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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.
Thanks for posting about 8.10.4 The update went smoothly and kept all cameras. However, the "black blink" remains when zooming a Live View.In Live View, the mouse scroll wheel can be used to digitally zoom the picture. Once the magnification has changed, the mouse can be used to select different parts of the picture. With 8.10.2, 3, and 4, these activities cause the picture to "blink" with totally black screens. Very distracting. Even if the Live View is at the maximum zoom (in or out. either extreme), using the mouse wheel continues to make the screen "blink".Windows 10, 64-bit.
My experience is the same as yours. I find it very frustrating. I have also noticed that Clear and Fluent motion recordings are not identical as to when they begin recording. I have asked for two changes:
** Imagine this scenario: There is a lot of traffic down my street. If the actual street is part of the 'detection zone', there would be 100's of recordings of cars going by that I have no interest in. I have set the detection zone to be when someone enters the space close to my front door. But, I would like to know how they came to be at my front door. Did they park at the curb (UPS, Amazon)? Did they walk across the yard (mailman)? So, let the recording start maybe 5 seconds before the person enters the 'zone' and keep going another 5 seconds after they leave it. (or 10 seconds, whatever).So far..... nada.I have RLC-410-5MP and RLC-420-5MP cameras in addition to the RLC-510WA. My suspicion is that engineering resources are allocated to new products and 'latest' products. The older cameras just "do what they do." If the customer doesn't like it, he should buy something else.
I agree. There appears to be no setting for how (a) snapshots, (b) FTP images, or (c) email notification images are encoded.On a 12MB camera:
Good Luck.
@joseph_1979 Thanks for attempting to duplicate this effect. It most pronounced with Clear resulution, especially on the 12MB camera. After your report, I experimented some more.
Thus, is appears to be related to "timing", i.e. when the mouse wheel moves in relation to the video feed. The Argus 3 Pro takes about 22 'clicks' to zoom from normal to maximum zoom. One or two of those clicks will produce a very quick "black blip". The 12MB camera is very much the same. Going from normal picture to maximum zoom is about 22-23 mouse clicks. Done very s-l-o-w-l-y, the picture is very stable. Zoom quickly, and it will happen a 2-3 times. Puzzling that it will happen "at the extreme", when the picture is completely zoomed in (or out). Scrolling the mouse wheel should not do anything, except it does.I will also try Windows 11.
This may depend on which specific camera it is.The RLC cameras, for example, are set up by connecting an ethernet cable to them and using the ethernet connection to input the WiFi name & password.The battery cameras (like most battery cameras) work by creating a QR code on the smartphone app and having the camera take a picture of the QR code.Good idea to experiment before installing.
Yes, it does. Same as other RLC cameras.
@crimp-on_62210811129 Downloaded Reolink Client 8.10.3 from Reolink(dot)com. (The only version on the web site.) Installed on HP Laptop, Windows 11 Pro. First time it opened, "There is a new version" (sigh. At least now I have two download files and can swap versions any time I want.) Found all my cameras automatically.The effect is not as pronounced on the laptop. (Still present, but not nearly as extreme.)The effect seems to vary depending on whether the Client is running "full screen" or partial screen. (that symbol in the upper right corner of the app) Full screen seems to be more prone to the problem than partial screen. Also noticed on the laptop that zooming ALL the way OUT will create black bars on each side of the picture for several cameras (on the laptop). Does not seem to do this on the desktop.This has got to be a nightmare to program. The user can:
This article discusses how to add WiFi cameras to the Reolink NVR. Having no PoE cable at all, WiFi cameras cannot possibly connect to the PoE jacks on the back of the NVR. They must connect to the customer's LAN.https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007011053-How-to-Add-Reolink-IP-Cameras-to-Reolink-PoE-NVR
