Replacement for Reolink Cameras
Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 3:51 pm
Hi All. I made the mistake of getting 9 Reolink cameras (RLC-820A and RLC-520A) for Blue Iris before realizing that they were garbage. So after 2 months of trial and frustration, it's too late to return them. Reolink support has informed me that they have no intention of allowing the user to change the iframe rate. Lesson learned, and I know now that whatever I do get, i need to put it through a battery of tests before the return window is expired.
So as angry as it makes me, I need to cut my loss and replace them with better cameras. Budget is more of an issue now than before since I'm already out almost $700 for the Reolinks, and they were already on the cheaper end of the spectrum.
My environment has plenty of ambient lighting at night, through street lights and other landscaping lights, but I still want good IR in case the lights happen to be off. Based on the Reolinks I have now and some extra research, I think that a 3.6mm or 4.0mm lens is what I want - it seems to give me the coverage I need. I am ok with 5MP as long as it has a 16:9 ratio and has a similar FOV as the 4K models. I don't need PTZ or varifocal.
I have been looking at the Amcrest IP8M (4K) and IP5M (5MP) for $100 and $55 respectively. Has anyone used these with BI and do they meet the BI standards? The only thing I don't like about the 5MP model is that it appears to be in a 4:3 ratio which I absolutely hate, and I don't want to distort the image to stretch it to 16:9.
What other brands/models would you recommend that have the following:
This is all very overwhelming to get started with such a rough start using the Reolinks, so I appreciate any/all advice you can give me.
So as angry as it makes me, I need to cut my loss and replace them with better cameras. Budget is more of an issue now than before since I'm already out almost $700 for the Reolinks, and they were already on the cheaper end of the spectrum.
My environment has plenty of ambient lighting at night, through street lights and other landscaping lights, but I still want good IR in case the lights happen to be off. Based on the Reolinks I have now and some extra research, I think that a 3.6mm or 4.0mm lens is what I want - it seems to give me the coverage I need. I am ok with 5MP as long as it has a 16:9 ratio and has a similar FOV as the 4K models. I don't need PTZ or varifocal.
I have been looking at the Amcrest IP8M (4K) and IP5M (5MP) for $100 and $55 respectively. Has anyone used these with BI and do they meet the BI standards? The only thing I don't like about the 5MP model is that it appears to be in a 4:3 ratio which I absolutely hate, and I don't want to distort the image to stretch it to 16:9.
What other brands/models would you recommend that have the following:
- Decent night vision without terrible ghosting/smearing
- 16:9 ratio
- 1-way audio (I don't need 2-way but if it has 2-way that's ok too)
- iframe rate adjustable
- at least 25 fps (I plan to use 15 but would like the ability to go higher if needed)
- ability to stream main and sub streams simultaneously for recording continuous SD and motion in HD
- US firmware or at least reputable international version (i.e. no hacked firmware)
- prefer metal housing but sturdy plastic is acceptable
- Price point in the ballpark of $80-100 per camera for 4K, or $50-70 for 5MP
This is all very overwhelming to get started with such a rough start using the Reolinks, so I appreciate any/all advice you can give me.