Another reolink headache

[Dannyboy51577]

Hey guys. New to the site, new to BI, and to security cameras as a whole.

I just built a new 12th gen intel pc solely for BI. And in order to help the project along, my wife decided to surprise me by ordering a few cameras.

Well, she ended up ordering a few reolink 811a, and 822a 4k poe cameras that delivered this wknd.

As I have come to realize, this was a mistake.

Now, being that I dont need the best cameras for the back yard, but I cant use these for the main areas around the house

If I activate both main and sub stream, the main feed wont stay above .5 key frame regardless of camera setting. The clear mode (4k) wont stream at all.
And the bitrate wont get above about 1000kbps.
The only way to get a key frame of 1 is to disable substream. I dont mind, doesnt bother my cpu one bit. But just the fact that it doesnt work as it should is disheartening.
I dont know that there is any way to solve this problem, but I'm going to be using different cameras going forward, once I can do some research and cone up with solid options.

If anyone here has reolink cameras that they have been able to get working properly, I would really appreciate any advice.
I've adjusted every setting, same result.

In the app, it will show stream in a mid or low setting. But as soon as I change to high (4k), it just spins and no stream.
Get error msg that it cant play clear mode on this device.
Wtf

 

[sebastiantombs]

If the return window is still open, send them back. You'll spend more time and frustration trying to get them to work well than the box they come in is worth. Stick to prosumer grade cameras. Yeah, they cost more but you get what you pay for. Read the Wiki in the blue bar at the top of every page here.

Compiled by wittaj

The Typical picture of a Perp on Nextdoor-type Apps with Consumer Grade Cameras like Ring, Nest, Arlo, Canary, Wyze, etc.

Love these posts on Nextdoor type apps LOL. This thread will be used for members to post the poor quality consumer grade type camera images that we see people post to the Nextdoor type apps. Can anyone make out this person that went thru their cars LOL.... And this thread is where members...

ipcamtalk.com

Compiled by mat200 -

Reolink: Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

Executive Summary: DO NOT be a sheep. Ask what a reviewer can be missing, ask if a reviewer is using hype words to sell the cheapest product. Test your cameras and kits right away. Just do a bench test. Test real world conditions. Test moving suspects. Test at night, test at day. Use a test rig...

ipcamtalk.com

Quick guide -

The smaller the lux number the better the low light performance. 0.002 is better than 0.02
The smaller the "F" of the lens the better the low light performance. F1.4 is better than F1.8
The larger the sensor the better the low light performance. 1/1.8" is better (bigger) than 1/2.7"
The higher the megapixels for the same size sensor the worse the low light performance. A 4MP camera with a 1/1.8" sensor will perform better than a 8MP camera with that same 1/1.8" sensor.

Disclaimer - These sizes are what the manufacturers advertise and may, or may not, be the true size of the sensor in the camera.
1/3" = .333" Great for 720P
1/2.8" = .357" (think a .38 caliber bullet) Great for 2MP
1/1.8" = .555" (bigger than a .50 caliber bullet or ball) Great for 4MP
1/1.2" = .833" (bigger than a 20mm chain gun round) Great for 8MP

Don't believe all the marketing hype no matter who makes the camera. Don't believe those nice night time captures they all use. Look for videos, with motion, to determine low light performance.

Read the reviews here, most include both still shots and video.

Rule of thumb, the shutter speed needs to be at 1/60 or higher to get night video without blurring.

8MP Review

Worlds First Review - Dahua - IPC-Color4K-X / DH-IPC-HFW5849T1-ASE-LED - Full Color 4K Camera

Intro I’m excited to be doing another Worlds First Review. this time as I mentioned in the full color thread, I’ve been testing the new Dahua full color 4K camera. This was provided courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY for a fair, honest, no holds barred, unbiased review. I’ll attempt to answer any and...

ipcamtalk.com

2021 Full Color 2.0 Has a Fantastic New Dual Lens Camera

Hey guys The full color 2.0 has been released. Most cams I already posted here. Like: IPC-Color4K-X Bullet 4MP Motorized Full color. Today I bring a secret model, 1st release for the Dual-Lens Full color model in the world. Dual-lens Camera( Sample at Early Sep ) Ø Dual light fusion...

ipcamtalk.com

Dual Lens

Worlds First Review - Dahua DH-IPC-HFW5449T1-ASE+D2 - Dual Lens Full Color 2.0

Intro I’m pleased to announce we have another worlds first review to kick off, this time on the new HFW5449T1. So whats better than 1 camera (lens), well 2 of course. This camera makes some bold claims of Full Color regardless of low light environments utilizing 2 lenses. Lets jump into it but...

ipcamtalk.com

Review: Dahua DH-IPC-MFW7442K1-Z4-T40 - Dual Sensor (4MP + 4MP) Bullet Camera

Hope all of you are doing well ! Intro Its time to do another review and this time (as you may have seen in my Coming Soon video), we have 2 of them. Both of these cams are from the same MFW-7x42K1 family and feature dual sensors. I have the 7442 (4MP) and 7842 (8MP) versions of these cams...

ipcamtalk.com

5442 Reviews

Review-OEM Loryta IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal 4mp camera (Dahua)

IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal from @EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $200.00...

