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

[wittaj]

I do not chat to my neighbors that I have cameras. Some have noticed, but most do not. When we had door checkers in here a couple years ago or so and the neighbors with cameras were talking how their great arlo, ring doorbell, Lorex, Foscam, and reolinks captured something happened but the police couldn't find any useful video from them other than what time their car was rummaged thru (several had their car rummaged through and their cameras were less than 10 feet from their car) and they were chatting how this is just an accepted fact from camera systems and poor nighttime performance. I just stood there smirking to myself.

One of them joked that my cameras probably didn't catch anything since I didn't have a car on the driveway that night and they skipped me. I didn't want to brag or boast LOL, but I let them see what my cameras captured and they were blown away. The money shot that got all their stolen stuff back was my varifocal 60 feet away zoomed in to a spot on the sidewalk at the street where the perp walked past and my LPR got their plate. They were shocked my 2MP cameras were blowing away their 4K cameras...and one with sense started replacing cameras and buying them from Andy since they would work with his Lorex DVR. He was all ticked that his $1,300 Lorex 4k box kit was being beat by a 2MP camera LOL, but he recognized now what we all preach and went with 2MP cams to replace his 4K cams...now several of these have since been updated to better cameras with the right MP/sensor combination, but many of us know that a good 2MP camera will beat out a low-end 4K camera on the same sensor size all night long!

 

[spacem]

Think I'm going to go for this as the spec seems good and I want something quite low profile and discrete:

Hikvision DS-2CD2547G2-LS

I'll probably go for something cheaper at the back of my house as I have three PIR floodlights back there so no issues with low light.

 

[wittaj]

Domes are not recommended 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...

That camera does not see infrared, so in the event you do not have enough light, it will be blind. It appears you have enough, but who know what the reolink slowed the shutter to. That camera does have a white LED on it, but most of us have found they are gimmicky and not very useful beyond about 5 feet or so. Just because the spec says it is good for 60 feet doesn't mean real world, shutter adjusted to eliminate blur will reach that far. It will reach that far if you run it like the camera you are getting rid of....

 

[spacem]

It's very protected from the weather so it's not an issue (look back at the video and you'll see my house has a porch roof running across the front which the camera sits under). As it's low profile, I can place it closer to my door which is also quite a bit closer to the points of interest on my drive and street. I don't plan to use the camera light and lack of IR isn't an issue for me - in fact I see it as a bonus! I believe the camera has only just been released (it only comes to the UK next week) but the components are based on other well reviewed cameras.

Initial review of the DS-2CD2347G2-L(U) ColorVu 2.0 IP camera.

 

[wittaj]

That's fine. Just wanted to make you aware of the shortcoming of domes and full color cameras to try to save you from having to send back another camera if it doesn't work for your field of view LOL. As long as you feel like a horizontal rain event from some wind won't blind it and you have enough light, the Full Color type cameras are incredible and I do have a few of them. But it is also nice to have a camera that can fallback to infrared if needed.

I cannot tell from your video above since it has infrared - do you have a house light on? Because if the only light is from the street, then the face will be dark and unrecognizable up at your car as the light will be coming from behind and then you get an image like this:

 

[mat200]

I love viruses on my harddrive
so here is the re-encoded version in 1080p (4k too big here)

View attachment 106048
View attachment 106046

looks like @spacem has discovered a one legged door checker

 

[spacem]

"I cannot tell from your video above since it has infrared - do you have a house light on? Because if the only light is from the street, then the face will be dark and unrecognizable up at your car as the light will be coming from behind and then you get an image like this:"

This is a good point. The street has very bright LED street lighting, but spaced quite far. I usually have a PIR entrance light but the non-replaceable lamp has blown, which would likely have been very useful last night and perhaps allowed a good image. I've got a new one in my Amazon basket waiting for Black Friday.

 

[spacem]

Has anyone got an account with DVS in the UK and can tell me the cost of these?

DS-2CD2547G2-LS(2.8MM) - DVS

Hikvision 4MP ColourVu Fixed mini Dome Network Camera, Audio/Alarm, up to 30m IR range, 12VDC ± 25%/PoE, 3 year warranty

www.dvs.co.uk

I'm being quoted £150 elsewhere, but DVS wont quote without an account. I can set one up via my business but not worth it if they aren't competitive.

 

[user8963]

Has anyone got an account with DVS in the UK and can tell me the cost of these?

