topic Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB in Arlo Pro

H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 20:22:53 GMT

I have two H6 cameras that frequently go into pixelation. The cameras are plugged in all the time with a battery inserted into the camera. It does not matter if the camera has a battery. The cure is restarting the bridge. My other cameras are H8's and do not have any issues.

Please advise a solution.

Thanks

Ernie

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

DannyBearAgain — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 21:01:41 GMT

Try unplugging the problem cameras as a test to see if the pixelation recurs.

Can you describe what the pixelation looks like?

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 21:47:51 GMT

I have tried unplugging and removing the battery and the pixelation reoccurs again at some time, never a consistent amount of time. The cameras will be fine for several days, or it will occur in a few hours.

Best way to described the live view or recording is all squiggly.

Thanks

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

DannyBearAgain — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 22:25:02 GMT

Are you’re getting the digital smearing effect, like moving left to right then seems to reset every two seconds?

If you make a manual recording you can insert a shared link of the recording in your post.

Tap more on the recording, tap share then copy link to then post. Only lasts 24hrs.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:07:56 GMT

I will send once it occurs again.

Thanks for your assistance

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

jguerdat — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:12:19 GMT

This sounds like a signal strength/quality issue. What are the WiFi icons showing? Try moving the base away from the router to see if that helps. Do all cameras do this or just some? Have you checked for nearby wireless devices that could be interfering with the signal? What is the house construction (stucco, brick, stone, cement all have issues with blockage)? If you bring a camera closer to the base for testing does the issue go away?

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

StephenB — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 14:01:27 GMT

@Erniem23 wrote:

I have tried unplugging and removing the battery and the pixelation reoccurs again at some time, never a consistent amount of time. The cameras will be fine for several days, or it will occur in a few hours.

I suggest running the camera on battery only for a few days (no AC power), and see if the pixelation still happens.

Pixelation is either due to the signal quality (loss somewhere between the camera and the Arlo cloud), or a camera hardware issue. So another test is to try moving the camera indoors (6-10 feet from the base is ideal), and see if the pixelation goes away. That would help sort out if it is a signal issue (or not).

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 13:22:39 GMT

It only happens with these two cameras, I have two others at this home with any issue. My home is stucco construction, the cameras are not far from from the base station. A camera is actually further away but is a model H8 without issues. The cameras that have the issue are H6's.

I have removed the AC adapter and are running them only on battery, it only has been about 20 hours. This cannot be a long term solution because this is a second home and the batteries will not last. I specifically had plugs installed in the soffits so these cameras can be on AC power.

If it cannot be resolved I will probably replace these cameras with Apple Homekit Secure Video cameras. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations on Homekit cameras?

Thanks for all your assistance.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

StephenB — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 14:43:35 GMT

@Erniem23 wrote:

I have removed the AC adapter and are running them only on battery, it only has been about 20 hours. This cannot be a long term solution because this is a second home and the batteries will not last.

This was only suggested as a test.

@Erniem23 wrote:

It only happens with these two cameras, I have two others at this home with any issue.

Also, try swapping the cameras. Then see if the problem moves with the cameras, or stays at the locations.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 23:23:02 GMT

I have attempted to paste a link to a video of my pixelation issue. I hope you are able to view it.

https://my.arlo.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/942F96EBB29A76AC_202304

Thanks

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

DannyBearAgain — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:10:50 GMT

Unfortunately I am not seeing it, just a arlo logo.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:28:03 GMT

How do you post a video? I saved it, but I can't upload the video file.

Thanks

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

DannyBearAgain — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 01:17:54 GMT

This article may help but it does state that you can only share cloud recordings.

https://kb.arlo.com/1118509/How-do-I-share-video-clips-in-my-Arlo-account

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

StephenB — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 01:47:27 GMT

@DannyBearAgain wrote:

Unfortunately I am not seeing it, just a arlo logo.

@Erniem23 - I am able to see it. The pixelation keeps repeating (kind of pulsating) - which suggests that it might be camera hardware and not packet loss. What is happening is that the i-frames in the video (sent about every 2 seconds) are clear, but the the p-frames being sent in between are very blocky and pixelated.

Was this with the camera on AC power? Or was it on batteries?

Also, did you try swapping the camera with one of the ones that doesn't have this problem?

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

StephenB — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 01:50:53 GMT

@Erniem23

Here is what one of the i-frames looks like:

The very next frame is a p-frame (predicted from the previous i-frame). Normally it would look as sharp, or a bit sharper. But it looks like this:

This continues (gradually getting worse) until the next i-frame two seconds later.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

StephenB — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 01:56:23 GMT

@StephenB wrote:

This continues (gradually getting worse) until the next i-frame two seconds later.

FWIW, here is the very last p-frame in this sequence (right before the next i-frame). You can see it significantly blockier than the p-frame in the previous post - which was bad enough.

The fact that this is repeating is suggesting to me that it might be a hardware issue.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 13:20:27 GMT

Thanks StephenB.

The camera's that have this issue are plugged into AC with a battery inserted in the camera. I have tried without having a battery in the camera with same results. After I restart the hub the issue will clear up but after some unspecified time (Couple days) the issue will return.

Is this issue resolvable?

Thanks

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

jguerdat — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 13:43:11 GMT

You said that running on battery seems ok several posts ago. That could mean it's the AC power supply causing the issue (unless I missed something). A different supply or maybe a solar panel could be useful.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

Erniem23 — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 16:36:57 GMT

I was only able to run battery a short time, about 20 hours. This issue might not show itself for a couple of days. I have two cameras with the issue, on two different power supplies.

Re: H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

StephenB — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 18:49:48 GMT

@Erniem23 wrote:

I was only able to run battery a short time, about 20 hours. This issue might not show itself for a couple of days. I have two cameras with the issue, on two different power supplies.

Could you try shifting the camera to an area with less traffic as a test, and try running battery for a few days?

Also, have you ever seen this behavior when livestreaming?