Reolink makes cool stuff - Argus 4 Pro and Home Hub

Home Hub:
Amazon - amzn.to/4b59t0D
Reolink Site - reolink.com/product/reolink-h...
Argus 4 Pro:
Amazon - amzn.to/4cigIDd
Reolink Site - reolink.com/product/argus-4-p...
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0:00 Intro
0:54 Who are these for?
1:20 Reolink Home Hub
3:34 Reolink Argus 4 Pro
5:30 Real world use/quality
8:22 But theres an issue...kinda
8:58 So are these any good?
9:42 Conclusion

[@lifefromscratch2818]

I really enjoy these videos that fit nicely between "I bought my entire homelab off temu" and "Supermicro sent over a new Epyc server with a pile of CM7's". This stuff looks like a solid choice for my mom to watch her sheep.

[@TMoneyJones]

The dedication to the bit for putting jam on a Wi-Fi router is top-tier content

[@RaidOwl]

Tasted delicious

[@elminster8149]

If you're going to mock people, make sure you have visuals! 🤣

[@tedev]

lovely yard. everything you need to relax

[@l0gic23]

Hows the privacy policy?

[@Mikeee503]

The home hub has pretty small compatibility list so older POE cameras like my RLC-510a don't appear to work with it. Bit of a disappointment, but their 36-camera NVR is still pretty cheap as long as you already have a POE switch

[@scottjasher]

Can you do 24/7 recording to the two sd cards like you can to a nvr?

[@suneelkanuri]

The Home Hub is a disappointment. It is not fully baked. When used with battery powered (backed by solar) cameras the network is super slow that I ended up not removing them. The WIFI signal coming out of the device is super weak and useless when used to connect to cameras. One trick I learned while wasting a full day on it is you can connect your cameras to your home wifi and then connect those cameras (as soon as they show up in the network) to the home hub. While this is a ton better than connecting to the wifi points on home hub, accessing the camera from hub is not great either. It stutters and gets stuck constantly. While the same camera on same home network, while not connected to home hub is excellent. Of course, not using a home hub you lose the advantage of backing up your recordings to a secure place and the encryption. But you can definitely configure FTP on your individual cameras to back them up. I just wish it is more reliable and provide a better experience. I wait for the firmware updates as I want it to work.

[@HolyOllie]

last time i got a hub solution it wasnt so selfhosted and the camera and ai service was publicly accessible by url.. never again

[@MacroTh3ory]

So if using the Hub, are the cameras (scenario 1) connecting to the hub via a WiFi signal the Hub is producing similar to how Arlo is doing with some of their hub required cameras? Or scenario 2, the cameras and the hub are just on the same subnet. Being that the hub is Ethernet on the same subnet or vlan that the camera is connected to via WiFi?

[@RaidOwl]

Scenario 1

[@NightHawkATL]

I really like my Reolink cameras! I have some wifi indoor devices and some Argus outdoor bullet cams. Looking forward to adding an NVR once I get PoE cameras to replace the Argus cams and use those for something else further out.

[@impy1980]

If you have a NAS, no need to go full PoE, I run both PoE and wifi Reolinks and record to my QNAP NAS. If you don't wanna spend on a NAS get a used Dell or Lenovo ThinClient 8th or 9th Gen Intel micro PC and run either Blue Iris or Frigate. HardwareHaven runs his cameras recordings on Frigate on a used mini PC.

[@michelnolet4082]

My concern is Argus 3 ultra does not have RTSP but is compatible with the hub. And the Hub has it. Will the hub be seen or supported with BlueIris? In the Argus 4 FAQ, this is what Reolink says : RTSP is supported by using Reolink Home Hub.

[@nemisis282]

Do you know if you can save recordings to both an in camera sd card and the home hub sd card at the same time

[@RaidOwl]

Yes you can

[@impy1980]

Regardless of the NVR solution used for recording, as long as there's an SD card in the camera it will record to that. Whatever other device is connected to the camera is just pulling the video feed, then independently recording that feed. Also if you open the Reolink app on a PC, phone or tablet and tap record, it will also record the video feed it is receiving. There's no reason the hub shouldn't just behave as any other independent device receiving a video feed.

[@jaygreentree4394]

Anyone else think the argus looks kind of like ET?

[@NicholasIzzo-yq2me]

Can the argus 4 pro record to both a local SD card installed in the camera and to the SD card in the hub at the same time? Also the argus 4 pro highlights wifi 6 capabilities however the new hub is only 2.4 and 5 GHz, correct? So if you get the hub you wouldn't be utilizing the wifi 6 capabilities, is the correct? And lastly if I have wifi mesh for expanded wifi coverage this wouldn't really matter if I use the hub because the cameras connect directly to the hub right? Or do the cams connect to your wifi network through any various satellite wifi nodes and then get routed to the hub? Thank you

[@RaidOwl]

Yeah it can record to both. Also, wifi 6 is 5ghz, wifi6e is the one on the 6Ghz band. The cams can connect direct to the hub or your existing wifi network, whichever is easier.

[@NicholasIzzo-yq2me]

@@RaidOwl great, man thanks for the quick reply. So if I have a mesh wifi 6 setup I could connect some cams to the network via a mesh node (if the signal from the hub doesn't reach) and other cams directly to the hub? And all the footage will get routed to the hub whether directly connected or via a mesh node?

[@impy1980]

Regardless of the NVR solution used for recording, as long as there's an SD card in the camera it will record to that. Whatever other device is connected to the camera is just pulling the video feed, then independently recording that feed. Also if you open the Reolink app on a PC, phone or tablet and tap record, it will also record the video feed it is receiving. There's no reason the hub shouldn't just behave as any other independent device receiving a video feed. And what Brett said re Wifi 6 being 5ghz.

[@RaidOwl]

Yep, that’ll work perfectly fine

[@impy1980]

I'd have liked to see a 2.5" or NVME easy install panel on the hub given how flaky SD cards can be with low endurance rates, but other than that, I think the hub is a great addition to Reolink's lineup for the average non tech home user. I think Reolink have found a nice balance, where there products are open enough some people can go full self hosted with no cloud and won't be locked it for the pleasure, while offering an easy eco system and cloud service for those who aren't tech savvy. I personally have my Reolink cameras integrated into Home Assistant for casual monitoring, and record to my QNAP TS-464 NAS using QPVR Pro (8 free licences unlike Synology's BS), I have motion step up, where it records 10 seconds before motion and 60 seconds after. Camera's have been flawless, had to manually wipe the QPVR storage space once due to a bug in a QNAP update where it stopped over writing when full, since then not encountered that bug. Overall reliable setup and out of all the CCTV brands out there Reolink currently offer the best of everything without forcing people into cloud BS.

[@RaidOwl]

Yeah dual 2.5” bays would have be awesome for the Hub…maybe in version 2

[@AlL-fw2cy]

I'm interested in a Reolink system. Will both the Hub, WiFi NVR and wired NVR work with WiFi cameras? Can these devices connect to the WiFi cameras via my Unifi access points or do the cameras need to be within range of the Hub/NVR? I'm looking to record locally to the camera as well as a Hub/NVR.

[@RaidOwl]

NVR won’t work with battery powered cams but will for other WiFi cams. The cams will work the same way if you connect to Hub WiFi or your unifi.

[@AlL-fw2cy]

@@RaidOwl Thanks for the fast reply! BTW I'm not really sure how it works but can you combine a Hub and NVR on the same reolink account? So that it merges cameras connected to both the Hub and NVR? Wondering if I can use the NVR for wired cameras and the Hub for battery cameras without having to log into 2 Reolink accounts on the app.

[@RaidOwl]

Yep that also works and exactly how I had mine set up.

[@travis_smartley]

Did I catch a Spaceballs reference?

[@What_s_Neu]

I say this with love.. who eats red raspberry?!? lol Like what do you put it on?

[@RaidOwl]

Idk my wife bought that. I’m a strawberry boy

[@kevinnewton8945]

Promo code doesn't work

[@emiellr]

Look, I'm not here to scare you, but rainbolt probably now knows where you live down to the address

[@emiellr]

Btw, I've been eyeing the Reolink eco for a hot minute, but I don't want to have it be done over internet. Is that easy with Reolink or is the internet required?

[@RaidOwl]

Lmao I think that every time I make a video showing even a blade of grass 😅

[@oakfig]

Does reolink app work on Linux?

[@RaidOwl]

Not that I know of

[@bragenr]

It does not.. I recommend to just set up a Windows VM for allowing the web server and then doing everything from the browser

[@impy1980]

No, only Windows, MacOS, also iOS/Android. However because Reolink cameras are IP Cameras and ONVIF compliant, any IP camera software can receive the video feed, some allow PTZ functionality, and also will record. There's plenty of IP Camera software for Linux, but having never used any on Linux you'll need to search and do some research. But having no Reolink app isn't a barrier, if I do look at my feeds on Windows I use QNAP's NVR Windows client coz it also shows my what the NAS has recorded, but I can still do all the PTZ controls in QNAP's client without opening the Reolink app on a device. The only real time I used the Reolink app was on my phone on initial setup of the cameras.

[@ageranger1541]

All my wifi cameras are mounted outside please don't tell me I have to pull them all down and scan them to add?

[@RaidOwl]

Nah you scan them before

[@AlL-fw2cy]

Maybe start taking pictures of the back of all of your cameras and organizing then in google docs or something so if you need to scan them you can just scan your computer monitor and not have to worry about physically accessing your cameras.

[@RaidOwl]

After you scan them it downloads a copy to your device which is cool

[@Jetta4TDIR]

How are Reolink regarding selling to 3rd parties?

[@RaidOwl]

They say they don’t but what do I know 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Jetta4TDIR]

@@RaidOwl im looking for kit that i can self host all of these types of companies lock everything up behind their hardware its hard to find the right kit.

[@RaidOwl]

You can use reolink cameras with a self hosted system like blue iris

[@MrSephkeene]

​@@RaidOwl or Frigate!

[@Jetta4TDIR]

@@RaidOwl oh wow, thanks for that info op i did not kno that

[@elmestguzman3038]

Right flavor wrong type. Jam and preserves are different... 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@RaidOwl]

Must be why it didn’t work

[@elmestguzman3038]

@@RaidOwl should have used the schwartz and go from suck to blow lol!!!