@john_350143387672724 Thanks so much!!

I too am having periodic video file corruption problems. I have authentic brand new 256GB Sandisk Cla*s 10 HC SD cards. I have reported details to RL including copies of the last good recording and the corrupt recording that occurred only minutes later. After the first corruption all subsequent recordings are also corrupted. Reformatting is the only fix. I think they have a file open/close problem and furthermore that their error recovery procedures could be improved. Maybe they could be checking for corruption in the most recently recorded file and if corruption is found take some corrective action. The whole point of supporting 256 GB cards is to create a large video archive and having to reformat long before you fill up the card kind of defeats the purpose, no?

This post is about Reolink PTZ cameras in general and the E1 Outdoor cameras in particular. It is a little long but I have some specific questions at the end.

Over the past 7 months I purchased 3 E1 OD cams. Over time I found that they could not reliably return to the monitoring point (MP) after panning. Online discussions say there is a problem with the gears. Some people suggest the gears are nylon, they degrade over time, and worn/bad teeth preclude reliably returning to the correct MP. My oldest camera has the worst MP error, the newest one the least, this is consistent with the notion that the gears wear and get worse over time.

So I worked with RL support who has been pretty helpful. After upgrading the firmware on the cameras and doing some more pan testing I documented the problem in detail and RL agreed to issue me RMAs for the three cameras. So far so good.

The plot thickens here because I bought two of the cameras from RL’s eBay storefront and the third camera from RL’s web site. So, they asked me to return the cameras under two different RMAs. They sent a separate email with an RMA for the camera bought from the RL web site and a separate email with an RMA to return the two cameras bought from the RL eBay storefront. OK, I have to pay shipping twice because I’ve had the cameras longer than thirty days, but the physical address to which I must return the cameras is the same place in Pomona CA. Sigh….

Another curiosity is that the RL email providing the RMA for the cameras bought from the eBay store says this:

“As we are not sure if the replacements will solve the problem, may we know if you are willing to” (…take advantage of an offer to provide me with different model cameras) “…Or if you have other suggestions, please also let us know.”

On the other hand the RMA email from the RL web store mentions no problem with providing me an E1 to replace my original E1.

So the eBay RMA team seems to be suggesting the (gear??) problem in the E1 Outdoor cams has not been/will not be fixed, but there is no such mention in the email providing the RMA for the camera purchased from the RL web site. Why am I getting 2 different stories? If anyone from RL is reading this forum, please comment.

For RL users reading this I’d like to hear any reports of MP/PTZ problems possibly related to gear wear, both for the E1 Outdoor or any other RL PTZ autotracking cameras. Are there any RL WiFi PTZ autotracking cameras known to have a long term track record holding their monitor points? If so, are there known design improvements supporting such claims?

@user_588567793635436_588567793635436 Update: I thoroughly tested and examined all of my SD cards and I believe they are all counterfeit. I had some smaller cards on hand and confirmed that they were good. I installed the smaller known good cards and so far no more corruption. Plus, camera connection and playback responsiveness is noticeably improved.

Reolink deserves a lot of credit for helping me get to this point. They responded to all of my emails promptly and respectfully, and looked at their software closely even though they could have (and maybe should have) immediately blamed the SD cards.

I have new cards on order directly from Sandisk. First time buyer from their site, I got a 15% senior discount.

The bad cards came from eBay seller books-8615 and were purchased August 2022. I am processing a refund request. We will see how that goes.

I too am having periodic video file corruption problems. I have authentic brand new 256GB Sandisk Cla*s 10 HC SD cards. I have reported details to RL including copies of the last good recording and the corrupt recording that occurred only minutes later. After the first corruption all subsequent recordings are also corrupted. Reformatting is the only fix. I think they have a file open/close problem and furthermore that their error recovery procedures could be improved. Maybe they could be checking for corruption in the most recently recorded file and if corruption is found take some corrective action. The whole point of supporting 256 GB cards is to create a large video archive and having to reformat long before you fill up the card kind of defeats the purpose, no?

@user_588567793635436_588567793635436

Hi John:

Two things to update/touch base with you on.

1) I've concluded the PT 2K PIR detection range I was trying to achieve is right at its limit, giving marginal and erratic detection results, with detection variations happening due to changing lighting conditions and variations in target motion.  I am going to try using the PT 2K in a different part of my installation.

2) I found a Reolink web page saying the PT 2K does not distinguish between an admin user and other users like the non-battery cameras. But I have been controlling the PT 2K from two different devices and I think that is contributing to some unusual behavior. I suspect Reolink has some bugs to work out for use cases a*sociated with accessing the PT 2K from more than one instance of the app. I've asked them about this and am waiting for their reply.

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@john_350143387672724 Thanks so much!!

@john_350143387672724

The link shows the number of users for viewing a stream but I think my question is different. My question involves playback simultaneously with recording--which requires two different types of access (read and write) to the SD card. Would you be able to do a test at your end? Fire up your app and do some playback while at the same time try to trigger your camera to detect and record. I'd be curious if your camera can do it. And if it can, that seems like another reason for me to return my camera.

@john_350143387672724

I bought it from Reolink on eBay and have already informed them I may need a return. I haven't registered it yet.

Around noon it wasn't working and started after I tapped the camera. Then around five it stopped detecting for 10 minutes, then started again.

Do you happen to know if it can do a detection/recording while using the app to play back an earlier recording?

@john_350143387672724

You're not going to believe this but I was recalling that every time I touch the camera--e.g. to do a power cycle--things start working.

So there had been no detections, push notifications or detections for a few hours, so I went outside and tapped the camera a few times and everything started working again. Did I mention the package was a little crushed when it arrived?

@john_350143387672724

Thanks, I see. My AT&T phone doesn't have those options.

On your screen, can you enable both types of alerts at the same time?

@john_350143387672724

Interesting....the app installed on both of my devices doesn't have these options. Version 4.31.04