Onvif Compatible Doorbell Cam

[TaxExempt]

After reading the posts on here and speaking with Nelly's on the phone I decided to go with the NSC-DB1. Very glad something like this is finally available that isn't a limited cloud based system like the Ring. Looking forward to setting it up and posting a review.

 

[bhoth]

Ok very excited to hear from you as you get the NSC-DB1 installed and configured. What NVR are you running?

Interesting review on Nelly Security site: Can the doorbell ring on powerup be turned off? That would be annoying.

Camera itself is great, quality is good and hooks up with Blue Iris just fine.
Big problem for me is the fact that it doesn't have (unlike other brand) a backup battery. Loss of video during power outage would not be an issue for me, but the doorbell rings on power up, waking up everyone. Now I'll have to figure out if the AC transformer will work on a cheap UPS.

 

[RyanODan]

@bhoth Generally the power to a doorbell is always running so the chances of it powering up frequently is far and few between, of course, unless for some odd reason the power is shut off each night or in the rare cases of power outages... Right now there isn't a way to disable it, they may add that feature in the future but hard to say for sure.

 

[mat200]

FYI - today newegg has a deal on the LaView version (3/1/2018)

LaView Wi-Fi 1080P Video Doorbell Camera - $99.99 + Extra $10 Newegg Gift Card
Newegg [newegg.com] now has the LaView Wi-Fi 1080P Video Doorbell Camera with On-Board Storage with Pre-Installed 16GB Micro SD on sale for $99.99 after promo code and with extra $10 Newegg Gift Card.

Code: NENLV2

3/01 ONLY

Store: Newegg

LaView Wi-Fi 1080P Video Doorbell Camera - $99.99 + Extra $10 Newegg Gift Card 03-01-2018

 

[TaxExempt]

@bhoth Generally the power to a doorbell is always running so the chances of it powering up frequently is far and few between, of course, unless for some odd reason the power is shut off each night or in the rare cases of power outages... Right now there isn't a way to disable it, they may add that feature in the future but hard to say for sure.

Installed it the other day and this is a feature that is almost a dealbreaker for me. We had the power go off and on a few times with the past few storms and the doorbell rang each time. This is VERY annoying for anybody with a baby or a dog. If this happens in the middle of the night it is going to create chaos in my house.

A few things off the top of my head I don't like:

Doorbell rings too quickly: When you press the button, it closes and opens the circuit way too fast. The doorbell sounds like it's in fast motion. A way to add a delay to hold the circuit closed would be nice.
Voice prompts: There is no way to disable the voice prompts. I don't want the person ringing my doorbell to be told that nobody answered, or that the wifi is not connected. I want it to just stay silent.
IR reflects off lens: The glare is really bad. The IR LED's should be on the body of the unit and not inside the dome.
Speaker is weak: It's amazing how poor the speaker quality is
App uses phone speaker not loudspeaker: This is very annoying. When I answer using my phone, I have to put the phone up to my ear to hear the person at the door. This defeats the purpose. Enable speakerphone.
WiFi Signal strength does not show: Luckily I use a UnFi AP that tells me the signal strength of everything connected, but it would be nice if the doorbell would show you signal strength instead of having you guess.

Other than that it's been working good for us

 

[Bitslizer]

Installed it the other day and this is a feature that is almost a dealbreaker for me. We had the power go off and on a few times with the past few storms and the doorbell rang each time. This is VERY annoying for anybody with a baby or a dog. If this happens in the middle of the night it is going to create chaos in my house.

A few things off the top of my head I don't like:

Doorbell rings too quickly: When you press the button, it closes and opens the circuit way too fast. The doorbell sounds like it's in fast motion. A way to add a delay to hold the circuit closed would be nice.
Voice prompts: There is no way to disable the voice prompts. I don't want the person ringing my doorbell to be told that nobody answered, or that the wifi is not connected. I want it to just stay silent.
IR reflects off lens: The glare is really bad. The IR LED's should be on the body of the unit and not inside the dome.
Speaker is weak: It's amazing how poor the speaker quality is
App uses phone speaker not loudspeaker: This is very annoying. When I answer using my phone, I have to put the phone up to my ear to hear the person at the door. This defeats the purpose. Enable speakerphone.
WiFi Signal strength does not show: Luckily I use a UnFi AP that tells me the signal strength of everything connected, but it would be nice if the doorbell would show you signal strength instead of having you guess.

Other than that it's been working good for us

The IR glare cleaning with glass cleaner very well with microfiber cloth help a lot, if you want to go all the way, clean the inside of the dome lens too. Did you remove the "ring" film sounding the dome lens? Are you in Android or iOS? I'm on Android and pretty sure it comes through my speaker phone assuming my volume is on

 

[TaxExempt]

The IR glare cleaning with glass cleaner very well with microfiber cloth help a lot, if you want to go all the way, clean the inside of the dome lens too. Did you remove the "ring" film sounding the dome lens? Are you in Android or iOS? I'm on Android and pretty sure it comes through my speaker phone assuming my volume is on

Yes the plastic had been removed. To clean would be difficult now, since I can't remove the cover where I installed it. It is mounted right up against a piece of siding trim, and I can't get my fingers in there. Once it became clipped in it's stuck unfortunately.

