Another reolink headache

[wittaj]

Same here. I think they hope that most people will be connecting to a non 4k display and wont be able to tell the difference.

I returned the reolink and picked up a few different cameras, so gonna see how they look and go from there.

They market to consumers that don't know better...which is evident by the horrible MP/sensor ratios they sell their cameras on.

So.....the question is what are the few different cameras that you picked up LOL....are you like my neighbor that upgraded his Reolinks to Arlos lol (hint not an upgrade).

 

[Dannyboy51577]

They market to consumers that don't know better...which is evident by the horrible MP/sensor ratios they sell their cameras on.

So.....the question is what are the few different cameras that you picked up LOL....are you like my neighbor that upgraded his Reolinks to Arlos lol (hint not an upgrade).

No, i actually took some time to look into them. My wife bought the reolink cameras as kind of a surprise since i was building a pc for blue iris. Cant fault her, I had no knowledge about cameras myself.

Picked up an axis 5525, an annke nc800, and a dahua cant remeber which model. May end up mixing and matching. Need turrets on front of house but can use either style on rest. The axis is a real nice camera, but so far I cant say it's worth triple the price of the annke. Still messing with settings a bit.
Once I get a chance to look at them on my tv - which is ultimately where they will be viewed from, I'll have a better idea.

 

[wittaj]

Full color or 24/7 color cameras are only good if you have enough light, otherwise better off with a camera that can see infrared. Make sure shutter is faster than 1/60s to minimize blur. Faster the shutter the more light is needed and that is when 24/7 color cameras can show the marketing hype isn't reality as the marketing is on a slow shutter to favor a static image.

The Annke NC800 will be blind unless you have enough lights outside or use the piddly lights on the camera (but then the effective range isn't far once you dial it in to eliminate blur). That camera doesn't see infrared, so you can't add it later.

I hope your Axis dome (if it is the dome version) is covered from the elements outside. And it will need light as well as it doesn't have infrared.

Domes are not recommended outside unless it is well protected from the elements. The big issue is that the domes will hold onto water droplets much longer than a turret or bullet and thus any dirt on it can then become problematic. And during a rain event, the camera is basically blind...




The domes attract lots of dust. Then rain. Then dirty rain spots. Glare from all angles of the sun. Then over time the sun will "fog" the dome like a car headlight.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

The Annke NC800 will be blind unless you have enough lights outside or use the piddly lights on the camera (but then the effective range isn't far once you dial it in to eliminate blur). That camera doesn't see infrared, so you can't add it later.

I hope your Axis dome (if it is the dome version) is covered from the elements outside. And it will need light as well as it doesn't have infrared.

Domes are not recommended outside unless it is well protected from the elements. The big issue is that the domes will hold onto water droplets much longer than a turret or bullet and thus any dirt on it can then become problematic. And during a rain event, the camera is basically blind...

View attachment 135420


The domes attract lots of dust. Then rain. Then dirty rain spots. Glare from all angles of the sun. Then over time the sun will "fog" the dome like a car headlight.

Yeah, I've got enough ambient light around that the nc800 is very clear in color to be able to view neighbor across the street after dark. It does a rather good job even identifying people in cars and plates after dark. Which surprised me a bit.
I hadnt taken into consideration the issue with a dome. Just put them up monday, so just got into messing with settings.
May just go with the nc800 at least for the front of the house, then determine what I will use for rest

 

[DanDenver]

Holy moly, the Anke nc800 is 369 bucks! And one review says that there is no way to turn off the led light! That would be a showstopper for me right there. I tried my color x with the led's on at 8% for about 2 weeks and it helps no question, but my driveway is pretty lit up as it is so eventually I turned it off. But to be stuck on high would be a no go for me. Can you manually turn off the led?

 

[wittaj]

Yeah, I've got enough ambient light around that the nc800 is very clear in color to be able to view neighbor across the street after dark. It does a rather good job even identifying people in cars and plates after dark. Which surprised me a bit.
I hadnt taken into consideration the issue with a dome. Just put them up monday, so just got into messing with settings.
May just go with the nc800 at least for the front of the house, then determine what I will use for rest

Are you on default or manual exposure/shutter and if so, what setting?

