u/sko-

I got myself into the situation of having 2 battery powered reolink cameras which do not come with a proper web interface (the fact that those are crippled should be mentioned in their product description!) and one (Argus MagiCam) doesn't even support storing via (s)ftp, so there is no way of getting those recordings off the camera except removing the sd-card and copying the files over.

I absolutely don't care about using some app on a telephone for regular usage, especially since the reolink app is pretty much useless on a square screen. The client software is only available for windows or mac, so this also isn't an option. So in order to be able to manage and view those cameras on a proper screen via a (centralized) web interface and maybe integrate them into homeassistant, I was looking at the RLN and Home Hub variants. I already have 2 reolink PoE cameras running, which do have a proper web interface and also save their recordings to a storage server in the network, but I might also connect them to the NVR for centralized managment and recording, so they don't need sd cards anymore.

But now I stumbled across some mentions that the RLN NVRs have to be hooked up to a screen for full/proper capabilities, especially setting up cameras? Seriously?? Is this also true for the Home Hubs? Those would be my least favorite choice because of form factor and the fact that they use either flimsy SD cards or only a single HDD. (Can they transfer recordings to another server e.g. via sftp/scp or maybe even mount NFS shares?)

The device has to be placed in rack in the basement (hence I'd prefer the form factor of the RLNs). That's where all the network lines are terminated, the main switch and servers are located and everything is backed up by a UPS. I definitely won't drag a screen down there every time I want to change some settings - so the UI must be fully accessible via a web interface (and/or console).

Can somebody confirm (or better deny) that both, RLN and Home Hub, are only usable if accessed directly via a plugged in screen? Are there any usable alternatives that work well with reolink cameras (battery powered ones and e.g. the person/animal detection capabilities) and are at a similar price point? After all I only got into the situation of 'needing' an NVR because the battery cams are severely crippled, so I'm not exactly thrilled about spending a huge amount of extra money just to make them usable.