New RCA HSDB2A 3MP Doorbell IP Camera

[redturbo]

Hi all, I'm still on the fence upgrading the EZVIZ DB1 from firmware 191211 to 200904. Has anyone been able to locate change notes? And has there been any known issues upgrading? 191211 seems to be working fine and if it's just 'minor improvements' not sure if it's worth the risk. Thanks

im also waiting to see if its advisable to upgrade.

 

[flynreelow]

Okay, selling my RCA HSDB2A which i hacked with the laview firmware.

Whats the best way to get this back to factory to sell?

 

[thj]

Hello all. Anyone uses any kind of face recognition of this wide angle doorbell cameras?

What I wish is using Home Assistant to detect who is at front door. My doorbell is Ezviz DB1. Currently installed on my desk where I will first make a "lab" wiring with also smart RFID reader (ESP-RFID). Using MeanWell 12V DC power supply doorbell works fine now for days. I will use it to power my ESP-RFID board, doorbell and door lock. I tried many face recognition options for Home Assistant but one that stands out and seems to work (without cloud) is faceapi-js. Google found a nice partial implementation solution from this url:

Local face recognition for Home Assistant using TensorFlow.js, Part 2: Learning to recognize faces | Wouter Bulten

Second post of my series on face recognition for presence detection in Home Assistant. In this post, I create a face recognition system.

www.wouterbulten.nl

What I find most problematic is the wide angle image this doorbell cameras provide. All faces are "round" and it is hard to detected if face is mine or wives. Needs to be really clear condition.



When front door motion is detected (Digoo RF PIR to Sonoff RF bridge using Tasmota and MQTT; I do not take motion event from doorbell as I do not know how to get it to HA) I call an url to the server running faceapi-js daemon script from URL above. It will take snapshot from camera (mjpeg feed from Zoneminder where I get reliable RTSP stream) and analyse it. All detected faces will be sent in json string to a Home Assistant Webhook automation. If unknow person is found it will do this if known person is found it would do that. All this is working find so far, just the face detection in wide angles is not so reliable.

Anyone using some other solutions that works fine also with wide lenses?

 

[silencery]

Hello all. Anyone uses any kind of face recognition of this wide angle doorbell cameras?

What I wish is using Home Assistant to detect who is at front door. My doorbell is Ezviz DB1. Currently installed on my desk where I will first make a "lab" wiring with also smart RFID reader (ESP-RFID). Using MeanWell 12V DC power supply doorbell works fine now for days. I will use it to power my ESP-RFID board, doorbell and door lock. I tried many face recognition options for Home Assistant but one that stands out and seems to work (without cloud) is faceapi-js. Google found a nice partial implementation solution from this url:

Local face recognition for Home Assistant using TensorFlow.js, Part 2: Learning to recognize faces | Wouter Bulten

Second post of my series on face recognition for presence detection in Home Assistant. In this post, I create a face recognition system.

www.wouterbulten.nl

What I find most problematic is the wide angle image this doorbell cameras provide. All faces are "round" and it is hard to detected if face is mine or wives. Needs to be really clear condition.

View attachment 76579

When front door motion is detected (Digoo RF PIR to Sonoff RF bridge using Tasmota and MQTT; I do not take motion event from doorbell as I do not know how to get it to HA) I call an url to the server running faceapi-js daemon script from URL above. It will take snapshot from camera (mjpeg feed from Zoneminder where I get reliable RTSP stream) and analyse it. All detected faces will be sent in json string to a Home Assistant Webhook automation. If unknow person is found it will do this if known person is found it would do that. All this is working find so far, just the face detection in wide angles is not so reliable.

Anyone using some other solutions that works fine also with wide lenses?

I do not take motion event from doorbell as I do not know how to get it to HA

I don't use HA, but you can try ONVIF to get the motion event out. I think there is also an MQTT to ONVIF bridge somewhere.

All this is working find so far, just the face detection in wide angles is not so reliable.

You could try using dewarp filters in ffmpeg, but I suspect it would be too slow for facial recognition on a door lock. Otherwise you might want to mask out the capture to only the center of the frame where there's less distortion

EDIT: Just tried the dewarping option in FFMPG based on a stackexchange post I found. Here are a few parameters to try to get you started:

Pull single jpg and convert to dewarped jpg

ffmpeg.exe -i .\warped.jpg -vf "lenscorrection=cx=0.5:cy=0.5:k1=-0.227:k2=-0.022" dewarped.jpg

Pull RTSP stream and convert to GIF

ffmpeg.exe -i "rtsp:/rtspserverurl" -vf "lenscorrection=cx=0.5:cy=0.5:k1=-0.227:k2=-0.022" dewarped.gif

 

[thj]

I don't use HA, but you can try ONVIF to get the motion event out. I think there is also an MQTT to ONVIF bridge somewhere.


