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Barefoot_Bob · ‎2020-09-10

Maybe a bit of a long rant here, but I wanted to give some feedback around my Arlo system, which in general I'm very happy with.

Some background - I'm currently using my Arlo system to document some illegal activity which is happening on the street outside my house, mainly at night. One of the problems I've been encountering is that events which happen more than about 20' away don't reliably trigger an "event" and get recorded. I've gone through and changed the sensitivity settings - if I crank them up any more then the cameras, once triggered, seem to record way too long and the batteries get drained fast. So, I'm doing the best that I can (I believe) in configuring the system. I thought to myself - well why not get at least one camera on a CVR plan and then you won't have to worry about triggering, it'll just always be rolling???

Well, after speaking with support on the phone, as best as I can tell the CVR plan is so full of technical limitations, it's effectively useless. So, please correct me if I'm wrong (I'd happily be wrong about this):

1. There is no way to download "clips" from the CVR footage. The guy I spoke to on support kept pointing out that a 30 day file would be too big to download - which I agree with! - but he told me there was no way to say "okay, download just this 5 minute section here as a standalone file." True? If that is indeed true, I don't know what you're supposed to do with that footage, when it comes time to interface with the appropriate authorities.

2. His understanding (again, correct me if I'm wrong) was that the CVR plan on a camera would mean that the camera would no longer send clips to the Library based on triggering events. So, I would get notifications based on triggers, but the clips of those triggers would no longer show up in the Library. So either you can have a camera in CVR mode, vs let's call it "Regular" mode - but a CVR enabled camera would no longer contribute clips to the Library. Correct?

3. CVR cameras are limited to 1080p resolution. I have a mix of Ultra and Pro3 cameras, and the additional resolution is definitely helpful. But with CVR and the point I make above in #2 means that I'd never see anything more than 1080p from a CVR camera.

4. CVR is a rolling window of time, either 14 or 30 days. That would be fine - if not for point #1! When it comes to dealing with the relevant authorities, what the heck am I supposed to say? I had all this footage, shoulda been here last week? It's gone now, sorry?

So if I understand right from my conversation with support. A CVR camera will:

Never send more than 1080p video to the CVR cloud.

Said video will never be available for more than 30 days.

Portions (say ~5 minute segments) of said video cannot be saved or downloaded in any way as a file.

Said camera will no longer contribute higher res clips to the Library.

Like I said, I'm a big fan or Arlo and would recommend it, but if my understanding of the CVR plan is correct, I have a really hard time seeing how it's useful to anyone. It feel so full of technical limitations as to render itself useless. At the absolute minimum, there needs to be the ability to save/download specific clips from the CVR timeline to make it useful.

n1976jmk · ‎2020-09-10

Hi Bob, I have the 14 day CVR plan for my two Ultra cameras along with a smart elite subscription.

regarding your #2, you will still receive the clips in your library of those person, vehicle, animals, etc etc.

thanks,

Jonathan

Barefoot_Bob · ‎2020-09-10

Ah so the guy at support was wrong about #2? Do those clips show up as 4k, or do they show up as 1080p?

Thanks!

n1976jmk · ‎2020-09-10

They show up as 4k as long as your subscribed to the smart elite program.

Barefoot_Bob · ‎2020-09-10

I am indeed. Many thanks, this sorta puts me on the fence so to speak. I just really wish there was the ability to save short clips from the CVR!

Barefoot_Bob · ‎2020-09-10

I suppose one possible workaround - I could use screen capture software like Camtasia to record the playback from the CVR cloud. A lot more work, but I'm not sure if there's any other way.

jguerdat · ‎2020-09-11

@Barefoot_Bob wrote:

1. There is no way to download "clips" from the CVR footage. The guy I spoke to on support kept pointing out that a 30 day file would be too big to download - which I agree with! - but he told me there was no way to say "okay, download just this 5 minute section here as a standalone file." True? If that is indeed true, I don't know what you're supposed to do with that footage, when it comes time to interface with the appropriate authorities.

