Ridiculously Wrong Video Time Lengths

[arlo-user123]

Several of my daily videos are showing ridiculous time lengths (i.e. 2 hours) for a 30 second clip. Also, the playback just stops in the middle. Is anyone else having the same problem?

The time coding on the files is critical and Arlo needs to fix this problem.

[NicheFarmer]

I have been having the same problem for about a week now. It's sporadic: some videos are the right time and some are not. I'm using both fixed and motion set times and it happens on both. I tried rebooting the base station and the cameras (pulling out the battery) and it doesn't seem to help. Generally, when the time is screwed up, it gets about 12-16 seconds of video and then stops.

[arlo-user123]

What really bother me is that Arlo can see this is happening and seems to do nothing about it. As you say, it's not just the length issue itself. It ruins the actual video to the point where it stops playing. What use are these cameras if the videos are corrupted?

Come on Netgear, get your act together and fix this!

[arlo-user123]

It's like... you've got one job here. Capture video when it's triggered. And it should be 100% rock solid and it's not.

[Mack1359]

Not only has this problem existed for THREE WEEKS but Arlo don't seem to give a damn about it or fixing it.

They claim its a high priority but what kind of high priority takes THREE WEEKS to fix. Now they're saying it should be two more weeks.  That's nearly 5 weeks of the system now working as it was sold and advertised.  Don't even bother trying to phone their tech support - I did yesterday and the guy I spoke to actually sounded like he was trolling me he was so bad. He wouldn't listen - kept asking me to trouble shoot my camera - offered to send a replacement which would fix the problem then told me he wouldn't send a replacement camera as it was a known problem their end and would be fixed in a few weeks.  I have never felt so foolish after recommending these cameras to friends and neighbors now they're at me asking why I recommended such a bad product.  Never again. 

[arlo-user123]

OK, well this is both funny and hopefully informative.

I actually got to (at least that's what they told me) a Level 2 engineer by calling the Netgear corporate office and yelling. So, what he told me was (and I believe him here because he said it before I confirmed it was true) that this was problem specific to Pro 2 cameras plugged into AC, which mine are. So, I trust he knows what he's talking about, since he had no way of knowing that mine were AC. He told me that I should inform the Community that this was reported up the the programmer level yesterday for a hopefully quick fix.

The funny thing is, while I was on the phone with him (india?) your reply came through my email, and I read it to him and told him that I thought he was lying to me, if your report about 3 weeks is accurate. So he told me that the issue you are reporting is a known problem with the Q cameras, and that indeed has been known for 3 weeks, but the issue with the Pro 2 w/AC is a new issue reported upwards only yesterday. I suppose if you have a Q, then maybe he's telling me the truth.

So I have no idea who to believe. All I know is, for the $$$ I paid, every damn video needs to be 100% reliable, and as of now they are not. And I frankly don't have enough confidence that after I got off the phone anything would be done about it.

[Rob198690]

Any updates on this from Netgear? I’m having the same issue and it’s incredibly frustrating for the amount we have paid for these systems!

[Obsydian]

Even worse now and worse the recording stops for ages - pointless

[AncientGeek]

Thank you for reporting this.  I have the same issue ona Pro2 that is plugged into AC.  In my case, I assumed the length of the video is accurate, but the image freezes very early in the recording and stays stuck on that image for the duration of the recording.  I realized the length was reporting over 5 hours of video.  Clearly incorrect.  We use these cameras to aid/monitor my elderly father-in-law in testing his blood and give his insulin shot, so the video is important.  

I downloaded the video to see if the problem might be in the playback, but the downloaded video also has one frozen last frame for several minutes of video.  The length was clearly not hours of video.  A few minutes at most.

[arlo-user123]

I have a direct line into the programming dept in California and spoke with them on Thursday (not the overseas tech support who have not been responsive) . They tell me this is a priority and are working on it. I will follow up with them as many times as necessary until this is fixed and report back to the Community on the status of this issue.

[Samin3444]

Ive had the Arlo pro 2 for over 6 months now. Anytime it records video byond one minute itll play up to a few seconds into that video, and freeze a frame around 10 seconds while continuing to play audio for minutes after. 

Ive tried downloading the video to see if it helps, it doesnt. Ive played back the video on multiple computers to see if it makes a difference and it doesnt.

I have the fastest Comcast internet speed so I know its not from my end of the server.

What can I do to fix the problem? Im desperate since I purchased this, like others, for security and not a toy.

Thanks

Sam

[JamesC]

Samin3444,

Do you see this same behavior if you live stream and record manually or does this only happen on motion detection recordings?

JamesC

[Samin3444]

Ive tried both motion, and manual record mode and both do the same thing. Interestingly enough, the audio continues to record, the video freezes a few seconds into the cip.

I did discover that any clip less than 15 seconds works well with both video and audio.

I lwoered the resolution of the record to see if it helps and that too didnt work.

