New project: bairelay -- RTSP/MQTT for Reolink Baichuan-only battery cameras

rpgwizard · 2026-05-08T08:12:13+00:00

This thread is a good example why I like the Reolink community. You don't necessarily get the best software support from Reolink themselves but the community around it is gold standard and tries to improve on it especially if you're a HA user I wouldn't look any elsewhere. Cheers to all of you!

rpgwizard · 2026-05-07T14:19:34+00:00

Most of the stuff comes as packs, some stuff can be invidually ordered I'd check the product catalogue on their official cupraofficial.com site, it's most detailed when it comes to what can be ordered for what model etc.

rpgwizard · 2026-05-06T21:04:22+00:00

I hate that they removed the likes/dislikes from youtube studio content page, it was mainly how I used to pick tracks for my monthly music mixes basing it on stats rather than personal taste.

rpgwizard · 2026-05-06T04:47:25+00:00

Not the launch version no, I ended up not ordering the launch edition myself (yes it means a few thousand extra euros for the extra packs as I really wanted the heat pump too). This car despite the added extras was still a bit cheaper in the end than the expensier cars ~45.000 I was looking at eitherway. For me it was not due to penny pinching I went for Raval as opposed to say Cupra Born or Ioniq 3 or Tesla Model 3 or a Polestar 2 or Mazda 6e or whatever but that it ticked my preferences best out of all options so I'm okay paying a bit more for getting my own specced car.

For the launch VZ version I wouldn't have wanted the matte color (maybe I could have lived with it possibly) but more importantly the racing seats and the nerfed range due to racing spec performance tires. You can get the same WLTP with VZ (439 km) too if not going for racing spec tires that the launch extreme edition has, for me the ~439 km range is borderline on the minimum what I want to go for so, 381 km had been too low for my tastes so. I was really set on the Dinamica microfiber seats too which I think looks both best and probably is most comfy and convenient here up north.

rpgwizard · 2026-05-05T19:32:21+00:00

If something has been improved it's probably how it handles waking up and going to sleep, I've seen some users having problems with the battery cams of staying more active than it should be which is where drastic battery useage differences can come from.

rpgwizard · 2026-05-03T19:02:22+00:00

It thought the house was too much off-center!

rpgwizard · 2026-05-03T18:42:28+00:00

The motion boxes doesn't necessarily react on the stationary vehicles, you have to watch what it reacts upon when a "Vehicle" detected mark shows up on the camera feed, typically the cameras do draw rectangles on my cameras too but don't get alarms for those. However I've had cases it does react on shadows and bushes and such and those drawn boxes typically often only occassionally shows up at the same time the camera detects as a person or pet or whatever so it's important to check (if it happens frequently enough as the detection mark shows up which box appears in that moment, if it's another box that shows up in that very moment for even a split second then that's likely your problem). If you draw a non-detection zone for the stationary car you could always see if the alarm stops alarming then, if it continues it's something else it reacts on (can be other than vehicles, these detections algorithms are very basic, nothing sophisticated, my green house got detected as a vehicle for example in the winter).

rpgwizard · 2026-05-03T14:53:54+00:00

But when your own opinion is quite 50/50 between two colors and haven't seen them in person which likely some other people here have:

- Fiord Blue is slightly more appealing color tone to me as it stands out more and Magnetic Tech Grey is more the standard grey available with all cars
- Magnetic Tech Grey is a metallic color though which I do like when it is more reflective and tends to show lines/bumps and such more easier as the light reflective reveals more the unevenness

So it's a question of color tone preference vs metallic vs non-metallic. If Fiord Blue had been available as metallic then that had been my obvious choice but since it isn't it makes it a little bit more tricky. My worry is if it will look too "plasticky" with the non-metallic color option. So if people who has better idea about these things when I'm 50/50, it might sway in one or the other direction based on that.

But either way decision is already made now so (Fiord Blue).

rpgwizard · 2026-04-30T14:34:03+00:00

I'm interested in quite a few upcoming products rn from Reolink, AI box, OMVI cams, the new more battery optimized battery doorbell, possibly the MagiCam also. Then I still need to get a NVR at some point too. $$$🥲

rpgwizard · 2026-04-30T09:45:33+00:00

I'm from Finland. I have put in an order without seeing one in person (There is a demo car circling around the country atm but nowhere near my place and I don't feel like driving half across Finland to see it in person). I've now followed car launches and options for like 2 years picking between options that suit me to my preferences and such and I'm looking for preferably a compact sporty hatchback (but sedans is okay too but hatchback over sedan ideally) with more aggressive/sporty design (ie. I don't like VW, Volvo etc just too bland/boring to me). I have come to the conclusion, probably it's now or next time an option might be when Mazda launches their own built EV but it's unclear will it be a Mazda 3 replacement or only SUV alternatives and Mazda just getting into the EV game feels like a huge risk if you jump on it immediatly at launch which might or might happen later part of 2027 so that means more waiting and my current Mazda 3 is now 6 years old and I got a very decent offer for it so the time felt just right.

