I believe under Profile... Settings (gear symbol) there are options for what notifications to receive.

I believe that all important settings are kept on the cameras themselves. When the Client program starts on the new computer, it will scan the LAN looking for cameras and import the settings from them.

I know of no method to set a constant FTP file name on the Reolink RLC cameras. (Battery powered cameras do not support FTP at all.)
(Lack broad experience with web cams, but some brands such as Wyze and Arlo also lack FTP.)

The effect you seek may be possible some other way, such as:

• Have an app that watches the FTP server and when a new file shows up, erase the previous file and rename the new one.
• Use something besides FTP to gather images from the camera. For example, this article describes how to load JPEG images to a web server:

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

Click on the Plus sign ("+") and the Reolink Windows Client application will automatically search the local IP subnet for cameras and display any that it finds.
To add cameras that the program does not find on the local network, enter the UID code for the camera in the box and the program will search the Reolink "Cloud" for the camera, similar to the way the Reolink Apple or Android app does.

Could you please identify the cameras involved?

I have found that battery operated cameras give the appearance of being "disconnected" when they go into some sort of power saving mode. Selected the camera "wakes them up" and the app or the Windows Client connects to them.

Would you mind sharing the reasoning for not using Google to watch for and notify of new Reolink app versions?

@reolink-fiona

And, there is now a Beta version of Windows Client 8.4. My guess is that Reolink engineers will be more likely to respond to problem reports about the latest software version.

My guess: People will be ice skating in.... (that place) before Reolink releases a camera with PowerLine built in. That's not their 'niche'.

A substitute would be either:

• Comtrend PG-9172POE Powerline Ethernet +PoE Adapter ($70US) which bundles Powerline and a PoE injector into one box, or
• A Powerline adapter plus a PoE injector (these are really cheap).

Carl,

Just a suggestion. It would be helpful if Reolink provided a mechanism for customers to request changes. Although I do not feel the same sense of urgency that this customer does, I support his concept. Cameras record "motion" all the time, sometimes literally 100's of time in one day. "Which of these have I already looked at?" Who knows? Reolink certainly doesn't provide any hints. The battery-powered cameras do not provide the capabilities (such as FTP) that customers could use to provide their own method of tagging and deleting files. Pulling the SIM card every day is just a dumb idea.

Other vendors provide formal web sites to suggest improvements. Netgear, for example: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/idb-p/idea-exchange-for-home/label-name/orbi%20wifi%20system

It would encourage customers if they had a way to suggest improvements and give the developers something to think about.

Depending on which cameras they are, create a user ID & password for the contractor and enable it on each of the cameras you want him to be able to view.
He can install the Reolink app on iPhone or Android, or the Reolink Client on Windows or Mac and use the UID to open the cameras.
(The original Argus camera allows only a single user ID.)

Actually, since UID codes are almost impossible to guess, just tell him the User ID (which is usually "admin"), the password, and the UID's of the cameras you want him to view.

@user_623715019411529_623715019411529
That's an interesting theory, but my Wireshark captures do not confirm that. When a device is set (on the device) to a Static IP, it never makes a DHCP request of the router. This could easily lead to conflicts if the router attempts to assign that IP address to another device. Home routers definitely care about the subnet mask (if that is what 'scope' refers to). When any device on the network wants to connect to somewhere, it compares the destination IP address against the subnet mask. If the destination is in the same subnet as the sender, the sender will issue an ARP request to find the MAC address of the destination and use the MAC address to send directly to the destination. If the destination is outside of the subnet, then the device will send the packet to the gateway and say, "You find out where this destination is because it's not on the network with me."

I agree that setting Static IPs on the device is not a great thing to get into. FAR better to make the IP assignments on the router to start with. However, once the camera has been told "this is your IP", I cannot imagine what would cause it to change.

@kevin_603403140067368 Good point. Was amused that the video on how to mount the camera completely ignores that large hole in the mounting bracket. Video makes a big point about using the "weatherproof" sleeve to protect the PoE Ethernet cable, but completely omits how to weatherproof the 12v. power socket and the Reset switch. My solution would be:

• Mount the camera high enough that an intruder cannot reach it easily.
• Drill a hole in the wall or soffit and pass the entire bundle of cables through the hole where they are (a) protected from weather, and (b) hidden from intruders. With regular RLC cameras, that large hole is completely hidden by the mounting bracket, so a bead of caulk around the mount waterproofs the building penetration. With this design - meh.

No idea why Reolink persists in using that "bundle" of three wires with PoE cameras.

@user_659834888663155_659834888663155 Same question: Is this a battery powered camera or an RLC (line powered) camera?
If it is a line powered camera, what sensitivity level is set?

@saf3_480263206457537 What happens when the Add a Device is selected (Plus Sign)


This will Scan the local network and has an option to add the camera using the UID.

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318
(This discussion is probably not helping understand the original issue: Static IP defined on the camera changing to DHCP,
but........)

When a Static IP is defined, the Gateway IP address must be on the same IP subnet as the camera. For consumers, this is almost always their home WiFi router. Once the Gateway gets the DNS query, it can to "whatever it wants." It could forward requests to the ISP, to Google, to CloudFlare, etc.

If the camera was set to use Google DNS (rather than "Auto") then the camera would send DNS requests to the Gateway IP address because Google DNS (8.8.8.8) is not on the local IP subnet. These requests would bypass the consumer router and ISP and go directly to Google.

Probably going in circles with this. I have no clue what could cause a camera which has been set to a Static IP to change to DHCP.

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318 Thanks for the explanation. The term "Auto" was a surprise. If the screen had said, "Use Gateway IP address for DNS", there would have been no doubt.

@dverleysen_151162104025310 Truly a puzzle. I had thought that DHCP is the process by which devices learn the address of DNS servers. No DHCP: no DNS. (My knowledge is not deep.)
Perhaps you could try specifying the DNS servers (even if you are happy using the router gateway IP, just hard code it).

I found setting Static IP on individual devices to be a chore. Most routers offer the capability to "assign" or "reserve" IP addresses by entering device MAC addresses in a table. The device thinks it is using DHCP (and it is), but every time it gets the same IP from the table.

Distance is a factor for battery powered cameras, which use inexpensive Passive Infra Red (PIR) sensors to detect "movement". PIR sensors operate with a very small amount of electrical current.
The RLC cameras which are constantly powered from an electrical circuit compare picture frames to detect how many pixels have "changed". They also have logic to determine if these changes correspond to a vehicle, person, or small animal. My RLC-1212 camera detects a car driving down a side street that never comes within 150' of the camera.

Which camera are you asking about?

@reolink-fiona 8.8.4 installed over 8.8.2 and all cameras remained as they were except:

• I always run local cameras with "Clear" video (why not?). It appears that this update set every camera to "Fluent".
• This was "not a big deal" (just right click and change the video setting) except that two cameras, RLC-1212 and Argus 3 Pro, seem to have the labels reversed. Fluent is sharper than Clear. Will investigate more, but this seems like an unusual situation. (If I save snapshots will they reflect the video setting.... or???)
• Some cameras have only two choices: Clear/Fluent. Other cameras have three choices: Clear/Balanced/Fluent

@muppet_652097732632624 Reolink has this article on the web. (note that we cannot post actual URLs, so I have removed the "web part":
support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007010473-How-to-Live-View-Reolink-Cameras-via-VLC-Media-Player