Reolink Camera and NVR upgrades, updates, fixes, and suggestions.

68stang68

I currently have my house/shop/property covered by primarily reolink cameras using blue iris, the RLN36 NVR as a backup, and as stand alones with sd card using the phone app. recently i've had some concerns that if aren't remedied shortly I'll sadly be moving away from Reolink cameras to another brand/setup. some are major issues while others are just quality of life changes that should be easy to implement. Blue Iris actually handles a lot of these issues but i shouldn't have to keep up a 3rd party software to do what the camera system can and should do.

1. the biggest issue i have is there is no notification system for when a camera goes offline other than maybe an onscreen display from the NVR. i don't monitor this. its an unnacceptable solution for security. this needs to be an email at least if not a phone notification through the App that should pair to the NVR. notifications of HDD issues, camera going offline completely (IP no longer reachable/pingable), or even a camera freezing up but still technically "online" on the network. this could be resolved by having an auto reboot in place if the cameras image has been still for a time period.

2. next major issue is spam notifications. the AI isn't the greatest. bugs, spider webs, and rain cause false person/pet alerts like crazy. if you adjust it down low enough to not trigger a false alert then you no longer get accurate real alerts. it also detects random "motion" of say cloud coverage changing the lighting then triggers a still object that didn't move. sometimes a valid object like a car that's been parked.. sometimes it detects a trash can, grill, etc as a "car"..

3. the last major issue is one that should be an easy resolution as well. adding some sort of geofencing. almost every IOT device now days has this. it doesn't have to use GPS (what my unifi cams use), but that's one way is the GPS from your mobile phone to detect when home. i prefer using wifi. add the ability to not send camera alerts on a per camera basis when a mobile phone (specific mac address, IP address, or phone running the reolink app) is connected to the same network the camera is on. i want to be alerted of possible intruders when im away. i don't want to be spammed when im cutting my grass. another work around solution that would be a nice addition is the ability to mute alerts for set time periods within the app or a quick switch button in the app to disable/enable all notification from the cams. wyze has this. i have the option to mute notification on the phone side for 1hr or rest of the day and that's it.

4. keyboard support on the NVR. the onscreen keyboard is slow to use and really just a PITA.. it has USB.. why does it only support a mouse.

5. lastly would be the lack of information on notifications. almost every other camera system i've used send a lower resolution still show when motion alert is triggered on the phone so you can see what it is without having to launch the app, go to playback, search for the motion event, etc.. maybe email does this but i haven't configured it. the reolink app should be able to do this though. a lot of these things including this is why i've had to use BlueIris as an NVR software instead of just your NVR. not to mention the app is sluggish to load camera stream, the playback "clip" view isn't great compared to others. unifi cams does this perfect. stream comes up fast. it has a constant timelapse that isn't broken into clips and plays smooth and flawless when scrolling through and shows alerts perfectly. you can also click an alert and it plays right at the moment of motion.