Posts made by Crimp On_62210811129

We are on the same wavelength. Every product can be improved. Some of the things I have wanted Reolink to change are:

Let the user set a 'minimum' amount of time that must be exceeded in order for something to be 'motion'. This would prevent, for example, a bird flying rapidly across the screen from triggering events. If the user truly wants 'everything, no matter how short', they would have the option. If they think that only motion that persists for 200ms (2 seconds, whatever) to be recorded, they should be able to set that.
Let the user set the number of seconds for 'prerecord and 'postrecord', which are now fixed at 5 seconds before and 15 seconds after.
Make the camera stop triggering 'motion' when it changes from color to b&w or back.
Make the Windows Client 'remember' the display settings so that it will open the same size it was before.

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree. The cameras are inexpensive because the vendor has practically no overhead. I find the build quality, packaging, and software to be equal to other products. I do not frequent user forums for other brands, but my guess is that there are an equal number of complaints about, "why doesn't it do THIS (or THAT)".

If customers want a telephone support line, that cost has to be reflected in the product cost.

I certainly have disappointments with the product (mostly the firmware). If I had spent three times the money, I would be VERY upset.

I agree. This is similar to the situation when the camera changes from Daylight (color) mode to Night (black & white) mode. It generates a "motion" event. People have mentioned for over a year how frustrating it is to open such a recording and find that literally "nothing moved".

Most of the people who visit this forum are customers (like you). Maybe someone will have a suggestion. I would also (1) email the question to support@reolink.com, and (2) find another camera in a hurry because support is in Hong Kong which is in an entirely different time zone.

You can also try a "hard reset" by holding the reset button for at least 10 seconds. At that point, it will respond ONLY to an ethernet connection. You mention trying smartphone app, web interface, and desktop client. After a hard reset, it cannot respond to the smartphone app, but should respond to web and desktop client. The user name should be reset to "admin" and the password should be blank.

Ah, I see now. My focus was on the question by "per". My guess is a native Linux client is beyond the capabilities at Reolink (and, only a tiny fraction of market share so not likely to be a high priority). Maybe instead of a unified solution (one program), there might be more success in separating the "configure" function from the "monitoring" functions. i.e. use the web interface to set up cameras, and use something else for viewing/recording, etc. On Windows, people report using Blue Iris with Reolink cameras.

I know it is frustrating. I simply LOVE the Reolink 5MP cameras. The price/performance ratio is superior to any other commonly available cameras.

Perhaps I am missing something. When I connect to my Reolink RLC-420 camera with a web browser, and click on Settings, under System there is a choice for Maintenance which includes firmware update. If the goal is to update firmware in the camera, it seems like a web browser can do that.

A description of the environment might be useful. I, personally, do not have a DVR, so my Reolink cameras all have SD Cards. When I go into "Playback" mode, there are choices at the bottom of the screen for 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x which seems like "fast forward" to me. I do not see a red or green cursor, so maybe that is a function of the NVR?

Which version of client software is not able to set the detection area? (mac/pc). Is this on the camera or on the NVR?

The Argus battery-powered cameras do not include a web interface. The Reolink Windows Client software will connect to the camera and when you select "Playback" there are two options: (1) to view motion recordings in the Client software by selecting them at the bottom of the screen. (2) by "Downloading" recordings to the PC hard drive and playing them with software like VLC or 5KPlayer.

Oh, cr**p. I have the same cameras, but put SD Cards in them instead of using an NVR. (They are GREAT cameras!)
Wish I could help, but the issue seems to be with the Android app and the NVR.

The web site indicates that this NVR package works with Mac/Windows clients and with a web browser.
What happens when you connect to the NVR with a web browser?
Do you have a PC or Mac that can load the Reolink client software?

I know this isn't help "solving the problem". Sometimes it is useful to know if one type of access works and another does not, or if they all have the same issue.

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.

I FTP files to my desktop computer. In order to keep from filling up the hard drive, I run a Windows batch script every day to delete files older than a certain number of days. Here's what it looks like:

REM Delete all files over 15 days old
REM
ECHO FTP File Cleanup Begins %date% %time% >C:\Users\Dick\FTP-file-cleanup.log
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\FrontDoorCam /S /M *.* /D -15 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\HondaCam /S /M *.* /D -15 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\PickupCam /S /M *.* /D -15 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\ShedCam /S /M *.* /D -15 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\SideCam /S /M *.* /D -15 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
REM
REM Delete all JPG files over 3 days old
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\FrontDoorCam /S /M *.JPG /D -2 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\HondaCam /S /M *.JPG /D -2 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\PickupCam /S /M *.JPG /D -2 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\ShedCam /S /M *.JPG /D -2 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\SideCam /S /M *.JPG /D -2 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"
REM
REM Delete all MP4 files less than 10MB - Get rid of nonsense motion files (too short to be useful)
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\FrontDoorCam /S /M *.MP4 /C "CMD /C if @fsize lss 10000000 DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\HondaCam /S /M *.MP4 /C "CMD /C if @fsize lss 10000000 DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\PickupCam /S /M *.MP4 /C "CMD /C if @fsize lss 10000000 DEL @PATH"
forfiles /P F:\Reolink\ShedCam /S /M *.MP4 /C "CMD /C if @fsize lss 10000000 DEL @PATH"
REM
REM Delete all totally empty directories
ROBOCOPY F:\Reolink F:\Reolink /S /MOVE
REM
ECHO FTP File Cleanup Ends %date% %time% >>C:\Users\Dick\FTP-file-cleanup.log

Your observation is correct. Recordings saved using FTP and "Download" are rejected by Windows Media Player. I use VLC and 5KPlayer, which both are able to process the recordings. My guess is that using the "Record" option during playback means that the Windows Client program is creating the video file. So, recordings made by a Windows program are acceptable to Media Player. Recordings made on the Reolink camera (a version of Linux) are not.

If someone is taking suggestions, this is one of my issues as well. "Channel" appears to refer to an NVR concept that simply does not apply to the web interface. Each window has exactly one camera, and every camera is called "CH1". It makes much more sense to have the camera name up there, or just nothing at all.

Which Reolink camera is this?

The question does not specify which camera. "Out of the box" I believe the password is actually "password". Of course, the user is encouraged to change the password to something more exotic. If the password is no longer "password", it might be necessary to "reset" the camera and set it up again from scratch.

My first step would be to upgrade the firmware to the latest release (354-19031112). On the "Download Center" page, scroll down to 3/22/2019.

"Motion" is a strange concept. Although we tend to think of "motion" as things like people, automobiles, etc. Other things can fool the PIR sensor. Shadows moving across a lawn, for example. You can try lowering the sensitivity.

I agree with Rorb. The battery powered cameras can be powered with a USB cable, which means they never run out of power. When the camera has unlimited power, those restrictions to "conserve battery" make no sense. The customer should be able to use the camera. (Actually, if some dumb customer wanted to deliberately drain the battery by watching the camera constantly, why must Reolink forbid it?)

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.

Has the SD Card ever "filled up" and not recorded something? My understanding is that cameras will automatically delete the oldest recording to make room for the newest one. These 1080p short recordings do not take up much space. My two Argus cameras that I have had since they were first shipped still have half of the 16GB SD Card space remaining, so it will be a loooong time before I get to see if they "wrap around" correctly or not.