topic Arlo Ultra 4K true native resolution in Arlo Ultra

Arlo Ultra 4K true native resolution

STTH — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 16:45:00 GMT

What is the native resolution of the camera? Is it really 4K? Or is it 1080 (or perhaps even lower), then digitally over-sampled and encapsulated as a 4K flow? I am quite amazed that for 4K cameras, the resolution is actually very mediocre. Cannot see much detail (license plates or reading on a thermometer which are not far and with perfect lighting conditions) even with 4K recording to local storage, so I am quite perplex about the resolution being advertised as 4K. Any idea what the problem might be? Not true, native 4K... or configuration issue in the setup?

Re: Arlo Ultra 4K true native resolution

jguerdat — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 19:14:03 GMT

Native resolution is 4k. Don't forget the compression used to keep videos to a reasonable size for both transmission as well as storage. The 180 degree FOV doesn't help since each pixel covers a larger area than a smaller FOV.

Re: Arlo Ultra 4K true native resolution

STTH — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 20:56:34 GMT

The end-user should decide if yes or no they want to enable compression (and eventually to which degree); especially for local storage, and particularly when the 4K option is checked.

Of course, for live feed or cloud storage, no worries, as there are obvious limitations which dictate that compression might be needed in order to avoid network congestion and potential packet loss, which would be counter-productive.

However for local storage in 4K mode, forced compression to the point that the video quality drops to a mediocre degree is unacceptable and intolerable.

As previously stated, the resolution does not look like 4K at all, but more like 1080, maybe if even that. That is a serious issue.

If there is no way for the end-user to override compression settings (again, not necessarily elimitating it, nor for all scenarios), then Arlo is essentially selling a 4K system which really saturates itself at 1080 specs, which constitutes a disturbing misleading practice.

If the loss of quality should instead, be nigligible, then perhaps the issue is other; in which case assistance would be appreciated.