I hope someone can point me in the right direction to an idiots guide as the jargon around this subject is confusing.
I have a Ring video doorbell but it does not work consistently due to wifi weakness (too far from the house). I also have 5 Ring cameras (I know, be sympathetic not critical) and they all run through the Ring Alarm box.
I want to install a POE alternative but Ring have temporarily withdrawn their Elite device from the market with a relaunch anticipated later this year, probably at an inflated price. As an alternative the Reolink POE video doorbell is recommended but it is not clear to me what equipment I need to use it effectively to work with Home Assistant. Eventually I may replace the Ring cameras but for now they will remain in place.
In addition to the video and two way communication I would like to record the doorbell camera (less interested in recording the other cameras) and store it locally on either my Apple Mac or on a NUC micro PC.
Can I do this without investing in:
An NVR/DVR unit
A Reolink gateway device
The information IMPLIES that the doorbell will connect direct to HA without a hub but then goes on to say that an NVR/DVR unit is needed for recordings.
So is there a simple solution to using this doorbell
I have the Reolink PoE doorbell and i really like it.
To power it you either need a PoE injector or a PoE capable switch. For storage why not just put a memory card in the doorbell - I find it works well and you can see the recorded videos in Home Assistant.
Hi and thanks Arzachena. I did not realize the HA allowed you to see the video on line. I assumed I would have to take it out and transfer the files. Makes it both simple and private to use the card as you suggest.
What about card access? The door bell is on my stone gates on the road side and not visible from the house. So how anti-tamper are they? Is the card inside the device or accessible from the outside of the case?
Hi again. Found all the info I need on their website thanks.
On another issue, can I set HA to use the Reolink doorbell to activate my Ring chimes? I see on Reolink chime comes in the purchase but the two Ring chimes would be useful in external buildings.
I just installed a Reolink doorbell camera for someone and it works great. The setup was to just feed power to the camera using the supplied power adapter and cables. Communication is over WiFi to Home Assistant and storage is to the internal SD card as mentioned by @Arzachena.
Sorry you wasted money on the original doorbell… i made the same mistake! wasted so much time messing around trying to make it work and wasted so much money on subscription fees for something that it should just do out of the box… so many false alerts and stupid things it just couldn’t do
Reolink is the way to go… that’s what I’ve changed to and its been really good. although i did have an SD card fail… but its one i purchased in 2010 so probably not the doorbells fault! the reolink chime plays nice too, it can be muted easily from HA… i have motion alerts for any people or cars as its on a narrow driveway… but sometimes the kids ride up and down so i have a voice command to mute it for x minutes. one interesting thing is the reolink notifications are always quick, I’ve tried everything to get instant HA notifications and they only come through when i move my phone or unlock it… but the reolink ones come and half a second later i get the HA one, it like HA ones are lower priority or something
i didn’t try using the old chime for anything once the doorbell was thrown off the balcony… deleted the integration and addon as soon as the new one arrived. personally the company has been put on my never buy again list and every time someone asks what to buy i say definitely avoid them…
Well more then likely anything that has poe will do. I have hikvision but it is on local control only.
If you can set it up to use local ip address it will probably work using frigate as you only need to get local stream.
No need for a hub - just use the integration in ha and Advanced Camera card. Many people use the battery version of the doorbell - but I dont like the problem of “Is no-one visiting me any more - or is the battery flat?” And IMHO all camera devices should be connected via ethernet rather than wifi (more reliable and faster response)
You don’t actually need any integration. Just camera stream. Wifi cameras probably will not be a good choice as they are working over cloud. Ip cameras usually poe powered is the choice as you can grab their main and sub stream, put them them in frigate and there you have it.
I am excited to convert my Wyze Doorbell v1 to a custom firmware. I just learned about this firmware and it was super simple to flash my Wyze Cam v3. Doorbell is a more involved flashing procedure, but totaling removing Wyze (not just adding RTSP) will be great! It does not support the very latest Wyze products, but many of the old ones.
I was slowly swapping Wyze for Tapo products, but should prevent/delay that!