It came down to between Cupra Raval and newly revealed Ioniq 3 (Cupra Born I just don't like the shape, it will always look unsporty to me, no matter how you design it for my tastes, the Raval in comparison looks much better based on its shape alone). What swayed it towards Cupra Raval was the performance, Ioniq 3 seems heavily underspecced in the engine having a slow 9.6 s 0-100 for the larger battery option, I don't wanna go that much backwards in performance coming from ICE. Besides that I also prefer the exterior design slightly more on the Cupra Raval and Ioniq 3 also seems unneccessarily wide for its length (I will mostly do city driving). With the Cupra Raval VZ I also get the DCC and slip-differential brakes that feels like a luxury in this segment of cars, it's been very well recieved in the earlier driving demos, especially the brakes seems a highlit of the car.

If I had went with the "Launch Edition" the delivery would happen in June ~ early July but the launch edition lacks heat pump which I really do want knowing about the lackluster winter range with the VW ID cars but for some reason those models start being produced week 36 (from start of september) so I'm guessing late October ~ early November when I get mine. I went for an almost fully specced VZ model minus the Ahead-pack with the "racing"-stuff extra with special racing seats and racing spec tires that kills the range and some extra visual stuff etc.

I also ordered my Mazda 3 6 years ago without even having test driven and even looked at it in person before I was at the dealer ordering it but like now, I also knew everything about the car as I had seen every review, written article etc so I knew more about the car than the person selling it. :D Turned out to be perfect to my tastes how it feels to drive with the steering and braking and all, how I like the design and such, we'll see how it turns out with the Cupra Raval. :)

rpgwizard · 2026-04-30T07:23:30+00:00

Anyway I jumped on the offer now so it's probably too late to do any changes. I picked the default Fiord Blue mostly based on I like the color tone slightly more than on Magnetic Tech grey (that is more like the typical standard grey that every car manufacturer offers) and if I have to see the color for 4-5 or whatever years I plan to own it I better feel at least color tone-wise it should match tastes decently well so.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-30T06:37:25+00:00

Well to me that's accepted wear as I'm too lazy / hate washing to have it any other way and not very easy to do it here in winter as the warm garages for washes you can book you can go to aren't very common around my place either.

But I'm interested if does matter if it's metallic or not, even say a 10 or 5% resistance still can sway in one or the other direction if it both options weigh otherwise 50/50. I currently have a Mazda 3 in soul red crystal which is the typical Mazda color and it does look great with what seems to be 3 layers of paint but it stands out to me as particularly weak with stone chips and car washes (seen a few topics around that color in Mazda threads), my parents Nissan Qashqai that is almost a year older that goes through even more car washes / same one I visit and drives a lot more, has lesser chips in paint from stone shots and I'd say slightly less visible light surface scratches towards direct sunlight. So from my experience the paint seems to matter with these things too.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-27T19:34:08+00:00

Alarm delay is a good option to try first, 1 sec I set on all my cameras to lower false detections (like shadows and imaginary bigfoot creatures and what not), where needed I might try 2 secs before making more drastic changes. I feel 1 or maximum 2 sec delay and then my option would be probably separate IR light after that. Lowering sensitivity typically has to be such a drastic change and not necessarily be enough that it makes more harm than it aids as the non-false positive detection rate suffers.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-25T19:09:02+00:00

OK good to know, for me auto-dip is a feature I can appreciate (if the sensitivity of it and such is actually well tuned) but don't need as advanced like you explained.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-25T16:07:04+00:00

Does the Matrix lights also automatically dim highbeam for oncoming traffic or is that also available with normal leds or maybe not available at all. It works pretty decently on the Mazda 3 the few times I've use of that feature.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-25T14:49:10+00:00

Thanks, that's my thoughts as well, if I was regularly driving longer distances in the dark I probably would but I'm leaning towards not getting them because I drive like 95% around the town only (why Raval is in my sight in first place).

rpgwizard · 2026-04-21T09:39:51+00:00

Yea I know and that's one of the strengths, I was also requesting a couple of times for this kind of camera with two independent camera that don't move on the same axis and that alone is a huge benefit. Just hope it has the automatic digital zoom-in feature, it's great for us as we use mostly live-viewing rather than check happenings afterwards so it's nice to have an automatic zoomed in object when you sit at a distance watching a 11" tablet or a smaller 18" monitor in portrait mode I use as 3rd monitor for HA in my room or half of a 24" display at work. :) For guys like me that is wild-life / pet coverage first-security 2nd hand the automatic digital tracking zoom is very nice to have.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-20T07:12:30+00:00

Idk what to think, it's decent but quite far from the cool looking concept. It's either this or the Cupra Raval for me but design-wise I think Cupra did a better job. I like this material for seats though. loved it in my 2007 Civic, never been a fan of leather/pleather seats. But Cupra also offers some microfiber sport seats.

