Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Consistent high-res recording: More RAM & Diagnostic Tool

Problem:

 

There is ocassionally a brief degradation in the quality of the video srecordings. This could be due to a number of reasons, such as:

 

  • Temporary degradation of Wi-Fi signals (sudden EMI interferance, for example),
  • Netgear's data centres are experiencing a spike in data feeds,
  • Arlo security camera have insufficient processing power to continue recording at the original resolution when there is a sudden increase in movement/activity in the scene.

However, the user simply cannot identify the problem because he does not have the required diagnostic tools to do so.

 

 

Two-pronged solution:

 

  1. There should be (more) RAM (not to be confused with on-board storage which the Arlo Q Plus supports) on the Arlo device which can temporarily store video files in the event of a connection issue or slowdown. These files will then be uploaded to the cloud (or a NAS for heaven's sake!) at a later time. I am essentially proposing a feature that most dSLRs have to support burst shooting: a buffer. An additional benefit of such an implementation is that the highest resolution recording would be possible regardless of the internet speed, at least for a short period of time. In other words, the user would be able to record videos at a higher resolution than what his internet speed would allow for; the user is not limited by his internet speed.
  2. There should be a log of (a) the Wi-Fi signal strengh in terms of dB, (b) upload speed, jitter and packet loss, and (c) RAM usage and processor load. Ideally, this data would be presented in both a table and graph form. This would allow users to identify whether the bottleneck is due to the poor Wi-Fi signal strength, or the ISP/Netgear's data centre, or the Arlo security camera itself.