Arlo Pro (2) no recording while looking at live video, base station loses network connection

[lukasorder]

Hi, I have couple Arlo Pro and Pro 2 cameras and realized that sometimes a recording is missing in the library. All cameras and the base station have the latest update installed. I get a motion detection notification, but no recording in the library. After some research I found https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro-2/Person-detected-but-no-library-recording-schedule-not-match... as most helpful. Most likely I checked the live video of the camera while it tried to record a video. I did some tests and realized that indeed the recording is interfered when recording and looking at the live video happens at the same time. Can anyone confirm this behaviour or has a solution for it?

I also realized that the base station will sometimes lose the wired network connection (middle led off). It seems to happen when I look at live videos of multiple cameras for couple minutes. After a reboot of the base station the connection comes back. Can anyone confirm this behaviour or has a solution for it? The firmware of the base station is 1.12.2.2_2754 and it is a VMB4000r3.

[ChinJing]

Please search the community there are hundreds of posts about base stations arlo pro going offline. This is a firmware issue.

[lukasorder]

Hi ChinJing, thanks for your comment. I'm not 100% sure what's your sugesstion. I have the latest firmware on all cameras and the base station.  Device Info > Firmware > Update shows "No updates available" for all devices. I'm thinking of a base station reset as described here: https://kb.arlo.com/1057976/How-can-I-reset-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-base-station-to-the-default-values , but I'm not sure if it will resolve the rare problem with the base station losing the wired network connection. In the worst case I can live with the lost connection problem.

The problem with the missing recordings while looking at a live video is more serious to me. Has anyone the same problem or a solution while using the same firmware?

Here are my firmware versions:

Base station (HW Version VMB4000r3) firmware: 1.12.2.2_2754

Pro Camera (HW Version H8) firmware: 1.092.0.23_32920

Pro 2 Camera (HW Version H3) firmware: 1.125.13.0_31717

[Dannybear · Accepted solution]

If you’re issue here is that your cameras will not record while you have live view active, this is intended arlo behaviour, detection mode disables and any triggered recordings stop.
If you need to capture what your seeing during live viewing then hit the record option. Max recording time is 30mins and they only go to the cloud library and not to the USB backup unfortunately.
Hope this helps.

[lukasorder]

Thank you for the info that this is intended behaviour. Using the record button does not really solve the problem for me. When I receive a notification and a recording is taking place I'd like to look/communicate with the person causing the motion detection. I like to have a recording for later, in case I need to identify the person or a crime is going on, etc. If I use the record button of the live video I might lose relevant parts from the time before I started the live video. However I guess I have to live without the live function in this case. I think it would be a good idea if netgear would make the customer more aware that the live video function disables motion detection and recording.

[Dannybear]

I can’t understand either the way they behave the way they do, or that they leave out the fine print.
It’s amazing they can’t keep the recording going if it’s already active when you live view or that when recording in live view that you don’t get the users voice during the press to talk is used, you just get silence.
You can always take it back.

[Dannybear]

@lukasorder

I will say that I was wrong with the camera behaviour not allowing you to record when it has been already triggered.
I just tested a camera by triggering the motion and immediately opened live view to view it. I noticed the recording function was disabled on the display but the two way function still worked. I then noticed in the library the triggered recording was the full duration while I was live viewing but again no user audio was included in the recording. The reality of using this feature would require you to fix the camera recording time to say 30 sec so that you can log into the camera and select live view before the triggered camera finished after getting a notification.

I also tried triggering the camera while live viewing with recording enabled but no new recording was uploaded, just the live view recording.
I then tried just live viewing and triggered the camera and no new recordings were uploaded.
Hope you can test this yourself and get similar results.

[lukasorder]

@Dannybear : Thank you for all your tests. I started a live view after I triggered a recording (fixed time recording of 30s) and the recording was in the library afterwards. If I start live view before the motion trigger there is no recording and no notification. My live view has a delay of couple seconds, so the two way function does not make sense in my case. Do you have this delay as well? I had a fixed recording time of 2min and reduced it to 30s now. When I get a notification I now wait until the recording is finished and check what's going on from the library. I'll stop using the live view in the future. That works for me. Once again, thank you for your tests and comments.

[Dannybear]

I get about 2 seconds video lag myself which is a pain trying to use the two way mode. I have not read about anyone getting any better.
Regards the 30sec recommendation, the default setting for the camera detection is 10 sec or until motion stops.
The drawback for me is that when the camera is triggered, I get the notification in about two seconds, it takes me five seconds to get the phone out of my pocket and open it. It then takes me more than 22 seconds for the App to start, login and to view and record the camera. That’s 29 seconds in total, not ideal so if you normally use 2mins that plenty to live view the triggered event and if you use two way mode at least you will have the audio conversation from the camera on the triggered recording.

[lukasorder]

Thank you very much for all you infos and suggestions.