Reolink NEEDS object identification

After trying a few different PoE cameras, the Reolinks definitely have most of the features I want, but one missing feature is their ultimate failure.

I've mounted 3 Reolink cameras in 5 different locations over the past week and have experienced a never-ending stream of false alerts. Sun shining through the leaves casting shadows on the driveway. Tree branches moving in the wind. Leaves blowing across the driveway. Sun glinting off a parked car bumper. Passing cars creating lens flare in the camera itself. The cameras switching from day-night mode (come on guys, that one's just ridiculous).

I've moved the cameras. Aimed the cameras. Set progressively smaller motion zones. I've constantly adjusted the sensitivity of the cameras. The only solution is to make the sensitivity so low that they no longer alert when a person walks by. This is obviously unworkable.

In contrast, go test a Netatmo Presence to see what I'm on about. Real-time object detection is an absolute necessity anymore, and is obviously achievable. In my year with the Netatmo, I've seen about one false alert per month. Reolink? One false alert per hour, per camera, easily. And that's after adjusting the sensitivity *just* to the point at which a person will *almost* reliably set them off.

Don't get me wrong, the Netatmo has its own suite of frustrations. I am trying to replace it, after all. But they nailed the AI object detection, and created a new bar for the minimal set of features:

If motion [ car person ] and time [ < 11pm ] then record and FTP and push
If motion [ car person ] and time [ > 11pm ] then record and FTP and email
If motion [ animal ] then record and FTP and email
If motion [ other ] then record and FTP

And that's pretty much it. At the VERY LEAST, Reolink should have the ability to alert only if motion happens X times within Y seconds (mentioned in other threads), would be a HUGE step in the right direction. This would prevent most of my problems, as well as fix the alerts when cameras switch between day and night modes.

I mean, that one's so bad, I'd call it a bug.

So what say you, Reolink? How long before your cameras get modern brains? When will we see cameras that only try to talk to me when there's something interesting to discuss?

FongJeng Kum

Hi,

This is something I always wanted to see REOLINK to provide them in their firmware.
Give them some time...

'something I always wanted' and 'give them some time' lead me to think it might be a long wait.

If this isn't actively on the roadmap, with a projected release within the next few months, I think I'm out. Tall trees casting moving shadows all over the area I'm trying to monitor just doesn't seem like something these cameras can tolerate.

Bob

@jasonfish
Thanks for your comments. Our team has been aware of the problem and we will try to make the camera more intelligent in the future.
Thank you for your support for Reolink.

ndimeck

I need this feature.
Without is my camera is really no use to me as I require it to alert me for potential burglars.
My ring doorbell does this perfectly so why can't reolink?
Come on guys. This will be a real show stopper for a lot of customers.

kirk.horton

I was just getting ready to add a similar post. I have a Ring doorbell and I thought I was getting something similar when I set up a Reolink system around the house. The video quality is great and the mobile app brings up live video within seconds, however, I can't use this as a security system because of false alarms. With 7 cameras I get 50 or more "false" motion events every day including each IR/color transition (that is about 14 each day) plus airplane shadows crossing the ground, leaves blowing, insects, spider webs moving, lights turning on or off, tree shadows etc. Of course, then there is rain at night which sets off all the cameras constantly as the IR light is reflected off the raindrops - hundreds of motion events - my Gmail account was temporarily shut down as it tripped some threshold for the number of emails.

So I too have had to reduce motion sensitivity - Last week a deer crossed in front of 3 different cameras casually eating my plants, none of them detected the event as motion. The only way I know it happened is a notification from the Ring Doorbell.

I think the first priority is someway to snooze motion notifications for a period of time (like when it is raining). But if the motion detection algorithm can't be improved (for example, no security threat moves as fast as an airplane shadow!) then I don't think these cameras can be advertised as useful for security purposes.

André

Same problem here! I've got two RLC-422W and one Argus 2.
The dome cams produce a lot of false alerts every day, mostly because of insects, lights turning on and off, bird shadows and even smoke from our heat pump (in winter).
With 25 mail alerts every night no one wants to check for real threats anymore...

At least I would like to align the cams with the operating times of my security system:
Send a command to Reolink to activate mail alerting when the alarm system turns on and deactivate the motion detection when the alarm system gets turned off.
But without an official API...no chance

tallmanjolio

I just got the Argus 2 with solar combo and set that up in my Atrium. And the LAG is what's a bummer.. Just now the UPS guy delivered a package and my walk way to the front door 15 feet. It just recorded him bending over dropping the package and walking away. I'm not sure what the guy looked like.. Sensitivity is on high.

ndimeck

Me too. For me I would buy more of these if we had this feature working