https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007011053-How-to-Add-Reolink-IP-Cameras-to-Reolink-PoE-NVR
Here's a video from Reolink.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWNj4S9OeE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWNj4S9OeE
Summary: A quality product, with amazing picture and plenty of features at a budget price. Some minor disappointments and irritations. Reolink now has cameras at with 5MP, 8MP, and 12MP resolution and various features spanning price points from $45 to over $100.Every product (from every vendor) is a mix of things to like and things that are not so great. Reolink is no exception. This review is in chronological order, so “plusses and minuses” are mixed together.Initial Impression: Packaging and Build Quality are excellent. Good use of foam to protect the camera. Minimal documentation. (Customers seldom read printed literature these days.)First Disappointment: The traditional Reolink “3 Wire split”: (1) the Ethernet connector, (2) separate 12v power jack, (3) reset button.Reolink includes a spiffy “Waterproof Lid” gizmo for the Ethernet connector, but how is the customer supposed to protect the 12v jack and the reset button from weather? Reolink’s solution is to purchase a $26 B-10 weatherproof junction box to place the wiring in (additional expense). Pay $100 for a Weatherproof camera, and then pay $26 more to make the wiring weatherproof? The junction box also makes the special Waterproof Lid redundant. MY solution is to mount Reolink cameras only in places where I can drill a 1” hole directly behind the camera and push the entire wire bundle inside the building wall or sofit. I cannot help but think that Reolink could (a) come up with a method to make a waterproof reset button on the case itself, and (b) tell customers this is a PoE camera and they have to provide PoE for it to work. (A 12 volt power supply is NOT included in the package, so the customer has to come up with a power supply one way or the other.) What this seems like is just plain inertia. Reolink cameras have always used this 3-wire harness, so new cameras continue to use it. Maybe even Reolink has preordered thousands and has a warehouse full of them.Second Disappointment (really minor). Nothing on the package or the camera itself indicates the Ethernet MAC address. I suspect that I am not the only customer who wants to dictate the IP address assigned to a security camera by using a router capability. (Maybe Reolink thinks all customers connect their PoE cameras directly to a Reolink NVR with PoE capability. The NVR will hand out IP addresses that are separate from the customer’s regular LAN. But, if this is the case, why include that 12v power jack?) My solution is to connect the camera temporarily to a separate router (not on my LAN) so that I can discover the MAC address and then enter it into my primary router before connecting the camera. Seems a bit “cheap”. $10 smart plugs have the MAC address on the product or on the package. Why not a $99 camera? This is certainly not a “deal breaker”. More annoying than anything.A Surprise. Inserted a 64GB SD Card before connecting the camera. Once the camera had been on for a full day (just sitting on a shelf watching the room), I connected via the web interface and selected Playback mode. Failed (with an obscure error message that I was not quick enough to capture). Eventually I wondered, “is the SD Card OK?” Sure enough, the camera Settings menu under Storage showed options to Format and Mount the camera. Clicked on Format, which seemed to work, except that the camera kicked me back to the login prompt. Honestly, it has been so long since I installed new cameras that I cannot remember if SD cards have to be formatted or not. Would have been nicer if the Playback error message said something like, “SD Card not formatted.”Third Disappointment. Except for Safari, today’s web browsers do not support H.255 video encoding. There are lots of articles on the web explaining this issue. (The forum does not allow "links".) This means that the web interface cannot