camera starts recording on and only stops when Motion stops

[NerdGlasses]

First of all, Arlo is great in theory. A wireless camera that is accessible from anywhere in the world with an internet connection? Wonderful!

But in reality, it's a system that is more gadget gimmick, than a useful, usable security option.

However, if you could make this one change in the system, I'll deal with the usability issues on the app; I'll deal with the limitations of the camera settings; the lag in response to motion; etc., etc... If you could just make it so that the camera starts recording on motion and doesn't stop until the motion stops (with a user setting for max mins), then I'd finally be satisfied.

Otherwise, here's how it works now, and an example of what I actually get: A UPS truck pulls up, and Arlo kicks in (late) and starts recording after the truck is already parked (very annoying), but then I get 30 seconds (my setting is 30 secs) of the truck sitting there as the driver gets the package from the back. Then Arlo shuts down, the driver gets out with my package and walks up my driveway (about a 20 second walk) at which point Arlo is starting up again for another 30 second clip. Arlo starts up again and then records 30 seconds of the driver already walking away after dropping the package at my front door.

If this were an intruder or someone "casing the joint" I'd never get an image of his face. Is that a real security system?? Now, if I could set Arlo to stay on and record until the motion stops or my setting (I would choose 5 minutes) I would get all the footage I need. Battery life wouldn't matter to me because 1) if the motion stopped at 15 seconds, the recording would stop or; 2) if I could capture real "show-to-the-cops-footage" I wouldn't care if I had to replace the batteries more frequently.

That said:

PLEASE CHANGE ARLO TO STOP RECORDING ONLY AFTER THE MOTION HAS STOPPED OR BASED ON OUR USER PREFERENCE!!! Thanks!

Anyone agree or experiencing the same? Please chime in and hopefully the folks at Arlo make it happen!

[JimUnique]

I would like to be able to specify the seconds before the motion detection to be included in the video captured. You miss half the action without this.

[mocodi]

I'm a few days into testing the Arlo and there's much that impresses me, but I have to echo the other posts that the way motion detection and recording time interact is making the system very hit and miss when it comes to recording significant parts of an event.

For example, I left recording time at the default 10 seconds and walked side to side in front of the camera continuously for 180 seconds. It made 60 seconds of recordings. That's bad for security.

I then set it to 120 seconds, walked in front of the camera briefly, then left. It recorded 6 seconds of me followed by 114 seconds of nothing. That's bad for battery life.

So I set it to 30 seconds and walked side to side in front of the camera continuously for 180 seconds. It made 138 seconds of recordings. More optimal than the other settings, but it still missed 42 seconds, and that was with the benefit of continuous large movement side-to-side instead of more natural movement.

An option to keep recording until no more motion has been detected for X seconds makes more sense. Are there hardware limitations that prevent the Arlo from continuing to detect motion while it's recording?

[slimline]

Yes, the Arlo system is absolutely useless if used as a security device, at least in my circumstances.. The following is an account regarding my system. We had a brain dead tenant in our block of units who gained pleasure in key scratching all the vehicles (18) garaged in our underground, lock up parking area. so I installed an Arlo system consisting of 4 cameras. He was eventually videoed entering the car-park, disposing of his rubbish in the dump bin then walking to one of the cars and preparing to scratch it with his key. Then the video stopped!! Fortunately one of the other cameras which activated at a later time recorded him actually scratching the car so all was resolved, He has since been evicted and fined a substantial amount but of cause this is of no benefit to the damaged car owners who could have been spared thousands of dollars in repair bills. Many of the vehicles were scratched on numerous separate occasions with the cameras only recording him in areas of the car-park which he had no reason to be in so no proof was available for the police. Sure, one could set the recording times to a longer setting but do Arlo realize how many movements into and out of an 18 unit apartment block has in any 24 hour period? Cheers, Slimline

[findmory]

Ugh just have to chime in and add my support for the product / feature request of continuous recording during motion.   It needs to be an option to make these cameras useful.  I'm not even sure from a product standpoint what the current rationale is.  What are you thinking Argo / Netgear?  What are you trying to capture with 10-120 second fixed record intervals?  The model for camera / motion recording is: start recording when motion occurs... stop recording when motion ends.  I'm very dissapointed to find out I just spent nearly $400, and took down all my old wifi cams to install this without this critical feature.

[anthony0perez]

Returned mine. I won't be buying again until this feature is fixed. I don't care about batteries when someone is stealing my stuff. Maybe they just steal the cameras... lol

[el_timm]

@anthony0perez what did you end up replacing the arlo with? I'm ready to return mine as well

[el_timm]

@anthony0perez what system did you replace your arlo with? I'm ready to move away from this product as well

[anthony0perez]

I haven't replaced it yet with anything because my use case needs to be just like this but with continuous recording. It's sad because I have been waiting for this so I can set it up. It is the best system when it comes to connectivity but this simple thing needs to happen.

[jeffreydwalter]

I just bought a three pack of Arlo wireless cameras, with plans to buy 6 more, and am returning them tomorrow. Give the consumer the option to choose capturing all motion and crappy battery life or time slices and better battery life. I was robbed last Thursday and bought these cameras because I can't run power to them. I was unaware they did not support this feature. I don't get much motion on my porch, but when I do, I want to get it all on camera... Come on Netgear...

[ubernrd]

This limitation just bit me big time. I had someone break into my house on the weekend in the middle of the night. The cameras worked in that they detected motion and sent me an alert that work me up. (I loved that part). I got some good footage of the bloke which I have the cops (I liked that too) BUT there are heaps of sections missing because I have a series of 30 second segments with significant gaps in-between. These gaps mean I missed important stuff like which direction the bloke ran when i turned on the lights (there are 3 options from my house). The cops arrived very quickly and had a police dog with them but picked the wrong direction to chase him as they were rushing and I couldn't tell them which way he went. So close to being awesome but this aspect is seriously disappointing.