AUTOMATIC People & pet detection - Reolink RLC-811A in Home Assistant

It's easy to do automation and triggers in Home Assistant with Reolink RLC-811A 4K camera. Built-in AI for person, vehicle and pet detection works great and enables you to have much more automation scenarios than with standard cameras - and no additional add on is needed.
Also, you can use some additional features and control both Siren embedded in camera and also spotlight from within Home Assistant.
Reolink RLC-811A camera link:
⏵reolink.com/pr... (*)
Coupon for additional discount: ytbsummersale
All you need is HACS integration - Reolink:
⏵github.com/fwe...
Link to Trail camera from Keen - Reolink subsidiary:
⏵keencamera.com/
00:00 - Intro
00:52 - Disclosure
01:14 - Previous Reolink cameras
02:17 - How my setup looks
03:24 - RLC-811A web configuration options
09:04 - Let's check specs briefly
10:03 - Keen Ranger PT trail camera
10:55 - Synology Surveillance station
11:52 - Home Assistant Webhooks with Surveillance station action rule
12:59 - HAC integration for Reolink cameras
15:27 - Reolink RLC-811A entities, sensors and switches
17:56 - Final thoughts
Don't forget to give me a thumb up if you liked this video, subscribe if you still haven't and I'll see you next time!
Have fun!
BeardedTinker
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#HomeAssistant #reolink

[@BeardedTinker]

Here is the link for this camera on Reolink store: reolink.com/product/rlc-811a/?aff=191

[@douggolde7582]

My 811A person detection feature is a little touchy. I laid a 50 lb bag soil in my driveway and the camera thought it was a person. I want to detect dirt bags, but not bags of dirt.

[@BeardedTinker]

😂😂😂 maybe soil looked a bit suspicious

[@peterrhodin8779]

Thanks for a great video (as usual). I have recently bought a RLC-830A camera. Is there a way to fetch (and show) for example the latest recorded video from the cameras local SD card? And how can you (via an automation trigger a snapshot or recording to save in HA?

[@FrankGraffagnino]

great video! appreciate the details on home assistant integration

[@BeardedTinker]

Thank you very much Frank!

[@SergioBlackDolphin]

I really need your help. How can I review quickly the persons who passed by a public walk path? I don’t want to spend too much time reviewing all the videos. Is there a sort of series of screenshots so that I can review who passed by?

[@BeardedTinker]

I have NVR for that - nothing that can be easily done in HA as it doesn't crete SmartTimeline. Or you could try adding SD card to camera and than scraping through the built-in timeline viewer. It should show when there was movement/detection and makes it a bit easier to find things.

[@Thegeotsek]

Will it be a problem having a 4TB purple nas in my synology by having 4 of theese cameras writing in 4k?

[@BeardedTinker]

I don't see a problem. You can always check on Synology web site compatibility list, but Purple drives should be OK.

[@EnricAragorn]

Nowadays I have 2 810A 4K Reolink Cameras. Both works well, but if I update to the last firmware the HACS integration does not work. I do not use NVR, just a FTP server on a TrueNAS server. It works pretty good (The pet detection does not work).

[@BeardedTinker]

Pet detection is hit of miss, with more misses than hits, but it's still in BETA... Maybe they will work on that.

[@paulpringle6441]

Thank you for your video.

[@BeardedTinker]

Thanks for watching Paul!

[@Kiloptero]

but you need the license from Synology to have more than 2 cameras?

[@BeardedTinker]

Yes, if you have more than 2 cameras, or 1 camera with PTZ, you need additional licence.

[@meersde]

Very good video on the integration of the 811A. I have ordered 3 811A and the first one in operation for a few days, but I am very disappointed with the reliability of person- and car- detection. These features were my main reason to upgrade to the 811A. The motion detection alone brings a lot of problems. Plants in the wind, reflections from light cones and so on. I haven't found a setting or mix of auto/person detection with motion detection that works even halfway. The person detection is very unreliable and you have to run the motion detection always superimposed, which then again produces the known false alarms. I'm afraid there just isn't enough intelligent detection software in the price range. I'm still playing with one of my three 811A and waiting for updates, but two are going back.

[@BeardedTinker]

Did you try to play with sensitivity and minimum size for detection? For person I get pretty decent success rate, for pet, not so much. But I didn't try tweaking that one yet.

[@meersde]

@@BeardedTinker Yes, I had increased the person detection sensitivity up to 100%, but in one place in particular (white front door with many, small rectangular panes) the person detection never responds when someone walks through the door from the inside to the outside. Object sizes are not set. Distance cam->door 4m, no optical zoom used. What also doesn't work, in my experience, is the time-dependent alarm delay. If cars drive by on the street in the image section, it takes a maximum of 2 seconds. Even if the alarm delay is set to 5 seconds, it is always recorded. This means: It does not work without classic motion detection and its problems (mainly too many false alarms).

