Which Premium Doorbell? Front & Back Door

[MacFun]

I have a new property that's 350 miles away from me that will be getting a new surveillance system (NVR, IP Cams, UPS).

Can you suggest a premium doorbell? I would be interested in the following features.
-Rock-solid reliability. The home will be 6 hours away...
-Front & Rear Door. Currently this home has a front doorbell only that does not work. The rear door never had a doorbell and it will be difficult to get wiring to it but anything is possible.
-NVR Integration? Do they normally integrate with your NVR?
-Talkback. 2-way communication.
-Push notifications to an app...

What doorbell should I consider?

Thanks,

R

 

[The Automation Guy]

The best reliability is going to come from a wired (POE) doorbell. However those require a network cable to be run to the doorbell position which can be very hard if it wasn't wired that way while under construction. However, if this is possible, then both power and the camera feeds will be hardwired which is the best option. Current one of the best options is the Reolink POE wired doorbell camera.

If you only have regular doorbell wiring, there are solutions, but while the camera will get power from the existing doorbell wiring, the camera feeds will have to be transmitted over WiFi. I have an EZWiz DB1C which has been recommended previously and is OK, but I haven't kept up with the more recent offerings to know if there is something better.

Finally there are some options that run off a battery for power and send the camera feeds over WiFi. My in-laws have a Ring doorbell that works like this. While this is certainly the easiest option to install, it also requires that you charge or replace the battery from time to time, so this would be the least desirable option given the fact that you are located so far away from it.

The first two options broadcast a RTSP video feed which is compatible with most NVR systems, but the Ring system is pretty closed and proprietary which is another reason to avoid it IMHO.

Two way communication is going to be problematic with any solution IMHO. It rarely works as well as advertised and honestly nothing says "I'm not home right now" more than someone using that functionality. I think most people think its a great idea for the first week they have the doorbell, and then they stop using that functionality completely.

 

[MacFun]

Hello Automation Guy. Thanks for your wonderfully complete message, I wonder if the existing doorbell wire could be used to pull a network cable from a downstairs DB to an upstairs attic on a two-story house?

Do you happen to use Home assistant....? We may have more to discuss.

Thanks,

R

 

[mvoss]

Hello Automation Guy. Thanks for your wonderfully complete message, I wonder if the existing doorbell wire could be used to pull a network cable from a downstairs DB to an upstairs attic on a two-story house?

Do you happen to use Home assistant....? We may have more to discuss.

Thanks,

R

If the installer, that ran the original wiring, did it correctly they would have stapled (secured) the wire which would make it difficult to use it as a pull string. You never know until you check though, plus if they did staple maybe they only did a couple that you can reach from the attic.

Michael

 

[VorlonFrog]

Yup, they typically stapled the twisted pair carrying 19VAC to the doorbells, back in the day. Recently had Cat-6 cable pulled to my front doorbell, and they had one heck of a time getting it done. As a former owner of the original Hikvision doorbell camera and the later EzViz doorbell camera, the WiFi stability on these was just TERRIBLE. The firmware itself was okay, but they kept removing and disabling features and capabilities, much to the owners' dismay (including me). The very poor WiFi performance was the deal breaker for me. I switched to a Reolink wifi doorbell, but while the wifi performance was much better, it still dropped the signal far too often. The Hikvision would drop signal many times weekly. The EzViz would drop signal more than it stayed connected, no matter where I placed the wireless access point in the living room. The Reolink was much better, but not good enough to be reliable.

 

[MacFun]

Yup, they typically stapled the twisted pair carrying 19VAC to the doorbells, back in the day. Recently had Cat-6 cable pulled to my front doorbell, and they had one heck of a time getting it done. As a former owner of the original Hikvision doorbell camera and the later EzViz doorbell camera, the WiFi stability on these was just TERRIBLE. The firmware itself was okay, but they kept removing and disabling features and capabilities, much to the owners' dismay (including me). The very poor WiFi performance was the deal breaker for me. I switched to a Reolink wifi doorbell, but while the wifi performance was much better, it still dropped the signal far too often. The Hikvision would drop signal many times weekly. The EzViz would drop signal more than it stayed connected, no matter where I placed the wireless access point in the living room. The Reolink was much better, but not good enough to be reliable.

Wow that’s a shocking state of affairs for doorbells. I guess we have a long way to go before this market segment matures. I guess I’ll look at tearing the house apart to get an actual network cable to the doorbell location. Thanks so much for your input is greatly appreciated.

 

[mvoss]

Wow that’s a shocking state of affairs for doorbells. I guess we have a long way to go before this market segment matures. I guess I’ll look at tearing the house apart to get an actual network cable to the doorbell location. Thanks so much for your input is greatly appreciated.

Macfun,

I'm outside of Houston by the way.

