Video doorbell with local video in Home Assistant (no subscription)

Ring works with Home Assistant. The catch is that its integration signs into the Ring cloud, and viewing the last recording needs a Ring subscription. If you want your doorbell video and button presses handled locally, start with a Reolink Video Doorbell PoE or the wired-power Video Doorbell WiFi instead. Home Assistant explains the Ring connection and recording requirement.

Pick PoE if you can get Ethernet to the door. Pick wired Wi-Fi if suitable doorbell power is already there and running a network cable would turn a weekend project into a building project. Both let you build the useful bit: someone presses the button, your phone gets a picture, and your lights join in.

Research guide: specifications from the makers; setup from Home Assistant and Frigate documentation.

The picks: cable first, Wi-Fi when it fits

Best for an Ethernet run: Reolink Video Doorbell PoE, black. One cable carries power and video. Its 5MP camera and direct Home Assistant connection make it the straightforward choice alongside a local recorder. The black model has a 4:3 view; position it for faces rather than assuming it shows every parcel at your feet. Reolink describes the black and white viewing formats.

Best for existing doorbell wiring: Reolink Video Doorbell WiFi, black. This is a continuously powered doorbell with dual-band Wi-Fi, not the battery model. Choose it when compatible power reaches the door and Wi-Fi coverage is good there. You still get direct Home Assistant integration; you don’t need to add a Reolink Home Hub for its button events. Reolink’s model comparison separates the plug-in and battery versions.

PoE starter piece: TP-Link TL-SG1005P. Add this when you need a PoE source: five Gigabit ports, four supplying PoE, with a published 65W total power budget. An existing compatible PoE switch or injector does the same job; buying another switch is optional. TP-Link publishes the port and power specifications.

Choice	Connection and power	Home Assistant route	Best fit
Reolink Video Doorbell PoE, black	Ethernet; IEEE 802.3af PoE	Direct Reolink integration	You can run Ethernet and want one cable at the door
Reolink Video Doorbell WiFi, black	2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi; 12–24V AC, 50/60Hz, or 24V DC	Direct Reolink integration; no Home Hub needed for this plug-in model	You have compatible wired power but no Ethernet run
TP-Link TL-SG1005P	Five Gigabit ports; four PoE ports; 65W total budget	Network/power hardware, not a doorbell integration	You need a PoE source for the doorbell and other cameras

The five-minute fit check

Start at the door, not the checkout button. For PoE, plan the Ethernet route and a compatible PoE source. The switch needs an uplink to the network running Home Assistant. Plan the mounting angle too: the door frame should not occupy half the picture.

For wired Wi-Fi, read the transformer’s output label. Reolink specifies 12–24V AC at 50/60Hz or 24V DC for this model. “There are two wires” doesn’t tell you their voltage. Have an electrician sort out an unknown transformer or mains wiring; then give the doorbell the specified power. Reolink’s introduction lists the power requirements.

Use the matching Reolink chime supplied with the selected offer. Reolink’s comparison lists the plug-in Wi-Fi and PoE models as not supporting a mechanical chime; don’t plan this purchase around keeping an old wired bell. You can also build a Home Assistant speaker or light notification below.

Before drilling, temporarily power the doorbell in its intended position. Check the view, test a button press and, for Wi-Fi, watch the live feed with the door shut. A strong connection where you configure the camera doesn’t help if the signal disappears at its mounting spot.

Does the Wi-Fi doorbell need a Home Hub?

The wired-power Wi-Fi model recommended here does not. Reolink’s comparison marks both plug-in Wi-Fi and PoE as supporting direct Home Assistant integration. Its Home Assistant support article also places the plug-in Doorbell Series in the standalone-compatible group. The Home Hub requirement belongs to different battery-model entries. See Reolink’s integration requirements.

Home Assistant’s own Reolink page explicitly lists the black and white PoE doorbells among its tested direct-connected models. It documents the Visitor binary sensor for a physical button press and a separate Person sensor for detection. The integration is classified Local Push, with fallback event-update methods when needed. Use the Reolink integration documentation for those entities and setup.

That distinction makes your automations nicer. A courier walking into view can turn on a porch light; pressing the button can make your phone announce a visitor. You don’t have to treat every movement as a doorbell ring.

Bring it into Home Assistant, then choose your recorder

1. Power and initialize the doorbell with Reolink’s setup tools. Set the local device username and password; Home Assistant needs a device account with admin privileges, not your Reolink cloud login.
2. Follow Reolink’s network setup to enable the services the integration needs. Its support instructions include enabling RTSP and ONVIF. Keep firmware current for the exact model.
3. In Home Assistant, open Settings → Devices & services. Configure the discovered Reolink device, or choose Add integration → Reolink and enter the doorbell’s local connection details.
4. Open the device and find its camera, Visitor and Person entities. Press the physical button and watch Visitor change to On. Walk into view separately to identify the person-detection entity.
5. Choose recording separately from notifications. Reolink supports local storage without a cloud subscription; its PoE page lists microSD, Reolink NVR and FTP/NAS destinations. Pick your storage route before relying on playback. Reolink’s local-storage options explain the choices.

For a Frigate system, follow our PoE camera and recorder guide. Frigate’s Add Camera wizard supports Reolink: enable the camera’s HTTP service, choose Manual selection → Reolink, and let it select the stream type. Its documentation recommends HTTP-FLV for cameras at 5MP or lower and describes enabling Use stream compatibility mode during validation. Follow Frigate’s Reolink instructions rather than borrowing another camera’s stream address. For Frigate detection hardware, compare Coral vs Hailo and the OpenVINO option alongside the recorder host.

Use the main stream for recording and a smaller stream for detection where the camera provides it, as the Frigate camera configuration guide describes. Keep the native Reolink Visitor entity for the button: video detection and a button press are different inputs.

Three automations that make the doorbell yours

1. Button press → phone notification with a snapshot

Install the Home Assistant Companion app on your phone and allow notifications. Then open Settings → Automations & scenes → Create automation → Create new automation.

• Under When, add Entity → State, select the doorbell’s Visitor binary sensor and set To: On.
• Under Then do, add Camera → Take snapshot. Target the doorbell camera and set Filename to /media/doorbell.jpg. This example uses Home Assistant’s configured media directory.
• Add Notifications → Send a notification via mobile_app_… for your phone. Set a friendly message such as “Someone’s at the door” and add this notification data:

image: /media/local/doorbell.jpg

Press Save, name the automation and save it. Snapshot comes first, notification second; leave normal stop-on-error behavior in place so a failed capture doesn’t send an old picture. The two paths differ deliberately: the file is saved under /media/, while the phone fetches it through /media/local/.

Home Assistant’s Reolink rich-notification walkthrough shows the sequence. For the image to load away from your network, the phone needs access to Home Assistant; the Companion attachment guide explains authenticated media access. Keep that access through Home Assistant, rather than exposing the camera itself.

2. Make a speaker chime—or let a light do the shouting

Create another automation with the same Visitor → On trigger. For an existing supported speaker, add Media player → Play specified media, choose your target and select a short chime in the media picker. The media action guide explains the available options.

Prefer a visual cue? Use Light → Turn on, choose a lamp and expand the options to request a short flash. Flash support depends on the light; test that action once before making it your doorbell cue. The light action guide documents the flash option. Our local lighting guide helps you choose the lighting route.

Save and press the button. You now have a visitor cue that can reach beyond the supplied chime without turning every camera detection into a concert.

3. Person after dark → porch light

Use the doorbell’s Person entity as the State trigger, changing to Detected. Under And if, choose the Sun group and Sun is set. Under Then do, add Light → Turn on and select your porch light. Save it.

That’s the whole recipe: a person arriving after dark gets light; a daytime delivery leaves it alone. Keep the light’s usual off schedule separate so this automation won’t switch it off while somebody still needs it. Sun is set is the current condition for the period between sunset and sunrise.

Test the button, the picture and the dark

Press the real button: Visitor should change, the phone should receive a fresh image, and your chosen chime or lamp should respond. Then walk into view without pressing it: Person should trigger the porch-light automation after dark, without pretending somebody rang.

Repeat the phone test on mobile data if you want pictures away from home. If it fails, use the automation trace to find whether the snapshot, notification or image access failed. Finally, test local video and button handling with the internet connection unavailable; phone push delivery is a separate path from local camera control.

Bring the doorbell into your Home Assistant project hub alongside Alarmo: it makes a useful picture source for an entry alert, while your door sensors handle the alarm logic.

The buy: choose Reolink PoE when Ethernet can reach the door, wired Reolink Wi-Fi when compatible power is already there, and TL-SG1005P only when you need a PoE source. Give the button, video and lights their own jobs—and keep your recordings local.