I’ve been running a very simple Home Assistant setup for a while now - just a few lights and a door lock. I’ve added a bit of monitoring and data gathering basically to see how MQTT works.

I installed a Reolink camera intending to setup Frigate PVR and do all the good stuff (including more cameras) with that, but my hardware is old and I need a TPU and they’re all out of stock and back ordered until October, at best. I’ve tried ZoneMinder but couldn’t get over all the false positives with fog and rain etc. So, I had given up on my camera project for a while.

Then I installed the Reolink integration in Home Assistant and see that it has basic “AI” capability and I can trigger automations based on “person seen” etc. I already created a basic “save 30 seconds of video if you see a person”. I’ve got pretty basic requirements and can probably be happy with a few more basic automations like this, but this seems almost a waste - there is so much capability there. I had a bit of a look in the internal integrations repository and HACS and I can’t see anything that looks like a PVR.

Does it exist?

Is it something I shouldn’t be trying to do with Home Assistant? There was no noticeable increase in CPU usage when I enabled my test automation so I assume the “AI” is happening in the camera. I don’t see a downside??

Edit - I’ve continued working and reading more about the Reolink Integration and now partially answer my own question: I think I’m going to be happy with just the Reolink integration and some automations. It seems to work very well!

  • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Just in case you were not aware, most Reolink cameras can do “save a clip if you see a person” on their own, without involving HA.
    And they can either dump it to local or network storage.
    The detection is done at the camera, and just fires a notification over ONVIF.

    • GreatBlueHeron@piefed.caOPEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      I wasn’t aware when I first posted this, but am now. I’m struggling to get it working though. My automation to record video for person, vehicle etc. events was working but as I read more I learned that, as you say, it should all happen in camera. So, I’ve turned off the automation and nothing is appearing in the Reolink media folder. I’ve been through and double checked that everything is turned on - that I can find. I’m wondering if I need to turn on FTP upload, or if the Reolink HA integration pretends to be a Reolink PVR? My camera is a RLC-520A, with no SD card, which, if I understand what I’ve read correctly, should have this capability.

      Edit: I’ve been reading and playing more. It seems the Reolink media folder is just populated with links to the recordings on the camera SD card - which I don’t have. So, I’ve configured FTP upload to a folder accessible to my Jellyfin - I can now view the videos from my phone, PC and TV. That works for now - I’ll keep playing.

      • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMEnglish
        2·
        5 hours ago

        I’m a great believer in keeping things as simple and modular as possible.
        Much easier to just dump files over FTP than have HA do the saving.
        Plus, the camera can operate like a dashcam, and save before/after the event, while that would be tricker in HA, as you’d have to run a buffer.