Camera and Settings advice please -

tadol

I have a small warehouse/shop that I have been happily using SS for - but most of my cameras are re-used old Q-see 2mp bullet style, and they're getting a little long in the tooth - I've had one go out, so time to invest in some new hardware -

I have successfully used a Reolink Duo to cover the rear property line/parking access gate - but its overhead view, while good for seeing what's generally going on, is not ideal for the warehouse front. On the front I have a single gang box at each end of the building, about 15' above the ground. I have aimed these old bullet cameras at each other, so I have a cross view of the building, with the sidewalk and parking area - I have only armed the first couple feet away from the building, and even then get an awful lot of alerts -

So I purchased a couple Reolink RLC810As - figured they are a step up, and should give higher resolution. But in doing the initial setup, they offer a "corridor" mode - seems to switch the image 90d, so instead of offering 3840x2160, they offer 2160x3840 - so more vertical than horizontal, which seems ideal for both the front, as well as for the driveway alongside the building - but the multi view gives me -

view from Reolink in Corridor mode - just testing in the warehouse -

So you can sorta see the issue - I already have the doublewide back view, then the "corridor" view ( currently set as a test view in the warehouse) is just adding a lot of black screen to the multiview - suggestions and advice very welcome!!

And while I have you attention - any advice about hardware that mounts to a single gang box, and extends the camera out a distance so it can see more "back" at the wall? you may notice I have the same problem on the side, where my view is largely the gutter on the side of the building, but the front could use the same modifications. I'd also like to add to a box and raise a camera up above the building parapet, so I could "see" across the roof, if there are any suggestions -

Thanks in advance! Tad

Ben

Hi Tad, when there are cameras of different aspect ratios, the black bars (letterboxing) around the images can become quite large and ugly. Here's what you can do to reduce this:

1. For each camera, you can specify that it is displayed at 2x/3x/4x width/height in the video window. Right-click on the wide-angled image and set its display width to 2x, and right-click on the corridoor image and set its display height to 2x. You may also be able to improve the layout by reordering the cameras (under Settings > Cameras; via the gear button) to create a harmonious layout.
2. Under Settings > Display, you can choose between letterboxing (black bars), stretching or cropping. If you dislike letterboxing, the other two options may produce more pleasing results.

As for the two cameras that are close to their walls - they don't look too bad to me - just angle them more away from the wall so you see more of the scene and less of the wall.

And, if you are finding you are getting too many false positive detections from a particular camera, see our advice from the user manual Achieving Effective Motion Detection.

nealk

Just want to note I find the image from those old reolinks pretty respectable. They're not getting the job done?

Also that "duo"- will have to look that up. I had to install 2 cameras to get a wide enough view of the front of my home.

tadol

Thanks Ben - I installed the cameras and disabled the “corridor” view, as I decided that dealing with the Reolink App (which seems to ONLY work on my phone) was a PITA, and if I want to pursue alternate view options, I’ll make more effort to see what I can do within SS - but minimizing high ladder work -

The old cameras are actually Q-See, part of a NVR setup I bought from Costco maybe 15+ years ago. They were OK, but only 2mp, and with one dead and another being problematic, I decided to see what a couple 4k 8mp would look like. There is definitely an improvement in detail and a larger field of view - and I will definitely have to refine the motion detection, as they last night picked up a small gray rat running along the gray concrete at the edge of the building, while previously I might pick up a large cat, dog, or raccoon. And as the sun went up, the shadows of people and cars going by are triggering far too many alerts.

The wide view Duo camera I have on the back is pretty nice - it also has lights and a mic/speaker setup, which, I don’t find terribly useful - pretty much continuous traffic noise. The set-up is problematic - I had run power out to supply the gate operator, which I was able to use to plug in a camera initially - but it’s about 100’ away from the building, and the WiFi signal to the camera was inadequate - it worked occasionally, but would frequently drop. So I zip tied a Ethernet cable along the power conduit, and installed a mini poe access point about 15’ from the camera, and it now gets a very good signal and works great - except when there is a power outage, and for some reason I have to power cycle the access point for it to reconnect - I’m hoping a UPS on my POE switch and router will solve that -