Posts made by Chopstix

@joseph_1979 in theory, a camera with eSIM could have a country specific firmware installed that when initialized, registers itself with all available carriers for that region. I spent some years doing software design for Ford Motor Company. If I were tasked with this project, my process would go like this...

1) Purchase use subscription from camera vendor.
2) Vendor activates device with all local region carriers.
3) Upon initialization, camera is downloaded with carrier info into separate profiles.
4) Camera detects strongest signal and writes the eSIM profile accordingly.
5) When signal drops below a specified strength for a specified duration, camera performs signal detection again.

Then I would hand it off to the dev team for coding

Perhaps the camera has the ability to store multiple carrier profiles that are managed by the end user rather than a single vendor subscription. Anyhow, yes, I am interested in knowing how they are implementing this.

@joseph_1979 I appreciate the detailed explanation my friend. I am well-versed in SIM and eSIM as well. Not quite as deep as your knowledge so I do appreciate the details!

I was more referring to the end-user experience. Based on the advertising that the camera can pick the strongest 4G network, that assumes that the end user has multiple providers available to them. Does this suggest that the end-user must have a subscription to multiple providers? This is not a good selling feature.

There are two-way radio manufacturers (retailers) that are offering two-way radios that operate on 4G (I assume auto-switching eSIM) with only the end user paying a subscription fee to the manufacturer. They suggest that the radios will find and connect to the best 4G signal it can find. The end user pays a single subscription fee to the manufacturer and the mfr handles the rest. This of course does not come without concern of long-term sustainability as the radios are useless without subscription or if the companies go out of business.

So this brings us back to the camera... single subscription to Camvue or does the end user have to manage multiple cellular subscriptions?

@reolink-oskar from the link, "The included SIM card auto-selects the strongest 4G network". So subscription is to Camovue, not the carrier of your choosing? There are some handheld radio companies moving to a direct subscription model vs carrier-based.

@flashmagnum_909351053578484 that's not immersive mode you are seeing. Immersive is something different. I do not have a TrackMix but I believe that is the preview of the second lens. My thoughts are that is by design so that you can easily identify dual-lens cameras. I believe @joseph_1979 has a TrackMix and should be able to offer some clarity.

@joseph_1979 100% on the scheduling. I was more speaking to remote triggers such as doors and windows.

@joseph_1979 spelling comprehension is important. Edited! Thanks!

That is exactly my point. For the price difference, I am wondering why even test/add motion tracking on the Argus PT Ultra. The price/feature difference makes the Altas an easy upgrade choice.

To that, I think I read somewhere (maybe Redit) that the Altas with continuous record ON (required for pre-detection recording) only has maybe a week of runtime on battery alone. And that the always ON schedule does not allow for a full 24/7. There is a daily limit. I will try to find it.

Regardless, I think the Altas PT Ultra will be my next purchase.

@reolink-oskar I have been testing/evaluating the Argus PT Ultra Motion Tracking version. I am curious, with the negligible price difference between the Altas and the Argus, why did Reolink decide to test motion tracking in the Argus? The Altas seems like an easy upgrade choice if you want motion tracking.

@pilotbum_610109044129914 many HA's are heavily dependent on cloud services and as a result, network issues such as latency could impact performance. For example, I can not use Reolink's Google Home integration as I experience on average 8 seconds of latency in video startup and live viewing through Google Home. In my head, something like multiple sensors in the camera base to monitor for motion in a 270-360 degree field might work better.

@user_823105804419257_823105804419257 for information regarding returns and refunds, please visit https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000280514-Orders-Payment/

@joseph_1979 I hope they are paying attention regularly. As a family, we do a lot of RV'ing. Not a day does by with the big rig that I wonder if engineers ever spend time camping/touring in a motorhome that they have designed. I am active in several branded motorhome groups an while there are factory reps that monitor them, it seems like the information goes nowhere.

@sparker_825114123485429 Choppy from the... mobile app?... Are you on cellular service or local area Wi-Fi? It is specific to particular connection type?

@kimchigun it’s 8° today however last week it was above freezing, 34 to 38° daily on average with sun and I wasn’t getting charging. Could simply be some quality consistency issues with whoever supplies the batteries. I know of a lot of batteries won’t charge below 40F. Maybe that’s what I am experiencing.

@joseph_1979 that's how it SHOULD work, but it does not. With this camera (at least with mine), post-recording time starts as soon as motion is detected NOT after the motion stops. I can jump in front of the camera momentarily and it will recorded the full 30 seconds. My son can do a 3-minute Fortnite dance in middle of the FOV and it will fragment after 30-seconds with multiple video fragments to follow. I have tried this repeated times and the initial fragment is 8, 15, 30 seconds respectively. I am convinced that there is a firmware bug.

@kimchigun Happy wife, happy life something something hahaha. I did have to disable "Other" as well as "Vehicle" since turning up the PIR sensitivity.

@radioastronomy_410111540293820 I have some generic IR lights from Amazon. They use a simple photo sensor for when to turn on. I find that they come on well before it's took dark for the cameras to be effective. Your mileage will vary of course.

Not that I encourage this as it will certainly void warranties, but it is conceivable (with the proper skill set) to take the Reolink PoE floodlight and replace the white LEDs with IR arrays.

@peter_748442346729617 a visible camera caused social problems. A hidden camera, if discovered, would also cause problems. So you are looking for something that can be hidden but if discovered doesn't look like it has been hidden... because... you think that won't cause problems? Is there a legal issue at play here? None of my business but it sounds like you either need to 1) not monitor that area -or- 2) work out the social problems.

In any event, 1" - 2" sized minimalist cameras do exist. Not from Reolink, but there are dozens of options out there.

Quick update. After some discussion with @joseph_1979 and @KimchiGUN I tweaked some settings and the results are as follows:

1) Increasing the post-detection recording from 8-seconds to 15-seconds and 30-seconds does not prevent fragmenting of the event the video. It only affects the first fragment of the event. The first fragment is 8, 15, or 30 seconds (based on setting) and the remaining event video is fragment at random lengths. I suspect this is a firmware oversight as the post-detection timer should trigger ONLY after motion is no longer detected. The way it is now, you get either 8, 15 or 30 seconds of static video before another function takes over.

2) The default PIR sensitivity is 80. Increasing to 90 reduced some fragmenting. Increasing to 100 further reduced fragmenting however I could not get fewer than 3 fragments even with 2 minutes of continuous motion. First fragment was 30 seconds, second fragment was 48 seconds and third fragment was 46 seconds. Having the sensitivity up that high introduces other issues but I will attempt to overcome those via settings before I comment.

Without a better understanding of how the camera determines when to split video, I can only assume that there is a firmware oversight or a bug.

@joseph_1979 laziness averted. First test run video upload and link added to original post.

@kimchigun My battery has never shown the lightning bolt except during charge from USB wall charger. With panel connected, I get the sunburst icon but never the lighting bolt icon. I am wondering if I have a bad panel.

I am starting to play PIR sensitivity an other settings to see if I get less fragments.

@joseph_1979 I have increased it to 15 seconds. The options are 8, 15, 30. I'll post back when I get some data. If I stop being lazy today, I'll see about getting the initial test clips uploaded to YouTube.