New Amcrest AD410 doorbell Cam Review

[MrSurly]

ELI5, Please?

I am wanting to add a doorbell cam to my BI network and have been reading all that I can on the subject and considering the Reolink due to its PoE. Someone explain to me how to integrate this (or any) wifi device into my BI network while at the same time keeping the wifi device 'off' of the internet?
My set up is a dedicated BI PC with dual NICs and the cam network is all wired to one NIC and through four PoE switches and is isolated by ip from the web. The second NIC connects (wired) to my wifi router which is, of course connected to the inter-everything world via Fiber and its wifi signals connect dozens of my other widgets to the world.
I don't quite grasp how to provide the same isolation (OK, probably illusion of isolation) that the cam network enjoys when integrating the wifi device(?)

 

[teredactle]

Well, one easy way to prevent the camera from reaching outside your LAN is to give it a static IP (instead of using DHCP - and you can certainly do this as I have the Reolink POE doorbell and have done this) and do not put in a gateway, or put in a fake IP for your gateway (not the IP of your router). This way it cannot go outside your local LAN/subnet as it won't know how to find a path (route) outside it due to a lack of a gateway. I would say, this would be the easiest way to do it, short of messing with firewall rules/blocking, etc.

 

[MrSurly]

One of the reasons I have been considering the ReoLink is precisely because it's PoE and I could go directly to the same switches on the "isolated" cam network which would be straightforward.... but using a wifi unit such as this AD410 is where it becomes necessary to connect it to the wifi and that seems fraught with new peril.

But it may be that I am simply placing too much import on the physical devices. Maybe the wifi router is equally 'isolated' when I give the doorbell an ip on my cams' network?
(it just feels wrong... like i'm violating the integrity of the system... like port forwarding )

 

[Pastelaso]

I also have this AD410 doorbell and notice it keeps disconnecting/reconnecting from wifi every few minutes. It has great signal strength as the router is just a few feet away. Sometimes it goes 45-50 minutes without dropping and other times only a few minutes.
It behaves the same on 2.4ghz and 5ghz. I have replaced the transformer with a 16v 30va and it still does the same thing.

Other devices connected to my RT-AC86U router stay connected for hours. When the doorbell disconnects, it's a fast thing. The only reason I noticed is because one time I happen to see the seconds on the time stamp in blue iris just stop for a few moments, then continue. At first I thought it might be something with Blue Iris, so that seemed odd to me. So I started keeping track on the router's wireless log and I can see this doorbell drops connection every few minutes.

I have disabled internet access on this camera via the router. So I tried giving it access to see if that made a difference, but no difference at all and it continues to drop connection. There is no interference on this because my neighbors are very far away (and not many connections in the area) and it also does it on the 5ghz band. I have also tried to have this doorbell connected by itself on the router with nothing else connected...same deal. I have seen others on the internet complain about this dropping connection as well.

I have noticed however, it takes longer to drop connection when setting it using rtsp protocol instead of http. Not sure if that has anything to do with it (probably not)..but that's something i've noticed. It stays connected for longer periods of time on rtsp.
I am thinking of replacing it with the Reolink 5MP one to see it's any better.

 

[Vansmak]

Well I've been having some issues with the start of Summer and my AD410. Lately the camera is shutting down in the middle of the day for no apparent reason, the only common factor seems to be the heat of the day. This is my second AD410, so I figured after reading all the reviews of the ReoLink 5MP Doorbell Camera, I would give that a try.....After 48 hours of having it installed, it's being returned to Amazon. The ReoLink just doesn't deliver the same experience as the Amcrest in terms of image quality. The biggest drawback is lack of WDR. I'm constantly fighting to dial in my settings when the sun is coming up in the morning. The glare completely blows out the camera....and in the afternoon, if someone approaches my door they look like a shadow. The WDR on the Amcrest did a great job of balancing this. The Reolink sadly does not. I've got the Amcrest on the work bench and it appears I have a swollen battery issue as well. I'm waiting on a replacement battery to get here and will attempt to swap it out and see if I can get another year of two out of the Amcrest until Reolink adds a WDR setting to their camera. (Fingers Crossed)

 

[teredactle]

I'm surprised and disappointed that Reolink will NOT address this point with a firmware update and a sw fix for this.

