this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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Why shouldn't I use Reolink Cameras? (lemmy.today)
submitted 1 year ago by Buelldozer@lemmy.today to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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The next step in my HA journey is adding cameras; indoor, outdoor, and doorbell so I've been exploring my options. I had originally intended to do a Frigate setup, I even have a Coral module and PC to do it with, but then I discovered Reolink.

Without having any experience with them they look nearly ideal. They seem to have tight integration with HA 2023.3 or later and their pricing and functionality look good.

They seem like a no brainer but I've noticed that they're often NOT the first recommendation in the HA Community. Why is that and why shouldn't I use them?

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[–] gerdesj@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

I only use Reolinks these days. RLC-410 - some dome and some bullet. Cheap and easy to setup. I'm a long term Zoneminder user which I get to watch the low res stream and record on the high res stream. My ZM is a VM on VMware with a cheap Nvidia GPU passed through for CUDA. This still works: https://wiki.zoneminder.com/GPU_passthrough_in_VMWare but I should probably bring the wiki page up to date.

I have a Reolink door bell too - I went for the PoE one. It's a lot better than my old Doorbird but not as sturdy. The door bird could drive a chime too which was nice. The Reo can't but it is a PoE powered unit with a UPS backing the switch. That's pretty resilient.

They never get to see the internet. I fiddle DNS so that pool.ntp.com points at my ntp daemons but I run an IT company so that might be a bit excessive for most! I have three Pis with GPS hats and antennae.

As you say, they are well supported by HA too. If you have a Coral and Frigate then you have lots of options. Just keep them away from the internet if you are concerned about who is looking through them apart from you.