TP-Link NVR connecting to Reolink POE Doorbell?

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TSMcam

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#312230 28-Mar-2024 12:54

I have a Reolink POE Doorbell, and rather than using the SD card storage, I want to utilise an NVR. I've been looking at either the TP-Link NVR or the Reolink NVR. However, the Reolink NVR is apprently best with Reolink cameras, and as I will be adding cameras (not necessarily Reolink) in the future, I was wondering if anyone has used the TP-Link NVR with a doorbell such as Reolink?

richms

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#3211872 28-Mar-2024 13:30

I have found that branded things tend to intentionally screw up their onvif implementations to the point they only work properly with their own gear.

I have had great success with the cheap wifi xmeye ones from aliex for $45 to use for just watching my assortment of random cameras on, but have not actually tried them for recording at all yet. They take a 2.5" drive so you are limited to a 2tb drive as anything larger is shingled and sucks for DVR use. If you can gut an obsolete laptop for its drive this should give you the cheapest NVR solution. The wifi on it is useless, its only for connecting the xmeye IP cameras too, but its fine seeing cameras on the lan port and auto discovers etc all fine.

Richard rich.ms

Kraven

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#3211887 28-Mar-2024 14:30

I've got a Reolink Wi-Fi doorbell. While it does record to my NVR, the NVR is always complaining about dropped frames. It's connecting via ONVIF. It could be Wi-Fi although I have a couple of other Wi-Fi cameras and they are fine. The footage is still usable but I'm not certain it can be trusted 100%.

You can use an SD Card and an NVR at the same time and I recommend doing so. SD Cards are cheap!

TSMcam

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#3213104 2-Apr-2024 08:07

Thank you for your replies.

I'm thinking the best bet is to buy the smallest (in terms of port capacity) Reolink NVR and use that for the doorbell and any extra cameras.

@Kraven, I wasn't aware you could record to both the NVR and the SD card. I'll definitely do that :)

RunningMan

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#3213113 2-Apr-2024 08:31

Reolink can also FTP recordings to a local FTP server.

schmoogol

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#3213423 3-Apr-2024 01:21

If you already have a NAS and something to run Docker you could consider a software solution like Scrypted. I use it to pipe my Reolink doorbell to HomeKit but it also has an NVR component as a subscription. In my case, I send a copy of the feed to Frigate (another software NVR) for recording instead.

After some initial fiddling around to get it set up I’ve not had any problems. It would probably be more flexible for integrating different camera brands but also be more involved to get going, especially if you’re not already running a server or NAS of some kind.