 

[Pastelaso]

I'm surprised and disappointed that Reolink will NOT address this point with a firmware update and a sw fix for this.

This is an Amcrest Doorbell.

 

[Pastelaso]

I will be replacing this Amcrest AD410 with Reolink 5MP. So far all the reviews I've seen on Youtube are pretty good. I shall see. It's supposed to get here tomorrow.

 

[Vansmak]

I will be replacing this Amcrest AD410 with Reolink 5MP. So far all the reviews I've seen on Youtube are pretty good. I shall see. It's supposed to get here tomorrow.

I hope you have better luck with it than I did. The lack of WDR rendered the camera useless to me when trying to identify someone approaching the door.

 

[Pastelaso]

I hope you have better luck with it than I did. The lack of WDR rendered the camera useless to me when trying to identify someone approaching the door.

I don't use WDR, so the lack of it wouldn't be an issue for me.

 

[DLONG2]

For those using Unifi networking and Unifi Protect, their G4 doorbell is stellar.

UniFi Protect Special Devices - Ubiquiti

 

[Vansmak]

For those using Unifi networking and Unifi Protect, their G4 doorbell is stellar.

UniFi Protect Special Devices - Ubiquiti

Funny you should mention this. I was looking at the G4 Pro, but don't have any Unifi networking. Can it be added to a generic WiFi network?

 

[Pastelaso]

For those using Unifi networking and Unifi Protect, their G4 doorbell is stellar.

UniFi Protect Special Devices - Ubiquiti

That's for rich folks. I'm not in that category yet lol.
$300-$400 for a doorbell? YIKES!

 

[DLONG2]

Funny you should mention this. I was looking at the G4 Pro, but don't have any Unifi networking. Can it be added to a generic WiFi network?

You would need at least a cloud key plus with its built-in NVR ($199) at a minimum. I'm not really sure if that would be all that you would need apart from the Ubiquiti networking landscape. But at least there's no subscriptions needed.
CloudKey+ - Ubiquiti Store United States

There's a lot of great features with the 'prosumer' Ubiquiti products. For instance, the G4 doorbell camera view shows up on their VoIP desk phones.

Update: My best guess is that the G4 would work on any wi-fi network which also has the CloudKey+ Gen2 hard-connected to a network switch port. That cloud key device allows for an NVR and the application "UniFi Protect" which the G4 would run on.

 

[flynreelow]

That's for rich folks. I'm not in that category yet lol.
$300-$400 for a doorbell? YIKES!

None of their cams are worth the money

 

[DLONG2]

None of their cams are worth the money

I could have saved money by not buying the flakey Amcrest AD410. It kinda worked most of the time, when it would connect to the wi-fi, but was a pain to keep running consistently, especially with the Amcrest setup app and the monthly fees. Ended up shelving it for the G4.

 

[flynreelow]

I could have saved money by not buying the flakey Amcrest AD410. It kinda worked most of the time, when it would connect to the wi-fi, but was a pain to keep running consistently, especially with the Amcrest setup app and the monthly fees. Ended up shelving it for the G4.

the only reason you would get the G4, is if you are already locked into the ubiquiti eco system.

no other reason. the cams are priced extremely high for the quality you are getting out of them.

 

[DLONG2]

You are undoubtedly correct. The UniFi cameras (certainly the early ones) are priced too high for the quality they offer, although the G4 Pro is very good for what it does and is trouble-free. The only drawback is that Ubiquiti cameras cannot connect to both the Protect NVR and the Blue Iris at the same time. Having the UDM Pro with a HDD, AP units and managed switching certainly helped to make the decision on acquiring the G4.

 

[Pastelaso]

OK.. got the Reolink doorbell, but can't figure out how to add to blue iris
All the instructions I've found do not work.

The Reolink instructions page says to enter the IP of the doorbell on a browser to enter the camera settings, but when I do that, nothing comes up... any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[flynreelow]

OK.. got the Reolink doorbell, but can't figure out how to add to blue iris
All the instructions I've found do not work.

The Reolink instructions page says to enter the IP of the doorbell on a browser to enter the camera settings, but when I do that, nothing comes up... any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

doesnt find and inspect find it on the network?

have u logged into the phone app and turned on onvif and rtsp and rtmp?