support Clear streaming, either on login or after login. Selecting the Clear option on login brings up, “Current device won’t support video streaming in clear mode.” Sometimes the ”latest and greatest” isn’t better. In practical terms, I almost never use the camera web interface, so this is also not a “deal breaker” for me. In the past, there have been issues on the forum about the web interface being essential to certain users. This may be a concern for them.Great Mounting Experience. The plan is to compare the RLC-1212A “side-by-side” with an RLC-410-5MP. The RLC-410-5MP was mounted on the corner of the house. Due to the corner construction, I was unable to drill my usual 1” hole directly behind the RLC-410-5MP. I used the same hole for the RLC-1212A wiring. Mounting is fantastic compared to the original Reolink cameras (with their Allen wrenches and all). Getting the Weatherproof Lid on was a chore because I had run Cat6 ethernet cable (what I had on hand) which is physically larger than Cat5e cable. The camera does not require anything better than Cat5e, and Cat5e is less costly. But… I used what I had on hand.Client and App Setup. Client 8.7.1 found the camera automatically (as it should), and subsequent releases continue to have no problem with the camera. Android app also found the camera. After the password was input, the Android app works fine. (Client updated to 8.7.2 and camera fine.)Picture. Compared to the RLC-410-5MP, the picture is bigger and sharper. (My guess is that 8MP cameras are “somewhere in between.”Camera Lens F-Stop Horizontal Vertial Resolution EncodingRLC-410-5MP 4.0mm F2.0 80o 58 o 2,560x1,920 H264RLC-1212A 2.8mm F1.6 107 o 66 o 4,096x2,784 H265Here are pictures from both cameras:RLC-410-5MP:RLC-1212A:Notice how the yellow fire plug on the left and the entire automobile appear on the RLC-1212A, as well as an additional 4-5 ft. at the bottom of the picture.Here is the RLC-4105MP zoomed as far as possible. What is the house number across the street? What kind of cars are they?RLC-1212A zoomed all the way. Aha, the house number is 1131 and it looks like one car is a Toyota.The larger and more detailed picture comes with a cost. Images and motion recordings consume more space. A 5MP jpeg will be about 450KB and a 12MP jpeg will be about 1MB. The MP4 recordings can consume 2-3 times the space. Fortunately, disk space is one of the few things that has become relatively “cheap”.New Features. Compared to the 5MP cameras, the RLC-1212A has added features:· Pet Detection. Along with autos and persons, security cameras have begun to detect small animals. (i.e. too small to be a ‘person’, but definitely a creature of some type.) This feature is reported as a “Beta”. I have yet to discover how well it works.· In addition to the microphone to record sound, there is also a speaker which can be used to converse with someone near the camera.· The speaker can act as a siren and can be set up go off automatically any time motion is detected.· This camera also has a floodlight that can be activated numerous ways: o Turn on automatically at night. o Turn on when motion is detected. (scare off that evil possum) o Remain off.· Delay before motion is triggered. This addresses a long-time need. The user can set the number of seconds that motion has to continue before it is recognized as something worth of being considered relevant to announce, record, etc. There are separate settings for person and automobile. (Cars generally move across the screen a lot faster than people. Maybe it is not useful to record every car that speeds by without stopping.) I plan to do several experiments to test how this works.