Some thoughts/feedback on Reolink client apps (desktop/mobile)

Richard

Good afternoon (o;

Been using some Reolink cameras for few weeks now together with different client apps and here some feedback/thoughts which also go into the app store reviews...

macOS client App:

- Why the heck has the software developer not implemented the feature that after restart the application the window size and position will be remembered???

- And speaking of: why has the macOS version no option to not stretch the camera feeds? On Windows version there is the option to keep the aspect ratio.

Windows client App:

- Also here it doesn't remember the window size and position on next start. A feature almost every software knows of!!!

- Last version is from 31.12.2020...and 32 Bit only. Really 32bit??? It is 2021 already now (o;

iOS/Android client app:

- Why is there no "always landscape" mode? It is really annoying when you want to watch several streams at once, but when changing settings it switches to portrait mode.

- Only 2 x 2 layout for multiple streams

It would be great if the mobile app would have the same layout as the Windows client version in landscape mode...

Others than that..so far the Windows client version seems to be the best implemented client version, despite the 32bit version only...

cheers
richard

john

Not sure on iOS, but on Android it can do 4x4 in either landscape or portrait mode. I also agree with the other stuff.

-John
Screenshot_20210104-083319_Reolink.jpg
Screenshot_20210104-083828_Reolink.jpg

Richard

Some other important features would be:

- Delete individual recordings on the microSD card in the camera
- Mark a recording on the microSD card as undeletable

Wonder why on the mobile client animated screenshots are available.
Though when you switch cameras it shows the previous screenshots until new ones are downloaded...

On the desktop clients it is hard to select a specific recording on the microSD card for playing back...

john

I'm using the NVR though. If you're using individual cameras, that might be the difference on the 2x2 vs. 4x4.

Richard

I thought of going the NVR way...but here in \.ch they are selling the old non-4k models for a high price...at least no one mentions the exact model....but this model numbering is a general problem with Reolink (o;

The RLN devices would be nice if they had a SFP port as well for the cameras to extend the cabling...as at a certain point fibre is cheaper and more reliable than copper.....

Otherwise I end up with 6 to 8 * 50m STP cables which adds around half of the camera costs...

Also tried some open source Linux NVR solutions....but no one is really reliable or useful in real life....either with the rtsp implementation of Reolink or with feeding dual main/sub streams from a p2p2rtsp proxy...

All rtsp Reolink feeds tell that it is always 29.97 fps, regardless of the settings....so only a p2p proxy seems to be a reliable solution so far on Linux...but current NVRs are rubbish..at least true for bluecherry, zoneminder and shinobi...

Cynthia

We really appreciate your feedback. We will forward it to the R&D team to make improvements in the future.

Richard

Hello Cynthia

Thanks for the heads up

Really love your cameras...as they are just incredible value for the money...

BTW: Is there any feature in the camera firmware like take a snapshot at a specific time every day or can it be triggered from the outside?

Cynthia

Are you referring to the time-lapse function? Some of our cameras support this function.
https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900002833483-What-is-Time-Lapse

Richard

Hello Cynthia

Hmm..there is already a command built into the cameras:

https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007011233-How-to-Capture-Live-JPEG-Image-of-Reolink-Cameras-via-Web-Browsers

Works like a charm (o;

BTW: Are there other commands documented for the cameras?

This suggests that there must be more:

http://192.168.2.119/cgi-bin/api.cgi?cmd=Snap

Cynthia

You can find more commands on throught link: https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000629206-Where-Can-I-Get-Reolink-Camera-s-CGI-API-File

Richard

Hi Cynthia

Are Snap and Search the only HTTP cgi-bin commands by cgiserver on the camera?
Thought I saw also something for downloading recordings....

BTW: I do not need the rs parameter....and Snap supports snap_widht/snap_height which isn't in your API reference..

cheers
richard

Cynthia

Sorry that here is all the API that we can provide.