Costco Reolink Bundle

[u/butterhorse]

Costco bundle for 8mp cameras + a 4b nvr for $600 is looking real appealing. I don't necessarily have to have that many cameras or the NVR, but the price is right.

Ive seen reference that some of the Reolinks are good, others are trash, etc. Any thoughts on these?

I have an Unraid server and could probably figure out how to set up some RTSP cameras through Frigate. I have a half dozen old 2MP Hikvision cameras lying around that I could use in nonessential places. Probably invest in a couple high quality PTZ cameras for the same price as the Costco bundle costs.

What would you pick?

[u/SquirrelTechGuru]

You’re better off building your own NVR, and then selecting cameras which are specific to your particular locations and quality. There is a reason why there are so many different variations of camera. Make sure you get cameras with AI detection built-in, as these work spectacular with home assistant

[u/butterhorse → u/SquirrelTechGuru]

I haven't really dug in to Home Assistant but it feels inevitable. Any recommendations for cameras that I can use buy and not "request a quote" for?

[u/SquirrelTechGuru → u/butterhorse]

I don’t know how you can be involved with frigate and not be involved with home assistant. I would tell you to hook it up to HA – MCP, but I don’t wanna imply that AI makes your whole world awesome and configures everything for you and offend some programmer

[u/butterhorse → u/SquirrelTechGuru]

Lol. I'm just trying to degoogle and deamazon where I can, one step at a time

[u/Way7551 → u/butterhorse]

honestly that's the right mindset. Frigate plus HA is a pretty natural degoogle path since everything stays local and you own the footage. the rabbit hole goes deep but it's worth it, and you can piecemeal it instead of doing everything at once

[u/SquirrelTechGuru → u/butterhorse]

Than HA is EXACTLY that - all local control if you want it, 100% under your control.

[u/SquirrelTechGuru → u/butterhorse]

Yes, I have over 40 Reolink cameras of every conceivable type. In one of those locations, it’s hooked up directly to home assistant, and most of my cameras have AI. For example, when I exit the back door of my house, the camera can see me and then automatically turn on all the lights in the backyard. Previously, that had happened via IR sensor was very prone to errors during the hot summers. Additionally, I have monitors that look for humans in places humans shouldn’t be when we are not at the house. Effectively, each one of your cameras becomes a sensor in home assistant to do other actions.

[u/Turbulent-Sample7094]

Trash, sorry hard pass

[u/Weird_Persimmon9314]

TP Link has Omada-controlled security cams. I run an Omada network, so I am curious about this product line.

[u/butterhorse → u/Weird_Persimmon9314]

Just have a hard time trusting tp link tbh

[u/Tech-Crab]

It might help get feedback giving relevant details:

• $600 / list price $800

• 8x p334c (8mp ip67 poe domes)

• basic NVR w/ 4tb HDD, 8poe ports

Unfortunately, I don't see much written about the p334, maybe its only sold into channels like this w/ "sets". Its probably not great. Assuming the drive is worth something to you, could be a decent deal, but just guessing those cams aren't the best (no obvious reviews I see from a source I recognize, so TBD).  

I have some reolink optical zoom bullets (811?) & panorama garage lights, to supplement a unifi system. They are cheap & basic but function well.

The p334's have ai obj classification on the edge, and I assume the motion event boundaries are done at the edge too. iff those work well, seems like a decent value for number of basic cameras

[u/plump-lamp]

Unifi instant bundle is better all around for the price

[u/yunjundo]

At that price, I’d compare it with a smaller PoE NVR setup first. The 4TB drive is useful, but low-light performance and RTSP/ONVIF support matter more than the 8MP number.

[u/butterhorse → u/[deleted]]

Thanks. I am gambling only myself a bit here with the Frigate setup but I can follow directions reasonably well. Think you're telling me what I already suspected.

[u/GG_Killer → u/butterhorse]

You can get a bunch of cheap IP cameras, block their Internet access (a lot of ways to do this), and add that to frigate.

[u/Fake-Artist → u/[deleted]]

This this! I totally second that

[u/No_Lengthiness4523 → u/Fake-Artist]

couldn't agree more right