Posts made by Crimp On_62210811129

@user_664245159952457_664245159952457
The Synology web page seems to indicate there are ways to set up recording only on Alarms (motion?)
www(dot)synology(dot)com/en-us/surveillance/feature/recording_playback

(Maybe some day Reolink will let users include URLs in a post)

My experience with Windows Client 8.8.4 is inconsistent, and varies by camera model. Every time I open the Client app, some camera Live Views are Clear, some are Fluent, and one is Balanced. I right click on the picture and set them to Clear.

Today, when I open the Client app a few minutes later, all of those camera Live Views remain Clear. My sense, however, is that there is some period of time after which opening the Client app will no longer result in all camera Live Views being Clear. Perhaps after camera automatically restart once a week? Perhaps after the Windows PC has been restarted? Perhaps.....
I have both battery and PoE cameras. This affect some cameras of each type.

I will track this for a couple of days and see if a pattern can be deduced.

In the grand scheme of "things that annoy me", this is certainly not near the top. On the other hand, it is dumb that I have to "right click on the screen. point at Clear. left click" so often. I agree entirely. If the customer wants to consume more computer cycles and more network capacity displaying Clear video, that's the customers business to choose... not Reolink's.

@user_620488397946890_620488397946890
Cat6 Ethernet cable is rated to support gigabit connections up to 100 meters (328 feet), consisting of 90 meters of solid wire and two five meter drop cables (one at each end).
Reolink cameras do not connect at 1000Mbps. They have 100Mbps Ethernet chip sets. (less costly and gigabit is not needed to carry the video signals).

If the 400 ft. cable is actually in place (or available on a spool), I have a strong suspicion that it will work.

As a footnote, a VERY long time ago my University wanted to support data terminals in remote buildings. RS-232 was rated for 50 feet. We ran 22awg copper cable 1,000s of feet and the terminals worked!

My issue remains that there is reason for a PoE camera to have three cables.

1. The Power over Ethernet cable is required because it provides (a) the power and (b) the communications link.
2. That 12v. power socket might be helpful during initial setup (provided that a person has the required 12v power gizmo) and might be useful if the customer decided, "oh, geez. I'm all out of PoE ports/injectors. I'll just run a 12v. line from an electrical outlet to this one camera." But, come on, when you buy a PoE camera, it should be PoE.
3. The Reset switch is just dumb. Everybody else can put a Reset function on a weatherproof camera. Reolink can put a microphone and speaker on the camera. Why not a Reset switch? I think it's because "this is the way we've always built cameras. why change now?"

(End of Rant)

By the way, Reolink does not demand that customers run the PoE cable "down" It could just as easily run up to the top of the wall hidden in a piece of wire mold. Or, punched through the wall like I do.

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318 The issue may be that this camera (RLC-822a) encodes the clear stream with H.655. From the camera specs:

Not all web browsers support H.265 encoding. From the Wikipedia article on H.265 (replace space with period)
wikipedia org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding
Scroll down to Browser Support

@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

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318 Yes, I was incorrect. This gizmo appears to do the trick. Of course, there is always the issue of adding more stuff to be covered up and made weatherproof. While the actual camera may be "weatherproof, for harsh environments", the reset button, and this voltage converter may not be.

I fear you will be disappointed. The E1 Outdoor specs are clear. Power is 12vDC, which is not the same as Power over Ethernet (PoE), which is more than 44V. The Ethernet jack is intended for initial setup (a common feature of Reolink cameras) and is not a PoE jack.

@crimp-on_62210811129 Sorry for the confusion. Found Scene Mode. Old people are not used to the concept of "try pressing random places on a screen. Try "long pressing". Try "long pressing and pulling up, down, left, or right". Try "tapping twice" (and then maybe pulling in some direction). Every day is a new adventure.

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318 Sorry my post was not clear. The article referenced says to look at "Devices" under the hamburger (?) menu at the upper left. My Reolink app does not show the word "Devices" and I cannot find any mention of "Scenes" anywhere:

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318 Does this Scene Mode in the Android Reolink app work with individual cameras, or only with the NVR? When I open the upper left menu on the Android Reolink app, there is not an entry for Scene Mode.