Can you post a sample video or image showing capturing plates at night and identifying people in cars at night and at what distance?

Color at night for plates is tough unless a lot of light is available.

 

[DanDenver]

So I just looked up the Axis camera. Whew! A full grand.
Once I moved away from my NVR and decided to do a little investing like you, I bought what I thought would be the best camera I could find. It was only $750 but seemed promising as it is a 12MP camera (IPC-HFW81230E-ZE). I still have that camera and can say that the Color 4x wins the competition from any angle (pun intended!)
I also have a couple of the HIKVision DS-2CD2087G2-L and they also have better night time capabilities.

I currently have the 5442 side by side with the HFW81230E and the 5442 also has an equivalent day image.
Of course the 12MP has optical zoom so that gives it that edge.

When I say these things I want to reiterate that I mean at night. During the day all these cameras look fine as none are poor quality. But at night is where the difference becomes noticeable.
Currently I use the 12MP to catch wildlife as we abut open space (so not for security purposes).

 

[Dannyboy51577]

So I just looked up the Axis camera. Whew! A full grand.
Once I moved away from my NVR and decided to do a little investing like you, I bought what I thought would be the best camera I could find. It was only $750 but seemed promising as it is a 12MP camera (IPC-HFW81230E-ZE). I still have that camera and can say that the Color 4x wins the competition from any angle (pun intended!)
I also have a couple of the HIKVision DS-2CD2087G2-L and they also have better night time capabilities.

I currently have the 5442 side by side with the HFW81230E and the 5442 also has an equivalent day image.
Of course the 12MP has optical zoom so that gives it that edge.

When I say these things I want to reiterate that I mean at night. During the day all these cameras look fine as none are poor quality. But at night is where the difference becomes noticeable.
Currently I use the 12MP to catch wildlife as we abut open space (so not for security purposes).

Yeah, I figured I would try out a few, and decide on one.
The led on the nc800 is no different than any other I looked at. It's only on if you set it to come on.
The axis is a very well built camera, plenty of features, great overall quality. But like you said it's expensive.
I dont care about spending the money if I'm getting my money worth. And I would say although it's a great camera, I cant see the quality being equal to the price tag. It's just overly expensive.

These are the only ones I have experience with so far. I do still need to figure out the sides and back of the house, but if I keep the annke then may just do those all the way around.

Another option may be to grab a few other brands and models and see if any of them tickle my fancy.

And I'm not covering super large areas. I'm in suburbs of Chicago so generally a half house worth of space each way is about what I need to cover.
But, I want to take advantage of the display. I built a new 12th gen pc, and going to retire my Acer predator ultrawide from my main pc to be my BI secondary display, amd send it to my new sony 75" as my main display.
So had to take a 3090 off my mining rig to put in the BI pc.

So to end up with the reolink was a big disappointment. I'm feelin a little better about this project now that I can see some actual 4k footage coming from them

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Are you on default or manual exposure/shutter and if so, what setting?

Can you post a sample video or image showing capturing plates at night and identifying people in cars at night and at what distance?

Color at night for plates is tough unless a lot of light is available.

So, the default exposure is 1/30. I havent gotten that far to get into alot of those settings as of yet. Work has been a bit crazy the las few days.

The distance from my house to the street isnt very far. I'm not covering a large area in general. Im in suburbs of chicago now, and the distance I need to cover is probably 30 ft around my house in each direction. Nothing crazy at all.

And I dont need the best of the best. But the reolink were a disappointment. Displaying on my predator ultrawide off of a 3090 with these current cameras is a massive difference versus what I was getting from the reolink.

 

[DanDenver]

Yep, right there with you. I don't have much of a budget either. 2 years ago I had a custom rig built just for BI. Spent 2400 just on that dedicated rig. Also bought several really expensive cameras (shared one above). But fast forward 2 years and learned I could have made better decisions.
But my PC rarely goes over 8% cpu utilization running 16 cameras and three 24/7 monitors and two remotes! So I got that going for me!