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Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+

All, thanks to Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY ) we have a new 4MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This camera is using the OEM model number of IPC-B5442-ZE which is the equivalent of the Dahua IPC-HFW5442-ZE for reference. The IPC-B...

ipcamtalk.com

Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+

Dahua OEM IPC-T5442TM-AS from EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $160 Link to camera...

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Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)

Dahua OEM IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED from EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret AI Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk vendor forum: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Andy's Email: kingsecurity2014...

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Review: IPC-HDBW5442R-ASE-NI - Dahua Technology Pro AI Dome Network Camera

Hey, this is a wonderful forum, and since I’ve recently purchased a new set of Dahua cameras, I thought I’d share my thoughts and opinions. This camera is the IPC-HDBW5442R-ASE-NI, and it’s actually the fourth camera from Dahua that I’ve purchased for my house over the years. Prior to this, I...

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3241T-ZAS Review

Review-OEM IPC-T3241-ZAS 2mp AI Lite series Varifocal

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Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS Ver 2, 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera

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ipcamtalk.com

Dahua 4MP cube camera

Amazon.com

 

[wittaj]

+1 above. Read the thread linked above - many just gave up after exhausting all efforts and missing the return window in the process.

Even if you get the stream to work properly, the image quality just won't cut it at night due to the games played in the firmware and all you will get is blur and ghost.

 

[DanDenver]

You'll spend more time and frustration trying to get them to work well than the box they come in is worth.

Truth

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Thanks for the info. I have been going through the wiki here over the last few days. I spent alot of time researching blue iris, watching hours of their tutorials and support videos, reading hours upon hours of forum posts and peoples experiences before deciding to go this route.

Unfortunately I will have to wait a bit longer to get use from the new BI machine. Cant much blame the wife though, she fell for the same hype that it appears many have before.

I only recd the cameras 2 days ago so I will be sending them back within return window without issue.

The specs you give will go a long way in helping me narrow down the options. I dont mind spending the money as long as I'm getting something that works properly.
At least I dont have to be concerned about pc or software. Once i can get some quality cams, I should be good to go

 

[DanDenver]

Nice! I think you will be very happy!

 

[sebastiantombs]

You're not the first one to experience the joys of Reolink. I bought one too and it got recycled once I found this forum. I couldn't foist it on anyone else.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

You're not the first one to experience the joys of Reolink. I bought one too and it got recycled once I found this forum. I couldn't foist it on anyone else.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Originally I was just going to keep them and use them in less important areas. I have 1 already up and installed, but I dont like that there are just oo many issues. I dont mind dealing with a bug here or there, but thebaggravstion is what gets me. I didnt spend the time and money building a new pc just to have subpar functioning cameras.

 

[DanDenver]

your future self will thank your past self

 

[wittaj]

Glad you found this site before the return window is up! Unfortunately, many come here after that time has passed.

Nice of your wife to try to help you out though, so some brownie points there!

Take a look at this thread I put together showing the importance of the right camera for the area to be covered, so we encourage you to spend some time looking at it. It has camera recommendations generally accepted by many here as the best balance of performance, price, and features for the areas to be covered. As you will see, some times 2MP is better than 4MP or 8MP.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Glad you found this site before the return window is up! Unfortunately, many come here after that time has passed.

Nice of your wife to try to help you out though, so some brownie points there!

Take a look at this thread I put together showing the importance of the right camera for the area to be covered, so we encourage you to spend some time looking at it. It has camera recommendations generally accepted by many here as the best balance of performance, price, and features for the areas to be covered. As you will see, some times 2MP is better than 4MP or 8MP.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

I appreciate the guidance man.

Yeah, cant grind the wifes gears on this one. Not having any experience or knowledge about this subject, had I not run into the issues I have, I wouldve thought they were the same as any other and probably just put them up.

I've spent a lot of time researching BI, but guess it's time to put the same effort into cameras.

Thanks alot for the link to the thread. For the less knowledgeable people, you guys do a great job of outlining guidelines to use for making these decisions, and I appreciate the time that's been put in.

Now, onto some more research

 

[TonyR]

If I were in your position, I'd COVERTLY return the cams and when you get the new, better cams (as pointed out by @sebastiantombs ) and get them up and running, even before they are fine-tuned, brag on how great they are and how much you like them, yada yada...she'll be none the wiser (let's hope) and pleased that YOU'RE happy and life will be good....