DS-2CD2547G2-LS(2.8MM) - DVS

Hikvision 4MP ColourVu Fixed mini Dome Network Camera, Audio/Alarm, up to 30m IR range, 12VDC ± 25%/PoE, 3 year warranty

www.dvs.co.uk

I'm being quoted £150 elsewhere, but DVS wont quote without an account. I can set one up via my business but not worth it if they aren't competitive.

read the f. cliff notes !!

with these cameras you might have bit better night vision (in my opinion even worser, cause lack of IR), but they are 2.8mm, colorvu and dome ! so according to your videos, you will not have any benefit if you want to identify someone on the street. also dome cameras should be avoided at any time outside.. there are some benefits from boobie cam, but anything else ? there are many disadvantages

also i wouldnt buy any hikvision camera atm. they made hardware changes and lie to customers. no one knows what happen and they are silent.

if you still want hikvision , you might consider contact @ljw2k

ALSO STOP watching youtube. DVS is one of the biggest hikvision lover on youtube and thats maybe the reason why you want it from them.

 

[spacem]

read the f. cliff notes !!

with these cameras you might have bit better night vision (in my opinion even worser, cause lack of IR), but they are 2.8mm, colorvu and dome ! so according to your videos, you will not have any benefit if you want to identify someone on the street. also dome cameras should be avoided at any time outside.. there are some benefits from boobie cam, but anything else ? there are many disadvantages

also i wouldnt buy any hikvision camera atm. they made hardware changes and lie to customers. no one knows what happen and they are silent.

if you still want hikvision , you might consider contact @ljw2k

ALSO STOP watching youtube. DVS is one of the biggest hikvision lover on youtube and thats maybe the reason why you want it from them.

I selected the camera based on specs alone initially and then looked for reviews from there. It's very well reviewed on this forum and elsewhere and is one of the only options available as a mini-dome, which is what I'm looking for and perfectly suitable for the location it will be placed. I will be buying the 4mm version. I haven't watched any DVS YouTube videos, I found them looking for suppliers in the UK and they came up as a major supplier. If you don't like Hikvision and think everyone should buy a 5442 that's okay. Nothing wrong with the camera I've selected.

 

[Sphinxicus]

I selected the camera based on specs alone initially and then looked for reviews from there. It's very well reviewed on this forum and elsewhere and is one of the only options available as a mini-dome, which is what I'm looking for and perfectly suitable for the location it will be placed. I will be buying the 4mm version. I haven't watched any DVS YouTube videos, I found them looking for suppliers in the UK and they came up as a major supplier. If you don't like Hikvision and think everyone should buy a 5442 that's okay. Nothing wrong with the camera I've selected.

The "ColorVu" cams are great cams. I had a DS-2CD2347G2-L 2.8mm on loan from a local company and its night performance is fantastic. I have sodium street lights lighting my driveway and im able to get blur free motion of my driveway all night. What i will say though is, even with the best camera you still need to take the environment into account. In my case, even though the camera itself was great, the fact that a subject walking towards the camera was effectively backlit by the street lights meant that the face capture was useless.

Granted this was a 2.8mm lens (i had no choice as it was a loaner) but even up close, the issue was the same. It was therefore the environment in this case and not the camera that made my mind up that this was not the right camera for this placement. I needed either additional white light (the one on the camera is crap) coming from the same side as the camera or i needed a IR camera.

Either way i needed light hitting the target from the right direction, i.e. not backlit - (not as bad as, but similar situation to the picture @wittaj posted above)

The Dual lens cameras coming out appear to be the best of both worlds for me. Excellent colour at night with supplimental IR (IPC-HDW5449H-ASE-D2 )

 

[user8963]

only options available as a mini-dome

you can believe me or not

Hikvision have no camera with 4mp 1/1.8" or similiar available with IR light. they only support their colorvu stuff. all of them (except new 8mp) have toy leds included or no leds. additionao dome and 2.8mm.. i have no idea what you expect. only dahua produce cameras with ir light and good sensor mp ratio.

according to your videos you need floodlights if you want to see something on the frontyard or street.

but idk. buy this camera.. next failure after reolink.

 

[spacem]

As mentioned earlier, I usually have a PIR door entrance light which will be more than strong enough to produce a good image with the Colorvu. I specifically don't want IR.

 

[user8963]

As mentioned earlier, I usually have a PIR door entrance light which will be more than strong enough to produce a good image with the Colorvu. I specifically don't want IR.

with pir floodlight you might have a funtime to dial in the right settings

 

[spacem]

It's not a floodlight it's an entrance light. Look at reviews of these cameras and see what a difference even the crappy tiny LEDs make. I'll post up the results when I fit them.

 

[wittaj]

If you didn't want IR then why did you go with the reo's LOL.

Given your attempts at surveillance cameras started with reo's (unless you moved up from a nest or arlo lol), you really have no idea if you have enough light. Based on what you said and we see, maybe you do, maybe you don't.

