Problems getting started

[WellRedGal]

I bought and installed the Pro 3 floodlight today.  As this is the first Arlo product I’ve bought, I am connected on my home WiFi, rather than through a hub or base. I am having a lot of trouble getting it to work properly. 

As a reference, I have a Nest doorbell cam that picks up motion and alerts me more quickly than this does. I bought this device for its color and resolution, but that won’t do me much if it doesn’t pick up motion when I need it to.

Problems so far:

• Installation required removing the device and re-installing it.
• There is decent WiFi strength where it is installed, but it has trouble staying connected.
• Motion is not always detected or recorded.
• IF motion is detected, there is a delay of up to 5 minutes for it to show up.  (Delay on the Nest doorbell cam is around 15-20 seconds for comparison)

Are the connection and time lag issues due to being connected via WiFi, rather than a hub or base?

[jguerdat]

Possibly but that would take testing.

One thing to note is that you have a trial subscription to Arlo Smart. That takes the video once it's fully uploaded to the servers and post-processes it to try to determine the identity of the subject before providing or discarding the video in your library. As such, the length of the video plays a part - the longer the video, the more time it takes to get a result. Either reduce the recording time or deactivate the doorbell in Smart Notifications. ALso in play is your upload speed - slow speed increases the time needed to upload.

As for the connection issues, move the camera closer to the router (or satellite if using a mesh network) to see if that helps. There can be issues with strength/quality due to house construction as well as other wireless devices that can be interfering with the camera to router connection.

The motion not always being recorded is likely due to the Arlo Smart settings. If Smart decides it's an object not selected, the server discards the video as not needed. Check your settings in Smart Notifications. This can also be due to the motion sensitivity setting in your modes and rules - perhaps increasing this setting would be useful.

[WellRedGal]

Thank you.

So a question first - does the paid (non-trial) subscription process video the same way? Does the trial subscription discard videos that a paid subscription might keep? Further, what is the criteria used for keeping versus discarding a video?Also, is the trial subscription the reason why there seems to be a nasty lag between what the camera does and what the app sees?  Specifically, the reason I had to remove and re-install the camera on the app is because once it had finished charging, I took it off the charger, but the app kept thinking that the device was still charging - I finally removed and re-installed after 20 minutes, during which time I restarted the app, then shut down and restarted my phone. (I’m going to be most irritated if this happens when I charge the camera again.)

Right now, I’m trying to get it as sensitive as possible, so I know where I’m starting from - then I’ll dial it back.  So I’m wanting it to detect everything, and I have it set as such (all motion alerts + all other audio).  Last night, it wasn’t detecting me walking toward it until I was right in front of the camera and doing jumping jacks in front of it.  I’ve used the camera positioning utility to position it to where I want the camera to detect motion, but again, that detection isn’t happening in the area I set it to.

The WiFi issues seem to be better today. 

From what you’re saying, it’s sounding like the problems may be associated with the trial subscription.  Now I just need to look for a little more detail on what the exact differences are between the trial and paid subscriptions.

Thanks again.

[jguerdat]

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@WellRedGal wrote:

So a question first - does the paid (non-trial) subscription process video the same way? Does the trial subscription discard videos that a paid subscription might keep? Further, what is the criteria used for keeping versus discarding a video?Also, is the trial subscription the reason why there seems to be a nasty lag between what the camera does and what the app sees? 

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There's no difference between the trial and paid subscription - they operate the same way. The video is fully uploaded to the servers so post-processing can be made to determine the object that triggered the recording. Any delay due to the length of recording, the transmission of the video and the processing can be much more than the simple push notification with Smart disabled. You can change the settings for Smart in the Smart Notifications section of Settings, including deactivating the camera from Smart.

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Right now, I’m trying to get it as sensitive as possible, so I know where I’m starting from - then I’ll dial it back.  So I’m wanting it to detect everything, and I have it set as such (all motion alerts + all other audio).  Last night, it wasn’t detecting me walking toward it until I was right in front of the camera and doing jumping jacks in front of it.  I’ve used the camera positioning utility to position it to where I want the camera to detect motion, but again, that detection isn’t happening in the area I set it to.

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The detection area can't be set other than by the use of zones. Also, detection is problematic when motion is directly at the camera as opposed to across the FOV. This is true of any PIR sensor system. Read the FAQ here in the support section about best positioning.

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From what you’re saying, it’s sounding like the problems may be associated with the trial subscription.  Now I just need to look for a little more detail on what the exact differences are between the trial and paid subscriptions.

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The easy thing to try is to deactivate Smart on the camera. Once satisfied you've got things set and know what to expect, enable it again and check the differences.