 

[Dannyboy51577]

If I were in your position, I'd COVERTLY return the cams and when you get the new, better cams (as pointed out by @sebastiantombs ) and get them up and running, even before they are fine-tuned, brag on how great they are and how much you like them, yada yada...she'll be none the wiser (let's hope) and pleased that YOU'RE happy and life will be good....

Hey Tony - I think you hit a gold mine of an idea. Haha.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

If the return window is still open, send them back. You'll spend more time and frustration trying to get them to work well than the box they come in is worth. Stick to prosumer grade cameras. Yeah, they cost more but you get what you pay for. Read the Wiki in the blue bar at the top of every page here.

Compiled by wittaj

The Typical picture of a Perp on Nextdoor-type Apps with Consumer Grade Cameras like Ring, Nest, Arlo, Canary, Wyze, etc.

Love these posts on Nextdoor type apps LOL. This thread will be used for members to post the poor quality consumer grade type camera images that we see people post to the Nextdoor type apps. Can anyone make out this person that went thru their cars LOL.... And this thread is where members...

ipcamtalk.com

Compiled by mat200 -

Reolink: Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

Executive Summary: DO NOT be a sheep. Ask what a reviewer can be missing, ask if a reviewer is using hype words to sell the cheapest product. Test your cameras and kits right away. Just do a bench test. Test real world conditions. Test moving suspects. Test at night, test at day. Use a test rig...

ipcamtalk.com

Quick guide -

The smaller the lux number the better the low light performance. 0.002 is better than 0.02
The smaller the "F" of the lens the better the low light performance. F1.4 is better than F1.8
The larger the sensor the better the low light performance. 1/1.8" is better (bigger) than 1/2.7"
The higher the megapixels for the same size sensor the worse the low light performance. A 4MP camera with a 1/1.8" sensor will perform better than a 8MP camera with that same 1/1.8" sensor.

Disclaimer - These sizes are what the manufacturers advertise and may, or may not, be the true size of the sensor in the camera.
1/3" = .333" Great for 720P
1/2.8" = .357" (think a .38 caliber bullet) Great for 2MP
1/1.8" = .555" (bigger than a .50 caliber bullet or ball) Great for 4MP
1/1.2" = .833" (bigger than a 20mm chain gun round) Great for 8MP

Don't believe all the marketing hype no matter who makes the camera. Don't believe those nice night time captures they all use. Look for videos, with motion, to determine low light performance.

Read the reviews here, most include both still shots and video.

Rule of thumb, the shutter speed needs to be at 1/60 or higher to get night video without blurring.

8MP Review

Worlds First Review - Dahua - IPC-Color4K-X / DH-IPC-HFW5849T1-ASE-LED - Full Color 4K Camera

Intro I’m excited to be doing another Worlds First Review. this time as I mentioned in the full color thread, I’ve been testing the new Dahua full color 4K camera. This was provided courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY for a fair, honest, no holds barred, unbiased review. I’ll attempt to answer any and...

ipcamtalk.com

2021 Full Color 2.0 Has a Fantastic New Dual Lens Camera

Hey guys The full color 2.0 has been released. Most cams I already posted here. Like: IPC-Color4K-X Bullet 4MP Motorized Full color. Today I bring a secret model, 1st release for the Dual-Lens Full color model in the world. Dual-lens Camera( Sample at Early Sep ) Ø Dual light fusion...

ipcamtalk.com

Dual Lens

Worlds First Review - Dahua DH-IPC-HFW5449T1-ASE+D2 - Dual Lens Full Color 2.0

Intro I’m pleased to announce we have another worlds first review to kick off, this time on the new HFW5449T1. So whats better than 1 camera (lens), well 2 of course. This camera makes some bold claims of Full Color regardless of low light environments utilizing 2 lenses. Lets jump into it but...

ipcamtalk.com

Review: Dahua DH-IPC-MFW7442K1-Z4-T40 - Dual Sensor (4MP + 4MP) Bullet Camera

Hope all of you are doing well ! Intro Its time to do another review and this time (as you may have seen in my Coming Soon video), we have 2 of them. Both of these cams are from the same MFW-7x42K1 family and feature dual sensors. I have the 7442 (4MP) and 7842 (8MP) versions of these cams...

ipcamtalk.com

5442 Reviews

Review-OEM Loryta IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal 4mp camera (Dahua)

IPC-T5442T-ZE Varifocal from @EMPIRETECANDY 4MP WDR Turret Varifocal Network Camera Review unit courtesy of Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Andy's ipcamtalk store: link Andy's AliExpress store: link Andy's Amazon store: link Price Approximately US $200.00...

