Reolink Altas PT Ultra: A New Generation of Security Camera & 11 More Uses You Hadn't Thought Of!

[@AngeEinstein]

I recently found a Reolink Duo Wifi in the trash. Its works perfectly and I was really surprised how well the Reolink camera works. Everything just works, no buffering or loading issues, no ads in the app. Also the integration with Home Assistant is just wonderful.

[@handsonkatie]

Amazing!! What luck!! Great summary and I love the HA integration, it's seamless as you say!

[@WoLpH]

Thank you for the review Katie! I've bought several reolink cameras a few months ago and I'm amazed by the quality so far, I generally don't need a wireless solution but this thing looks amazing!

[@josecintron85]

This video is heaven sent. I've been looking for a cam like this for months... Thanks Katie

[@handsonkatie]

Glad it was helpful!!

[@kevinschoeppler4115]

Love the intro plus your energetic personality- very refreshing 🎉

[@32plamen]

Everytime you are so excited to tell us the info about that and that.. its just so nice to see people like you. Also you give the vibe of energetic lion, i appeciate it and i am having a blast! Keep going with the vids. ^^

[@brentwelch1084]

We had a mouse problem 2 years ago in our basement. We used Blink cameras to help find out where they were coming in and also to know where the best places to place traps were.

[@handsonkatie]

Brilliant idea - never thought of that!! Although I hope I'll never have to use it!

[@MrCardeso]

Very nice! I decided on Reolink for my first security cameras and have not regretted it. All of mine are POE. I used Blue Iris for a while with a NAS to store a lot of footage (and still have it), but then I decided on the NVR when it was on sale. I am now looking at adding an external HD to the NVR. I really want to use Home Assistant badly, but I have not had time to set it up. I like watching your videos to remind me what I need to do...

[@handsonkatie]

Ah, I wish I'd had your wisdom! I wasted money jumping through the silly camera brands, even though I kept seeing Reolink being recommended! Silly billy! 😂 Your NVR will be great with HA (means a lot of the preprocessing of feeds can be done by the NVR so HA isn't slowed by them!)

[@mnemonicn]

The problem with wired camera over POE when there is a power cut, why don't don't you run the switch with a power backup UPS. That will keep then running even if the power is cut. That's like battery backup on the wired ones. The problem with wifi is that you can disturb the signal very easy and the camera will not show anything.

[@handsonkatie]

Spot on - indeed many security bods recommend 'both' as the strongest solution, so mix and match a bit!

[@shubinternet]

You can do battery backup devices for the WiFi-only cameras.

[@shubinternet]

I would also describe cameras that are battery powered and use WiFi as “wire-free” instead. That’s the common term in the industry. The term “wireless” for cameras usually means that they get power over USB, but they communicate over WiFi.

[@shubinternet]

Now, the problem with any wireless or wirefree cameras is that they use only WiFi to communicate, and WiFi can be easily jammed. Unfortunately, WiFi jamming attacks are becoming more common with home break-ins. That’s why everyone in the home security industry wants to use only POE type cameras.

[@JohnVanderbeck]

Honestly you should be doing this ANYWAY even if you have no cameras. My entire network rack has a UPS (in addition to the whole home backup) because there are things on there that you really don't want to have power flickers on or they could be very badly damaged.

[@PWOODHAMS]

I switched my previous cameras to Reolink over the last year or so. I live in a remote part of Alaska and have captured loads of wildlife, including bears, wolves, and moose. I also did a one year timelapse of the river behind my house. It captured the freeze up and breakup of the river. Reolink was the only brand I found that let me capture a years worth of video to observe the changing seasons. I posted some of the videos on my KZbin channel to share the Alaska experience with friends and family.

[@handsonkatie]

Amazing example, you must have got some amazing images!!!! 😍😍😍😍

[@shinydoc]

I have the Eufy ecosystem and love it. Have a few battery powered cameras, but when looking for a good external PTZ AI tracking, 2 camera system, it was either the S340 Solar powered one, but I opted for the E340 floodlight cam. It's wireless for video, but it needs mains power, and I love it when paired with the new Homebase with SSD. The floodlight is insanely bright, but you can control the brightness too

[@CMDRSloma]

I recently upgraded my old Reolink 5MP cameras to Track mix Pros, the quality jump is substantial, and these include object detection. PoE as before, WiFi is unreliable and congested, can't rely on solar in winter where I live (still UK). Now I need to upgrade my storage, old cams allowed for month of footage compared to week or week and a half now. I had them integrated into HA since 2019, it was pain in the backside in the past but now it's dead simple, no more need for Frigate anymore. Even Reolink PoE doorbell does person detection, and it's best on the market hands down.

[@vedicaudio]

Have you used this camera with the Reolink Home Hub? The home hub seems like the best way to actually record and review footage from multiple Reolink Wi-Fi cameras, since it keeps all the footage in one central location, and doesn't use up bandwidth on your regular Wi-Fi router. The problem I ran into with the Argus PT Ultra & Home Hub was the range is pretty limited. I wanted to install one in the back of my house, but I couldn't establish a stable connection. The distance was probably only 15 meters but the path went through an internal wall, and then an exterior stucco (concrete) wall. I found that I could only put them in locations with a direct line of sight through a window to the Home Hub. Does anyone know if this would have significantly better "reach" than the Argus PT Ultra?

