I have smart detection all around the house and it costs me £0 a year in subscription fees. I also have full control of my data and I can choose where it's stored.
Best video doorbell....
- Thread starter StevieP
- Start date
Transplant it if you are bothered. But yeah Dell Optiplex are dirt cheap. I bought an old HP HP Prodesk 400 G3 with a 256GB SSD, 4GB RAM and an i3 7100T from Members Market on here, I think he asked me for £30 posted.
BlueIris runs on Windows, the license is really inexpensive and the support is great. I've used it at my mums house for about a decade.
Associate
- Joined
- 30 Aug 2014
- Posts
- 704
Is Eufy chime connected directly to the button for zero latency or does it loop through the router?
Anyone know if Eufy recordings on the Homebase go through their servers or is it camera > router > homebase? I understand that remote viewing has to go through servers.
Debating whether to get the E340 or just get a camera disguised as a lamp and a normal doorbell.
Anyone know if Eufy recordings on the Homebase go through their servers or is it camera > router > homebase? I understand that remote viewing has to go through servers.
Debating whether to get the E340 or just get a camera disguised as a lamp and a normal doorbell.
No disguising needed the doorbells are deterrents. I don't know about eufy but Reolink certainly has it's own local chime
Soldato
Goes Doorbell -> homebase on the e340 as the Homebase 3 runs a separate Wifi network for the cameras, it can use your wifi but you loose some feature. The notifications go to the cloud if you want some of the notification video/pictures options etc.
I'm in the process of ripping the Eufy stuff out and go back to Ring, I've had nothing but problems with it. The Homebase firmware is a right mess and the app is not consistent, you have different layouts and options depending which camera you have. I'm rebooting the homebase every couple of days to get it to detect properly. I've been disappointed with the night mode on the doorbell where its running at a very strange FPS which means you get image tearing, the only good thing has been the E340 Floodlight, although that seems to need rebooting every few days as well.
And before anybody says i've had 2 doorbells, 3 homebases the S330 camera set (watch these they only connect to the Hmebase for Wifi and not your home network...) and the S40 and they are all all over the place. I just want something that works and these don't, in my opinion, fall into that category
Soldato
If the E340 uses the chime for storage then the chime will pick up the wifi then forward it to the doorbell meaning it needs to be close to provide the wifi. When you press the doorbell it's instant to the chime.
If you let the doorbell store the recordings and just use the chime as a chime, both connect independently but again it's instant to the chime.
Loving mine currently, app is a little bit more of a mess than Ring's and alerts on the Alexa work most the time but sometimes don't. It's nice being able to see parcels and not worry about a £50 a year charge, that's what moved me on from Ring after 4 years.
Last edited:
Soldato
Yea the Mrs loves the Eufy doorbell I got her. I don't really look at it if I'm honest though.
I also have a Reolink camera with motion detection in the loft and can't fault that either.
I also have a Reolink camera with motion detection in the loft and can't fault that either.
Associate
Who / what do you keep in the loft that needs cameras?
He already said, his Mrs loves ... Nvm
Soldato
Been using Hikvision's domestic brand "Ezviz" DB1C with WiFi chime & transformer, since we moved in 2021.
We had a 256Gb SDXC card inside the doorbell (securely mounted, pretty difficult to just rip off, unlike a Ring), as well as the £1.99 a month cloud subscription. We could also record the 24/7 RTSP stream on our Uniview NVR.
It *was* great, but started becoming really unresponsive; took ages to ring our phones whilst out, 2-Way voice chat was laggy and frustrating and the AI Human/Vehicle detection would become overly sensitive after dusk, causing the chime to ring at the slightest bit of movement.
Got in touch with Hikvision/EZViz and followed all their troubleshooting suggestions, but final result was that they're sending out the updated DB2 kit.
I'm not sure I'll bother installing it, as I don't want a rechargeable camera. I'll likely sell it and buy either the POE Reolink bell to tie in with my existing CCTV system (mainly Reolink already), or the WiFi version (powered via the EZviz bell's transformer).
We had a 256Gb SDXC card inside the doorbell (securely mounted, pretty difficult to just rip off, unlike a Ring), as well as the £1.99 a month cloud subscription. We could also record the 24/7 RTSP stream on our Uniview NVR.
It *was* great, but started becoming really unresponsive; took ages to ring our phones whilst out, 2-Way voice chat was laggy and frustrating and the AI Human/Vehicle detection would become overly sensitive after dusk, causing the chime to ring at the slightest bit of movement.
Got in touch with Hikvision/EZViz and followed all their troubleshooting suggestions, but final result was that they're sending out the updated DB2 kit.
I'm not sure I'll bother installing it, as I don't want a rechargeable camera. I'll likely sell it and buy either the POE Reolink bell to tie in with my existing CCTV system (mainly Reolink already), or the WiFi version (powered via the EZviz bell's transformer).
I was looking at Ring again yesterday after a family member called for advice during prime day. Seems their higher res Doorbell Pro comes in a battery model now, which is good for those that want good quality but can't run wires. The pro records at 1536p, as opposed to 1080p.
The battery Pro also seems to have preroll according the specs. But not sure how that works on battery, as I presume it must always be recording to be able to capture pre-roll before a trigger. The docs aren't completely clear. Maybe it's low res preroll, combined with high res capture after trigger.
The battery Pro also seems to have preroll according the specs. But not sure how that works on battery, as I presume it must always be recording to be able to capture pre-roll before a trigger. The docs aren't completely clear. Maybe it's low res preroll, combined with high res capture after trigger.
Soldato
Its 4 seconds of low res, assume its the same video its using for motion detection, which gets added to the start of the main video so its transitions from low res to high res. Battery is ok, mine lasts about 3-4 weeks and I have a spare so takes 30 seconds to switch. They also do a solar surround charger which works well if you get a couple of hours direct sunlight during the day.
I have a Eufy doorbell that is battery operated, and I want to wire it into the electrics. I’m going to get this transformer:
I want to get a box that will hold it in place and allow me to run a cable down to the doorbell (the power point is just above the front door). Ring do an official one that is basically exactly what I want, but I wondered if there was a basic one I can get instead? The Ring box is like £20 which seems a lot for a single enclosure… Any ideas? I’m kind of tempted to just buy a small box and just have it sit in it
I want to get a box that will hold it in place and allow me to run a cable down to the doorbell (the power point is just above the front door). Ring do an official one that is basically exactly what I want, but I wondered if there was a basic one I can get instead? The Ring box is like £20 which seems a lot for a single enclosure… Any ideas? I’m kind of tempted to just buy a small box and just have it sit in it
At this stage I'd switch to a reolink Poe...I have a Eufy doorbell that is battery operated, and I want to wire it into the electrics. I’m going to get this transformer:
I want to get a box that will hold it in place and allow me to run a cable down to the doorbell (the power point is just above the front door). Ring do an official one that is basically exactly what I want, but I wondered if there was a basic one I can get instead? The Ring box is like £20 which seems a lot for a single enclosure… Any ideas? I’m kind of tempted to just buy a small box and just have it sit in it
I wanted that originally, but I think with the location of the router and the front door it would be such a pain to get the wires from the router to the POE injector
dont ring doorbells also come with a solar panel option? Mine runs on batteries, and it seems wiring for mine is a bit difficult, so planning on getting the solar panel accessory and placing it on the top floor bay window sill so it's unreachable by chavs
Yeah some of them do, and I’ve heard various differing views on whether they work well or not…
I’ve got a power supply I can use right above my front door though, so it’s no hard ask to wire it in to the mains.
Sounds great. If you don't mind me asking, what are you using?
Last edited: