Best posts made by Jedi2020_32727772450952

Realistically, no one is going to be staring at the Reolink client or mobile app all day or even an hour to monitor cameras if the app needs to be run standalone. This is where I think Picture in picture feature will permit reolink users to monitor their camera long period of time while doing their daily tasks like reading email, browsing internet and running other apps. My Xfinity stream app on iOS, for example, allows me to stream TV with picture in picture while running other apps. Likewise, QuickTime player supports picture in picture on Mac. So I think it is possible for Reolink to support picture in picture on both iOS and Mac.

I truly believe that picture in picture will be a game changing feature for monitoring Reolink cameras and I hope Reolink can support this feature very soon.

Reolink really needs to support more than 1 detection zone. The limitation of single detection zone makes many features like push, email, and Siren unusable. For example, I want to record the activities in front of my house and get a push/email notification ONLY when someone approaches near my side gate. This is not possible due to single detection zone limitation. Likewise, I don’t want siren to go off whenever recording activities take place in front of my house. I only want the siren to go off when someone is near the side gate at night. Again, this is not possible due to single detection zone limitation. Your competitors are already supporting 2 or more detection zones. So I am wondering when Reolink will support multiple detection zones. Any idea?

@user_757678635999414_757678635999414

Go to Reolink website and download the Mac Client app, not from App Store.

Hey everyone, here is my review for the DUO 2 PoE camera.

Installation:

The camera in the pictures is my old DUO 1 camera since I already mounted my DUO 2 camera. But both look the same physically and the mount hardware is identical as well.  Installing the camera is straight forward. Just attach the silver metal plate to the wall by screwing the two top holes of the metal plate. Then snap the camera mount arm to the plate and screw the bottom hole to secure the camera. The camera is attached to the mount arm via a ball joint. You can tighten the ball joint with the supplied allen wrench after adjusting the camera angle.  I assume many people here are Reolink users so I am not going to bother with the usual Reolink camera setup.






Camera appearance:

Appearance wise, it doesn’t look like a typical security camera - dome, turret, bullet, etc. It looks more like a small floodlight and perfect for people who care about aesthetic and stealth look.



Who should use this camera?

I use this camera for my front that requires a wide coverage that a single lens camera can’t accommodate. The camera provides a seamless stitched panoramic view with one video stream. I can literally see the entire block of my street with this camera.  


Highlighted features:

4K resolution
Seamless stitched 180 degree view
Smart AI detection (human, car, pet)
IR/Spotlights
Siren
2 way audio


4K 180° panoramic view

Reolink did a good job with stitching the two camera views into a one panoramic view. As you can see from the video, I can’t detect any seam from a jogger or fast moving car.  First generation DUO1 camera doesn’t stitch the two views so it is rather gimmick. DUO2 is not only wider than DUO1 (180° vs 150°), the vertical field is also taller (60° vs 44°) which is more important to me as I couldn’t see the front too far with DUO1 when pointing down to cover the area closer to the house including the side gate.  

DUO2 also provides much sharper image than DUO1 (4K vs 2K) and it makes a difference when performing digital zoom to see the far objects. Another notable feature is that DUO2 uses more advanced H265 codecs compared to DUO1 which uses H264. As a result, it cuts down the storage space despite storing 4K images.


Seamless video

Morning image


Early evening image


Early evening digital zoom image


Smart AI detection

The camera detects human, car and pet reliably. I have yet to experience any false alert.  Pet detection is new and isn’t available with DUO1. With pet detection, I can easily track the dogs that are making mass on my lawn by simply setting the push notification for pet.

Human detection
IR/Spotlights

Like DUO1, DUO2 provides both IR and Spotlights to operate at night. One notable feature for DUO2 is that the Spotlights can be triggered based on alarm events (human, car, pet). This feature isn’t available on DUO1. I am providing pictures for IR and Spotlights for reference. Personally, I don’t use either at night. My street light alone is sufficient for the camera to get the color image at night.


The image below is in color auto mode with street light. No IR, no Spotlights. The street light in real environment isn’t as bright as it appears in this picture. DUO2 is noticeably sharper than DUO1 even at night.


In color manual mode with street light. It brightens the tree shadow area a bit. I can literally see the entire block of my street in color at night.


IR light on


Spotlights on



Siren

DUO2 siren is probably the same as DUO1 because it sounds the same to me. Siren is ok. Not too loud to annoy my neighbors but does the job for warning the dog owners that making mass on my lawn.


2 way audio

Like DUO1, DUO2 microphone is very sensitive and clear.  As you can see from my video, it can easily pick up voices from the playground which is 90 yards away from the camera. The speaker is okay but can be improved. It could work to communicate with people that are nearby.


Conclusion

DUO2 is vastly improved compared to DUO1. Perhaps, DUO1 was a good experiment and DUO2 is a complete product.  For people on the fence, DUO2 is the camera to get even though it costs slightly more than DUO1. I believe you will be much happier with DUO2.

@reolink-fiona

Most generic motion floodlights on the market have the PIR sensor that can cover at least 150 degree. 180 degree PIR sensor is quite common. Many of them have sensitivity adjustment so you can actually shrink the coverage distance. Reolink is a security camera company so I understand it wants to align with a typical security camera view which is about 100 degree.

I don't quite understand why I can't check the latest version of software/firmware from camera. Right now, I need to come to Reolink website to check the latest version. I suspect many reolink users don't bother until they have some desperate issues looking for fixes. Even if remote upgrade is not supported, it should at least allow to check for the latest version from camera. Please address this short coming.

DUO is a great camera for wide coverage but it is a 4MP camera. Any chance to see 8MP or even 12MP version of DUO in the future? Since DUO is used for big area, using digital zoom with high resolution camera sensor is highly desirable. On the positive note, DUO 4MP sensor is much brighter at night when comparing to my RL822A which is 8MP resolution.

@reolink-fiona

Software improvements..

1) Reolink needs to support at least 2 motion detection zones. This will make the camera flexible and powerful. For example, one detection zone for day time and another detection zone for night time operation.

2) Mac client software is still based on Intel processor. Apple no longer makes Intel Mac anymore. So Reolink should be built for the universal version which will allow the Mac client run more smoothly and efficient on Apple Silicon machine like M1 and M2 Mac. Video on Reolink iOS app runs very smooth due to the fact the Reolink app is compiled with the native code designed to run on Apple processor.

@mike_184729178919056

I think it is a chicken and egg problem. The camera is usually mounted high enough that people can't reach it without ladder. And the newer knob allows to make it adjustment easier when you are on ladder. If you are mounting too low where people can reach, you have other issues beside orientation of the camera. People can simply stick a bubble gum or a tape to cover the camera lens. I personally don't mount my camera very high either, just high enough (7') so that I can use a step ladder to mount and make it unreachable for most people.

Wow, just discovered the new 4K Duo 2 camera by accident. Did I miss the announcement? It looks like Reolink took my feedbacks of the 2K Duo camera seriously. Replacing my 6 months old Duo with the new 4K Duo.

@reolink-fiona
I might also add that many floodlights on the market can adjust the angle of the PIR sensor. I actually own 3 floodlights. The PIR on them can be swiveled side way and tilt up/down. That makes it very flexible to point at the direction to optimize the motion detection.

@paulisonthephone_330301696569557

I think you meant to say 3 windows display? One large on top for DUO2 and two in the bottom for other normal cameras? They added 2 large ones recently but 3 windows option is desirable for mixing panoramic view with other cameras.

@curls

Which camera? This is possible with Duo 2 camera.

@big_ted

Depending on ambient light. You can see very far unlike the camera that relies on IR light. I am replacing some of my IR based cameras with CX410 which includes TrackMix. You can search CX410 on YouTube which should give you some idea.

@paulisonthephone_330301696569557

Update check on app doesn't work. Never has been. I think Reolink should remove the check until it gets implemented. As for the 8.8.1, you need to go to download center to see the latest version.

@jfbaro_664228245382261

From what I heard, Eufy's face recognition isn't reliable yet. Frankly, Reolink can spend more time on software. Currently, Reolink can't even provide a coherent software features set. For example, a battery camera like argus 3 pro provides multiple detection zones while this feature hasn't made it to the PoE cameras.

@yursbarngrill_202827611205782

The latest iOS app which was released a few days ago fixed the pinch zoom issue.

@caw81677_481398734471350

Exactly. That's what I was thinking when I saw the headlines. They just need to change the form factor of the current Dual lens camera for the purpose of AC wiring and adding real powerful flood light to it. Smart ptz camera isn't a substitute for a floodlight camera.

@joseph-chircop_497308027822318

Digital zoom on non ptz camera is already doing that. So I don't see why it can't do the same for the ptz camera. Heck, my 10+ years old Canon ptz camera does just that. Point the cusrsor and click, the ptz camera will pant/tilt to center that location. Using arrow is too clunky and slow. This ought to be a high priority item for Reolink.

@user_792702754615469_792702754615469
You should see the green rectangle for detected motions in both realtime and recorded video. Yes, you need to be on Clear, not Fluent to see the green rectangle.