[@handsonkatie]

Yes I have used it with the Home Hub - exactly as you say, it works great and also provides a 'wired-like' set of features like RTSP streaming and more. I can't say I've used the Argus, so can't compare WiFi range between them - might be worth checking with Reolink to see if any obvious WiFi chip or antenna differences between them?

[@ug333]

Yet another amazing video! And right when I've been looking for my next generation of cameras for my house :D

[@lorenakademar5267]

Thank you for sharing!

[@marklamport9140]

POE all the way for me. Cameras really need to support ONVIF. I have Unifi system and cameras hooked up to Home Assistant, Unifi latest Protect supports ONVIF cameras.

[@patrickpaganini]

Some Reolink are ONVIF. Anyway, with software you can hook up most cameras either to Unifi, or from Unifi equipment to say homekit. Reolink have better quality images than the current Unifi stuff available.

[@handsonkatie]

All of mine are ONVIF - including the Altas PT Ultra which I bounce through the home hub to achieve a steady ONVIF stream). Also tested it with my Unifi and NAS separately, but sticking with the NVR as works great!

[@marklamport9140]

@@handsonkatie Nice. I will stick POE, there have been thieves with WIFI jammers scouting the local area. However I hear Reolink cameras are really good and a fraction of the cost of Unifi cameras so I will be investigating. But I do have have 4 cameras in total though, I even have Unifi Access G2 Reader Pro as my doorbell and hooked up to my garage door (only way into the house).

[@handsonkatie]

@@marklamport9140oh definitely , if you've got poe already, there's no reason to need battery/WiFi!! sounds like you're well covered already!! I think it's easy to get on neverending upgrade path of these too - you just need to judge the benefit Vs cost of any upgrade!!

[@familycalendar8128]

⁠@@handsonkatieThis is my first security camera system. I purchased 4 x Atlas PT Ultra & and a home hub pro. How did you “bounce” thru a NAS? I have a QNAP and I’d link to connect the camera’s to it. Thx.

[@Omhra]

:) I have a fairly automated home, but you have that extra drive. Thanks for the inspiration.

[@gavintheurquhart]

Looks like another great camera from Reolink. I still want my wired cameras for sure but this is great for that odd flexible location. Nice!

[@handsonkatie]

Spot on, I've gone with exactly the same setup - PoE where it makes sense, but these are really handy also for 'temporary' security, eg I just had a mini digger for doing my new workshop, so I can just drop this on a tree to monitor it overnight, then move it back!

[@OlavAlexanderMjelde]

I love your enthusiasm ;)

[@debugin1227]

wired all the way!

[@leona_devon]

I have heard a lot of good things about these cameras, I have tried a few camera, but integrating with Home Assistant seems to be one big sticky problem, I had a tp tapo camera which used to work with HA until TP changed their API and now the integration stopped working. So I wanted a camera that was 100% compatible with HA without HACing it :)

[@handsonkatie]

I did the same Leona! I can say Reolink are totally seamless with HA, but wish I'd listened to everyone sooner!!

[@Colin_Ames]

Great video, as always.

[@turb0t]

Another new video from Katie, I wonder what marvels she will reveal to us in this one. 😁

[@SeanReifschneider]

Are you using your new NAS for NVR or one of the Reolink boxes? Any thoughts about one vs the other?

[@handsonkatie]

I'm using the NVR which is awesome, but that's partially as I want to keep the NAS free for hammering it myself!! I think both work great, but an NVR is naturally highly optimised for the task!

[@Shrp91]

Babe wake up, new Katie video just dropped!

[@odgregg]

I switched over to Reolink cameras at the end of last year as subscription fees for the other cameras I was using were going up. Now have 3 powered (but wifi) cameras, the doorbell and an NVR.... Also Frigate with a Coral USB TPU and all integrated into HA of course.

[@odgregg]

Forgot to mention, I'm tempted to get one of the Atlas PT Ultra for the backyard (no power there). Does it support 24/7 recording to an NVR on battery? (I though it may not be able to, just recording to it's SD card 24/7)

[@handsonkatie]

It does indeed support that, that's what it's doing on my NVR as we speak - I think it's the first 4k battery camera that's ever been able to do this. Naturally I'd get a solar panel if you're going to do this!

[@247SH]

I was all excited. I downloaded Home Assistant and was going to integrate my Tapo WIFI cameras. But no, TP-Link has changed the firmware (for security reasons😂😂) so they cannot be integrated. Be careful what you buy.

[@jameshendry3571]

Are you using Deepstack in Frigate for person detection within Frigate? Would love to know if Frigate supports this camera with auto-tracking functionailty because I have a house full of Reolink but the Frigate doco says that only a handful of non-Reolink cams actually support auto-tracking. Perhaps this could be the first.

