Lorex 4K Doorbell

[popz3210]

It looks like Lorex has released a new 4K doorbell. Curious to see what the reviews will be.

Lorex 4K Wired Video Doorbell (Wired, 32GB)

This doorbell is NOT like other doorbells; this is the FIRST EVER 4K DOORBELL. Have you counted how many times your doorbell rings? It's a lot! That's why it is so important to have a view that shows it all. With the expansive head-to-toe view and crystal clear 4K Resolution, you can truly see...

www.lorex.com

 

[Starglow]

I have the Lorex 2K version and it's fine unless you have to zoom in close and then it gets blurry. Maybe I'll upgrade to 4K when and if the price is right.

 

[popz3210]

A quick look at the spec sheet and I’m not sure if I would be a fan of the 9:16 aspect ratio. They advertise it as a feature to see someone head to toe, but I use my doorbell camera as the main front camera as well, and would prefer a wide angle. I also wonder if this is an app ratio only or the sensor, because I know for my Lorex 2K the ratio in blue iris differs from the app (I think the app stretches it).

 

[Starglow]

Yes....I prefer and like the wide angle view as well. My front porch sets up high so I automatically get the head to toe view on approach to the front steps, plus a wide angle street view. I'm not sure if they'll be using the same phone app or a new and different one for the 4K version.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I'll probably pick up a B862AJDB on Cyber Monday or the next Prime Day.

 

[Sunfox]

I just installed my Lorex 4K doorbell yesterday if anyone has any questions. Previously I had (at a different house) a Ring Pro.

• Lens/sensor quality seems quite good, but I do wish the bit rate was higher. No adjustments that I can see.
• Very little lens distortion.
• would like more than 15 degree angle tilt mount. But they can’t be stacked either.
• 9:16 aspect ratio is fine for vertical but YES I really would like more horizontal. Certainly a wider angle lens would help too.
• Automatic nightlight is nifty
• Bundled chime kit works fine with my mechanical chime.
• IR night vision sucked (murky/washed out), but then I realized today I left the protective film over the lens. Will try again tonight.
• Color night vision surprisingly good considering I’m in a zero ambient lighting area (brightest thing is the doorbells own button light), but no real useful experience with it yet.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Received and Installed mine yesterday.

• Seems orders of magnitude better than the 2K version, especially in direct sunlight.
• Used some string to measure ~65 degrees horizontal FOV.
• The porch pirate package detection works well.
• Only thing it lacks is individual sensitivity levels for each detection mode.
• HKSV supports portrait camera fairly well on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, except tvOS (submitted bug report).

 

[Jim_OS]

Thank you for this initial information. Can you say something about Onvif and RTSP-Stream? I couldn't find any information about this on the Lorex website.
Is it (maybe) also an OEM model from Dahua? Is there any information about API?

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Thank you for this initial information. Can you say something about Onvif and RTSP-Stream? I couldn't find any information about this on the Lorex website.
Is it (maybe) also an OEM model from Dahua? Is there any information about API?

• Lorex doorbell cameras are not ONVIF compliant and do not have the same API as the Dahua or Amcrest equivalents, but you should be able to connect them to a third party NVR using the RTSP protocol.
• There is a RTSP stream and sub-stream. It's the same URL as their NVRs
• Example: rtsp: / /admin:[redacted]@192.168.69.89:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

IP Cameras: Using Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) with your DVR / NVR | LOREX Support

help.lorextechnology.com

I have all my Lorex cameras connected to HomeKit via Homebridge

 

[kswoosh]

I have all my Lorex cameras connected to HomeKit via Homebridge


View attachment 178705

I've been struggling trying to get my 4K Lorex Doorbell to not be so laggy as well as enable audio and motion / doorbell sensors for Homebridge Camera FFmpeg. The Homebridge Dahua Alerts plugin keeps saying my Lorex refuses to connect. If you could share some knowledge on how you set this up, that would be awesome! I've been messing around with various configurations and still no dice.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I've been struggling trying to get my 4K Lorex Doorbell to not be so laggy as well as enable audio and motion / doorbell sensors for Homebridge Camera FFmpeg. The Homebridge Dahua Alerts plugin keeps saying my Lorex refuses to connect. If you could share some knowledge on how you set this up, that would be awesome! I've been messing around with various configurations and still no dice.

Welcome!

Unfortunately, Lorex cameras do not support Dahua/Amcrest APIs for events or two way audio. Don’t use the Dahua plug in. Use the generic Homebridge Camera FFmpeg plugin.



