topic Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair in Arlo Ultra 2

Camera wasn't recording so deleted camera but now won't pair

ChicagoArlo — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 14:23:30 GMT

Today I added a new Ultra 2 to my Arlo setup, which was a single Ultra camera, and which was working fine. The new camera worked okay but seemed to not be recording. In looking through support here I got the advice to delete cameras, power cycle the Smart Hub, then add the cameras back on. Well, that was a mistake, because now I cannot get the original camera to sync. I've been working on it for over an hour now. Have used sync buttons on base and camera, have taken battery our of camera and put it back in, etc. Battery condition is fine.

I get close enough that both hub and camera have blue lights flashing fast---but then the app tells me 'no Arlo devices found.'

Meanwhile the newer camera I just added today is fine, and recording. So I obviously can follow directions and am able to sync cameras to the base!

The chat-bot tells me that the next step is to do a factory reset on the base, but I'm reluctant to do that as who knows if it'll come back?

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

ChicagoArlo — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 01:33:35 GMT

I did reset the base, and it took a little while, but I got both cameras back online. The new Ultra 2 camera comes with a 4K Smart subscription for 3 months, which I don't necessarily like, as it's literally Too Much Information, which it wants to send me notifications about. Also I can't view clips from that camera on the website without downloading them! Anyway, cameras paired, and all's well, more or less.

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

JessicaP — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 14:25:54 GMT

Hi ChicagoArlo,

You may need to check your browser to see if it supports HEVC if your video recordings are in 4K. You can read more about it here: Which devices are supported for HEVC 4K or 2K playback?

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

StephenB — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 14:29:58 GMT

@ChicagoArlo wrote:

The new Ultra 2 camera comes with a 4K Smart subscription for 3 months, which I don't necessarily like, as it's literally Too Much Information, which it wants to send me notifications about.

FYI, you can use smart to reduce the notification rate - for instance, you can turn off notifications for "all other motion" and/or "animals".

@ChicagoArlo wrote:

Also I can't view clips from that camera on the website without downloading them!

Arlo uses HEVC encoding for 2K and 4K videos. Unfortunately, the browser vendors don't like the HEVC licensing terms (they are pretty expensive), so support for HEVC is limited. And it often will depend on your PC graphics.

It's not available at all in FireFox or Chrome. You can get them to play in Edge - Microsoft has an HEVC codec extension you need to install. You might need to pay to get that extension though - and it might not work if your PC doesn't have HEVC hardware acceleration in its graphics engine. Edge does work on my own laptops.

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

ChicagoArlo — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 20:41:26 GMT

Thank you both, it's obviously due to HVEC that I can't view the clips in Chrome. Not sure it's worth having 4K recorded in the cloud, since I can always get the 4K recording off the base's internal recording.

Also, I don't think I can shut off all notifications from the Smart Plan. I don't need to be notified whenever someone comes onto my porch or someone drives by on my busy street.

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

dcfox1 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 20:47:54 GMT

Up to 1-2 months or so I could not view 2K on my Tablet with Edge. Then something changed and now I can. It was around the time Arlo updated the Web Page. Can't say if that was it or a windows update around that time. Not complaining.

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

StephenB — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:18:39 GMT

@dcfox1 wrote:

Up to 1-2 months or so I could not view 2K on my Tablet with Edge. Then something changed and now I can. It was around the time Arlo updated the Web Page. Can't say if that was it or a windows update around that time. Not complaining.

I don't own a windows tablet. I have been viewing 2K and 4K on my Windows PCs (various Lenovo with integrated Intel graphics) with Edge all along, using the Microsoft HEVC browser extension. I recently got a new work laptop (dell, also intel graphics) - installing the extension was still needed to make it work.

Re: Deleted Camera, now won't pair

dcfox1 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 17:52:10 GMT

@StephenB Yea I always could view the 2K on PC with a graphics card so not sure why all of a sudden I could on Tablet.