It’s sad that it’s 2026 and tough to find a good ONVIF doorbell. Apparently the new reolink models require the reolink hub. I just want something local I can connect to home assistant that works well…
If anyone has recommendations, I’d appreciate them. Watched a lot of YouTube and a lot of conflicting takes out there where one review is terrible and another sounds like it must be sponsored with how much they love it.
I don’t see anything on the page saying the doorbell requires the hub, just that it works with reolink hub or reolink NVRs. The doorbell also has an SD card slot for local storage. https://m.reolink.com/us/product/reolink-doorbell-battery/
Amazon reviews were the first place I saw it and reolink even has a page about onvif doorbells where they say that the new model requires the hub. I don’t remember if it was all new models but pretty sure it was at least the new WiFi one since that’s what I’d need.
I will add, now that I have one, the only reolink doorbell that can operate an existing hardwired chime is the one that has a battery in it. I sent them feedback that this feature should be more prominent in the device comparisons for whatever good that’ll do.
The wifi one without battery won’t do it. I’m just going to move it to another door where that doesn’t really matter later when I buy the battery one next month. As it is, no hub is needed from my experience, though I did buy the 32channel NVR they sell. Thing takes up to three drives for a max of 48TB. Currently have a 4TB drive from bv-security in it.
It’s sad that it’s 2026 and tough to find a good ONVIF doorbell. Apparently the new reolink models require the reolink hub. I just want something local I can connect to home assistant that works well…
If anyone has recommendations, I’d appreciate them. Watched a lot of YouTube and a lot of conflicting takes out there where one review is terrible and another sounds like it must be sponsored with how much they love it.
Power over ethernet cameras to a switch connected to a zoneminder server.
This does require running the ethernet cable plus the server infra and managing it yourself but as far as I know it’s the best solution.
I use a TP-Link Tapo doorbell which only records video on-site (I have not subscribed to the cloud service).
As best I understand, as the data is hosted locally - TP-Link are unable to share video with Law Enforcement even if they want to.
I don’t see anything on the page saying the doorbell requires the hub, just that it works with reolink hub or reolink NVRs. The doorbell also has an SD card slot for local storage. https://m.reolink.com/us/product/reolink-doorbell-battery/
Amazon reviews were the first place I saw it and reolink even has a page about onvif doorbells where they say that the new model requires the hub. I don’t remember if it was all new models but pretty sure it was at least the new WiFi one since that’s what I’d need.
I will add, now that I have one, the only reolink doorbell that can operate an existing hardwired chime is the one that has a battery in it. I sent them feedback that this feature should be more prominent in the device comparisons for whatever good that’ll do.
The wifi one without battery won’t do it. I’m just going to move it to another door where that doesn’t really matter later when I buy the battery one next month. As it is, no hub is needed from my experience, though I did buy the 32channel NVR they sell. Thing takes up to three drives for a max of 48TB. Currently have a 4TB drive from bv-security in it.