Reolink 420 5MP audio

fenderman

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Well I can see that it's a cat. No need for me to count it's whiskers ;)
The reason why the cat can't be seen on the second half of the view is because there is a sail mounted on my balcony.
I mounted the camera in this position because I also wanted to monitor the balcony door with the same camera.
I would gladly mount an external IR floodlight if I could find a reasonable priced one that can do the job.

@mikeynags
Sorry, I didn't know that. it won't happen again.
What's the inteded use of the "media gallery embed" function?
You uploaded the wrong video. That entire clips is DARK. Almost black. You cant see anything. Nothing moving.
You dont need external IR, you can mount external lighting.
 

PlusPower

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I can download and open the video from the forum and see the cat moving.
The quality of the entire clip is the same as this snapshot.

This part of the garden with the garbage bins is not so nice that I would want to illuminate it with visible light during all night long
 
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fenderman

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I can download and open the video from the forum and see the cat moving.
The quality of the entire clip is the same as this snapshot.
Playing the clip in VLC renders a completely dark image. You must be playing back the wrong file. I have explained why an image is useless. Reolink is a junk brand and should be avoided at all costs, they are liars spammers and scammers.
 

PlusPower

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Any chance that something may be wrong with your PC's codec?
Did you try to open it on another machine?
 

mikeynags

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Well I can see that it's a cat. No need for me to count it's whiskers ;)
The reason why the cat can't be seen on the second half of the view is because there is a sail mounted on my balcony.
I mounted the camera in this position because I also wanted to monitor the balcony door with the same camera.
I would gladly mount an external IR floodlight if I could find a reasonable priced one that can do the job.

@mikeynags
Sorry, I didn't know that. it won't happen again.
What's the inteded use of the "media gallery embed" function?
I would assume the same purpose but I know folks would rather push "play" on a YouTube video rather than downloading a large MP4 file. My 2 cents - you can take it for what it's worth :)
 

fenderman

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Any chance that something may be wrong with your PC's codec?
Did you try to open it on another machine?
Upload to YouTube as suggested. Nothing is wrong with my PC. I can see the video, its just really dark.
 

PlusPower

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sorry, I have no account on YouTube and I don't really want to register there.

Try this:
 

PlusPower

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I can see it. It looks pretty far away though. Could be a cat. :)
Yes, it is far away. The camera is mounted on the roof of my second floor. Did you watch the clip in fullscreen mode?
I think the scene is bright enough given the small amount of lighting used, not very noisy and there is no significant tearing.
 

fenderman

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Yes, it is far away. The camera is mounted on the roof of my second floor. Did you watch the clip in fullscreen mode?
I think the scene is bright enough given the small amount of lighting used, not very noisy and there is no significant tearing.
Its terrible noisy and worthless if it was a human walking at normal speed. The tearing is unpredictable as it all depends on reolinks random iframe interval for that scene.
 

TL1096r

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There is really no argument. I would listen to fenderman. I switched to dahua from reolink. There is no comparison. The cameras I have are even discontinued from reolink. By the time I found IPCAMTALK the damage was done and I couldn't return the reolink. I ran my reolink for about 3 years never shutting off NVR and running it on BI without problems. I suppose it was a compromise running it on blue iris as it looked decent but you could tell it was not 100%.

For something you use and rely on daily I would go with something better than reolink.
 

PlusPower

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I appreciate fenderman's technical advice but currently the level of quality I get out of these cameras is sufficient for my needs.
Reading some older posts about Reolink cameras I am now beginning to understand that there is also a political component involved.
I will definitely consider your recommendations for my next camera purchases which will probably happen in a few years from now.
 

mikeynags

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@PlusPower at the end of the day, if you are happy with your setup that is great. I too, while learning did buy a ReoLink camera because it seemed cheap and the capabilities looked decent. After reading posts on this forum, I learned a lot about what "real" cameras are and I can vouch for the fact that this one ReoLink is the most unstable camera I have in my setup right now. I plan to replace it in the near future. Just keep in mind that you get what you pay for and that cheap cameras are never really any good.
 

fenderman

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I appreciate fenderman's technical advice but currently the level of quality I get out of these cameras is sufficient for my needs.
Reading some older posts about Reolink cameras I am now beginning to understand that there is also a political component involved.
I will definitely consider your recommendations for my next camera purchases which will probably happen in a few years from now.
Their crappy cameras with defective firmware and small poor sensors is the basis of why the cameras are crap. Only suckers buy them. The fact that they are liars and spammers is icing in the cake. You will have to replace these cameras earlier than "a few years".
 
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HA! I ordered two Reolink RLC-420-5MP cameras for 40$ each tonight. My intention was to use them in a home surveillance setup with Blue Iris running on a powerhouse of a server that is already running 24/7 anyways. POE network infrastructure is existing as well. That being said, I decided to do a little research into these specific reolink cameras compatibility and reviews/results with blue iris which lead me to IPCAMTALK, and Fenderman's previous post. Newegg will let me return them no problem, should I even bother testing them with blue iris at this price point for basic home surveillance? Or return them and go with something else...? I'm in Maine and the cameras will be outside so ability to survive in harsh cold climates is mandatory!! THANKS GUYS
 

chipjumper

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Holy crap I didn’t realize how bad Reolink is. I just bought the 5MP dome from AMZ. I’m going to return it ASAP. I haven’t even opened the damn thing. I’ll stick with Amcrest and Hikvision. I learned the hard way with S3VC. Those are trash!


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