· Diagnostic Logs. This feature also appears in System Menu – Maintenance on the RLC-510WA firmware, but not in my older cameras. I have yet to do much with this feature.Missing Features. From watching the user forum, I had a vague impression that additional features were “coming soon”. (I am often mistaken.) Was disappointed not to see:· Time Lapse. The concept being to record images (not motion) at regular intervals and thus document happenings over time. (People do this a lot with building construction, clouds in the sky, mowing the yard, snowfall…. the list is endless.) I understand that this feature is in the smartphone Reolink app and will be coming to the desktop client in the future.FTP Problem. The newest firmware release for the RLC-510WA (v3.1.0.765, Jan 19, 2022) broke the FTP function. There is a setting to force secure FTP. Alas, when the setting is off, the camera still tries to make a secure connection rather than a ‘plain unsecured’ connection. (My other cameras have not updated firmware in a year. My guess is they never will.) Unfortunately, the camera does not support the most modern secure FTP ciphers, so my FileZilla FTP server rejects the connection. (Oddly enough, the FTP server is happy to accept a plain unsecured FTP connection and would do so if only the camera would do what I want it to do.) Reolink engineers explained that this slider is not an “on/off” control (i.e. plain vs. secure). Rather it is a “use ONLY secure connection” vs. “try to do the best you can.” There is no setting for “use plain FTP, dammit.” (Yes, I swear at electronics.)The RLC-1212A has exactly the same issue. Some FTP servers work with the RLC-1212A, and some FTP servers reject it. If the customer does not use the FTP capability, then they will never know. For those of us who do use FTP, it can be a major irritation. If a customer is considering Reolink cameras and FTP is a requirement, it is essential to verify that it works with their FTP server before getting "in too deep."FTP is a complicated situation involving the specific server and specific client. For example, the commercial Cerebus FTP server (paid version) is happy to accept the FTPS connection because it supports some of the same encryption methods as the Reolink camera. The Xlight FTP server (free version) is the same. Both of these servers would support a plain, unencrypted connection.My ISSUE is Reolink will not me tell the camera to just use a plain, FTP connection.Note: Reolink engineers created a special version of the firmware which overcomes this problem. FTP transfers to FileZilla as plain, unencrypted FTP. Alas, it appears that this is a “one-off” and will not be included in any future firmware releases. Reolink gets Big Points for persuading the engineers to do this, which leaves me not sure how to feel about it. I will be disappointed if there is never new firmware for the camera, but that also means my “one off” will remain good forever.Lack of Processing Power. Like my other Reolink cameras, the RLC-1212A cannot keep up with simultaneous:· Live View· Record to SD Card· FTP motion recording to FTP serverWhat happens is the Live View “stutters” or “skips”. A moving vehicle, for example, will appear to stop and then suddenly jump ahead to a new position. People walking down the sidewalk appear to walking more slowly than usual, and then suddenly jump ahead 6-8 ft. As the camera streams to the Windows Client, it gets farther and farther behind until it just “skips some frames” to catch up. This would not seem to be a network issue, because the link between camera and network is 100mb and the maximum bit rate is under 12MB. This is the only camera streaming at the time.This does not appear to be a serious issue, because the SD card recording and the FTP file transfer both appear to be “smooth”. (How many customers sit looking at their security cameras?)Form Factor: Half of my cameras are the “dome” model. For example, RLC-420-5MP (discontinued). I like the way dome cameras “blend in” better than the bullet cameras that practically scream Security Camera Here! (And, yes, I know that some people want the "fear factor" and will even mount dummy cameras to discourage nighttime visitors.) Reolink is already showing the RLC-1224 dome camera on the support web page, so one would expect it to show up for sale before too long. Who knows, maybe even a model with a Zoom Lens! (Can you imagine what detail would show up if a 12MP camera has an optical zoom?)Summary: Reolink's best camera yet. Best picture. Most features. Quality product. If money is not a factor, this is the camera to buy. If the primary use is to get alerts and watch recordings on a smartphone, there's not much point in getting a 12MP camera. Get two 5MP camera for the same amount of money.
@armagh_709620400558321 I do.