The streetlight certainly helps.

A PIR light that will only come on with motion doesn't help. When the light kicks on, the camera will be momentarily blinded - just long enough for the perp to get out of IDENTIFY range....

You will be shocked how much light is needed on these tiny little sensors to run in color at night.

I have 33,000 lumen radiating off the front of my house. Most would think that is enough light. The camera doesn't think so and goes to B/W with IR. I have to manually force it to color and deal with the degradation issues associated with running in color.

So a full color-type camera on the house with no lights nearby on the house except for motion activated will result in a very dark picture of a face until the entrance light kick on as ALL OF THE LIGHT will be behind the subject, then a momentary blinding of the camera when the lights kick on, and then probably an overexposed image from that point forward because you dialed in the settings for when there is no light...

We are simply trying to educate you on the issues with domes and full-color type cameras. They certainly serve a purpose and can do well in the right settings, but you went from Reolinks to expert in a week, so we look forward to your full-color dome camera video at night with motion! Let's hope you didn't trade one problem with another problem!

 

[Sphinxicus]

As mentioned earlier, I usually have a PIR door entrance light which will be more than strong enough to produce a good image with the Colorvu. I specifically don't want IR.

Have you read the review of the dual lens camera? Its colour with supplimental IR light creating a blended image... I.e. where the white light is not good enough, the IR will fill in the blanks. (not sure whats not to like here)

If you have read much around here you will understand that a PIR light is not reccomended as the first choice for lighting use with a camera as it takes time for the camera to readjust to the new lighting conditions when the PIR light is activated. This can lead to blown out imaegs precisely at the wrong time (when the person looks right at the camera).

Either way, you have been given plenty of good advice on here already but is seems like you have made your choice so i wish you well and hope that whatever choice you make in the end works out well for you.

 

[spacem]

Thanks I appreciate the advice and understand it, but not sure there's a full understanding my reasoning. My entrance light will not be a strong floodlight, but a fairly low power entrance light. They don't produce much light but will be plenty for this camera and any readjustment time will be minimal. I've not seen any suggesting for a different camera which meets my needs:

Large sensor.
Mini Dome / low profile.
No IR / light on camera.
At least 4mp.
Good event detection capabilities.
Good value.

 

[wittaj]

I have said this before, but worth repeating. Do not be sold by some trademarked night color vision (Full Color, ColorVu, Starlight, etc.) that is a marketing ploy in a lot of ways lol. It is simply what a manufacturer wants to claim for low-light performance, but there are so many games that can be played even with the how they report the Lux numbers. They will claim a low lux of 0.0005 for example, but then that is with a wide open iris and a shutter at 1/3 second and an f1.0 - as soon as you have motion in it, it will be crap. You need a shutter of at minimum 1/60 second to reduce a lot of blur from someone walking.

Check out this video at midnight. You see this and it looks like daytime and be like WOW I want that camera. But any motion in the frame and it is crap and will be a ghost blur. You notice they do not show anything with motion. I can make all my cameras look like this at midnight with no other light, but we want good motion video, not still images video. This is a very nice camera with enough light at night - and as you have seen, with some light, this camera rocks. But all cameras, regardless of what they are called, need light - either white light or infrared. Simple physics.


While this Hikvision camera is not what we would call a consumer grade camera and is a really good camera, it is these games played to make it look good at night - but then a person walking by is a blur and ghost like you are experiencing with the reos.

Once you take these cameras off of auto/default settings (unless you like ghost and blur) Just remember that every increase in shutter speed needs more light. So I can set mine to 1/250 second and eliminate blur at night, but then all that is visible is a 5 foot diameter around the camera IF I have enough light.

If your camera doesn't have enough light, a 24/7 full color camera will not be of much good and now you have a camera with no IR and even if you added external IR, the camera will not see it since it does not have an IR filter.

We are fortunate so many people here post videos and images where we can see their field of view and available light and we can try to imagine how that stacks up to our field of view and available light and that to me is a much better spec to go by than what is printed on the side of the box.

I have a Full Color type camera and the LED light on it is a gimmick. It helps for a small diameter circle, but it is no different than going outside at pitch black and turning on your cell phone light - it is bright looking directly at the LED light, but it doesn't spread out and reach very far. Fortunately I have enough ambient light that I do not need the little piddly LED light on and it actually looks worse with it on, but it performs better than my other cameras when tested at the same location. But without some light, a camera with IR capability is the safer bet.

 

[spacem]

These are images posted by ljw2k on this forum. Second image shows the effect of the tiny LED's. My entrance light only needs to light around a 33-50% of the distance shown to the back wall here.