2y ago

Why shouldn't I use Reolink Cameras?

The next step in my HA journey is adding cameras; indoor, outdoor, and doorbell so I've been exploring my options. I had originally intended to do a Frigate setup, I even have a Coral module and PC to do it with, but then I discovered Reolink.

Without having any experience with them they look nearly ideal. They seem to have tight integration with HA 2023.3 or later and their pricing and functionality look good.

They seem like a no brainer but I've noticed that they're often NOT the first recommendation in the HA Community. Why is that and why shouldn't I use them?

18 comments

I've got some RLC-820As working perfectly using PoE and Frigate on a Raspberry Pi.
I also have a Coral TPU USB plugged in to the Pi, so inferencing is lightning fast, and reasonably accurate (I've caught my neighbour's cat many times climbing on my caravan). The sensors for object detection are all available in Home Assistant (and node-red by extension, where I handle all automations).
The Hook Up does regular reviews of cameras, including Reolink, that you might find useful.
- That's the kind of information I was looking for, thanks!

I can't speak toward Frigate integration, but, for a long time they didn't play super nice with Blue Iris, but Reolink has since released firmware updates that have fixed many of the issues people had with them.
I currently run a few Reolink RLC-810a cameras. I have them added to both Blue Iris and Home Assistant, and I have no complaints.

I have my entire house perimeter covered with them. Have I integrated them with HA? No. I don’t feel like I need to. The mobile app and notifications works well for me as does the desktop app.
The only time they acted weird was due to a spider web going across the lens. At night with wind it would trigger random motion alarms. My own damn fault for not cleaning them more often.
Edit: One last point, having the recordings local instead of the cloud is a big plus for me and their NVR works well.
- Good info! I'd want the HA integration because I won't use anything that requires cloud access, at least not past the initial setup. That means the RL mobile app and notifications won't work unless I use push them through HA.
  
  Yep, Reolink app pulls from your nvr… I think the only use of the cloud is authentication purposes. So make sure you have a good network connection. 😉

I've got two 820As and tried getting them to work with frigate with no success. I am a bit of a Linux noob, so I'm sure I could have tweaked some more, but I instead tried out Blue Iris and they worked without issue. I've now got AI detection and motion alerts going to my phone through home assistant and they were fairly straightforward to set up.

I only use Reolinks these days. RLC-410 - some dome and some bullet. Cheap and easy to setup. I'm a long term Zoneminder user which I get to watch the low res stream and record on the high res stream. My ZM is a VM on VMware with a cheap Nvidia GPU passed through for CUDA. This still works: https://wiki.zoneminder.com/GPU_passthrough_in_VMWare but I should probably bring the wiki page up to date.
I have a Reolink door bell too - I went for the PoE one. It's a lot better than my old Doorbird but not as sturdy. The door bird could drive a chime too which was nice. The Reo can't but it is a PoE powered unit with a UPS backing the switch. That's pretty resilient.
They never get to see the internet. I fiddle DNS so that pool.ntp.com points at my ntp daemons but I run an IT company so that might be a bit excessive for most! I have three Pis with GPS hats and antennae.
As you say, they are well supported by HA too. If you have a Coral and Frigate then you have lots of options. Just keep them away from the internet if you are concerned about who is looking through them apart from you.

I've got a RLC 520 working beautifully with frigate and the coral module. Use the app to set it up and then block it at the router from outside Internet access if that's a concern. I think it's a great camera and would recommend

The RTSP streams on most older units is really unstable (feeds freeze/stopworking etc) and makes it hard to use in frigate / Blueiris / Even Synology surveillance station.. SOME of the brand new ones are OK but it is really hard to tell as Reolink frequently sells the same "Model" but with completely different hardware revisions and DIFFERENT firmware available per revision.
If you stick with the native reolink HW / Apps / NVRs they are a great value. Lots of bang for the buck.
If you want to use cameras with frigate, look at the frigate and go2rtc projects recommended cameras / forums / git repos for info on models that are known to work.
- Problem with the Frigate recommended ones is they are all currently being removed from government offices worldwide for security reasons. I mean, if you don't care about that then there's lots of cheap cameras going for auction....
  
  If you need tinfoil don’t get cameras.
  If you just have a security concern as you should with all IP cameras put them on an isolated vLAN and punch just rstp access to them through the firewall from a separate local vLAN for the NVR. Don’t give them internet access.

I have a couple - one doorbell cam and an Argus Pro. I don't really integrate them with my HASS setup though - haven't found a compelling reason to do so. Avoid the battery powered cameras like the Argus Pro though - nearly useless (poor object detection, no RTSP, slow to connect, no HASS integration).

I'm running a few Reolink RLC-520A's on a separate VLAN with Frigate and Home Assistant - no GPU or Coral yet, just a CPU detector. It works pretty well! The reason they might not be the first choice is that YMMV with HA/Frigate compatibility based on which model you get, a little research must be done. Frigate has some specific settings to make the RTSP work better on the models that are functional.

I make use of Reolink cameras with Frigate (mix of PoE and WiFi) and haven't had any issues with the smart home integration. The only issue I've had is with some RLC-811s (and a few other outdoor ones) where water gets into the reset cable and the camera essentially starts boot looping. Seal off those cables and you should be good though.
- Don't forget to use a drip loop. https://blog.solidsignal.com/tutorials/what-is-a-drip-loop/

18 comments