Reolink RLC-810A Cameras - Lots of Problems with Blue Iris

[Bob-The-Builder]

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to the site, but I wanted to share a current experience I am having with the Reolink 810A Camera. I recently bought two of them (bullet style), and added them to my system. I'm running Blue Iris, current version, and I have 6 cameras, which I will expand to roughly 15 over time, as construction of my new home progresses. I like Blue Iris, once you configure the cameras to reduce CPU load it works great. I'm running an I7-3770, 3.4GHZ with 16GB of RAM, 2TB HDD, in case you are wondering. My network is all new Cat 6 wire, with a GB Lan backbone.

I bought the Reolink to test the "smart" motion sensing, since false alarms are driving me nuts. I installed the cameras, used the android app to get the initial IP addresses so I could access the camera's directly for initial configuration before adding to Blue Iris. Using the android app, I also ensured the camera firmware was up to date. The app said I have the current firmware.

When I attached the cameras to Blue Iris, I noticed that every 20~40 seconds I would lose video (the connection). I reached out to Reolink tech support, and explained I plan to return the cameras to Amazon if I cannot solve the issue. They responded within 1 day, and asked for screen shots of each camera's configuration from the android app, so they could send me new firmware. In the email conversation, they noted that despite what the app shows, the cameras do not directly upgrade their firmware, it is a manual process.

I know there was some questions about this camera, and as I work through this, I will keep you posted. Manufacturers who want to be "in the business" have a basic obligation for their equipment to work, or be pummeled with product returns (which is why I like buying from Amazon - returns are simple).

Anyway, I just wanted to share.

Bob

 

[sebastiantombs]

See this thread -

Compiled by mat200 -

Reolink: Deconstruction of a dangerous misleading youtube review "Finding the BEST 4K Security Camera NVR Package (Reolink vs Amcrest vs Swann)"

Executive Summary: DO NOT be a sheep. Ask what a reviewer can be missing, ask if a reviewer is using hype words to sell the cheapest product. Test your cameras and kits right away. Just do a bench test. Test real world conditions. Test moving suspects. Test at night, test at day. Use a test rig...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[VorlonFrog]

I'll say it - - Reolink is crap. Don't waste your time, effort, and especially not your money. I'm one of those who ran into problems long ago with their cameras, and would not want anyone else to have that experience.

 

[mat200]

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to the site, but I wanted to share a current experience I am having with the Reolink 810A Camera. I recently bought two of them (bullet style), and added them to my system. I'm running Blue Iris, current version, and I have 6 cameras, which I will expand to roughly 15 over time, as construction of my new home progresses. I like Blue Iris, once you configure the cameras to reduce CPU load it works great. I'm running an I7-3770, 3.4GHZ with 16GB of RAM, 2TB HDD, in case you are wondering. My network is all new Cat 6 wire, with a GB Lan backbone.

I bought the Reolink to test the "smart" motion sensing, since false alarms are driving me nuts. I installed the cameras, used the android app to get the initial IP addresses so I could access the camera's directly for initial configuration before adding to Blue Iris. Using the android app, I also ensured the camera firmware was up to date. The app said I have the current firmware.

When I attached the cameras to Blue Iris, I noticed that every 20~40 seconds I would lose video (the connection). I reached out to Reolink tech support, and explained I plan to return the cameras to Amazon if I cannot solve the issue. They responded within 1 day, and asked for screen shots of each camera's configuration from the android app, so they could send me new firmware. In the email conversation, they noted that despite what the app shows, the cameras do not directly upgrade their firmware, it is a manual process.

I know there was some questions about this camera, and as I work through this, I will keep you posted. Manufacturers who want to be "in the business" have a basic obligation for their equipment to work, or be pummeled with product returns (which is why I like buying from Amazon - returns are simple).

Anyway, I just wanted to share.

Bob

Welcome @Bob-The-Builder

Good to have you join us.

 

[wittaj]

This post is showing why Blue Iris and Reolinks do not work well together, but the same principles applies for almost any low end consumer grade camera. It is just Reolinks is one of the more consumer end cameras people buy and come to this site as to why it is pointed out often about. I have a cheapo camera for overview purposes so it doesn't matter, but it exhibits this same behavior even though in the settings I can set an iframe...

