New RCA HSDB2A 3MP Doorbell IP Camera

[pete_c]

Reading on one of the automation forums it was mentioned that Blue Iris has an option to turn on and off the IR on a generic camera; guessing the BI folks got the switch from the camera API.

A few years ago after wiring up the doorbell to the Elk 930/960 combo was the installation of a ring LED doorbell button. The size of the doorbell button was the issue as I had to carve out the doorbell button hold for sizing the LED doorbell. It was bright and smaller than the Hikvision doorbell button.



Next endeavor years ago here was to not utilize the IR lighting on the cams. Initially used Optex outdoor PIRs and illuminated all outdoor lighting (including landscaping lighting). Front door set up today is using a PIR which turns on front door lamps after hours. That said I get a nice view from the doorbell camera with illumination.

Inside originally used text to speech for outside motion after hours then switched to subtle chimes. Typically though only triggers were coyotes. (rural environment).

 

[David L]

This is a bit off subject but wanted to share. Went into Fry's today and noticed many of the shelves were bare, been awhile since I have been there but talking to several employees they told me they were told by Fry's, at this store, that they are waiting on Christmas stock to come in. Employees also told me they have not restocked/received anything new for the past few months. So this sounds like a store closing, but nothing was on sale and only a hand full of things were on clearance. One employee, who I have known for years, told me that she found out Fry's is holding off for new stock or Christmas stock until the China tariff comes to an agreement or conclusion. If this is true, guessing they do not want to be stuck with a lot of inventory.

I have been wanting to add 2 or 3 IP Outdoor Cameras, and something is telling me to buy now while prices are still reasonable, or at least by Black Friday/Christmas.

So to make a long story short, what IP (POE) cameras should we go for? One will be placed in the Front of the house, about 12 feet high facing driveway/street, the other 1 or 2 in the backyard about 10 foot high. I know in the front I want a quality bullet camera, Vari-Focal Lens, 8MP, possibly True HD Ultra 4K recording at 30fps, would like a Hikvision if possible, also to be able to zoom in to read license plates. Been eyeing this one: Bullet Camera
The backyard cameras do not have to be this extreme, just Dome or Bullet, POE IP, fixed lens is fine, good night vision, again Hikvision possibly.

Appreciate any advise/direction...Thanks

UPDATE: found this: List of Fry's Locations Closing - post regarding Fry's Electronics layoffs
So maybe it is just a Fry's thing going on...

This is our Fry's:

 

[pete_c]

Wow did not know this about Fry's.

Most of my shopping these days is via Amazon. Many years ago did purchase 3 UPS's on closeout from Fry's. The UPS's were all that remained and the deal was great.

I initially (mostly to tinker) put 5 cams in the front of the home and 4 in the back. 4 of the cams faced the house. Put two Cartel sensors under the driveway at the time.

Helped a peer (remotely) do his outdoor poe cams (Hikvision) in an urban environment in DC. Big old house which he had been rehabbing. He got addicted to watching his cams all day long at work and was surprised at what he saw.

 

[David L]

Wow did not know this about Fry's.

Most of my shopping these days is via Amazon. Many years ago did purchase 3 UPS's on closeout from Fry's. The UPS's were all that remained and the deal was great.

I initially (mostly to tinker) put 5 cams in the front of the home and 4 in the back. 4 of the cams faced the house. Put two Cartel sensors under the driveway at the time.

Helped a peer (remotely) do his outdoor poe cams (Hikvision) in an urban environment in DC. Big old house which he had been rehabbing. He got addicted to watching his cams all day long at work and was surprised at what he saw.

Driveway sensors, wild, never knew.

So what did your peer see? Leave us in suspense like that Wife with another man? UFO? Gotta know

 

[pete_c]

He saw robberies (muggings) on his front walk, police chasing a person through his back yard (person had to climb a 6 foot fence), weird comings and goings in the house next door. (which he thinks some 20 people live in - might be a crack house??). People walking through the alley (street people) at all hours of the night.
Him and his wife just having kids (he is in his upper 40's and not dealing with it too well). He is thinking now of moving.

Yeah mostly tinkered with security stuff as the subdivision was originally built on farm land and surrounding areas were mostly farms at the time. The under the drive way sensors were Cartel and I had an opportunity to install them when I widened the driveway. That said it was a court and had no traffic.

 

[David L]

He saw robberies (muggings) on his front walk, police chasing a person through his back yard (person had to climb a 6 foot fence), weird comings and goings in the house next door. (which he thinks some 20 people live in - might be a crack house??). People walking through the alley (street people) at all hours of the night.
Him and his wife just having kids (he is in his upper 40's and not dealing with it too well). He is thinking now of moving.