[@handsonkatie]

Give me a few weeks to set the rest up and then I'll be testing exactly this!!

[@andyyates8388]

Hi Katie, I bought this camera based on your glowing report. However I have Synology NAS running surveillance station, and it fails to connect via ONVIF, are you sure this has that?. I cant see anywhere in Reolink app or windows client where to "enable" it or see the ports. I don't have Reolink home hub, do I need this in order to see these network options?. The product is so new there is not much info available (Other than Reolink stating ONVIF is not supported for Battery cameras) - but I know this is a bit special with larger battery and solar to charge. I do have another WIFI reolink POE camera that has been fine on my NAS for over 4 years - so this was an upgrade. Any advise you can offer appreciated. P.s. replacing my ender 3 V2 with Bambu labs P1S too, thanks to your channel. 🤩

[@handsonkatie]

Hey Andy, yes you definitely need to have some sort of hub or NVR for battery cams (these convert to RTSC or ONVIF for the camera, otherwise it would just kill the batteries very quickly) - so I've got mine going through a home hub as I mentioned. If this doesn't work for you, then I'd return for a PoE, but you 'might' be able to use your NAS to create the RTSC feed also, but I haven't tried this. I'm happy to check anything with Reolink directly if that helps too! PS wait until you see the P1S to Ender difference on your first print, I challenge you not to smile.....!!!

[@andyyates8388]

@@handsonkatie Thanks for quick response! . I’m happy to buy the home hub - I believe the hub has its on WiFi that the cameras connect too? I’m not sure how HA works with finding these cams if there on different networks?- but my other concern is my NAS not finding them as it will be connected to my main router which- does HA use multi homing to find things on different networks? Looking on the net I think the home hub or nvr is needed in order to go to advanced network options in the camera to enable the ports for Onvif and rtsp - don’t have any advanced option in Reolink app or Reolink windows web client. I did open support web chat with Reolink (and the bot said it’s getting human to talk to me) but it seems stuck too as no one has come online 😂

[@handsonkatie]

Hey Andy!! Yes, that's spot on - the Hub takes the feeds from all the cameras via wifi (they is through your home network, so no need for cameras to be in reach of the hub, just in reach of your wifi). The hub then connects via ethernet to your home network (and this is what allows a steady and reliable stream of ONVIF or RTSC to your NAS or other appliances). I might be forgetting, but I'm pretty sure the option for enabling this was in the Home Hub settings itself (the camera streams appear as streams within the hub, rather than as separate devices if that makes sense), so you can then connect these feeds to HA. Reolink and basically every other firm is on barebones support this week as it's National Day in China, so it's like raising a support request on the 25th December in the UK/US or something, so they might be more sluggish than usual until Monday! PS drop me an email on my site if it helps, happy to share screenshots and the like of my set up - know I might be failing to describe properly in text!

[@andyyates8388]

@@handsonkatie Hi again, Ok, sorry for not replying sooner. In the end I gave up on the Altas PT Ultra, and returned it to Amazon. As I had Power in the garage I decided to go for a powered Wifi model. The Reolink E1 Outdoor CX - quite new on market, seemed to fit the bill. Straight away once added to app I had network options to enable ONVIF.. yay!. My NAS then when searching to add camera, found it straight away, and even knew the model and setup the PTZ options etc. I have even set up a "Patrol" schedule so the camera automatically pans to a preset, then back - all the time recording. Happy days. Now to find some time to install HA and setup all my smart things... but that's for another day. :-)

[@ghostmandka5498]

Love your accent!

[@esrider7765]

so have you managed to connect reolink cameras to Home Assistant ?

[@handsonkatie]

Oh yes, it's awesome! Takes all the strain away from HA!

[@esrider7765]

@@handsonkatie For some reason, probably me I cant get HA to connect to NVR cameras. Not sure if I should be putting in IP address for NVR or each camera. As it happens it telling me today to update the firmware on NVR.

[@handsonkatie]

That's very odd - mine just pop up automatically on my Home Assistant Integrations page? Can't post a screenshot here, but it just shows the devices as things like : reolink (10.0.0.228) Reolink IP NVR/camera - so you just click to configure. Maybe try asking in the Reolink threads on Home Assistant forums?

[@esrider7765]

@@handsonkatie Yes, are you putting the individual camera IP or the NVR IP ? Had a bit of nightmare last few days with reolink, made mistake of updating firmware and it went belly up. Back up and running now but the reolink integration is saying firmware is out of date ! (I know its latest as I only just went to reolink website to get it) Now off course the app is updated and I cant remove unused camera input channels like before. Oh joys of joys !.

[@esrider7765]

ok, found some of the settings in NVR had been reset in firmware, I can now see the NVR and camera under devices. Not sure now how to actually view a camera in HA.

[@darrenlegallais1974]

I didn’t hear a word you said… and what camera?? 😂😂😍

[@gavbansal967]

Thank you for the video and all the useful info. I would always go POE over WiFi cameras and my NVR is backed up by a UPS. I did come across a problem with my camera system (Swann) that they discontinued software support for both the mobile and PC apps. Further digging led me to Reolink and it appears that Swann just re-badge their stuff. So off to the Reolink website, downloaded their software and I'm up and running again, with software that actually works, rather than the cack that Swann provide.

[@handsonkatie]

Amazing tip! Didn't realise that about Swann, don't know why firms rebadge and downgrade these things!

[@pradolover]

With 4k could you use this for stuff on your floor that's not meant to be there, eg lego bricks, pet vomit etc? Would be great to be alerted to this so it can be sorted immediately rather than you treading on/in it later! Thanks for the great video ❤

[@handsonkatie]

Brilliant thinking!! 😍🥰😍 You just made my head explode with ideas!! 🤯 I wonder if I could make a scanner to check the lawns for objects before the robot lawnmower sets off!!

[@azore321]

I’ve got a Reolink in my cart ready to buy, but I need to slow down a little bit until I have my Home Assistant up and running properly. After watching your video from a few weeks ago, I have HA running on a PI5. To start out slow, I only bought an ESP32 and a couple of sensors. I’m not getting results I wanted. I’m sure that I just missed some steps to get everything working together properly. Is there any simple guide you know of that will get me on the right track?

[@handsonkatie]

Hey! Definitely worth being careful you don't overwhelm yourself with gadgets as this can jade you or kill a bit of the passion! That said, if anything you're taking the hard route first! The Reolink cameras are very 'plug and play' whereas programming your own ESP chip is a little trickier! I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with your ESP32, but why don't you join my discord channel and we can chat to get you started? Drop me an email on my site and I'll send you a link

[@azore321]

@@handsonkatieThanks Katie! Email sent

[@9000526]

Hi Katie, this month I bought my first 2 Reolink cameras. An 811A and a Duo 3! But I have a problem in one of the automations with Home Assistant: I need that when the cameras turn on their LEDs they also turn on some lights at the entrance of the house, but in both cameras there is a random delay of between 15 seconds to 1 minute in which HA refresh the status of the leds. Could you use your super powers with the people at Reolink to fix the integration?

[@9000526]

I forgot to mention that the motion sensor has instant refresh in HA, the problem is only with turning on and also with turning off the LED lights

[@handsonkatie]

Ooh, this sounds like something that could be fixed - I suspect this isn't Reolink (indeed I'm not even sure if they develop the integration or if its a community built thing), I'll dig into this in the coming weeks as I continue to set up the integration, so I'll look out for this. I'd need to trace through the logs to see where the delay occurs, so I'll first need to recreate it, but it sounds super solveable!

[@9000526]

@@handsonkatie Thanks for your response, and if you have time to try, thanks in advance too.

[@markburton9712]

My Dear, ducks are great for dealing with pests, unlike chickens, they typically don't eat the veg. Also, don't eat more than one egg at a time, they're rather heavy but still great in baking. God bless. PS. Ducks love kitchen scraps. Khaki Campbell are the best layers.

[@handsonkatie]

Great tip!! I've thought about chickens too!

[@shubinternet]

Reolink does have an NVR that works with their WiFi and POE cameras, but historically have not worked with their battery powered cameras. Is that any different with this model camera?

[@handsonkatie]

Exactly!! This integrates just as though it's one of your PoE devices - check out the home hub for a simple way to start with their NVRs

[@marcradermacher6244]

Do those cameras have the ability to mask out specific parts of the picture? Those privacy laws in germany really don't make it easy to use a device like this without breaking any laws just by accident.

[@handsonkatie]

Yep, very good masking, alert zones, guard points and loads more - check the link and they have examples on their site of all the features

[@slickheisenberg8208]

Focus, focus, focus. I can’t focus.

[@janklamer]

Difficult focus on two points huh

[@frits183]

Katie can you also ad a European Amazon like Germany or Holland ( were i live) to your inventory buying list.

[@handsonkatie]

Hey of course, does the Reolink site not redirect you to an EU equivalent? (I thought I checked that!)

[@rogerhuston8287]

What I've always wondered is if I can take a live feed from any of the cameras and use them in a zoom meeting?

[@handsonkatie]

They've naturally designed for slightly different purposes (eg Reolink is focused on clarity regardless of condition, whereas often webcams are aimed at 'blurring' to improve your appearance - but I was plotting the same, 4K and 24FPS is more than enough for zoom!

[@rogerhuston8287]

@@handsonkatie I live in the mountains across the pond and people often want to see outside my window at the snow or scenery than looking at me. I can't blame them. I just need a way to get the stream to show up on my device as a camera.

[@DethpickleDave]

Does it support Onvif on it's own or only with their NVR?

[@handsonkatie]

Great question, let me check and revert - as I already want it to bounce through my NVR, I can't say I've tried without!

[@jeffdcarter]

Reolink cameras all support Onvif. At least all the ones I have do.

[@DethpickleDave]

@@jeffdcarter Per their website, battery operated ones don't. But the support page doesn't look recent and this is a brand new cam. I'm hoping it does.

[@jsford89]

Also curious about ONVIF or even RTSP support. I would love something like this for my Blue Iris setup.

[@jeffdcarter]

@@DethpickleDave I have not used any of Reolink's battery powered cameras, but have used several different POE cameras and a couple wifi based. Primarily I only use POE cameras, for their resistance to jamming. The exception is a couple wifi cameras inside the house that are only powered up via a smart plug when we are not home. The only scenario I can imagine me using a battery powered camera, would be either temporary only or as a stopgap measure in an exigent situation. Until I can get a properly installed POE solution in place. For me battery and wifi based cameras offer too many compromises for a permanently installed camera. However I suspect there are a multitude of use cases for battery powered cameras outside my personal inclinations.

[@MrSpleenboy]

Speaking of turrets and finding out what's eating your plants, I'm pretty sure you could rig up an automated water scoosher to discourage cats or rabbits. Probably wouldn't do anything for the slugs though, unless you used salt water, but that would be bad for the plants 😃 Motors (you'd probably need rotation on both x and z axes), microcontroller, battery, water cannon, and something rigged up to fire it, and if you had it on the same orientation as the camera, you could use that as the targeting system. Sort of like an automated version of the cannon on an Apache helicopter. Farmbot with automated defence grid!

[@handsonkatie]

Amazing idea!!! Another project!!

[@MrSpleenboy]

I forgot to ask, was that the new switchbot making a bid for freedom, or the old robot hoover running away because it feels unloved now? 😃

[@handsonkatie]

It's the new S10!! He wants to vacuum the whole world!! He's my favourite!!

[@Sapious1]

Always sexy and subjective ;-) enjoyed the video... Planning on replacing my cameras this fall, Reolink is on the list. I have a 8 port POE switch that's been sitting dormant for some time, I'll put that to use as well....

[@stuartforrest]

Reolink WiFi cameras of before don’t have the network options to directly integrate into home assistant. I just had to send back four of their latest trackmix cameras. Reolink kindly refunded me and I changed them to Poe versions which have the built in web server and also respond and connect much much faster. Unless they have changed this in this new camera you would also need the base station or nvr to connect to home assistant. Reolink Poe cameras are awesome. I would be keen on these so long as they have the built in web server option. Did you actually connect one directly to home assistant?

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, this is exactly right - you can use an NVR or Home Hub to generate the streams that you can then take into HA. This is the setup I'm going for with my Reolink Wifi cameras! I don't think these would have a built in web server option (I imagine this would batter the battery life pretty heavily!)

[@stuartforrest]

@@handsonkatie My friend has the nvr and it does limit some of the options you can set in the app. For example you cant set the sirens via a scene if you have multiple cameras. Not sure if that issue exists with the home base. With the POE cameras you can set everything from HA automations which is great. I might try a home base and a wifi camera but in general the POE ones are just so good and fast I will always try to go POE. These do look good thought for those that cant.

[@handsonkatie]

Hey Stuart! Ah, I haven't checked the sirens, will have a look later to check for sure on the home hub - I vaguely recall it having an option. But you're spot on - if you have the ability to run PoE, then their PoE cameras are amazing, so why wouldn't you!?! For everything else, then they have brilliant options too. It's funny how people often fixate on one or the other, you can just pick and choose! What you're doing sounds spot on - exactly what I've done.

[@stuartforrest]

@@handsonkatie Yes sounds good. I am going to try one of these for sure. I have a few places I dont have RJ45

[@paulsander5433]

It sucks when a thief steals your burglar alarm. This appears to be held in place using simple hangars, clamps, or bases. Can they be permanently affixed somewhere? How do you charge them without the solar panel, especially if they're outdoors? The 360-degree view is compelling. How does it compare to an actual high resolution spherical camera that can capture multiple simultaneous events? This also seems like a solution looking for a motion capture problem.

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, you can bolt/screw this using metal bracket. Charging is via 5V usb, so you can use any USB source if needed (or just keep a cable ready to attach power bank as required). The camera will naturally have it's pixels pointed towards the FOV, so you'll have many more pixels (this detail) per inch rather than spreading them around a full 360. You can naturally get even higher Res (eg the Duo 3 or full spherical as you say, but the cost ramps up further and further). Motion capture I use all the time, very handy!

[@paulsander5433]

@@handsonkatie It's good to see that these can be secured, and that some of them claim to be vandal-proof. Not sure if they could make that claim if someone sprays a sticky primer on it, but there's a limit to how far one can reasonably go to prevent failures. The cool thing about spherical cameras is that they give a 360-degree field of view left-to-right and up-and-down so that you view and track all motion within a given area, without moving parts. For example, I mount one on a pole to get a lifeguard's view of two adjacent volleyball matches being played concurrently. I use something other than a security cam for this, but the application motivates more use cases. Another application would be to mount one (not two) on the corner of a house to get a full 270-degree view of the surroundings. None of the Reolink cameras seem to do that. Some have 180 degree fields of view, so one would need two of them mounted back-to-back for a full 360 degree view, and even then they can't see the sky. A statically mounted security cam might not need that capability, but you've demonstrated that use case for a movable one. I think that "motion tracking" and "motion capture" are two different things. Motion tracking is a camera's ability to follow one or more subjects and keep them in the center of its field of view. Motion capture, on the other hand, is a 3-D model of the movement of one more subjects, taken from multiple statically mounted cameras. This is used to animate creatures in motion pictures, for example. I've seen it used in more mundane applications, such as measuring coverage of robotic vacuum cleaners. Good motion capture can follow multiple targets, too. I imagine this in new applications, such as weddings. For example, model the happy couple's first dance, and produce images from virtual camera angles, or even 3-D print a rendering of a specific moment of the event.

[@handsonkatie]

Hey Paul - oh yes, of course there's a point where no camera can be 'invincible'! Great example on the 360 cameras - for lifeguards, totally get it's not about clarity, more about the 360 vision to see 'all pools at once', whereas other cameras want to avoid the lens distortion and have sharper clarity so I can read the number plate of that vehicle or recognise that face. This is where ultimately it's about having a diverse range of solutions so everyone can get the best solution for their problem! I hadn't clocked on motion capture - is this actually being used? (Know Reolink are great at the tracking, but not aware of cameras focusing on MoCap) - it's possible you could use it for IDing people (eg gait length, walk patterns and the like), but agree it's not as obvious how this could be used for standard security purposes (I've used it lots in 3d modelling/scanning and similar things in the past)

[@paulsander5433]

@@handsonkatie The lifeguard view that I mentioned was less about security than to simply describe an elevated point of view surrounded by action, like you'd have while sitting on a lifeguard stand. The fish-eye lenses used by a spherical camera make the pixel density pretty constant in all directions, so if the resolution is high enough then you can read something like a license plate from any direction. After the spherical images are captured, it's common to flatten them out to make traditional videos, though usually this is done outside the camera. Motion capture isn't possible with a single camera because it relies on triangulation to compute the 3-D model. More cameras make better models, to a point. A similar claim could be made for 3-D scanning.

[@chrisdixon5241]

Impressive work by Reolink! They have always been a very innovative brand and play nicely with the community. I just wish their HA integration supported the 2 way talk feature of their cameras. Incidentally, does this new camera have that?

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, brilliantly summarised Chris - think you're spot on. Hmm 2 way talk is a tricky one, wonder if that's more HA than Reolink - I could see that being complex to work out device variances. I'll have a think about how that could be achieved. Yes, this does do 2 way talk also - it really is the closest battery cam I've seen to wired!

[@chrisdixon5241]

@@handsonkatie I seem to remember reading that some changes would be needed inside HA to properly support it, but I don't know if that is still true. It would also be great to be able to play an mp3 to the camera, at halloween for fun with the kids / friends visiting, and definitely could be useful for automatically scaring away burglars!

[@handsonkatie]

@@chrisdixon5241 yes, that's my instinct - as HA doesn't really natively have a 'mic' or 'speaker' ability, I'd need to think about the best way to 'cast' it. I'm wondering if some of the more recent voice command features could be used in some shape... I'll brainstorm!!

[@chrisdixon5241]

@@handsonkatie For the speaker side, I would imagine the Reolink integration could expose it as a media player, much like a smart speaker. The mic would definitely be a bit trickier though...

[@SeanReifschneider]

Solar panel... Or, PoE->USB-C adapter! :-)

[@SeanReifschneider]

Cripes... This inspired me to do a bunch of research and I just pulled the trigger on 4x CX810 cameras and the NVR. I have PoE to all my camera locations, so that's why I picked the CX810s.

[@WimVeen]

Your video's are always fun Katie. I had hoped for a bit more depth on saving your camera data. But maybe that's just me.

[@handsonkatie]

If I follow you, then I'll cover this in more depth in future (I'm going to do an installation video for more cameras on my new workshop and I'll show the camera > NVR > NAS set up I'm going with on this!)

[@WimVeen]

@@handsonkatie That would be great. This is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[@JTs3DPrints]

Wireless feature nice, but security requires hardwire when one wants best of the best! Very easy to take a wifi offline……..handy yes. Just saying!

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, I think both are great (wired has it's weaknesses too) - this isn't dependent on WiFi and stores locally as a backup, but a full array is a great idea!

[@JTs3DPrints]

@@handsonkatie I like idea of high quality optical zoom(great feature)very handy. Great for security systems and easy setup. Run a bank of 60 cameras at power plant.

[@handsonkatie]

@@JTs3DPrints definitely - worth a look at the Trackmix PoE (I've linked to that too) - it's got an astonishing secondary camera zoom!

[@janklamer]

So now i need to dump all my eufy cams?

[@handsonkatie]

🤣🤣🤣 No! Stick with what you've got unless they're really not working for you, people can get into a never-ending upgrade cycle if not, you need to decide how your current cameras stack up vs the new, but in most cases I'd just wait for significant upgrade points - eg they start to fail, 1080p vs 4k and so on!

[@danielpaanderson]

Is this a sign? Weekly uploads? 😉😂

[@z_polarcat]

Wireless and battery only? Hard pass. Do you charge it every 8 days (assuming continuous recording is on)?

[@handsonkatie]

Nope, I don't charge it at all ever - just plugged into solar panel which only needs 10 mins of light a day to allow constant charge. You can obviously plug in a USB 5v cable or extra pack even, so it can be mains powered if you really want too!

[@macbarken]

@@handsonkatie 10 mins of light produces just enough power for 300s (5 minutes!) of PIR triggered video. NOT 24h continuous filming!

[@handsonkatie]

Yes - assuming a standard 6W solar panel (the one that comes with it) - 10 mins charging will last 24 hours of standard use, 24 days of charge lasts 180 days. If you had it forced into continuous recording with pre-record, 6hrs of charging would give you 3 days worth. So obviously depends on your precise set up, but quite difficult to not get 'eternal' batteries!

[@z_polarcat]

@@handsonkatie wouldn’t have hurt to add POE capability and keep the battery power as a backup

[@handsonkatie]

@@z_polarcat yes, I'd imagine there's be extra cost, but ultimately ethernet and usb connectors could be a neat future solution!

[@tommullinerart]

You could even put it in your car as a dashcam! lol

[@handsonkatie]

🤣🤣 Well you *could*....!

[@Lanser1964]

£180 a camera I wont be using to watch a printer or cooking

[@handsonkatie]

Oh definitely not, but if you have quite a few printers, then it becomes very sensible - esp as you'd almost certainly want one anyway for security!

[@yootoob7048]

I wonder how these cameras hold up in a desert environment where the sun shines almost every day of the year and the heat eats plastic.

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, I think most are rated to 55C, but desert conditions can be pretty brutal for anything!!

[@yootoob7048]

@@handsonkatie Rated to 55c for how long? In Phoenix, AZ USA it can be over 40c for several weeks during the day and close to 40c over night. Then there is the

[@handsonkatie]

@@yootoob7048 well they state that's the operating range, so I'd assume it's capable of permanently operating at that range, but I'd contact them to doublecheck!!

[@peterhoz]

Wireless also done work in a power outage cos your WiFi router will be out 😉

[@odgregg]

Except all the Reolink cameras have an MicroSD slot, so can continue to record events during the power outage (at least for the battery ones). Even though I have an NVR, I have MicroSD cards in my powered cameras in case the network/wifi is taken out, but not the power.

[@handsonkatie]

But it saves locally to the device, so it carries on... see they thought of that... ;)

[@richardwatkins6725]

Top Secret…. 😊

[@handsonkatie]

Well not any more, but it was while I was testing it.... very much cat out the bag now!! 🤣

[@richardwatkins6725]

@@handsonkatieGreat video and your right some great cameras without the cost of subscription. Night Colour and Battery / Solar is awesome.

[@handsonkatie]

@@richardwatkins6725 I do really like them as a firm, I think they've always been very strong on giving users the option of completely local control

[@JohnVanderbeck]

Is there some reason these companies can't make them work on both battery AND POE? I'd be much happier if this could be powered over POE instead of a small add-on solar panel. I had my house wired for POE specifically to use for cameras like these, yet all the good ones use battery and wireless defeating the purpose and hampering themselves for no reason. The be clear, I want to use POE because that means it is also using the LAN for data not wifi. Wifi is so saturated these days that the less we use it for things like this the better.

[@handsonkatie]

That's an interesting question, John - I guess I'm trying to think of the purpose of having both? I guess one advantage could be that it'd be a more secure device than simply PoE - eg I can cut the cords or switch off the power and I can get into your property without recording, so having a 'back up' battery would make them very, very difficult to tackle. Likewise as you say, for low latency response, it'd be handy for data. Well one point is Reolink are super attentive, so they've already confirmed their engineers have read through all the comments in this video and are looking to take away the best ideas for future products... so you never know...... I STILL WANT LASERS! ;)

[@JohnVanderbeck]

@@handsonkatie I just think overall POE is the more "responsible" way to do it. Less wifi saturation, better transfer speed and the power is already there. I'm just kind of frustrated that in the effort to cater to more people they make everything wireless and then finding a good POE camera is actually HARD. Everything about this camera looks great to me except that it is battery. I certainly understand that a battery and wifi is better for many people, IU just wish a camera like this, with this feature set, could be made so that both options co-exist as first class citizens.

[@handsonkatie]

I get where you're coming from John, just need to bear in mind different use cases - eg these are the only realistic option for some use cases, eg farms, off-grid cottages, larger gardens, temporary security and more - where running ethernet cables for miles is just never going to happen. Having a 4k camera you can stick to a shed and have solar power forever and 4g connectivity is pretty handy! Even in gardens this is helpful where it's useful. Likewise there is no wifi congestion problems in most of these use cases either!! That said, I'd say Reolink's Trackmix PoE is an amazing camera - as it the Duo 3. I have both, hence I linked in the description. They're bonkers in their own right, I was looking at ANTS moving on my patio the other day through its zoom camera!!!

[@JohnVanderbeck]

@@handsonkatie Yeah as I Said I completely understand the use case of a wireless solution, I just don't get why if you have a device that can operate without a battery and over wifi, why that same device can't optionally also be plugged into a POE cable and run over the lan with the power.

[@handsonkatie]

Ah yes, sensible feature request I think then!!! Reolink are already scanning these comments to gather ideas for their R&D team, so they're definitely brainstorming!

[@turb0t]

I have to say that I will never use a wireless camera, even a battery powered one. If your'e concerned about a power cut, then don't forget that your router will also missing power, and this is assuming you use cloud storage. But if you have local storage, both my POE switches are on UPS and my NVR/NAS are on UPS too. So even if my ISP drops the service , I still have my recordings. I don't trust cloud storage.

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, this is one of the huge advantages to Reolink's 'local friendly' approach - it amazes me how fragile some of these cloud-addicted, subscription solutions are - wifi down, router down, power down, isp down, lots of failures! But on the wifi point - I really like the way this acts like a PoE device (streams continuously to my NVR), but if there was a power cut, then it just happily carries on with its battery and saves to the local microSD card until it reconnects, so this gives the best of both worlds IMO!

[@brianv2871]

While I agree that POE might be the best option (with a UPS backup to your router, which is handy regardless of poe cameras), sometimes you don't have that option. I have a newer two story house and trying to run POE through the walls would be very expensive and pretty disruptive... even the attic is not really accessible. Anyway, there's other reasons to need wireless cameras like if you're renting or placing in a location like a barn or shed, etc.

[@pthompson240]

Your viewers should be aware that this camera can not be added to Reolink NVR's or the Mac client at this time. Not sure if they will fix this.

[@handsonkatie]

Not sure what you mean? I'm viewing mine as I type through the Reolink NVR? (also tested with the Home Hub). Can't speak for the Mac client, as use Windows - so maybe it's a limitation with Apple?

[@pthompson240]

@@handsonkatie Well maybe my NVR is not compatible but when I googled it I found a support person saying this camera did not support NVR's. I have model RLN16-410 and I've had it a few years.

[@handsonkatie]

@@pthompson240 Weird - you got a link to this support person? I've got exactly the same NVR and I'm viewing it every day, feeding from the NVR to home assistant and more - it's seamless! You sure you're not looking at a different model of camera (ie an older one)?

[@pthompson240]

@@handsonkatie I pasted a link here twice but it gets removed. A guy named Joseph says the battery cameras can not connect to the NVR

[@pthompson240]

@@handsonkatie Now I see they have different hardware versions of the same model number so that's probably what is going on. Sucks!

[@Pertence75]

Your house is always cold..... 😊

[@stephencambridge5788]

Love your video, your very beautiful 😍😍😍

[@bluearcherx]

the name reolink pops up again and again until you actually start digging and you find that they have constant problems with video processing, index key frames, and quality control................ but by then you've already bought 10 cameras and hate yourself

[@handsonkatie]

Oh I wouldn't be ideological about it, they're certainly not perfect like any company, so I'm sure there's the same problems that occur with any camera, just less of the corporate game playing, so for this they deserve credit!

[@campervanchris4171]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 these cameras are total camera porn 🤣🤣🤣🤣 just installing full POE Reolink in my home ! These will be great for cat watching when away ! I’m even putting some in my man holes to check if there blocked 🤔🤷‍♂️🤣

[@anonimushbosh]

So you ever going to walk us through a tutorial to turn a picture frame into a Spotify playlist then…??

[@anonimushbosh]

Is that a no? 😢😢😢

[@MrSpleenboy]

@@anonimushbosh IIRC it's a Home Assistant action that's triggered by tapping an RFID tag attached to the back of either the picture or the picture frame. I think you set the action in HA to start when the RFID tag is activated. Hope that helps?

[@handsonkatie]

Yes, MrSpleenboy is spot on, it's just a 5p RFID tag and I use HA to set the action to whatever I want (eg play music!)

[@anonimushbosh]

@@handsonkatie The advantage of a step by step guide is it doesn’t make any assumptions about what I (or others) already know & haven’t misunderstood. I’m sure I could work it out by looking everything up but I’d need to allow for when it didn’t go to plan or takes me 3x longer than it should… meaning I’ll probably just wait for a one-stop start to finish guide to pop into one of my inboxes.

[@ianwilliams7740]

if you're not using frigate then you're not serious about security cameras and home assistant.. seriously.

[@handsonkatie]

Frigate is awesome, but I need to get everything set up first!! New NAS, new cameras etc! All in due time, but the AI capabilities are pretty fun to play with!

[@ianwilliams7740]

@@handsonkatie yes with a coral TPU it's absolutely amazing. The number of false positives are very low and missed alerts are non-existent. The integration of AI alerting and home assistant means you can do very creative things with reliable automations. Keep up the entertaining content, Katie

[@247SH]

I was all excited. I downloaded Home Assistant and was going to integrate my Tapo WIFI cameras. But no, TP-Link has changed the firmware (for security reasons😂😂) so they cannot be integrated. Be careful what you buy.

[@handsonkatie]

Of course!! 🤣🤣🤣 Ah, join the club - still at least I've given you the answer.... 😉