Arlo Pro 5S - unreliable junk (missing events, taking snapshots). Pro 4 in same location works f

[chicane]

I've had ongoing headaches with my Pro 5S cameras not detecting events or taking snapshots instead.

Today I did a side by side test with a Pro 4 camera in the same location. Both devices are on 2.4GHz and connected to an outdoor Ubiquiti AP (great signal strength for both). I did try the device on 5GHz and found it to be similarly flaky so reverted to a hopefully more stable 2.4GHz connection. Unfortunately not.

Since I have done this side by side test, the Pro 4 is detecting every event (and recording a video). 

The pro 5 recorded video once, completely missed one event and recorded a snapshot instead for the third event. With the video was choppy and audio partially missing at the start, while the Pro4 was smooth and had audio for the full clip.

Both devices are active under my subscription, set identical under the routine (to record video), and smart notifications set the same.

I've had this replaced with a new sealed unit by support for the second time with the same outcome.

Are these devices inherently faulty? anyone else experiencing similar?

[BrookeN]

The firmware has started rolling out. It should be completed within the next week. As soon as that is fully rolled out the behavior you are seeing will be resolved. 

[BrookeN]

I have this escalated to the engineering team. I will update the community as soon as possible. 

[roundball]

@chicane 

Thanks for sharing...never heard anything about that before.

If that was the case, may have been a timing thing for me because that's when all my 5s WIFI cams firmware got updated.

Bottom line, the past couple weeks of my 5s cam operation has been what I assumed it would be when I bought them months ago.

PS:  Reference firmware:
Are yours also running the new 'Field Trial Firmware' ?

( Field Trial Firmware # 1.050.33.6_71_393f539 )

[chicane]

@roundball it's a combination of both that would have improved the situation. 

The old & new Field Trial Firmware would have fixed the snapshot instead of video issue, however the laggy performance was addressed by the cloud/server side changes.

I have two different firmwares on my two deployed Pro 5S cameras, one is the one you mentioned, the other is the older 1.040.28.17_195_ac8359b firmware. I will ask @BrookeN via direct message to get this on the latest (and greatest?) field trial firmware release. 

[roundball]

@chicane   .....Thanks for the info.

Hope the new Field Trial Firmware helps you out.

@BrookeN  has been terrific helping us through this mess.

Next question will be:
When does it become "production".....AND.....available for end users to upgrade other 5s cams, like we normally do Firmware upgrades.

[a102768]

My Pro 5 is still on 1.040.28.17_195_ac8359b, so I can't comment on the field trial software.

The snapshots stopped within a few weeks of getting the camera but I suspect I am still missing alerts, particularly overnight. When I was using my old Essential Spotlight camera I used to get 4 or 5 alerts a night as my cat wandered down the drive to and from her other 'families' in the neighbourhood. I don't think her habits have changed but I rarely get alerts overnight now.

I noticed the other night when I was trying to get my Pro 5 working with Apple Homekit that the infrared camera wasn't operating as the image was pretty much black. Switching night vision off and back on again seemed to fix it then but I have noticed in the past that when I look at the live stream after dusk the image is very pixelated and dark so I wonder whether the camera isn't switching into night mode properly so doesn't 'see' anything.

I bought a hub (VM4540) a few months ago to see if it would help with the on-going Pro 5 issues but am struggling to see the point of them. I finally worked out why I couldn't see the images stored locally after discovering a post about allowing the Arlo App access to the local network on my iPhone but the hub seems to corrupt the USB dongle every few weeks and also both times when I have rebooted the hub. The last time it did it I couldn't even do a fast format on my laptop as it just errored when I tried, so had to do a long format.

I have connected my doorbell and Essential to the hub but when I try and view them in the app I just see a grey image with a spinning icon on both until the app connects to the hub, which can take 5-10 seconds if I haven't looked at it for a little while. When the trial on the Pro 5 expired I also moved it onto the hub but that was the same and there was a 5-10 second delay between getting an alert and the video thumbnail appearing on the alert. I have therefore moved the Pro 5 back onto wifi connect. There is still a delay but no where near as long.

I was also fed up to find that now that the free trial has finished on the Pro 5 the basic subscription no longer has the smart object detection and filtering (vehicle, animal, person) that I had on the single camera plan my Essential was on and the only way to get it back is to subscribe to the Plus plan which is significantly more expensive than the plan I was on with the Essential, NZ $19.99/month instead of < $5.

All in all, I wish I had just carried on using the Essential and not wasted my money on the Pro 5 and hub!

[roundball]

@a102768 

You might ask Moderator @BrookeN if she'll have the latest Field Trial Firmware down loaded for you.

( Field Trial Firmware # 1.050.33.6_71_393f539 )

Also, just a suggestion in case it might have any influence...there have been a couple of upgrades to the User Interface App...might want to check and be sure yours is at:
Version 5.0.3 (8458)   /   Released Oct. 2, 2024

And FWIW.....on occasion, it seems like I've benefited by completely uninstalling the UI App from my phone, then going to the App Store and downloading a complete fresh copy of the app.

[a102768]

Thanks for the tip. My copy of the app is from July so I will definitely update and see if that makes a difference.

[roundball]

@BrookeN  and all.....10.14.24 UPDATE

It's now been 25 days.....and all four WIFI attached 5s cams still seem to be working as they should...overall a huge continued improvement !!

NOTE:
I HAVE begun to notice a new common problem among all the 5s cams so I assume it's something common at the host end, not a problem on all 5s cams at the same time.

NEW PROBLEM IS:

While any motions of tree limb movement shadows on the driveway...small birds...squirrels...etc, are being detected and notifications sounded immediately...the detected movement itself is being posted to the Feed much slower than normal.

Appearance in the Feed now runs 1 to 1.5 minutes after the notification.

Anyone else having slow downs with detections appearing in the Feed?    
..................................................................................................................................

It's now been 12 days....
.....................................................................................................................................

It's now been 7 days.....

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Hope I don't jinx myself saying this...but FWIW, the past 3 days since the latest 5s Firmware...(Field Trial Firmware # 1.050.33.6_71_393f539)...has been installed / operating on all 4 of my WIFI attached 5s cams, everything seems to be working as it should.

Fast, clear, catching all motion, immediate notification, posting to Feed quickly, etc. Hope it lasts, will keep my fingers crossed.....

[BW32205]

Can you experiment with viewing the feed via a desktop/laptop browser, versus Smartphone app?

@BrookeN  - any way to get that version on hub-connected cameras yet?

[roundball]

@BW32205 

Well, since the Feed is in the UI App...I 'assume' the Feed is only accessible via the App.

Could be wrong of course...

[StephenB]

---

@roundball wrote:

Well, since the Feed is in the UI App...I 'assume' the Feed is only accessible via the App.

Could be wrong of course...

---

If your app shows "Feed" and "Dashboard", then my.arlo.com does too.

[roundball]

@StephenB 

Agree...

I didn't get that he was referring to going to the arlo site to see the feed...thought he was asking about simply using a local browser to see the Feed quicker...my bad

[BW32205]

I was wondering if there's a noticeable delay between what you see online versus via the app. The app may be web-based, but there may be a lag. 

[BrookeN]

@BW32205 can you please dm me the email address associated with your Arlo account.