Blue Iris

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-31T02:15:54+00:00

No.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:15 am

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-30T22:59:24+00:00

I have been using Reolink for years, and have worked with other brands all the way to the true commercial cameras at a grand a pop. For the most part Reolink has worked well with no issues, If you can view it in a browser then you can see it in BI. It seems the new issue is for the new 6-8k video that uses H265 because H264 has an upper limit and BI currently does not support H265 natively. my question is will BI record the full 12meg video or is the recording limited to what can be seen.

Anyone else want to jump in?

G

Statistics: Posted by GGW — Tue Jan 30, 2024 10:59 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-27T21:27:48+00:00

Got it. Thanks.

No one else wants to weigh in, either! lol

I would like to know from bi standpoint from people who use and not a random google search. I feel your pain. Or any other camera recommendations. Let me know if you find anything good please.

Statistics: Posted by aubie8 — Sat Jan 27, 2024 9:27 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-19T01:13:45+00:00

Brand war fishing expeditions are better suited to Facebook Groups..., or Google.

https://www.google.com/search?q=reolink ... e&ie=UTF-8

Good luck with your Blue Iris CPU issue.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Fri Jan 19, 2024 1:13 am

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-19T01:03:29+00:00

Got it. Thanks.

No one else wants to weigh in, either! lol

Statistics: Posted by JeffSparks — Fri Jan 19, 2024 1:03 am

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-19T00:31:47+00:00

Ford.

Just because.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:31 am

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-19T00:10:57+00:00

You are right. I will start a new thread with that subject!

If you were forced to choose Amcrest 4K or Reolink 4K, which one would you choose and why?

Statistics: Posted by JeffSparks — Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:10 am

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T17:50:55+00:00

Seems to me the thread title should have been "Why Did My CPU Usage Skyrocket to 100% and Stay There After a Blue Iris Update?".

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Thu Jan 18, 2024 5:50 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T17:21:35+00:00

The update is most likely responsible. How about Windows updates? (I set mine to monthly intervals and monitor them while happening to minimize such surprises.)

What processor is in the machine? An additional graphics card as well perhaps?

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Thu Jan 18, 2024 5:21 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T17:09:42+00:00

I did do a BI update on Monday, but rolled it back - no change.

Nothing else running on that PC.

Thanks,

Jeff

Statistics: Posted by JeffSparks — Thu Jan 18, 2024 5:09 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T17:02:06+00:00

If you have BI set to 'auto update', that could explain the abrupt change in CPU behavior. If that happens to indeed be the case, roll back to your previous version for starters.
Check your logs for any recent activity that may be related.

Is there anything else running on your Win 11 box? Check what's going on in Task Manager. May be something stupid simple.

And Blue Iris is by no means without its own flaws and problems. Many would suggest that getting along with H265, especially at 4K, is clearly one of them.

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Thu Jan 18, 2024 5:02 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T16:42:37+00:00

Thanks for the honest assessment. It's too bad there was not a definitive: "buy this camera and you will have zero problems" choice.

I bought this system about 6 months ago: https://reolink.com/us/product/rlk16-1200b8-a/ and I used their native app during that time. Their app sucks and I wanted more flexibility so I found BI.

Reolink told me these cameras MUST be connected to the NVR (RLN16-410). ie. you can not access them directly from an IP address. After many hours of learning online and watching Youtubes I got all 8 cameras working in BI with a CPU at 3%. Then I woke up on Monday to find my CPU at 100%. I have been trying to fix it all week.

It occurred to me last night after posting this message that there are lots of smart people on this forum, so this weekend, I will publish my exact setup steps (with screenshots) to see if someone can detect the fatal flaw that is bringing my CPU to 100%. If I can get these 1200B cameras to work properly I guess there is no need to change cameras.

I had Amcrest cameras for several years working with their app - which is worse than Reolinks and just switched to Reolink this past year hoping for a better experience.

I think BI rocks and does everthing plus 10x more than I need, so that is my "must have" and the cameras are secondary.

Statistics: Posted by JeffSparks — Thu Jan 18, 2024 4:42 pm

Re: Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T16:11:23+00:00

Welcome aboard. You may or may not be in the right place for any actual Reolink love, but there is certainly some experience here..., at least enough to keep the bashers at bay. LOL

While hardly an authority, I've kicked the tires and slammed the hood on the whole Blue Iris 4K/H265 Reolink issue quite a bit and have at least been able to weed out the total bullshit that's usually offered up by the Blue Iris apologists and parrot naysayers. I'm also not necessarily a Reolink cheerleader either, but I like them when they work and did just buy three more questionable 810As cheap to mess with and to maybe find a diamond or two in the rough. Turned out to be three with one even yielding a newly refurbished one as a warranty replacement without even needing to return the old one. Good luck even getting an RMA number (or any support worth crap) from Amcrest -- whose products I also happen to use and like very much for the most part otherwise, basically because they're OEM Dahua. But their 4K cameras can also present issues for Blue Iris using H265. The cure for the problem in nearly all cases (regardless of camera vendor) is switching to H264 when possible. Smoothing things out can be a challenge otherwise, but not impossible.

Anyway, feel free to get your feet wet in the thread linked below before wasting too much time trying to digest the Reolink Gotchas thread (if you run across it first). The pics are gone and there's just a little slightly less than useful or accurate advice included.

https://blueirissoftware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3386

Out of curiosity, am I understanding that you bought a Reolink package including a NVR? If so, I have a question or two about whichever NVR may be involved (if one actually is.)

Statistics: Posted by Pogo — Thu Jan 18, 2024 4:11 pm

Reolink 4K vs Amcrest 4K

2024-01-18T06:47:43+00:00

Hello - New to Blue Iris here.

I just got BI and tried to make it work with my Reolink NVR-ONLY 12mp cameras for home security application. The Cameras are Reolink 1200B.

I got it working with 3% CPU usage and everything was fine until Monday when the CPU went to 100%. I have spent hours trying everything and reading online help and watching Youtubes. Deleting adn re-adding cameras several times.

Mainstreams showing 0.00 so only showing substreams is my latest problem. I have tried Generic and Reolink - same result. BI seems to change my settings at will.

Anyways, I love BI so much I an ready to sell this Reolink system on ebay and get new cameras.

I have ordered the Reolink RLC-811A and the Amcrest IP8M-2796EW-AI and they will be here tomorrow. My plan is to mount them side by side and do A/B testing. (my budget is around $100 per camera and I hope to get decent 4K cameras)

I would like some opinions of people who have either of these or both.

I see lots of Reolink bashing online and then a little love here and there. I see lots of Amcrest love online and only a little bashing - so I am leaning Amcrest before I even test.

Can you all give me personal experience and advice for which one I should choose. I will eventually replace all of my current 8 cameras.

I have a great Windows 11 PC with a 256 SSD and a 20TB HDD, and I am pretty technical if I have good direction.

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

Statistics: Posted by JeffSparks — Thu Jan 18, 2024 6:47 am