As noted before, you have to use screen capture software to get a local copy. The timeline shows when recordings were made (a bar above the timeline) to help you position your screen capture but recordings that were missed will have you searching for them, hopefully using a time you think stuff happened. Note that the screen capture is only at 1x.

2. His understanding (again, correct me if I'm wrong) was that the CVR plan on a camera would mean that the camera would no longer send clips to the Library based on triggering events. So, I would get notifications based on triggers, but the clips of those triggers would no longer show up in the Library. So either you can have a camera in CVR mode, vs let's call it "Regular" mode - but a CVR enabled camera would no longer contribute clips to the Library. Correct?

CVR and recordings are separate and one doesn't preclude the other. You'll get recordings in the library (other than those that you note sometimes don't trigger) as well as the timeline.

3. CVR cameras are limited to 1080p resolution. I have a mix of Ultra and Pro3 cameras, and the additional resolution is definitely helpful. But with CVR and the point I make above in #2 means that I'd never see anything more than 1080p from a CVR camera.

I'm only using CVR on a Q camera which only goes to 1080p so can't answer this. I do see in the support FAQ for CVR that "CVR recordings are in 1080p." Whether that changes the motion recording resolution you would have to tell me - do you get the 2k or 4k badge on your library recordings?

4. CVR is a rolling window of time, either 14 or 30 days. That would be fine - if not for point #1! When it comes to dealing with the relevant authorities, what the heck am I supposed to say? I had all this footage, shoulda been here last week? It's gone now, sorry?

Not sure what you're asking here. Your library recordings are there for the time listed for your plan. Download them proactively. CVR is also available for the time listed for your CVR plan so you can screen capture them at any time while still available. In either case, once it's gone, it's gone so the proactive approach has to be used.

So if I understand right from my conversation with support. A CVR camera will:

Never send more than 1080p video to the CVR cloud.

Said video will never be available for more than 30 days.

Portions (say ~5 minute segments) of said video cannot be saved or downloaded in any way as a file.

Said camera will no longer contribute higher res clips to the Library.

1) True

2) True

3) Only via screen capture

4) Not sure as noted above - let us know whether the 2k/4k tag is applied to your library videos.

I've gone through and changed the sensitivity settings - if I crank them up any more then the cameras, once triggered, seem to record way too long and the batteries get drained fast

Out of sequence but... In order to use CVR the camera has to be plugged in so battery usage shouldn't be an issue. Are you seeing drain even though plugged in? I guess this is a question prior to purchasing CVR so the next thing would be to determine whether you want to use "record until motion stops" or a timed recording. Plugging the camera in resolves the issue as long as you realize that "record until motion stops" require the camera, not your eye, to be able to detect the motion as continuing.

Barefoot_Bob · ‎2020-09-11

Out of sequence but... In order to use CVR the camera has to be plugged in so battery usage shouldn't be an issue. Are you seeing drain even though plugged in? I guess this is a question prior to purchasing CVR so the next thing would be to determine whether you want to use "record until motion stops" or a timed recording. Plugging the camera in resolves the issue as long as you realize that "record until motion stops" require the camera, not your eye, to be able to detect the motion as continuing.

@jguerdat thanks for the detailed reply! I'm aware that for CVR the cameras need to be plugged in full time, but before I went through the trouble of doing that I wanted to make sure I fully understood what CVR can and can't do. I already own a copy of Camtasia, it's just hard for me to believe that Arlo would make their most expensive product (software wise) have such limited capabilities. As for the clips in Library - the consensus seems to be that the guy at Arlo support who I spoke to was incorrect in telling me that clips for any valid triggered event would not show up in the Library. It looks like they should show up at full res (2k/4k depending on the camera) and then I can fill in gaps with the 1080p cloud material. Thanks again for long reply!

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