Reolink Camera Find/Inspect no longer working for one camera.

ipcamwalt

ipcamwalt

Young grasshopper
Jan 9, 2025
51
17
Canada
So I thought I would try camera AI again to reduce my BI CPU load. One of my Reolink cameras now throws Error for ONVIF events. The Find/Inspect comes back with this:1762470461634.png
It no longer pulls the proper streams to populate the main/sub streams. The camera itself still does all it's things, if I leave the original main/sub streams everything works fine, it pans through it's three set view locations as it always did, but ONVIF is throwing error.
This is an identical model camera on the same system with Find/Inspect working properly:
1762470606129.png
There is a lot more if I scroll up, but the basic idea is that one camera is properly reporting ONVIF and the other isn't.

These are Reolink TrackMix POE cameras.

Am I missing something? ONVIF is still enabled, I haven't changed anything on the camera (that I remember):
1762470726247.png

This is my second Reolink that is acting abnormally, I had another lower-end 5mp model that just stopped transmitting video, the interface still works but the video just doesn't come through.

Is this the general rule of thumb "you get what you pay for" ?

I bought these with the idea that if they crapped out I could replace them cheaply, but these are malfunctioning at a rate of 1 or 2 per year out of 6 so far. Is this an expected failure rate? Should I not be buying Reolink? Or buying Reolink is fine as long as I have a couple spares of each model on hand?
 
Reolinks do crazy things.

BI developer has mentioned that Reolinks can be problematic with BI

Reolinks are known for poor night performance.

Buy once, cry once.
 
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I was enticed by being able to buy all nine of my 4k PTZ cameras for the price of one Ubiquiti 4k PTZ.

Is there a good cheap brand? I realize that's an oxymoron, but is Dahua a better choice or something similar?
 
Yes, many here feel Dahua (well Dahua OEM sold by a vendor here for way less) is the best bang for the buck.

Best to chance sensor size, not MP. Only get cameras on the ideal MP/sensor ratio in green below:

1762486062893.png

Without knowing what your goals of the camera is, this thread is used as the go to for the new person here outlining the commonly recommended cameras (along with Amazon links) based on distance to IDENTIFY that represent the overall best value/best bang for the buck in terms of price and performance day and night. It might be a 2MP camera in some instances. Many here feel 4MP is the current sweet spot for these cameras.

The Importance of Focal Length over MP in camera selection

And coupled with that thread is this great thread which will show why all of the same 2.8 or 3.6mm cameras is the wrong choice (these are the common focal lengths consumer brands sell):

i-want-2-8mm-cameras-everywhere-to-see-everything-this-is-why-you-need-specific-fovs-with-purposeful-focal-lengths.70053/

We would encourage you to look at those threads in detail.

It will probably raise more questions than answers LOL.
 
Haha, this definitely will help future camera selections.

I have usage cases from fixed mount inside buildings where I need 90 - 180 degree viewsof things no more than 30 feet away. Some of my locations need outdoor 270 degree viewing from 50 to 60 feet away. And a few locations require being able to spot motion at 150+ feet and zoom in on them.

The mixture of REOLINK cameras I have has really been working well for me, super powerful IR floodlights makes nighttime a non-issue and the BI motion detection wouldn't go nuts in snow and rain.

If it weren't for what appears to be a second camera already dying, I wouldn't be second guessing them, it's not their features, just their reliability.

I'll check those links carefully and see what I should be using in my position.

Thanks for the time.
 
Please post an example of an object in motion at nighttime that makes nighttime performance a non-issue.
 
Yeah no problem, I'm on my phone right now but when I get back to my computer I'll grab a couple alert clips.

Caveat here, I was hoping to switch back to onboard AI because the PTZ cameras autotrack objects and keep them centered. So while I see my cameras following things, for some reason the CPAI isn't detecting the motion, or I have PTZ disables motion detect or something.

But yeah I can grab a clip of me walking around at night, stay tuned.
 
I don't use CPAI for my autotracking PTZ. I just let the camera send ONVIF trigger to BI to start the alert clip.

Look forward to your example!
 
Alright, hopefully I'm not DOXing myself here or publishing this for all the internet.




As you can see, the IR floodlights on the cameras illuminate the area like crazy. The house is about 200ft away from these cameras, I keep the motion activation zones right up close to the cameras because I am using these ones for detection of people approaching my shop or vehicles passing through the roundabout for ALPR.

There is almost nothing in frame that I can't pickup as motion, if I crank down the sensitivity it triggers on things like bugs and leaves and spiderwebs but the AI doesn't confirm anything so those don't get saved. I'm sure this is running my CPU more than necessary but it's not a huge concern at the moment.

I don't have any footage of rain or snow as I have been rebuilding databases and clips and computers lately and there hasn't been any good storms. I do recall that in snowstorms at night the IR reflects off of snowflakes and reduces visibility to about 1/3 of that distance, but I don't know if any camera can see through snow regardless of it's being illuminated by IR?

Or maybe this depicts exactly what you are talking about and I am missing out on some even higher quality imagery.

Let me know!
 
Shows with enough light that even Reolink can do ok. First one I have seen where body parts were not missing LOL.

But with that much IR, a better camera would do much better.
 
Fair enough.

I'll read through those links you provided and see if I can find a duhua that fits into my system.

IR is onboard, that particular camera is the RLC1212A, 12MP with 1/2.49" sensor and a pair of IR floodlights, about $120CAD.

Reading through your article it seems like each camera should be picked based on specific use case, I guess I lucked out getting one that works for that location.
 
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And today ONVIF all came back, reports properly, triggers work.

Once it works don't muck with it or out might lose it.
 
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