This was a screenshot of a member here where they had set these cameras to 15FPS within the cameras (I suspect you will be missing motion that you do not know you are missing....):

Now look at they key - that is the iframes. Blue Iris works best when the FPS and the iframes match. Now this is a ratio, so it should be a 1 if it matches the FPS. The iframes not matching (that you cannot fix or change with a reolink) is why they miss motion in Blue Iris and why people have problems. This is mainly why people are having issues with these cameras and there are many threads showing the issues people have with this manufacturer and Blue Iris. It is these same games that make the camera look great as a still image or video but turn to crap once motion is introduced.

The Blue Iris developer has indicated that for best reliability, sub stream frame rate should be equal to the main stream frame rate and these cameras cannot do that and there is nothing you can do about that with these cameras... The iframe rates (something these cameras do not allow you to set) should equal the FPS, but at worse case be no more than double. This example shows the cameras going down to a keyrate of 0.25 means that the iframe rates are over 4 times the FPS and that is why motion detection is a disaster with these cameras and Blue Iris...A value of 0.5 or less is considered insufficient to trust for motion triggers reliably...try to do AI Tools and it will be useless...

Compounding the matter even worse...motion detection is based on the substream and look at the substream FPS - they dropped down to below 6 FPS with an iframe/key rate of 0.25 - you will miss motion most of the time with that issue...

Blue Iris is great and works with probably more camera brands than most VMS programs, but there are brands that don't work well or not at all - Rings, Arlos, Nest, Some Zmodo cams use proprietary systems and cannot be used with Blue Iris, and for a lot of people Reolink doesn't work well either.

Now compare above to mine and cameras that follow industry standards that allow you to actually set parameters and they don't manipulate them. You will see that my FPS match what I set in the camera, and the 1.00 key means the iframe matches:

Return them and get some real cameras with true AI capability in them. Or upgrade to the latest BI with DeepStack AI integration...

Regarding customer service from a manufacturer - keep in mind for the better cameras, we are not the user that Dahua and Hikvision is targeting so you will get the same service from either manufacturer (which is nonexistent). They have made a business decision to target the professional installers and authorized distributors of these cameras. I suspect many of them have been trained on all the settings or have installed enough to know what to do. But if you as an individual have an issue and call either company up for support and they will tell you to talk to the vendor you purchased from, if they even acknowledge you.

Contrast that with consumer grade stuff sold at the big box stores. You can call a Night Owl or Arlo or Reolink or Lorex or Amcrest or DLink or Google Nest or Ring and speak to a representative (now whether they can help you or not is another story), but they will not tell you to talk to Best Buy where you purchased it...and several of these cost the same or more as Dahua or Hikvision...So it comes down do you want customer service on inferior cameras, or better cameras and use a site like this to help you dial in the settings...

We are just fortunate enough to be able to get our hands on these brands and a site like this forum to help us with the settings.

 

[spuls]

i have quite similar experience, but the issue with ceap cameras is mainly a "reolink" issue. so far i have some customers with other even more creepy venders, but they have only "bad" video quility an run stable with blueiris. you have some simple options:

1. Use a old blue iris version like 5.2.x (not recommended), i don´t see the same problem on old installations from early 2020
2. use a different software like zonemínder, shinobi, milestone,.. - all of them work "fine" with the reolink 800 series
3. replace the cameras, a cheap Dahua HDW4433C is in the same price area as entry level reolinks (~40euro/45usd) with similar video quality. sure, these are mostly "hacked" cameras with bad firmware upgrade support - but work just rockstable with blueiris
4. replace the cameras with something like dahua 5442 series => yes, thats not the same resolution and they are about 30% more expensive. but they´ll just work perfect with blueiris and offer way better picuture quality at night. they also support not only h264 or 265 => you can also stream mjpeg, what can be very usefull for smarthome visualisation.

 

[looney2ns]

Reolink should be avoided, return them ASAP.
Buy once, cry once.
Study this:

 

[TonyR]

Manufacturers who want to be "in the business" have a basic obligation for their equipment to work, or be pummeled with product returns (which is why I like buying from Amazon - returns are simple).