How can I continue to sync long video recordings?

[JamesC]

Samin3444,

Do you have more than one camera behaving this way or is this one specific camera that is having this issue?

JamesC

[Samin3444]

Yes all six cameras doing this. I even disconnected three of them to see if maybe the data was being overloaded, and still any clip thats longer than a few minutes will freeze after a few seconds into that clip.

[Wirelezz]

I'm glad I found this thread as I too am experiencing this aggravating problem which has definitely broken the Pro-2 cameras while AC powered. When my Pro-2's are running on AC I'm seeing recordings lengths of 2 - 4 hrs. about 40% of the time (I actually had one which was 18 hrs. long!) I've also noticed the image quality is degraded and the typical downloaded file size of a 4hr. recording is approx. 2MB which is a lot less than a normal downloaded 1min. recording which is typically 5-6MB. So I'm currently running my AC powered Pro-2 cams unpluged because If I run the cams on battery power only, the set recording time (in my case 1 min.) is still always recorded accurately, but of course I then lose the 3 min. buffer and zone capability. When my Pro-2's are AC powered, a typical screwed up 4 hr. recording will experience the image freezing at approx. 18 sec. but the audio can still be heard until the end of the first 60 sec., then if I move the slider to the very end of the 4 hr. recording the image resumes activity for the final 42 sec. but with no sound. Go figure.

This has rendered my 5 Pro-2's useless for the intended purpose of surveillance, and I can't believe Netgear still has not addressed this problem! I went to a lot of trouble to run power to 3 of my outdoor Pro-2 cams, and at this point I'm beginning to regret my investment in this Netgear product. 

[arlo-user123]

I agree with everything you have written, but let me give you (and all the others) some hope. I am in direct contact with the manager (who works directly with the programmers) over this issue at the highest level, and I am getting frequent updates on this issue. So, as soon as I hear back from him further, I will update you all. They are well aware that this bug is harming their reputation and is causing customers to abandon (or not purchase at all) the Arlo products. Hopefully, this is sufficient motivation to get this fixed.

[Wirelezz]

arlo-user-123, thanks for the update and your participation on this thread. It sure is good to know someone is able to communicate with the engineers at Arlo and keep us updated on their progress in getting this fixed. There's a Netgear moderator on this forum by the name of JamesC who has posted responses on various other topics on this forum, but considering the seriousness of this problem I'm surprised he has not weighed in here on this topic. Go figure...

[arlo-user123]

I have forwarded your post to the highest levels at Netgear Corporate and made them aware that this is causing them damage to their reputation and business. If I hear anything back from them, I will post an update.

[arlo-user123]

My experience with this issue is identical to yours and I pointed out to them that there does not exist any software/hardware bug that cannot be fixed, given adequate resources and manpower. They need to fully appreciate the potential of permanently tainting their reputation over this.

[arlo-user123]

When i was dealing with standard tech support they actually told me I should stop using AC and just use batteries, without any clue that doing so defeats nearly all benefits of the Pro 2.

[Wirelezz]

I dropped close to $1500 on Amazon for the Pro-2 cams (5 of them) plus a lot of accessories only 10 weeks ago. Although I have as yet refrained from leaving a product review on Amazon, if this fiasco isn't fixed in a timely manor I will in fact leave a one star revue on Amazon informing potential buyers of Netgear's lack of customer care and warning them to stay away from this product. At this point I'm feeling somewhat ripped off. Not giving the highest priority to remedy a serious issue affecting what I consider to be a video camera surveillance system used for security puposes is unconscionable.

[arlo-user123]

It's like... you have ONE JOB and can't even get that right. Arlo will never be an efficient live monitoring system. It's only useful purpose is to save recorded clips. When you can't do that right, you need all hands on deck, lock the doors like NASA does after a disaster, and no one leaves the room until the problem is fixed.

[Wirelezz]

There's a lot more info about this recording fiasco over on the Arlo-Q forum including many comments regarding the Pro-2 cams as well. A moderator over there is giving an ETA for a fix the first week of April. We'll see...

Arlo-Q forum (quite a long read started on 2/22/18, currently 168 posts):

Arlo-Q shows wrong clip length

[Bavenite]

When plugged in and using 3 second lookback, some recordings display a recording time longer than the actual recording, ie several minutes. This means the recording does not play back properly. It only plays for the actual recorded duration and then freezes. You cannot scroll through the recording and when downloaded the recording will not play. Also the 3 second lookback seems to be very variable, up to 10 seconds? Presume this is a software bug and needs looking at urgently by Arlo engineers. There are posts from the past about similar issues on Arlo Q. I have donated an example. Really need this feature to work because it solves the usually erratic and unreliable motion detection. As a side note I think Arlo really need to try to get motion detection working beyond 20 ft, which is ok for indoors but pretty useless for outdoor monitoring.