Video lag can be a result of a number of factors, including the performance of the host or virtualized machine, and which software encoder (if installed) or hardware encoder (if supported) you select. I run a HB instance on a MeLE Quieter 3C running Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS

https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Quieter3C-Computer-Function-Industrial/dp/B0B74KLMWQ

You can enable virtual motion and doorbell events, which you can send HTTP commands to trigger virtual events. Example, I have an adjustable AC current sense relay connected to the common wire of the doorbell transformer to trigger a discrete input to a security panel, which then triggers a HTTP command to cause the live video thumbnail to appear on my Apple TV. Works automagically!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SFWWPP7

Example JSON config (only lists changes from the plugin defaults).
Note: BBEDIT assumes a "/" is an escape character, so I added a white spaces so that they will appear in the source URL below

{
            "name": "Camera FFmpeg",
            "porthttp": 8080,
            "cameras": [
                {
                    "name": "Driveway",
                    "manufacturer": "Lorex",
                    "model": "B451AJ",
                    "serialNumber": "ND032210002435",
                    "firmwareRevision": "20220903",
                    "motion": true,
                    "doorbell": true,
                    "switches": true,
                    "motionDoorbell": true,
                    "videoConfig": {
                        "source": "-i rtsp: / / admin:[redacted]@192.168.69.89:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1",
                        "audio": true,
                        "debug": false
                    }
                },

Example HTTP virtual event

POST /doorbell?Driveway HTTP/1.1
Host: 192.168.69.32:8080
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0
Connection: Close
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 0

 

[kswoosh]

Welcome!

Unfortunately, Lorex cameras do not support Dahua/Amcrest APIs for events or two way audio. Don’t use the Dahua plug in. Use the generic Homebridge Camera FFmpeg plugin.

View attachment 181342

Video lag can be a result of a number of factors, including the performance of the host or virtualized machine, and which software encoder (if installed) or hardware encoder (if supported) you select. I run a HB instance on a MeLE Quieter 3C running Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS

https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Quieter3C-Computer-Function-Industrial/dp/B0B74KLMWQ

You can enable virtual motion and doorbell events, which you can send HTTP commands to trigger virtual events. Example, I have an adjustable AC current sense relay connected to the common wire of the doorbell transformer to trigger a discrete input to a security panel, which then triggers a HTTP command to cause the live video thumbnail to appear on my Apple TV. Works automagically!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SFWWPP7

View attachment 181370

Thanks for the quick response! I ended up going with Scrypted using the RTSP plugin because the audio works. The stream lag was only on my iPad and after restarting it, it went away!

I looked into the person who was able to get their 2K model's buttons and motion detection working on Scrypted via MQTT. Followed their steps and it appears there is communication between the docked DahuaVTO2MQTT device and the MQTT broker, which I'm just running using Scrypted's MQTT plugin. I had to edit one of the DahuaVTO2MQTT files in the container so that it points to port 35000 (the only open port other than RTSP 554). The default 5000 port won't work. However, the MQTT buttons that I created are non-functioning despite there being communication. I was hoping the 4K model wasn't too different from the 2K model. I even tried using the Amcrest plugin but because the 4K camera doesn't have any open HTTP port, I'm unable to add it.

So I couldn't get the camera's door button and built-in motion sensor to work in Homekit, but I was able to get motion detection through Scrypted's OpenCV plugin. It shows up in my AppleTV and I get notifications in Homekit.

 

[bigthrilla]

Has anyone tried connecting to it using Dahua SmartPSS? I use that on my Lorex 2k. Just wondering if that could be used to adjust the config on the 4k.

 

[Sunfox]

Has anyone tried connecting to it using Dahua SmartPSS? I use that on my Lorex 2k. Just wondering if that could be used to adjust the config on the 4k.

Hmm. Haven’t tried SmartPSS (will do that later) but I got it working with DMSS (iOS) on port 35000. It logs in, lets me see the streams (correct aspect ratio, sound, seems like it might allow talking too), view all motion recordings (seemingly a heck of a lot more than the Lorex app gives me).

But it won’t let me try to change anything but IR mode. It gives me a “locked”’ icon and when I click it, it confirms I want to unlock, but then says “failed to unlock”.

 

[Sunfox]

Good news! The configuration options seem to come up fine in SmartPSS. I was able to bump the UHD encoding bitrate from the default of 2048 to 6144, and change audio from whatever crap codec it was using to AAC, but I can’t seem to change audio bitrate. Can’t remove the Lorex watermark. Does seem that it’s a Dahua beneath it all.

 

[Skispcs]

I picked up the Lorex 4K Doorbell on sale.
So far it is working rather well. The App has given me a few issues however.
I got it installed today and am still going through the config but I was able to get the video into Blue Iris.



One frustration is figuring out which firewall ports I need to open to allow the app to work.
It appears to pick a random UDP port from about 3000 up to 50000 so far. I would prefer it stuck to simple small range that can be allowed out with a firewall rule.