[@meersde]

@@BeardedTinker I have one more experience to contribute and one more idea. My comparative situation was the newspaper carrier who comes to the front door in the morning still in the dark. With person detection (sensitivity 100 of 100) he is never detected, with motion detection he is already reliably detected at level 25 of 50. I suspect the person detection simply needs more light. Comparable situations during the day are detected by 50% of the person detection. Conclusion: The person detection does not work or works poorly in the dark, IR LED are of course switched on.

[@dank9288639]

I just got the wa811... They said there is an update for it. So we'll see tomorrow how it goes

[@NunoLeitaoTheEpiq]

Loved the video, well timed 🙂 I got a 810 and I'm facing an issue wich you explain at 6:15. The grey area is the area where you don't want recording to be triggered, correct?

[@BeardedTinker]

That's right - usually on most other systems, you select area you want to monitor, but here it's disable that area :)

[@NunoLeitaoTheEpiq]

@@BeardedTinker that's what I thought. It doesn't work by me...

[@BeardedTinker]

BTW - not sure if you changed minimum Object size for smart detection. Try restoring original setting there. For me this created issues.

[@Thiago-tr1ur]

Hello. Is the 811A camera compression h264 or h265? Video format.

[@BeardedTinker]

If I remember correctly, both are supported on latest firmware. Clear setting (max resolution) is h265 while lower resolution is h264. So primary stream is h265 while secondary one is h264.

[@DigitalArchmage]

Nice video. I came looking for information on how supported two-way talking is with Reolink and HA, but enjoyed the video even without this. I'm looking for a good intercom - I like the idea of being told a person is on the porch and being able to talk to them (would I need to switch to the reolink app to do this?)

[@BeardedTinker]

Excellent question! As far as I know, currently, there is no way to have two-way audio in HA. You can get audio from camera to stream in HA together with image (which works great), but not from HA to camera speaker.

[@sezginsezginsezgin1]

Hi, you are very good at your job i appreciate you i has one juestion. Can this camera be integrated on Frigate with h264 codec

[@BeardedTinker]

I'll try tomorrow. It should work, but will try.

[@EsotericArctos]

This will depend if you want to take a sub feed or the main feed. The main feed use to always be H265, and a not very well implemented version of it, while the subfeed was H264.

[@gjurriens]

@@BeardedTinker Did you by any chance get this working? I am really interested to see if you get this working or not. I'm not having any luck getting the predicessor of this camera (the RLC-820A) to work with Firgate unfortunately.

[@BeardedTinker]

What firmware. You should get new one to get fixed frame rate that is only available in new FW. Check video from The Hook Up from about a week or two ago. He's talking about that firmware specifically

[@gjurriens]

@@BeardedTinker that is exactly the firmware I'm using (thanks to the video from The Hookup). If you (or anyone else) could get it working, please share the config.

[@EsotericArctos]

How do you find the night vision these days? They always use to be really bad with smearing and blurring in night vision. The poor quality (unrecognisable) night vision and poor H265 compatibility were always the deal breakers for me. They need to update the media-server on the camera so that h264 can be selected on both streams or H265 on both streams. 640x480 just is not an option for recording on Synology when buying a 4K camera.

[@BeardedTinker]

Will test H.265 for a bit on Synology and see how it performs at night. But this spotlight really improves things. It is very very bright so you get good color picture if there is event detected. On h.264, it is really OK - both b&w and color. Not that much smearing or ghosting on the image.

[@EsotericArctos]

@@BeardedTinker Sounds like maybe Reolink have improved things. The hard part is having sub feed on H264 and main feed on H265. Synology doesn't seem to like that so much

[@BeardedTinker]

@@EsotericArctos no - it's one or the other. Previously you had option to select it, but now it doesn't play nicely with 2 together (or with h.265 in browser at all)

[@EsotericArctos]

@@BeardedTinker Unfortunately looks like, although the image quality is improving, I will still have to say no to Reolink until they offer H264 as an option on the main feed, like a lot of other manufacturers already do.

[@euclidesfernandes2457]

Nice video!🙏🏼

[@BeardedTinker]

Thank you 🙌

[@Tntdruid]

Look cool 😀

[@BeardedTinker]

It's really nice cam - love that you can get so many fun features in HA with it. Opens up a lot of possibilities. 😀

[@wicstark4851]

Hello 👋 Thank you for your video. I don't have the setting to disable HTTPS in Network Settings configuration. I can just change the port but no button to disable it. Because of this, people detection does not work in Home Assistant. How can I proceed please ? Thank you 🙂

[@BeardedTinker]

What version of firmware do you have? Can you double check in Network settings on camera? It is in port section .

