Pro3 Freezes During Recording

[JKS07]

Have a Pro3 (bought new in box last May) with the smart cloud recording subscription.  It is also on CVR.  I also have a Pro2 on CVR as well.  Both are connected to a VMB 4000 base station.  The  Pro3 is only 20 feet from the base through a window.  The Pro2 is much farther away from the base, downstairs and out on a patio.

Lately, the Pro3 has been freezing during recordings. It doesn’t go off line however.  The cloud recordings are set for 1 minute (so is the Pro2).  The cloud recordings on the Pro3 frequently cut off before the full minute mark.  The Pro2 records to the cloud for the full minute without issue.  The CVR timeline for the Pro3 is consequently full of interruptions and pretty useless, the Pro2 is much better on its CVR timeline.  

I tested live view and the Pro3 live view freezes up and stops in anywhere from less than a minute to just under 3 minutes.  The Pro2 I just had running on live view for 20 minutes straight.  Again, the Pro3 never shows that it has gone off line.

This can’t be a signal strength issue.  As I said, the Pro2 is much further away from the base and it performs well.  You can stand at the base and look out the window at the Pro3 about 20 feet away, and it is performing poorly.  I tried disconnecting AC power and removing the battery for a while from the Pro3.  No help.  Any ideas?  There is no point continuing to pay for the subscriptions if I can’t get this resolved.  Thanks.

[Dannybear]

Will the pro3 still play up if you disconnect the pro2 camera from power and pull the battery?

[StephenB]

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@JKS07 wrote:

Lately, the Pro3 has been freezing during recordings. It doesn’t go off line however.  The cloud recordings are set for 1 minute (so is the Pro2).  The cloud recordings on the Pro3 frequently cut off before the full minute mark.  

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In addition to @Dannybear's  question:

1. Is the recording actually ending?  Or is the video freezing and the audio continuing?
2. Are you seeing signs of corruption in the recordings?

[JKS07]

I haven’t touched the Pro2 and would prefer not to as it is working well.

The Pro3 freezing is both video and audio at the same time.  Shortly after that it returns to the screen you access the live view from with the play button on top.  Usually the video clip is OK without distortions, it just often doesn’t go the full minute that it should.  Live view seems to time out long before it should as well.

[Dannybear]

What the issue is, that you have with the pro 3, is not able to be determined without some level of fault finding.

The uneducated response is that the camera is faulty and should be replaced. If the camera is in warranty then seek assistance from arlo customer support for a RMA ticket. Your also  entitled to seek their assistance to troubleshoot since you have subscription.

I get the reasoning to not jinks what is already working and as an alternative just turn the camera off in the settings. The purpose is to eliminate an issue with the Ethernet upload bandwidth to the internet via the base station since both cameras are streaming continuously for CVR. Although unlikely you may have a faulty base station.

[StephenB]

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@JKS07 wrote:

The Pro3 freezing is both video and audio at the same time.  Shortly after that it returns to the screen you access the live view from with the play button on top.  Usually the video clip is OK without distortions, it just often doesn’t go the full minute that it should.  Live view seems to time out long before it should as well.

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The puzzle is sorting out whether the camera hardware is the problem, or if there is a lot of loss on the link. Bitstream corruption can cause freezes (as well as distortion) in the player, and can also cause the player to terminate.

I am seeing your comment on the line-of-sight placement, and agree that argues against loss.  Though it does depend on the details of the signal path.  For instance, Low-E glass in the window can block WiFi signals (due to the metallic coating).  

So I would still suggest moving the camera - perhaps putting it inside the window for a couple of hours, and see anything changes (motion detection almost certainly won't work through the glass, so the testing would need to use the live view). 

[JKS07 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I think I may have figured out the problem.  Time will tell for sure.  Between the Base and the camera sits an older HP wifi printer.  It has been having connectivity issues for a while cycling on and off line continuously.  I unplugged the printer and noticed the Pro3 camera recordings started consistently cloud recording to the full minute I have it set to do.  I plugged the printer back in later and I started seeing the shortened Pro3 recordings again.  So I am going to leave the printer unplugged and see if the good behavior of the Pro3 continues.  Could be a classic wifi interference problem possibly.

[JKS07]

Update.  Not so sure the HP printer was the problem now.  I discovered why the HP was constantly cycling on and off Wifi.  It didn't like the single SSID of a recently installed mesh network.  The single SSID contained both the 2.4 and 5 Ghz signals, leaving each device to decide which one to use.  That is apparently a problem for many printers.  It certainly was for mine, which can only connect on 2.4.  I created a 2.4 Ghz only guest network and the printer works fine again when connected to that guest network.

I followed some advice I found on here about forcing the Arlo base station to stay on a different 2.4 Ghz channel than my main router.  I logged into an old Wifi extender that I was no longer using and set it to channel 1 plugged in next to the Arlo base which is about 10 feet away from my main router.  Now the Arlo base is staying locked on channel 1 while my router stays on a different channel.  So far this has been working great even with 2 Arlo cameras running on CVR.  I'd say this is the best that my Arlo system has ever performed from what I am seeing so far.  Fingers crossed.

I should note that I kind of think that the 2.4 Ghz around my house might be on the noisy side.  Using a Wifi analyzer, I noticed that both my neighbors are running mesh networks as well.  One of them is a total overkill kind of a guy.  I can tell by the analyzer that he is running not 1 but 2 Google mesh networks in his average sized house.  Google shows one system as good for about 4,500 square feet.  So here he is pumping out six 2.4 GhZ signals spread between the 3 main channels with those 2 combined systems. And he is a gamer type.  Good grief.