Reolink cameras and Hikvision NVR

[BobW55]

Before you go bashing me for trying to use subpar cameras, not everyone can afford top of the line everything, besides the price was right.
I have a Reolink RLC-410 and RLC-420 Poe cameras. I managed to get them onto my Hikvision DS-7616NI-I2/16P NVR. I get video. I am able to continuous record but not motion only as I had hoped.
I was planning on using these for trigger cameras for some PTZ cameras I have,
Has anyone else played around with these and gotten better results?

 

[mat200]

Before you go bashing me for trying to use subpar cameras, not everyone can afford top of the line everything, besides the price was right.
I have a Reolink RLC-410 and RLC-420 Poe cameras. I managed to get them onto my Hikvision DS-7616NI-I2/16P NVR. I get video. I am able to continuous record but not motion only as I had hoped.
I was planning on using these for trigger cameras for some PTZ cameras I have,
Has anyone else played around with these and gotten better results?

Hi @BobW55

Please share what you have done so far to get the Reolink cameras to work with the Hikvision NVR.

 

[wittaj]

The main issue people have experienced and/or what the results have shown with Reolinks is that they are not truly ONVIF compliant and that can mess up a lot of things since the brand of the NVR and cameras are not the same and one of the main reasons why, regardless of brand, it is always best to try to match brands.

 

[BobW55]

So far assigned a fixed IP address to the cameras via the Reolink app. You MUST also set the correct date and time in the Reolink App.
I used an IP address in the range of my NVR.
You can tell the NVR to manually record 24/7, but the cameras will NOT respond to any motion activated recording setting that I have tried as of yet.
I have NOT tried to see if I can make them trigger an event. still playing.

 

[wittaj]

Try setting a large pre-buffer for the recording of motion activation. Those cameras play with i-frames and if the motion was too quick, it could happen and be done before the camera iframe rate "acknowledges" the motion.

 

[BobW55]

Interesting thought :

Try setting a large pre-buffer for the recording of motion activation. Those cameras play with i-frames and if the motion was too quick, it could happen and be done before the camera iframe rate "acknowledges" the motion.

The NVR will not let you set anything for the cameras. If you try to activate motion recording, you just get an error, or a "Not supported" error.

 

[wittaj]

Oh - yeah the not supported error is probably because the camera isn't truly ONVIF compliant. Too bad that this is preventing you from activating motion recording, but I suspect the NVR must be able to determine that the iframe rate issue is preventing the NVR from accurately being able to determine a trigger?

 

[wittaj]

Here is a link showing how it is impacted in Blue Iris, but it would be essentially the same for an NVR as well...it liked totally missed the car moving in reverse back into the garage...

Blue Iris Motion Detection Not Working Well

I am using Blue Iris v5.07.3 x64 with a Reolink RLC-410-5MP camera. I have 7 total cameras (all using the same Reolink), but am having trouble with one particular outdoor camera. My NVR is a i7-6700 with 16GB of RAM (it never goes about 40% CPU usage). I am having a hard time getting my...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[BobW55]

wittaj......
I read your post.
I am on the latest firmware release for the NVR, Problem I am having it that you cannot set anything for the Reolink cameras from inside of the NVR.
even the date and time had to be set using the Reolink client.
It is a shame too. I get real crisp images from the cameras. Was really hoping to use them for trigger cams.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I get video. I am able to continuous record but not motion only as I had hoped.

Not all ONVIF implementations create ONVIF motion event notifications, even if the camera does motion detection.
It was an optional requirement in the early ONVIF specifications.

You can check if the camera generates ONVIF motion event notifications by using ONVIF Device Manager, from sourceforge.net
ODM will automatically find ONVIF devices in the same IP address range as the PC.
Give ODM some valid logon credentials, top left of the window, and check the Analytics and Rules pages for the capabilities, and the Events page for any triggers.

If the camera is on an NVR PoE port, you'll need to connect the PC to an unused PoE port, and set the PC IP address to be in the same range as is used on the PoE interface.
This is likely to be 192.168.254.x so you could use 192.168.254.100
Confirm the camera NVR address with SADP.

 

[BobW55]

You can check if the camera generates ONVIF motion event notifications by using ONVIF Device Manager, from sourceforge.net

I have that already, I'll give it a look just for grins.
Like I said, the cameras landed in my lap for next to nothing, I would be crazy not to try them out, but if they wont trigger a motion even so I can move my tracking PTZ, then they are of little use to me.

 

[BobW55]

Some further info:
the Reolink RLC-410 and RLC-420 share the exact same firmware. These are identical cameras just in different housings.
I thought it may be a port setting issue, but the Reolink use ONVIF 8000 HTTP 80.
I have NOT tried putting an SD card into the camera and setting up storage in the Reolink client software. This will be my next attempt, on checking to see what ONVIF manager shows.

 

[BobW55]

Managed to fire up ONVIF Manager. Both cameras responded to all changes I could make in the OM.
Both cameras DID show movement. I put a SD card into the 420, it still will not trip movement on the NVR.
Hikvision WILL show video from both cameras, and will record 24/7 only when manual record is activated.
Both cameras will NOT allow the NVR to make any changes to the cameras settings, nor allow you to set motion detection, or any other trip alarms.
The NVR also will not allow me to change the camera name in the camera list.

Its really a shame the video is not bad, (no not high level camera good) but good enough for trip wires or other such uses.
Now we know Reolink and Hikvision are not about to make any changes to their stuff so they work together.

 

[mat200]

Managed to fire up ONVIF Manager. Both cameras responded to all changes I could make in the OM.
Both cameras DID show movement. I put a SD card into the 420, it still will not trip movement on the NVR.
Hikvision WILL show video from both cameras, and will record 24/7 only when manual record is activated.
Both cameras will NOT allow the NVR to make any changes to the cameras settings, nor allow you to set motion detection, or any other trip alarms.
The NVR also will not allow me to change the camera name in the camera list.

Its really a shame the video is not bad, (no not high level camera good) but good enough for trip wires or other such uses.
Now we know Reolink and Hikvision are not about to make any changes to their stuff so they work together.

Hi @BobW55

Questions, so far not fully clear to me:

1) Did you set the Reolink camera to ONVIF settings?
2) Did you set the NVR Channel the camera is on to ONVIF settings?

Which ONVIF profiles does the Reolink camera claim to support? The NVR?

As noted by @alastairstevenson "Not all ONVIF implementations create ONVIF motion event notifications " - so you're going to need to check if the Reolink camera is supporting that ONVIF profile / version.

Then you'll need to check the NVR supports it..

In theory if both support it, it should work.

 

[BobW55]

Yes the Reolink cameras are connected to the NVR via ONVIF using port 8000, and the port is set the same as well.
Both cameras are using assigned fixed IP addresses.


Problem is the NVR will not activate any of the camera functions. If you try to set up motion, it will let you set the schedule, but errors out when you select save.
So you set up the cameras OSD using the Reolink client, hook it up to the NVR, and you are stuck with a dumb camera.


My messy basement
Like I said the price was right not to give it a try.

 

[BobW55]

I had been talking with Reolink technical support department.
this is the last reply I received from them in regards to this matter.

Skyler (Reolink) Feb 23, 2021, 21:03 GMT+8 Dear Robert, Thanks for your kindly reply! OK, I see. And really sorry that we let you down this time We will keep improving our products, hope they can satisfy you soon. To show our apologies, we'd like to offer you a discount for the next purchase. You can keep it until the next time you want to try reolink camera. at that time, please email us and we will help.

Oh well