the alert), while recording continuously to a micro SD card (without an NVR), we'd be happy.

Can you clarify your comment, "He has to wait for the recording to finish before he can play it back"? What software were you using with your neighbor's NVR? How long of a wait? Were these short, motion triggered recordings? Would this wait also apply when recording continuously 24/7 to a micro SD card? Thanks.

 

[wittaj]

@mat200, surprised to hear you had to go hybrid to get the alert coverage you needed. Hope we're not asking for too much from one app. Time will tell I guess.

And to muddy the water even more lol, many of us don't use the BI app for notifications but instead use an app called pushover that provides much more robust functionality.

 

[HomeWPoe]

And to muddy the water even more lol, many of us don't use the BI app for notifications but instead use an app called pushover that provides much more robust functionality.

I was researching Pushover when you mentioned it in an earlier post. Will probably dig deeper once we've confirmed DMSS is a no-go.

 

[wittaj]

@wittaj, I only used BI for a few hours, but I did notice the thumbnails pop-up for each alert---nice feature. For us, not a deal breaker. Our cameras will not be pointed at any high-traffic, public areas. On a typical day we usually received 4-6 alerts when we had our cheap wifi cams. We tried to view the alerts realtime, but when we didn't it took less than a minute or two to manually review them all. Thumbnails are nice, but we have our sights set lower.

If DMSS will allow us to view the video for a simple text alert near real-time (within a few seconds of receiving the alert), while recording continuously to a micro SD card (without an NVR), we'd be happy.

Can you clarify your comment, "He has to wait for the recording to finish before he can play it back"? What software were you using with your neighbor's NVR? How long of a wait? Were these short, motion triggered recordings? Would this wait also apply when recording continuously 24/7 to a micro SD card? Thanks.

My neighbor is using iDMSS with a NVR.

When I go to watch a clip on one of my cameras from the SD card, I have to wait for the clip to finish recording.

Another wrinkle for you LOL - It is not recommended to record continuously to an SD card. In addition to the quicker wear times (which some are OK with having to replace frequently), these cameras are basically little mini computers and at times the camera gets overloaded/wonky with a full SD card and trying to write over an already filled SD card and will stutter, miss your key motion, etc. Plus depending on your settings you may get less than 36 hours of video.

 

[bigredfish]

DMSS works just fine for your requirements. I use it

 

[HomeWPoe]

My neighbor is using iDMSS with a NVR.

When I go to watch a clip on one of my cameras from the SD card, I have to wait for the clip to finish recording.

Another wrinkle for you LOL - It is not recommended to record continuously to an SD card. In addition to the quicker wear times (which some are OK with having to replace frequently), these cameras are basically little mini computers and at times the camera gets overloaded/wonky with a full SD card and trying to write over an already filled SD card and will stutter, miss your key motion, etc. Plus depending on your settings you may get less than 36 hours of video.

Not familiar with iDMSS. Is it functionally the same as the DMSS iOS app?

We've been recording 24/7/365 to Samsung micro SD cards in our 7 wifi cams for over 5 years and never experienced a failure. We've been using 256gb cards in our Reolinks cams and manage almost 96 hours at ~6100 kbps. More than enough time for our needs.

 

[bigredfish]

iDMSS is the older version

Current version is DMSS

 

[HomeWPoe]

DMSS works just fine for your requirements. I use it

Thanks for the reply! Good to hear. Just to confirm, when you receive an alert notification on your phone (in my case an iphone) are you able to view the video for that alert within a few seconds of receiving the notification on your phone using the DMSS app? If it matters we're recording continuously to micro SD cards.

 

[wittaj]

Not familiar with iDMSS. Is it functionally the same as the DMSS iOS app?

We've been recording 24/7/365 to Samsung micro SD cards in our 7 wifi cams for over 5 years and never experienced a failure. We've been using 256gb cards in our Reolinks cams and manage almost 96 hours hours at ~6100 kbps. More than enough time for our needs.

Yeah DMSS is what I meant LOL. I am used to the days the Dahua designated gDMSS for google/android and iDMSS for iOs.

Just because 24/7 recording worked with other brands doesn't mean it will work with Dahua. Simply sharing with you the experiences of many that have been there/done that with continuous recording on Dahua cams.

I am sure some have run fine without problems, but in my experience every Dahua OEM camera I have bugs out at some point and I know immediately that the card is full, and I log in and see the card is full. A simple reformat and the camera is back in business. Maybe it was full for a month before issues, or maybe it was a day, but it will go wonky at some point.

Or as @Teken stated in this post: "Dahua hardware simply implements a shit way of handling continuous recoding" ...

 

[mat200]

@mat200, surprised to hear you had to go hybrid to get the alert coverage you needed. Hope we're not asking for too much from one app. Time will tell I guess.

It's a question of work, and users .. easier for me to do it this way, and this way the various mobile users can "yell profanities" at the SaaS providers instead of me when some mobile os update changes things .. lol

 

[wittaj]

It's a question of work, and users .. easier for me to do it this way, and this way the various mobile users can "yell profanities" at the SaaS providers instead of me when some mobile os update changes things .. lol

You mean like this thread where DMSS updates stopped working...either because an update broke it or the P2P servers were down!

DMSS

Since the last update, push notifications stop coming through after a day or two. I have to click on the app, it's good for a day or 2 then the notifications stop again. It works on one phone fine and the second phone I have this issue.

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