Home Assistant Tutorial Part 3: IP Cameras (featuring Reolink)

This is part 3 in my video series on how to use Home Assistant. In this video I'll discuss the various ways to get cameras into Home Assistant from ONVIF to using the Generic Camera integration for RTSP, and also discuss other methods so you're aware of your choices. We'll also show how to configure the cameras and an NVR using the REOLINK software as a demo. Please note that you'll want to use your camera software or an NVR regardless to configure the cameras...Home Assistant will let you view them, but managing them is best left to dedicated software.

In this video I also show how to use the REST platform to add in a motion sensor for the Reolink cameras.

Below you'll find helpful links and further reading you'll want to do to understand some of these topics more deeply (Especially HLS and how it relates to latency)

Update: .h265 support is in progress at the time this video was made...it's coded up and going through the review system.

About my thoughts on the camera from Reolink:
I'm thankful for their sponsorship, and the cameras worked great for this video. They didn't require the cloud at all and had a great quality to them. They have a ton of models including PTZ, and the cameras are really nicely priced compared to say an Aarlo


This video was sponsored by Reolink (https://reolink.com/)
https://reolink.com/

Reolink cameras used in this video:
Reolink 410 5MP POE: https://amzn.to/3pDawOH
Reolink 410W 4MP Wifi: https://amzn.to/2H9ZsqW

An excellent post about different camera approaches and the pros/cons of each. Also the comment section is a great read as it discusses latency:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t...


Onvif device manager tool:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/onvi...

Link to home assistant known camera configs:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t...


Below is my binary sensor config for Reolink cameras using the REST service. This should make it easy to copy/paste. You'll want to change the IP, and the username and pasword. You'll also probably like to give it a good name to match the amera.

Binary Sensor for Reolink Cameras:
platform: rest
resource: http://192.168.1.140/api.cgi?cmd=GetMdState&user=YOURUSERNAME&password=YOURPASSWORD
name: YOUR CAMERA NAME
scan_interval: 2
value_template: "{{ value_json[0].value.state }}"
device_class: motion

Home Assistant tutorial Series:
Part 5 - HACS and Themes -    • Home Assistant Tutorial Episode 5 - HACS &...  
Part 4 - Automations BluePrints Scripts and Scenes
   • Home Assistant Tutorial Episode 4: Automat...  
Part 3 - Cameras    • Home Assistant Tutorial Part 3:  IP Camera...  
Part 2 - UI Walkthroughs, Integrations, Addons, and Cloud Backups    • Home Assistant  Tutorial Part 2 - UI Walkt...  
Part 1 - Installation -    • Home Assistant  Tutorial Part 1 - Installa...  

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