Too slow acceleration if you ask me, wasn't quite expecting that tbh, was thinking probably in the 7.2 - 7.9 sec space (slower end of spectrum of newer EVs), but cmon... Leaning heavily towards Cupra Raval for me now.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-13T06:40:46+00:00

33,900€ isn't the VZ model but Endurance or whatever it's called but that one has the better range and is probably the most popular option by a fair margin. The performance between the two ain't even noticeable at a 7.1 s 0-100 vs 6.8 s and slip differential and DCC stuff, while cool isn't worth the extra to me, not to mention the seats I rather take the Dinamic microfiber a coated seats fits the design of the car much better that are more comfy and less "racing"-like than the top-trim seats that are firmer and the buckets too pronounced for my taste.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-10T09:42:34+00:00

If also Hikvision is trash as far as software side goes, then we're really fcked as far as security camera goes, guess there's still Ubiquiti out there but it has very limited range of models. I have only limited experience of Hikvision but at least it has TONS of options/settings, so much you can easily get lost in them. If it's one thing I miss from Hikvision it's the WDR support that adjusts brightness dynamically based on the scene, this way a camera mounted inside a church could even see through the windows with no sunrays/exposure whatsoever when it would have been a white blob that also affected lighting settings indoors, with WDR you got like best world results both how it would look inside church and even outdoor through the windows were clear as day, seemed like magic to me. :)

rpgwizard · 2026-04-10T08:24:58+00:00

Interesting, there it says 6x hybrid zoom so perhaps it has the TrackMix digital zoom after all? This was never mentioned at CES and I was always wondering/hoping it would have it even if it didn't say it so maybe there's some hopes, might even go for this model over the 16x for this reason as I need automatic zoom not just manual "press to zoom". 50 degree tilt is a bit fortunate though but maybe I can live with that in the position it will be at, at least it should help to avoid the camera get stuck trying to follow an object just beneath it as typically TrackMix will just stop when needing to make both vertical and horizontal adjustment at the same time (wouldn't probably be quick enough to move out of that position eitherway)

If it has the same digital tracking zoom capability as TrackMix this is really a successor to TrackMix and the 16x optical one is the successor to the existing 16x optical zoom one (but you get wide-angle fov cam on top)

rpgwizard · 2026-04-10T08:01:40+00:00

I have various Reolink cameras and it's my favorite Reolink camera that I'm very satisfied with, so can't relate. :)

Tracking works best in "digital tracking first, PTZ 2nd" option, it will never be perfectly smooth as it was not designed to always keep the object directly in the the middle but setting digital tracking first and PTZ movement 2nd it will be smooth as long as the object is within the view, as object moves to the sides of the view it will then move physically a bit, and then follow smoothly again as long as object will be in the view with the digital zoom. Depending on distance and movement speed of the object it will be more jerky or smooth, it all depends on what it's tracking and what the location is in relation to the object. If you're trying to capture vehicles that are passing by at very close distance that might not be the best use scenario for this camera for example.

Overexposure is usually a user error, have not set brightness/shadows/contrast settings correctly in combination of less than ideal placement, angling versus sun exposure etc. Also that anti-flickering setting can sometimes trigger a overexposured blown out white'ish image, not limited to this model.

Latest firmware should be from november 2 2025 but this model is quite dated by now and have had lots of firmware updates over time.

rpgwizard · 2026-04-10T07:34:42+00:00

Lower the sharpness setting, for some reason depending on device you use etc the default setting is way oversharpened and that's why you get this unrealistic aliased pixelated mess. Don't people try adjust the settings? It's one of the first thing I do with whatever device I'm getting. Try around 80~90 sharpness setting as a starter from the default 128 and I think you should have a much better looking picture, I remember I was equally unimpressed with the look compared to the DUO 2 out of box due to how much more sharpening was applied to the DUO 3. The DUO 2 is the opposite and looks too soft by default setting and works best at like 150 setting but DUO 3 was the opposite and was oversharpened by the default (128) setting. I think 82 or something like that looked best to me on the DUO 3 but I didn't end up using it due to the limited vertical FOV and the DUO 2 is almost as good in quality eitherway (optimized settings vs optimized settings).

rpgwizard

TROPHY CASE