I have a POE Reolink and my son has the Wifi version becasue there was no way to get a network cable to the existing doorbell, without doing major demolition. Both Reolinks are rock solid. My son hasn't had any wifi drops etc. I was quite suprised becausee of the distance from the router. It might be worth trying to see if it works for you. They also had a new firmware update, last month, that many have said increased the wifi signal. Just my 2 cents.

Michael

 

[MacFun]

Macfun,

I'm outside of Houston by the way.

I have a POE Reolink and my son has the Wifi version becasue there was no way to get a network cable to the existing doorbell, without doing major demolition. Both Reolinks are rock solid. My son hasn't had any wifi drops etc. I was quite suprised becausee of the distance from the router. It might be worth trying to see if it works for you. They also had a new firmware update, last month, that many have said increased the wifi signal. Just my 2 cents.

Michael

Hi Michael, I love that you are in Houston too. Do you have nice surveillance system that you built after being inspired by this forum?

How does the Wifi based Reolink get it's power? Does these Reolink doorbells integrate with your NVR? Or completely standalone?

BTE: I have one traditionally wired DB that does not work. And, I have a back door that everyone uses as the front door that was never wired on the 2-story house.

Keep In Touch.

R

 

[wittaj]

See this thread below. Even though it is for the POE version, there is talks about the wifi version as well:

New Reolink Wired POE Doorbell Cam ?

Recently found a few release articles and videos by Reolink on their new POE Doorbell Camera. Per comments by Reolink it's ONVIF and RTSP compliant. Although I've been running a YooSee SD-M5 POE doorbell somewhat successfully for several years now I check back here from time to time to see if...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[The Automation Guy]

I've been using Charmed Quark Controller (CQC) as my automation system for nearly 20 years. It's actually defunct now and I will likely have to switch to something else eventually. I'm not looking forward to that day however.

I've never had real WiFi connection issues with my EZWiz DB1C or the original DB1. I originally had the DB1 on my front door, but moved it to the garage door when I acquired the DB1C. However I have pretty decent network gear and multiple APs around my house, not just the typical consumer grade stuff. I have to assume that helps.

 

[VorlonFrog]

I think the largest issue with all these doorbell cameras is typically heat-related. They have large heat-sinks for the microprocessor (since EVERYTHING is in it) and these are not good for WiFi reception, even using an outboard antenna inside the doorbell.

 

[mvoss]

Hi Michael, I love that you are in Houston too. Do you have nice surveillance system that you built after being inspired by this forum?

How does the Wifi based Reolink get it's power? Does these Reolink doorbells integrate with your NVR? Or completely standalone?

BTE: I have one traditionally wired DB that does not work. And, I have a back door that everyone uses as the front door that was never wired on the 2-story house.

Keep In Touch.

R

Macfun,

I have been into CCTV for 20 + years. My system on my property has 14 Cameras. I switched over to Blue Iris about a year ago. Prior to that i was running Milestone fora long time.

The WIFI device needs to have local power. Reolink has hinted about a battery operated DB camera for a short while but I havn't paid that much attendtion as to where they are at in developement. I believe it has been metioned in this forum.

Please let me know if I can help.

Michael

 

[wittaj]

Wow that’s a shocking state of affairs for doorbells. I guess we have a long way to go before this market segment matures. I guess I’ll look at tearing the house apart to get an actual network cable to the doorbell location. Thanks so much for your input is greatly appreciated.

Personally I wouldn't tear the house apart trying to get a doorbell camera LOL.

As you stated, the shocking state of affairs for doorbells are they are so bad that Reolink of all manufacturers has the best one out there LOL. Even then the optics are not great and MP/sensor ratio isn't the best.

Nobody rings doorbells anymore. I would rather have a better camera positioned to get the clean capture of someone at my door than rely on the doorbell camera.

Even in that thread you will see people mention that the doorbell camera isn't their primary camera for capturing someone come to their door.

 

[tangent]

Personally I wouldn't tear the house apart trying to get a doorbell camera LOL.

I wouldn't either, which is why I haven't tried to pull ethernet to the doorbell even though as doorbell's go mine's on the easier end of the spectrum. The built in micro sd card slot is a good backup if the wifi stutters.

-Front & Rear Door. Currently this home has a front doorbell only that does not work. The rear door never had a doorbell and it will be difficult to get wiring to it but anything is possible.

In a dual doorbell house like this everything is usually fed from the same transformer and often the same doorbell chime is used (many have a font and rear terminal with ding-dong and ding respectively).

What's relevant is this complicates hooking up an AC powered wifi doorbell. The transformer may not put out enough power and other wiring oddities could pop complicate things. If you're sufficiently motivated running Ethernet to the broken one is they way to go, if not there are wireless chime only options or battery powered doorbell camera models that are a bit underwhelming but might work.

More often than not someone will drop a package and be walking away or gone before I get the feed up unless I have it going in the background on another display. My echo show is always slow to load the video if it loads it at all. This is one thing the google home and google doorbells are quicker about iirc.