REOLINK4K Security Camera System - H.265 4pcs PoE Security Cameras Wired with Person Vehicle Detection, 8MP/4K 8CH NVR with 2TB HDD for 24-7 Recording, RLK8-800B4

(scroll to bottom for original/previous reviews)UPDATE 5/19/25: Still in love with this system. It has captured a few crimes over the years!! But after 6 yrs of spinning, the system now reports a bad HDD, so time to replace the hard drive. Not bad. I'm hoping I can find a good solid state drive though, rather than mechanical one.UPDATE: 8/28/19:The system is running great! Since I replaced the hard drive with a WD purple 4TB drive it's been running nonstop -- without any reboots, and haven't noticed anymore choppy video! Also turned off the automatic reboot feature. It's amazing how cool this runs 24/7 without a fan, too! So quiet!!! While we were out of the country on vacation we were able to keep an eye on our property and house from our phone and laptop! We are so glad we went with Reolink rather than the other brand we had considered. Their customer support has been excellent!UPDATE: 8/8/19:It seems that something on or near my house is causing the white pixels on the one camera. Nobody is able to figure this one out! If I move this cam to a different place it works fine. Weird! HOWEVER, a new problem has just been discovered. There was some video footage that appeared messed up (frames scrambled, skipping, etc.). Not sure if the hard drive is failing or can't handle all the read/writes. But I reformatted it and will have to keep an eye on it. AND NOW for another problem I found after only having this system up for about 10 days. The NVR is constantly rebooting itself !!! It just restarts at random times, even 4 times in one hour during the busiest part of the day! It has restarted when I was looking at the live views or looking at settings. I'm starting to wonder if this NVR can't handle 4 cameras recording (I have 3 of the 8MP and a 5MP hooked up so far). I am in contact with Reolink about these problems, and hopefully they can be resolved, as I paid too much for a defective NVR. I will post an update and adjust my star rating according to the outcome of this.UPDATE: 8/5/19So far all is running well except one camera has a bunch of white specs (stuck pixels) all over it, which are mostly noticeable at night -- very annoying!!! Also the night vision on that camera looks terrible, and blurry compared to the other cameras. I will definitely need to return that camera. I will keep you posted on the outcome with Reolink, and/or any other issues that arise. The other 3 cams look great, though.ORIGINAL REVIEW: 7/26/19We got this system up and running easily, with 2 cameras so far, and it looks very impressive. After a couple days, the monitor said "No Signal" and we could not view anything, except it worked fine via the mobile app and desktop client software for Windows. After trying everything (powering it off/on a few times, tried another monitor and even another cable, with no luck!), I assumed the video output was dead because neither the HDMI nor the VGA worked. Then I noticed in the desktop client that the NVR output had somehow set itself to 4K resolution, when we were using an old temporary monitor that cannot handle 4K. This was not the original setting I chose, and it previously worked fine. So I'm not sure how or why the system reset itself to 4K. But as soon as I corrected this setting, the video output is back. Yay!!!!! I will now have to cancel the ticket I put in w/ Reolink since the problem is resolved. But just be aware that this can somehow happen, and how to resolve it. I am SO happy that I don't have to ship it back!The NVR is awesome. It is a nice compact size, lightweight, quiet, and even though there is no fan it doesn't seem to get very hot at all. Motion detection takes a little tweaking (you have to experiment with your own particular situation to see what works best), but once you get it dialed in it works great. It does pick up birds, bugs flying around at night or heavy rain though, but no way to avoid that I guess. I'd rather have it record too much than not enough. Night vision is excellent -- the best I've ever seen! Both the mobile app and desktop client work well, and with the mobile app I can view the cameras even when I am not home. We have all the camera wiring going to the basement and the cameras plug into a Netgear 8-port POE/POE+ switch. The POE switch is then connected via Cat6 cable to the NVR upstairs (the POE switch is not directly connected to the network itself though, to keep the traffic separated). The NVR sees all the cameras, and assigns them their own IP addresses (172.xxx.xx.xx), so they are "in their own little world". This setup works great, and there is no lag at all. We also have a cheap 1080p camera inside the house to keep an eye on our pets, which the NVR sees as well (ONVIF), and it works great (although that camera's features and settings are only available through the camera's own app (not from the NVR or the Reolink app), and it doesn't seem to record that camera's video, but no problem - we're just using that cam as view only to check in on the pets). I just love this system... we are so glad we went with Reolink!

