topic Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions in Arlo Pro

Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

sm1975 — Mon, 22 May 2017 04:42:01 GMT

Hi,

First of all, i just wanted to say that i love the Arlo PRO ease of setup, the website, phone app and features.

The biggest issue i have is that of poor video quality. The packaging and marketing all say HD, however when viewing the videos it's not even close to being HD. It’s not even close to being SD. The quality is closer to VGA with images grainy and pixelated even at a very short distance (2 meters away).

Before i start to get suggestions that it's a wireless issue, please note that i design and build wireless solutions for a living. I have the Arlo Pro base station on a totally separate WIFI network. It's running on it's own WiFi channel with no overlap or interference from neighbours. No other devices in my home are attached to the isolated WIFI environment that the cameras are on. The signal strength from the Camera to the base station is -50 dBm. So it far exceeds the -67 dBm recommendation for real time voice and video in an enterprise.

Secondly my uplink bandwidth is 10 Mbps for the Arlo Pro cameras. So even with a single camera I should be getting much better quality.

I really believe the root cause of the issue lies in the intentional reduction of resolution and compression to allow for smaller bandwidth and storage requirements. From a business point of view i totally understand this. A HD stream can be around 5 Mbps, so having 4 of these stream to your cloud service may be problematic for most users around the world, not to mention the increased costs of bandwidth and storage on your end. So i offer these suggestions in the hope i can get better quality videos through your service:

I’m aware of the current option to improve quality. I’ve already set it to “Best Video.” So maybe you can add another level for "HD Video", with a caveat that the user will get reduced free storage, say 3 days worth instead of 7.
Provide an optional plan to upgrade in order to get access to HD quality. I’ll gladly upgrade and pay for this.
Provide a mechanism so that you can dump a HD version of files locally on the USB attached Disk and only send the lower resolution version to the cloud.

Thank you.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Streak2 — Mon, 22 May 2017 05:11:07 GMT

Can you post a link to an example of the video so we can see how it compares to ours?

The Pro should be 720p at the highest setting.

I can see a big difference with my Q at 1080p.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

sm1975 — Mon, 22 May 2017 05:24:59 GMT

Hi,

here is an example from a few mintues ago:

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/A8885DDC7BD593BF_201705

thanks.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

TomMac — Mon, 22 May 2017 11:17:20 GMT

Not a bad video , IMO. Yes there is compression and you can see it in the slight pulsing of the key frames. As you said it was a design choice between hi data/transmission rates but I think also battery life.

In the end, theses are really "activity" type cameras with the wide FOV, not meant for the ID shots of people or plate reading...

I am waiting for the weather proof Q cam ( not in planning TMK ), tho i can see it may require a power supply as opposed to battery and also as you mentioned an user adjustable compression rate would be great.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

sm1975 — Mon, 22 May 2017 11:45:17 GMT

thanks Tom.

My only gripe is that Arlo themselves market the product as providing HD quality. This statement is printed on the box: "HD Quality Enjoy incredibly sharp, detailed video"

It is also in the datasheet: https://www.arlo.com/en-us/images/documents/arlo_pro_datasheet.pdf

For a great system, its a let-down that we are unable to access the sharp imaging. Looking at a saved recorded file, i can see it is HD resolution (720p), but it is compressed all the way down to 832 kbps. To get the type of sharp, detailed video it would need to be 2 Mbps+.

I would love to see an option where this can be enabled because the H.264 codec used by the Arlo Pro cameras can support compression at12 Mbps. So its certainly capable of higher quality.

I wouldn't expect number plate viewing, but for a camera mounted 2 meteres away from my entrance, i'd ceretainly expect to ID people wa,king up to the door.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

TomMac — Mon, 22 May 2017 12:11:35 GMT

As an example, here is a vid clip of a Q cam ( 1080 ) which can peak at 1.5mbs... so the higher rez is possible

This is shot thru double pane Andersen window ( the Qs work on pixel change not PIR for motion detection ).

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

sm1975 — Mon, 22 May 2017 12:20:45 GMT

thanks Tom. That looks like the kind of video quality that the Arlo Pros can certainly do. I'm wondering with the release of outdoor power adapters or solar panels, that the argument against quality vs battery can be put to rest?

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

TomMac — Mon, 22 May 2017 12:25:23 GMT

You guess is as good as mine....

Remember there is a base processor limit too, right now they limit a max of 5 cameras streaming at the same time.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Pickering — Tue, 23 May 2017 15:05:10 GMT

A long shot, but have you peeled of the lens protector film.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Lakehouse38 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:43:34 GMT

I have the Arlo Pro system with 5 cameras. All of my cameras are powered by AC adapters so battery power is not an issue. I am experiencing low quality images too. I agree that an option to store the high quality images on the local usb storage should be added to the software. I have checked the images on the usb storage devices and they are no better than the ones streamed from the cloud. I do understand the need for compression but an HD version should be made available. As you stated, Netgears documentation says it is an HD system.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Streak2 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 17:26:00 GMT

Do you have your video quality setting set to maximum?

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Lakehouse38 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 18:26:11 GMT

Yes. Video quality is set to best. I have basically the same setup as user sm1975. Picture quality is pixilated. Appears on both streamed view and locally stored file. Wish they would store the video before compression.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

jguerdat — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 18:29:56 GMT

Sincce all your cameras are doing this, it could be a 2.4GHz signal issue near the base. What other devices may be near the base that use that frequency? Doesn't have to be WiFi. You could try moving the base to see if that makes any difference.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Streak2 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 18:37:32 GMT

Here is what one of my Pro's look like at best video.

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/ACBA997F90FC4232_201709

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Lakehouse38 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 18:39:15 GMT

No other devices in the house use 2.4Ghz. All other devices use 5Ghz. Do you have an example of a photo or video taken from an Arlo Pro camera that has HD quality? If so can you share it?

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Lakehouse38 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 18:49:04 GMT

Sorry, saw your video after I hit Post. In your video you can not read the sign in the window. Below is a link to a video of mine.

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/64679E2AFA7CA21D_201709

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Streak2 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 19:45:22 GMT

Looks like yours is working to spec.

What's more important to me than reading the sign is seeing who is delivering packages to my door and it serves its purpose for that.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Lakehouse38 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 23:12:13 GMT

The resolution would tell me what the person was wearing and the colour but when I try to zoom in to identify a face for police it gets too pixelated to make any sort of identification. I guess I am expecting too much from these cameras. Thanks for confirming that my system is running at best quality for the product. Thought they were better than this. I wonder if it is possible to see the uncompressed version of the video. Most likely only developers have access to that.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

jguerdat — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 23:14:15 GMT

Both of the two videos like exactly right for this camera. Remeber that it's a 130 degree angle of view which is equivalent to a 10mm fisheye for a film or DSLR camera on a >1 megapixel camera. You simply won't be able to zoom in for details even if compression wasn't used, which simply exacerbates the issue. As TomMac like to point out, these are not ID cameras which would need a longer focal length, producing a much smaller angle of view.

Re: Poor Quality Video Arlo Pro : Suggested Solutions

Lakehouse38 — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 23:20:34 GMT

This is very good information. The next time I shop for a camera I should look for one with a smaller angle of view and higher megapixels. Hopefully Netgear will come out with one compatible with this system. Thanks for your help.