You could try using dewarp filters in ffmpeg, but I suspect it would be too slow for facial recognition on a door lock. Otherwise you might want to mask out the capture to only the center of the frame where there's less distortion

EDIT: Just tried the dewarping option in FFMPG based on a stackexchange post I found. Here are a few parameters to try to get you started:

Pull single jpg and convert to dewarped jpg

ffmpeg.exe -i .\warped.jpg -vf "lenscorrection=cx=0.5:cy=0.5:k1=-0.227:k2=-0.022" dewarped.jpg

Pull RTSP stream and convert to GIF

ffmpeg.exe -i "rtsp:/rtspserverurl" -vf "lenscorrection=cx=0.5:cy=0.5:k1=-0.227:k2=-0.022" dewarped.gif

This actually works fast. Gonna play with this and see how much better will detection work. Thank you!

 

[David L]

Yes, for sure. I think AI detection is probably one of the biggest highlights for the new model. Good suggestion! I'll do my best to give a clear and fair representation

Well you did, Great Review...

 

[David L]

Hi all, I'm still on the fence upgrading the EZVIZ DB1 from firmware 191211 to 200904. Has anyone been able to locate change notes? And has there been any known issues upgrading? 191211 seems to be working fine and if it's just 'minor improvements' not sure if it's worth the risk. Thanks

I don't remember which version allowed OutDoor Bell to be turned On/Off, but think that was the main change. If you don't need this I would stay with your current firmware. If you try the new firmware, you could always go back, I attached 191211 for you.

@silencery Here is a good reason to keep old firmwares.

 

[David L]

I replaced my Ring Pro with the Nelly's DB2 doorbell camera about a year ago specifically for Blue Iris integration. It has worked pretty well minus a few minor issues. My question is around video quality. It just looks ... blurry. Compared to the Ring and all of my other cameras (cheap reolink POE turret cams), the image quality on this thing is terrible. Do I just have a bad unit? See pic below. (yes the lenses is clean)

View attachment 76377

Have you played with any settings in Batch Config. Tool? Go to CCD section, you will have fun there Also play with WDR, looks like you have background washout...



We need to remember these Cams are to capture someone at your Door, not at the street.

HTH

 

[David L]

Okay, selling my RCA HSDB2A which i hacked with the laview firmware.

Whats the best way to get this back to factory to sell?

I would say a Hard Reset, also kill power to it for more about an hour, when you see no more lights. But here is RCA firmware Build 190124 from Jan. 30, 2019, only one I have of RCA...Anyway, I would install this firmware First then do the Reset.

 

[David L]

Hello all. Anyone uses any kind of face recognition of this wide angle doorbell cameras?

What I wish is using Home Assistant to detect who is at front door. My doorbell is Ezviz DB1. Currently installed on my desk where I will first make a "lab" wiring with also smart RFID reader (ESP-RFID). Using MeanWell 12V DC power supply doorbell works fine now for days. I will use it to power my ESP-RFID board, doorbell and door lock. I tried many face recognition options for Home Assistant but one that stands out and seems to work (without cloud) is faceapi-js. Google found a nice partial implementation solution from this url:

Local face recognition for Home Assistant using TensorFlow.js, Part 2: Learning to recognize faces | Wouter Bulten

Second post of my series on face recognition for presence detection in Home Assistant. In this post, I create a face recognition system.

www.wouterbulten.nl

What I find most problematic is the wide angle image this doorbell cameras provide. All faces are "round" and it is hard to detected if face is mine or wives. Needs to be really clear condition.

View attachment 76579

When front door motion is detected (Digoo RF PIR to Sonoff RF bridge using Tasmota and MQTT; I do not take motion event from doorbell as I do not know how to get it to HA) I call an url to the server running faceapi-js daemon script from URL above. It will take snapshot from camera (mjpeg feed from Zoneminder where I get reliable RTSP stream) and analyse it. All detected faces will be sent in json string to a Home Assistant Webhook automation. If unknow person is found it will do this if known person is found it would do that. All this is working find so far, just the face detection in wide angles is not so reliable.

Anyone using some other solutions that works fine also with wide lenses?

Good point, this is a Fish Eye Lens so Facial Recon may be harder...

Do you have Blue Iris? Here is a very active Thread:

[tool] [tutorial] Free AI Person Detection for Blue Iris

This program analyzes motion in Blue Iris cameras in real-time using Artificial Intelligence. It notifies you if a human or an object of your choice is detected and can send alert images to Telegram. It is based on DeepQuestAI, a free multipurpose AI that you can install on your own server...

ipcamtalk.com

Sorry, only help I can give, I don't even have HA yet

 

[silencery]

This actually works fast. Gonna play with this and see how much better will detection work. Thank you!