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All, thanks to Andy (@EMPIRETECANDY ) we have a new 4MP AI camera for testing. This camera has been provided by Andy in exchange for a fair and honest review. This camera is using the OEM model number of IPC-B5442-ZE which is the equivalent of the Dahua IPC-HFW5442-ZE for reference. The IPC-B...

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Dahua 4MP cube camera

Amazon.com

Hey man, got a question that I'm sure you have a simple answer to.

If I have a camera on my local network, and set to stream at 4k, with the bitrate set at 8mbps, the camera should be utilizing somewhere in the neighborhood of 8mbps correct?

The reason I ask, is I recd a response from reolink that doesnt make sense to me.
I'm from more of a home audio/video background, so wanted to be sure the same applied to up cameras.

They are telling me that even though their camera is forcing me into a different mode, and that the bitrate I'm seeing from the camera is only 1000kbps or less, that I am still getting a 4k feed.

Unless there is some magic I'm not aware of, I have been under the understanding that even with compression, I cant get a 4k feed if my bandwidth is capping out at 1000kbps.

Am I missing something ?

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Glad you found this site before the return window is up! Unfortunately, many come here after that time has passed.

Nice of your wife to try to help you out though, so some brownie points there!

Take a look at this thread I put together showing the importance of the right camera for the area to be covered, so we encourage you to spend some time looking at it. It has camera recommendations generally accepted by many here as the best balance of performance, price, and features for the areas to be covered. As you will see, some times 2MP is better than 4MP or 8MP.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

At the urging of several folks here, I created a thread to show the importance of focal length and how focal length can be more important than megapixels (MP). I mentioned some of this in the post regarding The Hookup’s latest video demonstrating different cameras, including one sold from a...

ipcamtalk.com

Hey got a question.

Sorry if I posted on 2 different replies - phone was acting goofy.

If I have a camera on my local network, and set to stream at 4k, with the bitrate set at 8mbps, the camera should be utilizing somewhere in the neighborhood of 8mbps correct?

The reason I ask, is I recd a response from reolink that doesnt make sense to me.
I'm from more of a home audio/video background, so wanted to be sure the same applied to up cameras.

They are telling me that even though their camera is forcing me into a different mode, and that the bitrate I'm seeing from the camera is only 1000kbps or less, that I am still getting a 4k feed.

Unless there is some magic I'm not aware of, I have been under the understanding that even with compression, I cant get a 4k feed if my bandwidth is capping out at 1000kbps.

Am I missing something ?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Here's a screen grab from my system. All the cameras are Dahua and are set to constant bit rate. What's happening is that between each iframe only pixels that change are transmitted. The thing to really be concerned with is the frame and iframe rates. Note the relationship on those in this screen shot.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Here's a screen grab from my system. All the cameras are Dahua and are set to constant bit rate. What's happening is that between each iframe only pixels that change are transmitted. The thing to really be concerned with is the frame and iframe rates. Note the relationship on those in this screen shot.

View attachment 134811

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Here's a screen grab from my system. All the cameras are Dahua and are set to constant bit rate. What's happening is that between each iframe only pixels that change are transmitted. The thing to really be concerned with is the frame and iframe rates. Note the relationship on those in this screen shot.

View attachment 134811

Ok. That part makes sense. The frame and iframe on these cameras bounces non stop, even with constant frame rate option. But even putting that aside, I see your bitrate is in the 1.2mbps range mostly.
Is that 4k 3840x2160? 8mp?

 

[sebastiantombs]

The resolutions are listed on each line. The 4MP run around 1.2Mb/ps and the 2MP at about 600Kb/ps. The frame/iframe ratio is what really counts, and remember I'm recording sub streams when you look at these numbers.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

The resolutions are listed on each line. The 4MP run around 1.2Mb/ps and the 2MP at about 600Kb/ps. The frame/iframe ratio is what really counts, and remember I'm recording sub streams when you look at these numbers.

Got it. Starting to make sense.

So am I right then to assume the for an 8mp camera, if my primary bitrate in status shows 1000kbps or less, then regardless of compression, theres no way I'm getting 8mp worth of resolution on a Lan stream?

The reason I'm diggin in to understand this as best I can, is that what reolink, as well as an acquaintance of mine, is trying to tell me that I'm getting full resolution.

Even though, regardless of what framerate I set, I cant get more than 900-1000kbps bandwidth on a love main stream.

Not to mention in their app when I select 3840x2160, I cant get a stream at all, and in their windows client, when I direct login to camera, it gives me an error message when I attempt to use their clear mode which is 4k.

I just dont think these cameras are capable of streaming or producing 4k properly, and would think that the bandwidth capping put at 1000kbps would make that pretty obvious.