I am using iOS

 

[Bitslizer]

Well clean the outside of the lens as well as you can that helps a bit, I just confirmed on Android the 2way intercom comes out on my speaker phone and not the ear piece, my pet peeves is the ring comes through as media/music and not phone ringer so won't even vibrate, as my media is typically muted during the day it's easy to miss

 

[TaxExempt]

Anybody else having trouble changing from 24hr to 12hr time? It doesn't take for me. Gives me "parameter error"

 

[RyanODan]

Which browser are you using? Which firmware do you have installed?

 

[Sonixmon]

Anybody else having trouble changing from 24hr to 12hr time? It doesn't take for me. Gives me "parameter error"

​

I noticed the same issue when I was changing the camera name. Interesting thing is it will take the camera name even though it still says parameter error.

I tried Chrome, IE and Edge without success.

One other issue I recently discovered is that the unit does not send motion alerts when you are using Onvif. I recently connected the unit to my NVR and the same day the feature stopped working. Unfortunately the NVR relies on the camera for motion detection so I lose that feature for the front door. Not a big deal because they have to go by two other cameras to get there but it was nice having the doorbell send the message.

 

[Bitslizer]

I noticed the same issue when I was changing the camera name. Interesting thing is it will take the camera name even though it still says parameter error.

I tried Chrome, IE and Edge without success.

One other issue I recently discovered is that the unit does not send motion alerts when you are using Onvif. I recently connected the unit to my NVR and the same day the feature stopped working. Unfortunately the NVR relies on the camera for motion detection so I lose that feature for the front door. Not a big deal because they have to go by two other cameras to get there but it was nice having the doorbell send the message.

The hikconnect motion detection should still work just that no onvif motion detection on NVR

 

[Sonixmon]

I'm not sure why, Tech support said it should as well and had me check the web interface setting. I turned on detection in web settings too but still not sending motion messages. It was working fine prior to connecting it to NVR.

 

[Bitslizer]

I'm not sure why, Tech support said it should as well and had me check the web interface setting. I turned on detection in web settings too but still not sending motion messages. It was working fine prior to connecting it to NVR.

Try logging out and relogon to the app

 

[RyanODan]

Usually parameter error means the plugins aren't installed correctly. @Sonixmon Which NVR do you have?

 

[arw01]

Checking if anything new on the concerns yet. The power on doorbell, yep that would wake up the WHOLE house when the dogs went apesheet barking.

Wife's co-worker has ring and loves it, if it's not AT LEAST that good, it's a deal breaker.

 

[TaxExempt]

I am beginning to think that the power on doorbell isn't a feature, but is just a inherent problem.

In a normal state, a doorbell coil has it's available current to it limited by a resistor in the doorbell (the bulb). Wen you press a normal doorbell, you are bypassing the resistor and shorting the contacts together, providing a low resistance path to enable the coils of the doorbell to have as much current it needs to energize and ring the bell.

When you initially plug in or power up an ip doorbell, it requires an initial rush of current to turn on. I think that initial rush of current is causing the doorbell to ring? Sounds like a problem of basic electricity. I am no expert but that's my theory as to why this happens.

 

[RyanODan]

Checking if anything new on the concerns yet. The power on doorbell, yep that would wake up the WHOLE house when the dogs went apesheet barking.

Wife's co-worker has ring and loves it, if it's not AT LEAST that good, it's a deal breaker.

We've contacted Hikvision multiple times regarding the most common issues we've had reported. We haven't received an ETA on the release of a new firmware yet.

 

[tangent]

I am beginning to think that the power on doorbell isn't a feature, but is just a inherent problem.

In a normal state, a doorbell coil has it's available current to it limited by a resistor in the doorbell (the bulb). Wen you press a normal doorbell, you are bypassing the resistor and shorting the contacts together, providing a low resistance path to enable the coils of the doorbell to have as much current it needs to energize and ring the bell.

When you initially plug in or power up an ip doorbell, it requires an initial rush of current to turn on. I think that initial rush of current is causing the doorbell to ring? Sounds like a problem of basic electricity. I am no expert but that's my theory as to why this happens.

Certainly possible. An obvious solution would involve something that has to be installed at the chime. The latest ring models actually do this. I'm amazed they didn't do this with their earlier models.

 

[TaxExempt]

It's really frustrating how the doorbell event history is not saved in the app. The only way to keep track is with the motion detection, which at night can be a problem since there are bugs and dust that the night vision pick up. Also it's not clear enough if the red selected area in the motion detection settings are for blocking out motion or selecting motion areas. I am still getting alerts on motion events in both areas.