Glad to hear it.

I tried something similar (AI based auto unlock) about 2 years ago, but it wasn't reliable enough for something as important as a door lock.
Would be interested in hearing your results. Good luck!

 

[flynreelow]

I would say a Hard Reset, also kill power to it for more about an hour, when you see no more lights. But here is RCA firmware Build 190124 from Jan. 30, 2019, only one I have of RCA...Anyway, I would install this firmware First then do the Reset.

Easiest way to install the firmware. I think I put it on th SD card?

 

[spencnor]

Hi all, I'm still on the fence upgrading the EZVIZ DB1 from firmware 191211 to 200904. Has anyone been able to locate change notes? And has there been any known issues upgrading? 191211 seems to be working fine and if it's just 'minor improvements' not sure if it's worth the risk. Thanks

I don’t know about fw 191211, but my EZVIZ-DB1 came with 190304. I upgraded to 200904 three days ago without any issues. I also upgraded my 16v-10w transformer to 16v-30w before my install. So far, so good.

 

[David L]

Easiest way to install the firmware. I think I put it on th SD card?

Personally I would use Batch Config. Tool.



But only thing I am thinking is your Doorbell is registered on the Cloud. I remember Pete saying he bought a used DB and since it was already pre-registered he could not setup. Wonder what is the best way to do this? Worse case you give the new owners your Cloud account, you could give it a new password. Hopefully others will Chime in.

 

[David L]

I don’t know about fw 191211, but my EZVIZ-DB1 came with 190304. I upgraded to 200904 three days ago without any issues. I also upgraded my 16v-10w transformer to 16v-30w before my install. So far, so good.

Good thing you upgraded, we were having issues with 190304 awhile back...It is a very old firmware...

 

[thj]

Glad to hear it.

I tried something similar (AI based auto unlock) about 2 years ago, but it wasn't reliable enough for something as important as a door lock.
Would be interested in hearing your results. Good luck!

Tried it today with light turned on in room. Sadly the detection points are worse. I will retrain it when light is better and see if it makes difference. But ffmpeg to "straighten" the image works great and fast. I am still using snapshot of the mpjeg stream that Zoneminder produces from RTSP. It is very fast. Faster then any other detection software.

 

[ChappyEight]

I just picked up the Nelly's NSC-DB2 and installed it today. Got it connected to the network and activated/running in the Guarding Vision app without issue. I've assigned the doorbell a static IP through my Unifi router and the signal is strong. However, I cannot get the camera to be found in Blue Iris. When running the Batch tool, it verifies what I'm already seeing in my router menu which is that I do have the correct IP address. Also, I am able to see the camera at the hik-connect website. Finally, I am able to ping the camera from other devices on my network.

I'm hoping someone might be able to lend a hand to me because it seems most people have no issues connecting this camera to Blue Iris.

Thanks,
Chappy

 

[David L]

I just picked up the Nelly's NSC-DB2 and installed it today. Got it connected to the network and activated/running in the Guarding Vision app without issue. I've assigned the doorbell a static IP through my Unifi router and the signal is strong. However, I cannot get the camera to be found in Blue Iris. When running the Batch tool, it verifies what I'm already seeing in my router menu which is that I do have the correct IP address. Also, I am able to see the camera at the hik-connect website. Finally, I am able to ping the camera from other devices on my network.

I'm hoping someone might be able to lend a hand to me because it seems most people have no issues connecting this camera to Blue Iris.

Thanks,
Chappy

Which firmware version/build are you running? The latest Nelly's firmware supports ONVIF so all you should have to do is Find/Inspect

Here are my BI settings. Password is the Verification Code on the back of your Doorbell.

/Streaming/Channels/1?transportmode=unicast&profile=Profile_1



Check out our Doorbell 101 for tips...

 

[ChappyEight]

So, embarrassingly, I was adding "softap_" at the beginning of the verification code because it looked like in the manual that's what I was supposed to do. I just did the verification code only and I was able to connect to the video. Sometimes it's the simplest things that spark it in my brain, like when you simply said that the password was the verification code (it clicked in my brain to try that alone).

Thanks for the help.

 

[David L]

So, embarrassingly, I was adding "softap_" at the beginning of the verification code because it looked like in the manual that's what I was supposed to do. I just did the verification code only and I was able to connect to the video. Sometimes it's the simplest things that spark it in my brain, like when you simply said that the password was the verification code (it clicked in my brain to try that alone).

Thanks for the help.

Ahhh, I miss the simple things in life

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk