I have 2 reolink cameras, the reolink doorbell, and reolink NVR on the way.
I’ve heard they have good HA integration.
What hardware would I need to run on to be able to stream the camera feed? I was going to buy a HA Green but have been advised that it won’t be powerful enough for video.
I would like to be able to stream one camera to a TV, and another camera to a different TV.
I have also ordered 6 smart plugs, 6 smart bulbs and maybe will add 2 smart switches and some motors for my blinds down the track.
if you can afford it buy a desktop comp, put in it memory as much as you can. Preferably 32 GB., nvidia gpu and google coral. You don’t need to buy a brand new computer, you can go with used one but use at least second gen intel cpu that support avx instructions.
You can always go with some low hardware like rpi but if you plan to use ha it is maybe better to go from the start with machine that has enough power.
You can just get a chromecast and plug them into the display you want to cast the stream of the camera when a certain trigger like a doorbell is actioned.
You don’t need an over complex setup for this as you are going to be pulling the feed from the NVR that is already doing the encoding for the feed anyways.
I run my HA install on a virtualbox instance in headless mode with the following settings just fine on a Intel NUC5i7RYH and I have a dedicated monitor for it on my rack where it’s always running my NVR feed directly via Synology Surveillance center full screen without issue with 3 live camera feeds as I have it turn on the monitor when the doorbell is pressed using a zigbee smartplug:
i.e for reference this is the full setup as I shared in another thread:
The only thing to keep in mind is if you need the webtortc plugin for your camera feeds to work properly for codec conversion if you encounter a blurred frame when its pulled through your HA restream.
I have yet to get around to testing work around for that but pulling the camera for a doorbell action to take an image for a notification is a non issue otherwise in my setup since its only happening with the live feed view in HA.
edit: fixed the post with better overall info on the setup.
Correct like I said its more down to the codec used by the camera’s and if you need to use the webtortc plugin to see if that is a better live feed when its streaming.
You only need the better hardware if you are doing a more all in one setup where you run frigate or other nvr software on the same hardware as the HA install.
All of the above assumes your cameras and the place you wish to view them exist in the same network. My case is that i have a gate that is about a mile from my house. At the gate I have two Reolink cameras and HA green. Its router is though 5G. At the house I have Starlink and HA also setup.
The only usable stream is through the Reolink app that I have been able to see. I say usuable because the stream can be sern but is 10-15 seconds behind. Reolink app is live. I assume that is because HA Gate to Nabu Gate to Nabu Home to HA Home just cannot do it for even one camera.
If someone on here has thoughts to solve this i would welcome that. Possibly VPN but not sure how I could get that all setup. Couple that with the fact that the gate area has HA integrated opener, would need two-way audio, has other automation for lights.
The main variable I see is that you are going through two 5G connections hence the delay when it comes to the HA instances and you are going nabu casa as the external connection, I would try setup remote HA instead (GitHub - custom-components/remote_homeassistant: Links multiple home-assistant instances together) to manage the remote instance via the main instance and avoid any extra routing.
As per my earlier post details I use openvpn setup on my router to connect to my internal network when I am not home to get all my notifications from HA and control it as well as the feed from my DS Cam app so I am not reliant on any other cloud based routing.
I do have remote HA. In fact that is how gates open and lights can be triggered also. And note its 5G at gate and Starlink at house. Speed at gate 120/10 and at home 140+/20. Maybe i need more at the gate than HA Green. For now notification with snaphot are fine, launch reolink app to speak. Tell Alexa open gate. Works fine but relies on Reolink app.
The other option you have is to invest in LoRAWAN or a point to point LAN connection between the locations using say an Ubiquiti PowerBeam or other similar antenna setup.
Yes. I wish but … this is north california. House is 700ft elevation. Gate is 40ft and in between are 200 redwood trees and much more. I even have two seperate electric meters. Tried beaming but the gate is in a valley so not only trees but hills in the way.
see if the webrtc plugin helps your stream with the current setup to try improve the latency of it since its happening only with HA.
In my case it’s less a latency issue and more that the stream has that blurred frame every few seconds when I check the live feed through HA (which may be due to the stream player refreshing the feed at that time constantly).
That is what I think also. I love to support the folks with HA Green and I can put that in another house here. I guess I would need some mini PC for webtrc, I do not believe HA Green has the power.
As you can see, it is not that I have not tried. There are other issues like ever-changing IP addresses from the 5G network (so I just chose the Nabu route). And as illustration, this is the back deck view and the end of the red arrow down by the river … is the gate,
Companion App to Gate or Home is fine, it is just when it needs Gate to Home for video. Snapshots are fast, instant messages … open gate and lights going Home to Gate is also fast.
The most important thing is that the wife is happy with it being snapshot attached to notification with link to open Reolink. Then any Alexa in house for lights and gate (which is going through HA Home to Gate via Remote HA). She would rather have it on an Echo or a Dashboard (and so would I to eliminate Reolink app and phone requirement).
the plugin would be setup on the side where you are pulling the feed into via the instructions linked in the how to.
To get around the change in IP of a WAN connection when using a VPN you use the option to use DDNS name in the router settings if you have the option i.e on my asus router its this screen:
Of course. Cameras at gate = HA Green now, but I would think “more power”.
Since this is all total remote, it is in waterproof, lockable box. Could take a mini PC.
Right now it has AT&T 5G Router (huge thing), power strip, 5 port PoE, HA Green, Broadlink RF gate. PoE lines run out to two (now) and 3 cameras soon.
We are having fun programming the logic which triggers colored lights at Gate and up near house … vehicle detection + gate open = red light at gate, home to indicate car coming up. Vehicle detection at home after first step, green lights … the driveway is 1 mile, uphill, many switchbacks and one lane for most of it. This is needed because our kids, some friends have gate code or buzzer and just buzz in so we need some visual that a car maybe in the driveway.
Yea main thing is the alerts and automations are working as you need them to then you can slowly upgrade the rest hardware wise here and there till its a better overall setup for your needs.
The only main project I am wracking my head around is to get a notification system setup for my mailbox but its not the style like most have where its opened from the front… its just an old setup built into a brick wall with multiple other unit mailbox’s at the street side and the only way to open it is at the back of the wall with a standard lock that and I would need to install wifi repeaters on that side its on since my building blocks wifi up to a certain point on that side but I have full range to the street on the parking lot side lol.
i.e this style
Was thinking of doing a lorawan based camera that was flat and attach it to the door I open to access the mailbox but I can’t find one that is small enough for the job and I would also need to drill a hole to allow pass-through of a solar panel for the power for the camera.