This system is very good for its price category.These new "B800" true 4K UHD cameras are the real deal.As many previous comments and reviews note, these newest true-4K cameras are running behind on ReoLink's "software" support of their tremendously capable hardware.These cameras were "originally" intended to support the newer, and much more efficient, "H.265" video compression protocol.This would have offered almost 50% better compression-factor (read half-the-file-sizes) for the same video content/quality.For whatever "licensing" or "technical reason, ReoLink had to drop the ball on H.265 compression support. Very bad move on their part in my opinion.In addition, these cameras MUST be used only with the "8" channel version of ReoLink's NVR RLN8-410.The 16 channel ReoLink NVR is not capable of supporting 16 4K cameras (no doubt because of both 100 Mbps Ethernet bandwidth at full 4K frame rates and video bit-rates).Also as mentioned there is no ONVIF support for these "B800" model 4K cameras.Now the shortcomings of ReoLink's support of this great video hardware:1) No H.265 compression algorithms available (meaning HUGE H.264 file sizes). Even at a reduction to 12 fps and setting the maximum bit-rate to 1024 bps, one is looking at about 900 MB-per-30 minutes-per-4K-camera.2) The following features are NO LONGER AVAILABLE within the Windows (v.7.2.33) or Mac client version of theReoLink software for this NVR/Camera combination:a) No longer any "Fast-Forward" capability when the "target" is the NVR (as opposed to any of their otherindividual cameras).b) No longer any "Fluent"(highly compressed, low-frame-rate, and small image pixel count) stream available for download. This is a HUGE problem/oversight at these large 4K H.264 file sizes when reviewing stored video content from remote sites having limited UPSTREAM bandwidth; which is a very common requirement.c) The Windows client (v.7.2.33) easily "locks up" and must be restarted. This happens when one clicks quicklyamong the available software features (i.e. skipping to new timeline points, switching displayed cameras,having 'too many cameras' visible on the screen at once etc.,)Quitting and restarting the Windows "Client" software always "fixes" the issue, so I'm not sure that this is caused bythe software/hardware of the NVR, or the Windows "ReoLink client" software....The same lockup issue occurs for both the 32-bit and 64-bit version of the ReoLink Windows client.d) Most often one, or more, cameras do not immediately display their "live" video content. Sometimes aparticular camera NEVER displays in the "client" software until the client is again RESTARTED.3) There is no apparent way to "upgrade" the firmware of these new "B800" true 4K UHD cameras like there is for ALLof the other ReoLink camera hardware.4) There is NO embedded "web-server" software available for these new "B800"cameras.This is most likely related to why they MUST be used with the 8-channel RLN8-410 NVR and cannot be used stand-alone" as the other ReoLink cameras.5) While the inclusion of a 2 TB hard drive is commendable, even with only four 4K cameras connected to the NVR,and at even very modest bit-rates [1024kbps] and frame-rates [10fps], this would allow for only about 5 calendardays of "24x7" historical video content review. This is again, and in large part, due to the missing support for theH.265 compression algorithm.6) While not the fault of ReoLink, even true 4K cameras have a hard time reading (at least foreign) license plates at any"normal" distances. The genuine "4K" picture truly is impressive in all other regards. Even the "5MP, 4X optically-zoomable", ReoLink cameras (or any other brand) struggles with this particular task.7) The boys at the ReoLink software labs need to get much further, and much more frequently, "with the featuresprogramming" for the Windows/Mac client. I can achieve a better "remote viewing experience" (for both LIVE andPLAYBACK) simply using the ReoLink client software running "remotely" and then connecting to a local Windows PCusing Microsoft Windows 10 "Remote Desktop Client".As a software/electrical engineer myself, and given the fact that the ReoLink engineers own their entire video camera's tech-stack, as well as the NVR and camera's "firmware", this is not impressive.Even with all of the "bugs" above having been formally reported to, and then 'acknowledged' by ReoLink tech support, using the proper "customer support methods", the current v.7.2.2.33 software has not been "updated" in well over 3-months now.8) There is no way to control the nighttime IR illumination of these B800 cameras (the option is available "nowhere", as it "is" for all of the other ReoLink cameras)Niceties:1) NVR storage is very easily expandable using both any standard SATA drive [internal], or eSATA (using externally supplied 12VDC power) and an eSATA data cable.2) Unit is "tiny" (stores easily almost anywhere).3) Camera PoE is available at all 8 Ethernet ports.4) Video "clip" download feature works very nicely (but again, no longer supports downloading the much morecompact "Fluent" stream, as do all of the other ReoLink cameras.)5) Cameras are extremely well built for this price point.6) The Android and iOS versions of the ReoLink client are extremely usable and very functional, given enough internetbandwidth being available.7) Very impressive $price$/quality ratio.8) The nighttime "infrared LEDs" are actually quite usable for scene illumination when not enough natural light is present.This truly is a great system!It could, however, be even better if they work out some of the "kinks".

These cameras are expensive but they are worth it. They are very clear. The app works great and the technical support is top notch! My second set for another location.