Trackmix patrol mode

[user_797298437054680_797298437054680]

Hello everyone,

I just purchased the trackmix wifi model and cant find patrol mode for it. I found earlier topics about the patrol mode missing, but could it be added with a software upgrade?

[joseph_1979]

@user_797298437054680_797298437054680 Only tracking is available on the TrackMix.

[user_797298437054680_797298437054680]

@joseph_1979

That very weird and dumb.

Trackmix already has everything for the patrol mode, except a button on the app. It is already possible to set preset points for the camera, but you cant set it to move between these point on different time intervals?!?

[joseph_1979]

@user_797298437054680_797298437054680 That is what it is. Perhaps in new TM releases. Submit your request to their support.

[Chris_828172529791192]

@user_797298437054680_797298437054680 This is something they should implement I was surprised that that it wasn’t. Nearly all modern cheep PTZ cameras have this basic feature. My guess is that they are reserving it as a special feature for their more costly cameras which is a terrible decision. The trackmix should definitely have it. Especially since they pushed it so heavily upon release. I won’t recommend the cam because of this.

[user_748916590334191_748916590334191]

I am also interested in patrol mode. Is this in the roadmap? If so, when will it be released?

[Stuart_185312528715954]

@user_797298437054680_797298437054680


Reolink will probably never implement this. Personally I don't feel they are a serious security camera company from everything I've seen over the years of using their cameras. Although having said that they do have patrol mode as an ability you can test for in their camera API (Application Programming Interface) so maybe it's a feature in one of their cameras. Just don't hold your breath on getting this sort of function added to a camera (the Trackmix) that was released without it.

You can implement it yourself if you're happy to run something like a NodeRed server and also decipher their very poor camera API documentation. I haven't implemented a patrol mode, but I do use NodeRed to move a Trackmix camera to a specific saved PTZ Monitor location upon a trigger from a Zigbee sensor. Although you could trigger on anything - even time intervals which is all a patrol mode is.

I did it as a proof of concept and because I already had a squirrel feeder with a Zigbee sensor that I could use as a trigger. When the squirrel opens the feeder door I send the API command to the Trackmix camera to turn off Guard mode (the mode that auto returns the camera to a set position - called Monitor Point in the apps) and move the camera to a saved position that is zoomed in on the feeder. The camera then stays zoomed to the feeder while the squirrel feeds. Then if the feeder door remains closed for longer than 1 minute I simply turn the Guard mode back on with a 60 second auto return time. This means the door has to stay closed for a total of 2 minutes before the camera returns to it's saved monitor point. I assume that if the squirrel hasn't opened the feeder for 2 minutes then it's stopped feeding.

For a patrol mode you could just send the specific saved PTZ Guard locations to the camera at your preferred intervals. Reolink could implement this very easily in their apps if they wanted to - after all, as I said all the commands are in the camera API specification. Obviously the app would have to be running constantly. This is the beauty of using a small low power server with NodeRed sending API commands - something like a Raspberry Pi.

I accept that most of this is beyond the average user which is also why it would be nice that Reolink would implement this sort of functionality, but as I said, they're not really a serious security camera company.

The API documentation can be found by searching for 'Reolink camera API' on Google.

Hope this helps.

[md]

@stuart_185312528715954 I used to keep a document of how many security cam companies there are, the year the company started, headquarters location, etc. I stopped when I reached 40, ugh. I don't know how you define "serious" but Reolink has a lot of cam models, NVR, Home Hub, they have more camera options than a lot of consumer cam brands. Everybody wishes a camera had every feature we want, subscription free. Reolink is great for home owners and small businesses, their market is not big business, high security like banks, casinos, military bases etc. Techy users that use Home Assistant, Blue Iris, Synology etc will find Reolink apps lacking. But as you said most home owners aren't that techy and don't want to be. There's a YouTube channel The Hook Up that has compared Reolink cams to other brands, how they work with Blue Iris, etc. For the money Reolink cams are good in his opinion and my opinion too. It takes a while but Reolink does implement new features. I've been using Reolink for over four years, before they released AI firmware. I don't know if they'll add patrol mode to trackmix but I don't use that feature anyway on my 823A x5, prefer auto tracking mode. In my opinion it's much better to have two cams covering an area rather than one PT/PTZ. While looking one way a bad thing could happen where a PT/PTZ is not looking, the incident will be completely missed.

[ByteusMax]

Already returned a E1 Pro due to depth of field issues but it at least did have basic manual focus which would also be nice on the Trackmix which lacks it. Trackmix does have better depth of field although manual focus would be nice as well. I can still return the Trackmix and I agree it's strange to be missing Patrol mode on this particular PTZ camera. Tried searching through the store for the feature on another PTZ camera and found it on the RLC-823S1W, about $50 more.

Shame they seem to be going with wall mount on the new cameras, I need a ceiling mount capability although it looks like this one offers it, but you have to buy it separately and with only one screw to secure, it seems prone to wabbling, great. The Trackmix can be mounted either on a wall or ceiling, no attachment necessary and it's solid. 823S1W reminds me of bit of my favorite Martian with the large wifi antennas. Hopefully the HOA will approve.

Update: Reading reviews on the 823S1W, turns out it's PTZ motors are noisy which was another issue I experienced with the E1 Pro that in addition to Depth of field issues warranted a return. The Trackmix has near silent servos, as much as I'd like Patrol mode, I can see downgrading to just one camera with noisy servos as a win and very likely the noise would have me not wanting to use patrol mode. Really puzzling how they got it right with the trackmix and then totally screwed up on the newer models.