Bob, welcome to IPCT.
If I were you, I'd try out that "....Amazon - returns are simple" statement, ASAP.

 

[bethzur]

I have a Reolink dome camera in my garage. I've never had an issue with Blue Iris. I did upgrade the firmware. It was indeed cheap, but it was varifocal which I wanted. On the other hand, I have problems with Amcrest cameras. One is back for warranty service and the bullet one was replaced with a Hikvision. The two Amcrest cameras seemed to lose connectivity periodically. The two Hikvision and a AvertX never had issues.

 

[mat200]

I have a Reolink dome camera in my garage. I've never had an issue with Blue Iris. I did upgrade the firmware. It was indeed cheap, but it was varifocal which I wanted. On the other hand, I have problems with Amcrest cameras. One is back for warranty service and the bullet one was replaced with a Hikvision. The two Amcrest cameras seemed to lose connectivity periodically. The two Hikvision and a AvertX never had issues.

Hi @bethzur

Did you move the Amcrest cameras to a short good test cable and lose connectivity?

The reason I note is the often emf can affect cable runs which are not done well, and I've seen issues on cable runs.

So far my Amcrest, Dahua cameras are running well.

 

[bethzur]

Did you move the Amcrest cameras to a short good test cable and lose connectivity?

The reason I note is the often emf can affect cable runs which are not done well, and I've seen issues on cable runs.

The run is 50 feet, so if it can't handle 50 feet, not sure it's even useful as a camera. Another camera using the same wire seems fine. It would lose ethernet according to the log, but it would stay powered (didn't reset the uptime) so it was getting power via the cable. It would do this like 40 times in a day, then I'd reboot it and it would be fine for a week.

 

[mat200]

The run is 50 feet, so if it can't handle 50 feet, not sure it's even useful as a camera. Another camera using the same wire seems fine. It would lose ethernet according to the log, but it would stay powered (didn't reset the uptime) so it was getting power via the cable. It would do this like 40 times in a day, then I'd reboot it and it would be fine for a week.

Hi @bethzur

It is NOT the length of the run, but the QUALITY of the run I was questioning.

For troubleshooting:
Always, put the camera on a known good short quality proper AWG and copper wire cat5e/6 cable.

That is the point.

In terms of all electronics, I have seen numerous failures in the IoT arena.

 

[Rob2020]

My Dahua rebrands (Loryta, Empire Tech) run great with Blue Iris, zero issues, followed the advice here, thanks Ipcamtalk!

 

[bethzur]

It is NOT the length of the run, but the QUALITY of the run I was questioning.

Got you. Yes, I'm using a cat 6 patch cord for the and a professionally terminated very high quality cat 6 cable for the other one. I didn't test the one I sent back since the Amcrest warranty people seemed satisfied with what testing we did.

I have tons of Ethernet devices in my house and I've never had a single issue with anything, which isn't to say there can't be a problem in this instanced but two installs with two different cables, plugged into two different switches, in two totally separate areas of the house seem a little unlikely (especially when a Hikvision camera seems totally happy.)

Hopefully Amcrest can sort out the PTZ one since I do want to get that one put back soon.

 

[wittaj]

And the power is a potential issue as well.

Due to variances in manufacturing, many of these cameras are running right at the threshold limit in terms of wattage and the slightest fluctuation can cause issues.

Someone here was running two identical cameras purchased at the same time and installed side-by-side and one was having issues. There was a 3 watt difference in power consumption between the two cameras. Switched the power and both ran fine.

 

[bethzur]

Wow, that's not reassuring. 3W extra for a camera is a lot of power all things being equal.

 

[wittaj]

Wow, that's not reassuring. 3W extra for a camera is a lot of power all things being equal.

Oh I know, he was shocked when we finally figured that out. His NVR showed the power draw/output or he would still be chasing the problem.

But I have seen it as well. I recently tidied up my switches and inadvertently put all of my IR cameras on the same switch. Even though the camera played fine and was accepted by BI, OpenALPR was showing a problem and the FPS was jumping all over the place. The camera was getting just enough power to operate kind of. When I switched the power source, all was well again.