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Yep, right there with you. I don't have much of a budget either. 2 years ago I had a custom rig built just for BI. Spent 2400 just on that dedicated rig. Also bought several really expensive cameras (shared one above). But fast forward 2 years and learned I could have made better decisions.
But my PC rarely goes over 8% cpu utilization running 16 cameras and three 24/7 monitors and two remotes! So I got that going for me!

That's beautiful. Yeah these 12th gen alder lake intels are a huge step forward. I hooked up the 3 cameras, dont have a sub stream even set up yet, just all on main streams, and can't get it to tick past 1%.
But let me tell ya, trying to stream 4k to an ultrawide or a 75" sony on uhd graphics is a no no.

 

[DanDenver]

these 12th gen alder lake intels are a huge step forward.

Jealous!

Here is my 72u command and control center in the basement. You can see Blue Iris on the monitor - not one of the dedicated monitors, just what I use when I am in the basement.
The actual BI PC is out of site and hidden so as not to be an easy target (you know, the ole, take the Lyngdorf first please!):

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Jealous!

Here is my 72u command and control center in the basement. You can see Blue Iris on the monitor - not one of the dedicated monitors, just what I use when I am in the basement.
The actual BI PC is out of site and hidden so as not to be an easy target (you know, the ole, take the Lyngdorf first please!):
View attachment 135464

Jealous? Are you kidding me? That rack setup is bad ass. I've only got a small wall mount. And i see we share another fondness. My emotiva sits on a generic shelf in my dungeon though.
Now you are going to make me want to go spend more money

 

[DanDenver]

The top three reasons we purchased our current house (and my wife was cool with this, which is crazy) is that I wanted Infinite baffle subwoofers for my home theater. And so I got them. Not all houses allow for such an unusual configuration as the house becomes part of the subwoofer. So I have 4 15 inch subs actually built into the floor. Very... tactile.

Its a situation

 

[Dannyboy51577]

The top three reasons we purchased our current house (and my wife was cool with this, which is crazy) is that I wanted Infinite baffle subwoofers for my home theater. And so I got them. Not all houses allow for such an unusual configuration as the house becomes part of the subwoofer. So I have 4 15 inch subs actually built into the floor. Very... tactile.

Its a situation

View attachment 135465

Oh, that's situation for sure. Infinite baffles are so hard to pull off correctly, but I'll bet they sound amazing.
I've been in the same house a while, and probably gonna be here a while longer. Wife doesnt mind my projects and hobbies as much a she minds that I cant finish one before I have another I want to do.
Drives her nuts.
Once I can get the hang of BI and get all the settings and notifications right, I'm sure there will be another fabulous idea waiting in the wings

 

[mat200]

I disagree with you, At night when I go out in my backyard for smoke I can see the recording are very clear my face and even with any bird or pet motion with infrared works good. At Amazon the reviews for this camera is 4.4 out of 5 and I don't think all these people bought their Reolink camera for pet watching !

Hi @Zohar

Please post the video at night, with the subject walking normally and then standing for a smoke, and once again walking with a lit cigarette / cigar / joint / ...

I would really like to see a good image capture of a moving subject at night / in low light from Reolink.

At this time, I have not yet seen it and thus am eagerly looking forward to you sharing quality image capture by Reolink.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

The top three reasons we purchased our current house (and my wife was cool with this, which is crazy) is that I wanted Infinite baffle subwoofers for my home theater. And so I got them. Not all houses allow for such an unusual configuration as the house becomes part of the subwoofer. So I have 4 15 inch subs actually built into the floor. Very... tactile.

Its a situation

View attachment 135465

Is that color 4x a dahua camera? I know I saw it reviewed here somewhere, but havent been able to find which one it is online. It seems to be highly regarded so might pick up a couple and try them out too

 

[DanDenver]

Yes, Dahua. Full color (meaning no infrared) so good if you have a fair amount of existing light at night for the scene you are trying to capture.

 

[Dannyboy51577]

Yes, Dahua. Full color (meaning no infrared) so good if you have a fair amount of existing light at night for the scene you are trying to capture.

Ok cool thanks. Yeah around most of the house i have enough light that the annke have no problem. So ill prob try out the dahua too and see

 

[DanDenver]

Color4K-X