Wifi Doorbell

Thanks just trying to pay back the great help I've received on the forum. If someone picks one up I'd definitely be interested in their opinion of this unit.
 
Hilda121 said:
They are unreliable.. My friend has used it and she was not satisfied with this product classna.
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Sorry she must have gotten a bad one then it's always been reliable for me going on 9 months now. The doorbell alert combined with the motion sensor I always know someone is at my front door. Granted I don't do the 2-way communication that much but when I have it's worked. She needs to contact Ray at GFB... very knowledgeable and he will take care of you.
 
mike2874 said:
Sorry she must have gotten a bad one then it's always been reliable for me going on 9 months now. The doorbell alert combined with the motion sensor I always know someone is at my front door. Granted I don't do the 2-way communication that much but when I have it's worked. She needs to contact Ray at GFB... very knowledgeable and he will take care of you.
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I believe @Hilda121was referring to a garbage aliexpress camera linked to by classna, not your GFB doorbell...
Upon further inspection, it appears hilda is a spammer and had been removed from the forum.
 
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mike2874 said:
I've been using a GBF PL960M WIFI IP Doorbell.
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Looks interesting. I am after a doorbell with a traditional 'door bell ringer'. So at least when are home you get the traditional 'dong' chime when someone presses the doorbell. Any idea if you can attach old style bell to the GBF ?
 
I was one of the earliest backers of Doorboot, which was later rebranded Ring. They've been through several product generations. Their first was essentially worthless. I tried to work with them to remedy the issues, but they were not interested. In fact, they were structurally unable to deal with the deluge of complaints from early adopters.

Even before the product shipped I suggested that they implement SIP as a means of integrating with the rest of the world. They stayed with a closed loop strategy, leveraging a fragile cloud service and abysmal smart phone app.

I documented my experience here: Guides & How-To’s
 
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mike2874 said:
I'm new to this forum but have already received great camera recommendations for my backyard. Anyway I've been using a GBF PL960M WIFI IP Doorbell GBF PL960M WiFi IP Doorbell with Remote Access by iOS and Android Smart Devices | GBF electronics Inc for about 8 months now and been very satisfied with it. I actually bought it off Amazon not from GBF website. From what I understand GBF is located in Canada but the company itself is Chinese.

When I purchased the PL960M the only other product in their line was the PL961QPM but they've added a whole slew of new products since then. Heck the PoE adapter wasn't even available at that time so I had to have an AC outlet ran in order to power it. The doorbell supports both WiFi, Ethernet, 2-way live video and audio monitoring, motion sensor, and can trigger a remote door lock or gate... it does not include cloud recording. It has a very robust build with an industrial look.

Tech support is great, software is ok and can probably be tweaked if you know what you are doing (I don't), the app itself I feel is a little sparse/clunky. I just started using Blue Iris which it supports so that's a much better setup along with the BI app. For doorbell alerts (someone pressing doorbell button) you get an alert on the GBF app to either accept (allows 2-way communication) or deny (don't want to talk). I don't know if the BI software/app could be configured to do this totally eliminating the GBF app... that's a little over my head.

I'm not the most qualified to judge the video but to me it seems plenty good for a doorbell camera. Your video standards on this forum are much higher than mine so please be your own judge.
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Thanks for the great info.
 
Mike said:
If you have Z-Wave you can do what I did for a doorbell - My Z-Wave Doorbell Project w/ pics
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That's an interesting idea. I would need to figure out how to get my zwave system talk to my BI PC, or could use arduino's interfaced to the BI PC to pass information, but that might me more work.
Guess it would be nice to get notifications based on events like ringing the door bell, alarm going off, or opening the garage door.

My wife likes the "ring" idea, so I may try one of those gbf models. It seems like they should be coming out with doorbell cams that can interface with BI, but I guess we are a limited market, compared to people who just want an iphone app that's idiot proof.

Randy
 
randytsuch said:
It seems like they should be coming out with doorbell cams that can interface with BI, but I guess we are a limited market, compared to people who just want an iphone app that's idiot proof.

Randy
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Just for the record as I stated above the GBF doorbell does work with BI and does a great job. In fact one of GBF's techs actually suggested using BI with their doorbell if I wanted more features.
 
IMHO, WiFi is not suitable for a fixed installation involving streaming media. Around here I pull Ethernet to a location if it's possible to connect a device that way. WiFi is only for mobile devices.

After my Doorbot/Ring debacle I installed an Algo Solutions SIP doorphone. No video, but it works perfectly every time. No latency. No dependence upon someone's cloud service or my internet connection. It dovetails with our computers, home & mobile phones. I can see the person at the gate on one of our existing cameras, even as they talk to me.
 
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mike2874 said:
Just for the record as I stated above the GBF doorbell does work with BI and does a great job. In fact one of GBF's techs actually suggested using BI with their doorbell if I wanted more features.
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Yes I know, and I appreciate it.
Was trying to say there should be more than one company making these things.
 
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I hear good things about DoorBird. It apparently has an API/SDK and supports onvif. Works with PoE if available or you have to work (more than I was willing) to make it work with existing bell wiring. Not too much harder than Ring. Integrates with some smartlocks too. Costs a bomb though ($378) and has very large profile. I hear their app has terrible UX.
 
In a two story home such as mine, getting ethernet to my existing doorbell area is problematic at least. I looked at the GBF on amazon a while ago but got the ring to get my wife off my back about it. "It is all I want," she says; further saying, "You are making a big project out of this." Of course I am. that's what I do. But I want better than ring and don't really want to pony up an annual fee to them. I tried the Yale Look Viewer. Still a closed system using WiFi but they promise z-wave later on. That didn't connect fast enough so I sent it back. The ring seems to be much faster than the Look thus far but I will continue to look for a better solution that doesn't cost me money repeatedly and allows me to control it outside a walled garden. For those of you using GBF, how's it working out for you? BTW, I did look into the DoorBird too but it seemed it was a little early on for day to day use so my wife would reject it immediately. I looked at the z-wave solution above and that left me with more questions, which I asked on that old thread.
 
I bought a Doorbird but I've not installed it yet (prob wont for another ~2 months)..Can let you know how it goes after I had a chance to get it all setup.
 
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Hi!
I run a PL960M at my friends house since 2 years. After upgrading the fw to the latest version available (got it from a canadian site) problems are gone. Notifications do not go "over-the-air" in his case, but on a local android tablet. Video of visitors gets recorded with an synology surveillance station. He is quite happy with this solution so far.

Due the fact the device is not cheap enough, I bought a myself a Ebell ATZ-DBV03 for about 50$. Actually great looking device, with pretty good finish for my understanding, but you have to use the chinese cloud solution, which I do not trust (off course!).
Therefore I hacked the device and now I am free to do with it whatever I need. I wrote my own programs (MQTT client,IP push notfication,...) that make the doorbell work even without cloud and internet.
I am able to cross-compile any c-code so that it will work on the doorbell. Next step is a SIP client, to connects it to my asterisk.
 
I’m looking for a doorbell cam that I can get the video and audio to Blueiris. As well, I currently have an Aiphone intercom in my house which I’d lose if I put in a Ring doorbell or something. Any suggestions on how to keep the Aiphone AND get a doorbell cam that integrates with Blueiris??
 
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