Questions about my new PT 2k

[user_588567793635436_588567793635436]

My new PT 2K seems to be functioning for the most part, but some things don't seem right and I don't know if it is me or the product.

What works fine: camera is installed and communicating with the Reolink app on both an Android phone and an Android tablet. I can view the live video stream; capture and playback recordings; access and (seemingly) change all settings.

I'm having trouble with notifications. Sometimes they seem to work and sometimes not. Sometimes they are silent, sometimes not. WIsh I knew how to control that. I see that the Push Notification settings page has a "Test" button--for a long time that "Test" button did nothing. Now the test button on the tablet causes a silent notification on the phone, and the Test button on the phone causes an audible notification on the tablet. Sigh....Maybe there are some rules like "never access the camera from more than one client at the same time. OK, fine, I'll follow the rules, just tell me what they are.

Sometimes a recording is captured without a notification--Is that a valid operational scenario? In those cases, since a recording is started, it seems like detection at the camera is working, but not notification. I have my settings and schedules set properly, at least as presented at the app UI (see FULL DISCLOSURE below)

I'd also like to better understand how the detection part works, so let's start with a few basic questions about the video field of view (VFOV) and what I will call the PIR Field of View (PFOV): are the VFOV and PFOV roughly the same? I would be surprised if they are the same, and some of my testing (when notifications are working) suggests that the PFOV is smaller than the VFOV. But on the other hand, when streaming live video and a vehicle drives by at the top of my VFOV, a small vehicle icon appears in the upper right corner of the video stream. In other words, the camera somehow knows there is a vehicle at the outer edge of the VFOV. Is it using the PIR sensor to make this determination, or is it using some AI analysis of the video screen itself. And for both possibilities, when I see that icon, should I expect a notification at my Android device(s)? There are also icons for person and "other". For example the person icon seems to appear when a person enters from the edge of the VFOV, should that cause a detection and notification? Sometimes it seems to start a recording but not always a notification.

FULL DISCLOSURE: After the initial install notifications and detection seemed very repeatable and predictable. I then spent a lot of time fooling around with the schedules and settings, that's when things went haywire. I'm wondering if the detection/notifications are confused but it isn't coming through the app's UI, and perhaps a factory reset of the camera is in order. Opinions?


UPDATE: Upon further review it seems that the camera may be sending notifications but to the wrong place. Right now when I use the "Test" function on my phone the notification goes to the tablet, and vice versa. Also right now with the app off on both devices the camera is sending notifications to the tablet, whereas my primary device (for now) is the phone--so what determines where the camera sends its notifications? Please help Reolink!!

[John_350143387672724]

I have an Argus PT 2K camera.

Make sure you have the latest firmware version. You need to contact and request support to push the latest one to your camera if yours is not up to date. My Argus PT 2K is at firmware version: v3.0.0.875_22030800.

There may be existing support articles helpful in supplying the detail information you need.
https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/categories/360001141274-FAQs

Here's two on PIR.
https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006379253-Installation

https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000583003-What-is-PIR-Detection-Distance

[user_588567793635436_588567793635436]

@john_350143387672724

Thanks John for the info.

I did a manual firmware update today and am on V3.0.0.1045_2206130--newer than yours so you might want to look into it.

Does your camera show the person/vehicle/other icon in the upper right corner of the live feed when an object passes through the FOV? Is that icon a good indicator of when detection is in progress? If your feed never shows those icons I can try and post a screen shot.

It is becoming clear that my camera is sending notifications to my different devices at different times. Need to get to the bottom of how the camera decides where to send the notifications. Have you ever run the app on more than one device?

[John_350143387672724]

@user_588567793635436_588567793635436

Thanks for heads up on the new firmware. The last one had to be pushed to me by support. Sigh … unfortunately it’s not updating for me. The download and update completes but after restart the camera still has the old firmware. Not a big deal, I’ll just keep running on the old firmware.

Yes, the upper right-hand corner will show the alert that was triggered.

I’m mainly on the windows client, so I really don’t use the app that much. Although I do have my Argus PT alerts pushed to my android phone and they seem to work well for me.

Sorry, not much help on multiple devices running the app. I don’t know how you’ve up your other devices, but they may need to be setup to share from your one main device.

https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006916814-How-to-Share-Your-Device-s-UID-QR-Code-with-Others

[John_350143387672724]

If you haven't already done so, go and check your Reolink app settings on your android device.

Settings => Apps => then look for the Reolink app and check all of its settings.