Until recently I had been using an EZVIZ DB1C doorbell. I researched before I got it, and it worked immediately when bought. Then the company started playing dirty pool. Over the next two firmware updates (WIth nothing in the notes beyond “bugfixes and imrprovements”) they stripped out the ability to use a local RTSP stream then they stripped out the ability to use their Windows-only software to even re-enable any functionality. Then they jerked me around for over a month before they finally copped to what the company had done.
And of course there’s no way back to a working firmware.
I know people have mentioned Reolink and Amcrest before, but those models are no longer available.
Is there anything in the way of wired, mechanical-bell compatible doorbell cameras that work with HomeAssistant?
I’m so sick of companies that sell you one thing, then strip out the functionality that made it useful, shoving you into their cloud/app shit or leaving you stranded on whatever firmware the thing came with.
GRR
I use an Amcrest AD-410 for this and it works great. Video is ingested by frigate, and I am using a fork of amcrest2mqtt to monitor for button pushes and receive a notification on my phone. They also have a “chime kit” I think it’s called, to hook up to your 24v doorbell unit.
What do you mean that Reolink is not available? You can get them easily and they work great with HA and Frigate.
I’ve had a Ezviz home camera for years. At some point, the RTSP stream in HA stopped working entirely, and I didn’t think much of it.
A week ago I decided to reset the damn thing as the verification password on the bottom didn’t take in HA, only to realise that the setup flow on the app just didn’t work for configuring WiFi, and there was no feedback at all, or any support articles surround it. I’d given up for a while, plugged in ethernet temporarily instead and tried again.
The correct WiFi setup procedure was hidden away in some menu, which I couldn’t even remember using last time (showing a QR to the camera and it silently taking the credentials). Only then I found out about how you can view the camera in the app in LAN View Mode, pray it accepts your verification password without spitting random HTTP errors, and there the RTSP toggle was to be found. I do have the stream back in HA, but my god that was a pain. I’ve been at it for hours at that point.
Was it worth it? No, I would’ve thrown it out the window way sooner - but it beats having a paper weight for a camera which used to work fine an hour ago.
I have a Uniquiti G4 Doorbell Pro and a standard mechanical bell (I’m in Europe so it’s a Honeywell chime and the transformer came with the doorbell)
Integration with HA is good, but it does need some sort of Ubiquiti NVR at the very least to operate. I have a Dream Router as my main router so that functions as both. If you aren’t already using Ubiquiti gear this can get expensive quickly.
But the equipment is (in my experience, I know others have variable opinions, especially with software updates) very positive.
I have the G4 Doorbell, it’s worked well as doorbell and camera in both UniFi and Home Assistant.
I had no luck at all getting it to work with a chime though. I tried several different chimes and transformers and the chime would never work.
I ended up setting up automations to trigger device notifications and a bell sound on smart speakers to act as the chime instead.
I have the same issue. We have two unifi doorbells (previous model) and one chimes no problem but the second refuses to, even after transformer upgrades.
And despite having cloud integrations, if my WAN is offline I can still view my doorbell. I haven’t tested it HA received notifications or anything though, as I just rely on the Unifi Security app.
Dahua (professional side of Amcrest) still sells their video doorbell through B&H Photo. According to a Q&A answer on the site it will power a wired chime.
I have another wifi Dahua camera (also bought from B&H) and have been really impressed with it. It’s used with Frigate and Home Assistant. Be aware that B&H offers their own warranty for Dahua products. I looked at the fine print before my purchase and felt it was reasonable.
EmpireTech sells rebranded Dahua products and they have a different model. The seller gets great reviews on ipcamtalk.com. Detailed user reviews here. EmpireTech also sells through Amazon.