Yeah mostly tinkered with security stuff as the subdivision was originally built on farm land and surrounding areas were mostly farms at the time. The under the drive way sensors were Cartel and I had an opportunity to install them when I widened the driveway. That said it was a court and had no traffic.

I would go nuts after the first sighting and be glued to Blue Iris. Hmmm, out of sight out of mind, maybe I do not want to know what is going on after hours, I am already mad at how bad America is getting these days. But if my video feed can help in crime it is all worth it. Sad but with all the cameras out there you would think there would be less crime. What even got me wanting a Doorbell Camera is all of the stolen packages going on in our area, here the criminals follow the delivery trucks around.

 

[pete_c]

He was glued and mostly all of the activities occurred during the day.

Personally got little activity except for animals at night. One entrance small subdivision of 100 homes. All kinds of rules like no parking on the street after hours et al.

I have a 2-3 day time lapse of the court that I will post showing how little activity took place.


That is bad and I have read on other forums relating to package pirates.

Today working on the Amazon Show IP HD RTSP app called Monocle which works well with my RTSP cameras except the new Hikvision DB1 and DB2 doorbell cameras. The Alexa Ring doorbell worked well with the Amazon Show.

You can today also display RTSP cameras with a KODI plugin. I was doing this a few years back. Today's KODI box can do 4K now. It is no tiny and has a 9 core ARM CPU and has no issues streaming RTSP video.

 

[flynreelow]

He was glued and mostly all of the activities occurred during the day.

Personally got little activity except for animals at night. One entrance small subdivision of 100 homes. All kinds of rules like no parking on the street after hours et al.

I have a 2-3 day time lapse of the court that I will post showing how little activity took place.


That is bad and I have read on other forums relating to package pirates.

Today working on the Amazon Show IP HD RTSP app called Monocle which works well with my RTSP cameras except the new Hikvision DB1 and DB2 doorbell cameras. The Alexa Ring doorbell worked well with the Amazon Show.

You can today also display RTSP cameras with a KODI plugin. I was doing this a few years back. Today's KODI box can do 4K now. It is no tiny and has a 9 core ARM CPU and has no issues streaming RTSP video.

Very nice info.. never heard of Monocle app. Do you know if there is anything like this that works for the Google Home hub to display RTSP cameras.


Any reason why you cant get that working with the doorbell cams? And RTSP feed should be a RTSP feed.

 

[pete_c]

The author has ack'd that it doesn't work yet with the Hikvision doorbell RTSP.

I do not know why except maybe because of the resolution?

What is nice is that you are not streaming from the cloud as it uses a reverse local proxy to stream the video.


I have it working with my test camera boards which are HikVision 4-5 MP smart cams just fine here.

I have yet to tinker with Google Home...but will be doing soon as my daughter is using it in her new home.

 

[David L]

He was glued and mostly all of the activities occurred during the day.

Personally got little activity except for animals at night. One entrance small subdivision of 100 homes. All kinds of rules like no parking on the street after hours et al.

I have a 2-3 day time lapse of the court that I will post showing how little activity took place.


That is bad and I have read on other forums relating to package pirates.

Today working on the Amazon Show IP HD RTSP app called Monocle which works well with my RTSP cameras except the new Hikvision DB1 and DB2 doorbell cameras. The Alexa Ring doorbell worked well with the Amazon Show.

You can today also display RTSP cameras with a KODI plugin. I was doing this a few years back. Today's KODI box can do 4K now. It is no tiny and has a 9 core ARM CPU and has no issues streaming RTSP video.

So are you linking your Amazon account with Nelly's, like we do with LaView?
https://www.amazon.com/LaView-Technology-ONE/dp/B07CZ44RM4

Setting Up Alexa


I see you are on their forum: Hikvision DB1 (WiFi Video Doorbell)


I would also like to see Google Home work on our Doorbells too...

 

[pete_c]

So are you linking your Amazon account with Nelly's, like we do with LaView?

I did not know there was a Nelly's security Alexa skill.

There is also an EZViz Alexa skill.

And there is also the RCA Alexa security skill.

The Monocle Alexa skill is a generic RTSP skill and doesn't stream video via the cloud.

I can get to my RTSP cams via the NVR or directly using IPSec VPN running on Windows or Android.

 

[David L]

So are you linking your Amazon account with Nelly's, like we do with LaView?

I did not know there was a Nelly's security Alexa skill.

There is also an EZViz Alexa skill.

And there is also the RCA Alexa security skill.

The Monocle Alexa skill is a generic RTSP skill and doesn't stream video via the cloud.

I can get to my RTSP cams via the NVR or directly using IPSec VPN running on Windows or Android.

Monocle Alexa Skill Thank You...

 

[pete_c]

Yes here security and CCTV and does not rely on the cloud or wireless anything. Guess I am a bit old fashioned. Trying very hard here to be cloudless.

Typically use GV and shut off my smart phones when home.

I am tinkering with Alexa stuff but do not have any dependencies on Alexa for security or automation.

My daughter just purchased a home and she is a Google Home person such that I will probably be getting some Google home table top tablets to tinker with.

 

[David L]

That sounds good, I would love to have that option too. I have disable the LED ring since it is too bright at night, which in my mind will just make the intruder(s) cover their face(s) when they see it, knowing they could be recorded. I will call LaView tomorrow and see what they say. You/we can always Chat online with the other brands too. I got lucky one time with Nelly's, they must of had a Tech guy on Chat that day, they answered all my questions, not like someone in Sales.

Installed my new transformer today, finally, and ran 3 RTSP streams to 3 separate VLC windows, so far so good, rang the doorbell many times to see if any interruption in the streaming, also jumped in and out of the LaView App, on our Android phones too. Only 2 hours into my testing though , plan on testing for a few days, then PC build should be done next week with Blue Iris. Way, way behind . We had new carpet installed in our bedrooms, man it was like moving all over again , so I am still trying to get everything back rearranged and reconnected

So 48 hours into my RTSP 3 streaming test, all is good, no hiccups so far.

 

[pete_c]

Good news David!

What PC are you utilizing for Blue Iris?

 

[David L]

Good news David!

What PC are you utilizing for Blue Iris?

Not using Blue Iris yet, testing with VLC on 3 separate windows, on a i7, 6th Gen CPU. It is my Gaming PC with a 1070 Ti


Hey do you know if I can install Blue Iris on this PC and when I finish my other PC build (i7 4th or 5th Gen. CPU, 970 Video Card) uninstall it then install it on the new PC? I know it is only one license, just curious...If there is no problem uninstalling from one PC and Installing on another then I get to play with Blue Iris early.

 

[pete_c]

Not sure how the Blue Iris licensing works.

I would suggest using Windows 2016 Standard server over Windows 10 Pro for your Blue Iris. Windows 2016 server is thinner than Windows 10 Pro.

I run Windows 2016 here on a headless Lenova Haswell i5 computer and RDP to it from Linux or Windows computers. I utilize it here for my Touchscreens (in wall or tabletop)



Just a quickie FYI here.

Kodi IP Camera doorbell camera streaming.

Here utilize Coreelec for KODI. Doesn't matter what OS you use.

1 - create a doorbell.strm file

2 - such that it contains the doorbell stream

rxxp:/admin : password@192.168.244.152:554/Streaming/Channels/101/

here put it in a directory called IPCameras and make it a favorite.

In Kodi map the directory IPCameras. Under videos go to play back videos and choose the doorbell.strm file.

 

[pete_c]

Relative to outdoor motion detection via video algorithms I am still on the fence here.

It is getting much better on a per camera basis and with newest CPUs / Memory / newest video GPUs software motion detection is better.

Outdoors you will always have the issues of wind, sun, insects, birds et al. I used a photobeam on my driveway in the 1990's and it worked but not 100% of the time.

I like that the Hikvision OEM doorbell uses a combination of an analog PIR and video algorithms.

Here for outdoor motion detections mixed stuff for motion detection....PIRs, Geophone sensors, RFID et al. It was never perfect though.

That said it was always tinkering more than a "need for" thing here.

 

[David L]

Has anyone bought/owned a USG Camera? Urban Security Group out of New York?

https://www.amazon.com/2-2MP-Bullet-Security-Camera-Audio/dp/B00L7E4UMW/

 

[hawkeye217]

That sounds good, I would love to have that option too. I have disable the LED ring since it is too bright at night, which in my mind will just make the intruder(s) cover their face(s) when they see it, knowing they could be recorded. I will call LaView tomorrow and see what they say. You/we can always Chat online with the other brands too. I got lucky one time with Nelly's, they must of had a Tech guy on Chat that day, they answered all my questions, not like someone in Sales.

Just wanted to report back and say that Hikvision, Ezviz, and Laview were less than forthcoming about how to turn on and off the LED ring via code. Hikvision and Ezivz refused to give any details because my camera had a Laview serial number, and Laview said "we can't give you that information because it would unveil the internal implementation of hardware and software". Well, duh...

Doing some wireshark captures shows what looks like MQTT topics and data being exchanged with Ezviz servers. I'm going to keep poking around. It'd be great to be able to turn the LEDs on and off without the cloud.