Paint the case the same color as the plants (green & brown). Perhaps mount it to a 2x4 or 4x4 that is stuck in the ground.The biggest issues are going to be:
I was one of the lucky people who sponsored the first Reolink Argus battery powered security cameras. I still have two, although I tired of replacing batteries and instead power them using the hidden USB port inside the battery case.Argus 3 2K improved the video resolution and added a spotlight, color night vision, person/vehicle detection, and H.265 compression.Argus 3 Pro adds 5G WiFi, pet detection, exclusion zones, and Time Lapse recording. This photo shows the Argus 3 Pro mounted next to an original Argus.Initial Impressions:Build quality remains excellent. A solid, attractive unit. I especially like the new mounting scheme. This makes taking the camera down to charge batteries and putting it back up again almost painless. There is also an optional magnetic mount ($15), similar to the original Argus mount. Not nearly as secure as the screw on mount, but would make moving the camera around very convenient. (Buy several mounts and just 'snap' the camera onto one of them.) The regular mount even provides a slot to strap the camera to something (post? tree?) and includes a bright white strap in the box.Picture quality is excellent. (4K vs. 1080p) with 16x digital zoom vs. 6x zoom. Viewing angle remains about the same (122 degrees diag. vs. 120 degrees diag.) A major surprise was how much better the Pro picture is at night. Here's the original Argus:Then the Argus 3 Pro:The list of features and options is incredible!Spotlight, which makes color night vision possible and can be used to let people know that the camera "sees them." (I leave the spotlight off, but apparently a LOT of people like the idea of a bright light warning people "I'm recording you!" I do have several motion activated lights which serve a similar purpose, as well as light the path to my trash cans at night.Two-way audio. This makes it possible to talk to someone and hear what they say back. It is a major feature of video doorbell products. Not sure how often it would be useful unless (a) the Pro camera is literally mounted next to the door and (b) the user keeps the app open on a smartphone and responds quickly to the Push notification. (I do neither.)Siren. Like the spotlight, the siren can be set to sound when motion is detected. (Really? OMG. Neighbors are going to love that!)Different sensitivity levels for automobiles, people, pets, and just "motion".5G WiFi means that downloading recordings is blindingly fast. Seriously, the difference is amazing.Time Lapse recording is a brand new feature that is supported by the Reolink 'app' and the Windows v8.8.1 Client. My first test of Time Lapse recording was very interesting. I learned (a) that it generates HUGE files. In normal recordings, very little 'changes' from one video frame to the next, so compression is highly effective. With Time Lapse, there are many more changes, so the compression is not nearly as great. (b) the camera seems very SLOW to 'cache' those images into an MP4 file. (c) the battery drain is ENORMOUS. (d) Transferring the Time Lapse is thus sort of an ordeal. Like all battery powered cameras, the Argus 3 Pro involves design compromises.Live Viewing has a time limit. Keeping the camera on with active WiFi streaming drains the battery. The app and Windows Client pop a warning at 5 minutes: "Do you want to keep viewing?" If the user is not alert, then Live View stops. Powering the camera with USB or a solar panel does not change this, although there is an option in the 8.8.1 Client to ignore it. Preserving battery capacity is part of the fundamental design. PIR sensors are always used on battery cameras because (a) they are dirt cheap, and (b) they use so little power. (A single AA battery can power a PIR sensor for months and months.) But PIR sensors are notoriously bad at detecting motion. If an object that radiates heat moves "across" the picture, the Argus 3 Pro will pick it up in about 0.1 second. If something is moving fast, of course, by the time the cameras comes on the object may be almost totally out of the picture. When cars drive down my residential street, it is common for the Argus 3 Pro to start recording when they are more than half-way across the picture. The mailman, however, was caught almost the instant he stepped into the picture. Notice how the original Argus only 'saw' the mailman when he got within a few feet.Mailman.mp4Note how the original Argus almost missed the mailman completely. If he had not dropped something and stopped to pick it up, the camera might not have recorded anything at all.Old Argus.mp4No FTP. The RLC cameras can automatically FTP motion recordings to a server so if the camera is damaged (or stolen) recordings are not lost. That would impact the battery too much, so none of Reolink's battery cameras are capable of FTP.The obvious power solution is an inexpensive USB power supply and USB cable. That is what I did with the original Argus (and what I will do with the Argus 3 Pro after I see how long a battery charge lasts). But, that effectively 'tethers' the camera to a power source. No longer 'put anywhere'. Compromise.Aha! What about using a $30 solar panel. (Which, by the way, has a very good mounting bracket.) Solar panels need at least a few hours of direct sunlight to generate enough power to keep the camera going another day. In that first picture above, where would a solar panel go to get hours of direct sunlight? I'm one of the users who are not exactly convinced by "weather resistant" ratings. I prefer to place cameras where they are not exposed to rain. In my neighborhood, solar panels have begun sprouting on the eaves as people decide to give up on batteries.Are there any "downsides" to the Argus 3 Pro? (besides the obvious battery compromises)The WiFi setup does not allow users to define a Static IP address. Probably not a major concern to most customers. There is a bug in the WiFi display which showing the current network connection as 2.4G WiFi when it is actually 5G WiFi. Not a serious issue, but disappointing.Summary:Choosing security cameras is a complicated undertaking. Reolink has products covering every category (PoE, WiFi requiring power, totally wire free, LTE) and every resolution from 1080p to 12MB. There are fixed and zoom lenses. Some pan and tilt. Retail prices vary by capability, but are all 1/2 to 1/3 the equivalent product from major companies such as ARLO or Nest.The Argus 3 Pro is now charging so that I can measure how long it lasts on a charge (when I'm not doing battery draining things such as Time Lapse recording or keeping the Live View on for long periods.