[@wicstark4851]

@@BeardedTinker Thanks for your reply 🙂 My camera configuration : Model RLC-822A Build No. build 21012107 Hardware No. IPC_523128M8MP Config Version v3.0.0.0 Firmware Version v3.0.0.177_21012107

[@wicstark4851]

Link to my screenshot (port section) www.zupimages.net/viewer.php?id=22/25/ba56.jpg

[@BeardedTinker]

There is a newer version of firmware available. IPC_523128M8MP v3.1.0.956_22041507 Try installing it and see if it brings you option to control SSL part of access. It should. Following are release notes for it: 1.Upgraded ONVIF protocol to version 21.06 2. Solved the issue of no audio output on some platforms using ONVIF 3. Added the fixed FPS setting: The FPS won’t be reduced automatically at night 4. Added multiple selection for the iFrame setting 5. Solved the problem that FTP parameters do not take effect under WEB access 6. Upgraded AI model to reduce false negatives and false positives 7. Added the function of synchronously prohibiting Push after disabling the UID 8. Added the security policy of login lockout 9. Solved some bugs of FTP 10. Solved some bugs of Email alert 11. Solved the problem of failing to adjust the threshold setting 12. Modified the display script of anti-flicker

[@wicstark4851]

@@BeardedTinker Ah, I didn't know there was a new firmware version because the Reolink App told me that the camera was already up to date...I will install the latest firmware for all my cameras and let you know afterwards. Thanks again 🙂

[@solomonthomas7444]

For me the 811a the person is detected but i am not recieving the push notification for it. I can see that the playback has captured the person motion though. But i just dont recieve the notification for it. At the same time i am getting the notification for vehicle.Any help please?

[@BeardedTinker]

Do you see on camera alert that person was detected or just motion detection aler? Try tweaking size of the person object (maximum size etc) - I think that this needs to be tweaked. Camera has 3 (4) different motion events: motion is whenever something is detected, vehicle when motion from vehicle is detected and person when person is detected (plus pet that works so so).

[@solomonthomas7444]

@@BeardedTinker i can see person detected. But the notification is coming intermediatary now... Sometime it detects and sends message but other times it just detects the person but no message.

[@russellmuscat3432]

HI Thomas, did you manage to setup the vehicle an person detection? tia

[@solomonthomas7444]

@@russellmuscat3432 without any tweaking it started to function properly. I can see notifications coming through for person detection and vehicle as well.

[@russellmuscat3432]

@@solomonthomas7444 very strange! but thanks

[@Merwenus]

How do you have 3 cameras in Synology? I have a maximum of 2. :( 4 cameras are on the way and have another already and as I found out blueiris is for windows only not works on synology :D

[@BeardedTinker]

Well - licences. I bought a lot of extra licences for them. I think 2 cameras are included with DSM, for extra ones I've bought them online I think I have total od 1x2 licences, 3x1 licence across 3 Synology devices. They are permanent and can be moved from one device to the other.

[@Merwenus]

@@BeardedTinker I heard they don't work with Xpenology, how?

[@Merwenus]

Oh I just see it would be cheaper to build a new server with Windows and run Blue Iris on it than buying a 4pack license :D

[@BeardedTinker]

@@Merwenus that's different - all those I have with licences are original Synology devices. So that's not issue there. For Xpenology, I don't know really. Didn't even try to activate one.

[@BeardedTinker]

@@Merwenus yes, probably it would :D

[@jorgenogueira9223]

for you which reolink camera is best of all for outdoors? Tanks

[@BeardedTinker]

I like 511 or 811 type cameras. 811 has much better floodlight and if you go for 811A - that one also has "AI" for person/vehicle detection. Those models are also PoE - which makes powering and connection much easier, but you need to have Ethernet cable where you want to mount them.

[@jorgenogueira9223]

@@BeardedTinker This camera I also see the model RLC -811A and also RLK-811B4 A and RLK8-810B4-A. For me the camera looks the same😅, can you explain the differences?

[@BeardedTinker]

@@jorgenogueira9223 biggest and most important difference is that RLK8-810B4-A and similar are kits with cameras that CAN'T work without Reolink NVR. RLC-811A can be used with other systems, such as BlueIris, MotionEye, ZoneMinder, Synolgoy Surveillence station and similar, while that other kit is locked-in to Reolink only equipment and software.

[@JohnSmith-yk1iy]

What about lag? Is it better than it used to be?

[@BeardedTinker]

If using standard integration - same. This is not fault of camera (any camera), it has to to with video streaming. HA needs to get bit of stream to re-stream it.

[@bono122b4]

Is it possible to add second camera from nvr using reolink dev?

[@BeardedTinker]

I really am not sure - Reolink Dev talks to camera directly. Some camera & NVR combos don't allow to use NVR and camera link at same time. I use Synology and it works with it. Not sure for others.