The biggest issue I’ve had with my IP cameras are false motion detection alerts. Of course, I have devised ways to minimise this problem using advanced motion detection methods like line-crossing and intrusion detection.
While this works very well, I have been tempted by the smart detection features of the Nest and Ring cameras that can identify people and vehicles automatically. That level of intelligence is impossible to replicate without buying expensive high-end Hikvision or Dahua cameras. The affordable ones like Nest and Ring all rely on the Internet or cloud servers to do this and that’s unacceptable in my book.
Here at VueVille, we focus on local-processing and local-data storage. That’s why I was very happy to learn that Reolink has released 4K 8MP cameras and NVRs that can do smart detection without an Internet connection! This is a day I have long been waiting for!
Four new models have been released:
- RLC-510A – 5MP IP camera
- RLC-810A – 8MP IP camera
- RLK8-510B4-A – 5MP NVR Kit with 4x 5MP IP cameras
- RLK8-810B4-A – 4K 8MP NVR Kit with 4x 8MP IP cameras
Let’s take a closer look at these new cameras and NVR kits.
RLC-510A and RLC-810A
The standout feature of these cameras is the smart detection ability without an Internet connection. These cameras support both RTSP and ONVIF, so you can integrate them with your smart home system.
The smart detection algorithm can identify persons or vehicles and send a corresponding alert to the Reolink app. Moreover there is no subscription required to use this feature.
The 8MP 4K resolution of the RLC-810A is great – this is the first standalone IP camera from Reolink that supports 8MP resolution. The 5MP RLC-510A has the same feature set but a lower maximum 5MP resolution.
New NVR Kits RLK8-810B4-A and RLK8-510B4-A
If you prefer having an NVR to go along with the new smart detection abilities, you can pick up one of these new NVR kits. Both come with 4 cameras and a 2TB hard drive pre-installed.
Where to buy
The new models are not available on Amazon yet, so the best place to pick them up is over at the Reolink web site.
Also the early Black Friday sale is on, so its a good time to snag some holiday bargains!
A quick note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate link(s). An affiliate link means I may earn advertising or referral fees if you make a purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.
Person detection does not work well at night. A spider web moving in front of it will be detected as person. On average I got 5 false person alerts in 10 min. I tried the sensitivity slider between 34 to 50 (medium to high) without success.
You will get a spider web within 3 to 5 days, as bugs are attracted by the IR and the heat of the camera, and spiders are attracted by … “food”.
So, the AI is not reliable (just yet) as a long white line (spider web blasted by IR) is detected as a person !?!?
Unfortunately, there is no way (option) in the app to send the footage to Reolink so they can feed it to their learning machine in order to improve the detection algorithm.
Thanks for the feedback!
I appreciate your website and I’m considering buying these cameras. I currently have older Hikvision cameras and I’m moving to a new house, so a chance to upgrade. BTW, can you please add dates to your posts. It’s nice to know when a post was created so we have an idea how up to date the information is. I was reading your recommendations posts and it’s not very helpful if I don’t know when the recommendations were created. I mean was it posted in 2012, 2019 or 2021?
Thanks for the feedback, all the recommendation posts were updated this month. The year 2021 is in each post title and mentioned in the post. But I agree it is more useful to show the date in the post meta, so I have done that now.
Does this smart motion detection only work with Reolink software/NVR or are the trigger events shared on ONVIF as separable person/vehicle events? I tried hooking it up to Blue Iris but can’t work out how to receive person-only triggers
The Reolink smart detection is proprietary and not supported by the ONVIF standard, just like the advanced motion detection of Hikvision/Dahua etc. So Blue Iris wont recognise the Reolink person/vehicle triggers. Only the Reolink NVRs currently do. But Blue Iris/QNAP/Synology may choose to support the as they have done Hikvision/Dahua advanced motion detection.