When displaying motion on an RLC-1220A camera, it appears to draw a box around every automobile in the picture, even if the cars are not moving.
I participate in several "community forums" for various products and have observed similar confusion on most of them. Customers assume that the forum includes company engineering and support staff, whereas the company intended the forum to be a convenient way for customers to communicate between themselves. (Rather than, for example, set up a forum on Reddit or snbforums that has no participation by the company at all.) Reolink's forum appears to be a combination (mostly intended for customers, but with some employee participation as well.)Reolink's link to Support on the web home page directs to this page: support(dot)reolink(dot)com/hc/en-us/ (This editor does not allow URLs even though it has the URL symbol on the edit menu).(I presume that in other countries the link will be to language specific pages.)Please note that I (personally) think that manufacturers would be better off to assign staff to monitor their community forums:
Not exactly. The recorded "Clear" video remains at full resolution (4,096x2,784 pixels). I downloaded a motion capture, opened it with VLC Media Player, zoomed in, and got a similar result."Zooming" on the Windows Client does not create pixels. My native Windows PC screen resolution is 1,920x1,080 so that very detailed 12MP picture is scrunched (is that a word?) to fit the screen.I agree completely that it is not nearly as easy to "zoom" with a motion capture as a live video.
RLC cameras support FTP**. I have six of cameras saving motion captures to a FileZilla FTP server. There are numerous FTP servers; I just happened to choose that one.I seem to recall users posting success with Blue Iris for RLC cameras, but have never installed Blue Iris.** It is a bit annoying that the battery powered cameras do not support FTP, especially because I have them connected to USB power supplies and they can NEVER run out of power.
@faasio82_480971996033257 Periodically restarting a computer device has been a practice since since the first computers. (I get a notice on my smart watch every month, "It would be a good idea to restart the watch.") The general theory is that computer software cannot possibly be 100% perfect and random junk is almost certain to accumulate here and there, so "clearing out the cobwebs" is a good idea. If manufacturers do not provide an option to do this automatically, customers complain. Nobody is forced to have their systems reboot.In other words, do it if you want to or ignore it if you want to.
The solar panel connects to the mounting bracket with an ordinary bolt. After determining the precise diameter and thread of the existing bolt, two hardware store components can be used to place the panel farther away from the bracket:
Remove the plastic tightening nut from the existing bolt.Thread the connector onto the existing bolt.Thread the rod into the connector.Place the plastic tightening nut on the rod.Screw the solar panel onto the rod.Use the tightening nut to secure the solar panel.Rotate the panel to the desired location.Tighten the wing nut to hold the panel in place.As long as the extension is not huge, this should be secure.If it would take a very long extension rod to raise the panel above the roof line, I would consider attaching wood to the eave and attaching the bracket to that.
Probably helpful to identify which Reolink camera you have. Is there an SD card in the camera? What are the "record" settings?On my Reolink Android app, when I select an Argus camera, for example, and select "Playback", I get a display with calendar days and a timeline. I then select which day and which recording I want to view.
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