Record for a fixed length does not.

[Campcamp]

So i ran into the dreaded Non-functioning of the Record for a Fixed time.  I've set 5 of my cams to record for 120 seconds when triggered either through a routine or through detection of motion.  the result is a number of 2 second recordings. Bandwidth is not an issue. cameras are in close proximity to an outdoor access point. and most importantly, the entire setup worked perfectly until a few weeks ago. 

Customer support did not. I might be done throwing money into this eco system. anyone know if Tplink Tapo is a good alternative?

[ShayneS]

Hey @Campcamp 

Just wanted to check in to see how your testing is going? 

[Campcamp]

Hey man, I'm throwing in the towel. I appreciate the work from you guys, and hopefully someone will pick up the torch and run with it.  I suspect the issue is simply a product limitation that can be solved with some type of built in buffering (or even the integration of an onboard memory or memory card functionality)  to squirt the video stream, rather than firehosing the signal. So to recap for those that come after: I have a 6 cams, configured to trigger the other 5 when motion is detected on any of them. No base station is involved, (nor could one be in my use case, until a base station exists that could be powered via POE) The issue I experienced repeatedly is that when the other cameras were triggered, some of the cameras would not record for the full specified recording  time, often cutting critical recordings short just as I needed the footage. I've tested wifi signal strength, installed additional wifi APs, I've associated/locked cameras to the APs closest to them (2 cams, including the usually problematic one, to one AP, and 4 cams to the other AP), each AP is hardwired with 1gbps, and I've locked in the wifi channel at 11. I've also been testing disabling particular some cameras out of the 6 cameras.

The only thing, after months of disfunction, that has allowed the cameras to reliably function properly. is simply removing 2 cameras from the mix. Utilizing only 4 cameras appears to allow the recording triggers to function as configured. Was the issue signal saturation? Did 6 cams overload the hardwired network? Who knows.  But it works with 4 cameras. This is not ideal by any stretch, but a fix would seem to require either a hardware redesign to incorporate onboard memory, or refining/delaying the broadcast to allow some sort of staggered streaming. Seems like the last could be accomplished via software push but hey, what do I know. Happy to speak to any engineers directly about my experience. but I'll break here as my fingers are tired, and working root cause via a thread is no way to live. Good luck, and smooth streaming.

[chicane]

Hi @Campcamp ,

These pro 5/5S are junk, I’ve taken mine down and using my Pro 4 cameras instead - pro 4 don’t have the local issues that plague the pro 5/5s, however the recorded output length l does vary (almost completely missing events, half capturing events, to capturing a single leaf falling).

I have almost concluded the Arlo cloud storage platform has scalability and congestion issues at various times. Support refuse to provide any insight.

Although they offered me a buyback/refund but once I followed up (on multiple times) nothing eventuated. 

[StephenB]

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@Campcamp wrote:

 I have a 6 cams, configured to trigger the other 5 when motion is detected on any of them.

The issue I experienced repeatedly is that when the other cameras were triggered, some of the cameras would not record for the full specified recording  time,

Utilizing only 4 cameras appears to allow the recording triggers to function as configured. 

Is this the relevant problem summary?

If so, the conclusion is that 6 simultaneous recordings don't work for you , but 4 simultaneous recordings do work reliably.  (Just wanting to make sure I understand your issue correctly). 

As you suggest, more buffering might help (albeit with a delay cost), and it would probably also reduce the frequency of corrupted recordings.  

Did you try reducing the recording time?  Your router and APs also have buffers, and they could have been overrun by the traffic burst.  Shorter recordings might have helped.

[GeneralMeow]

Interesting I just had this problem come up and I always just shrug it off as a typical Arlo problem, for years.

Just today one of my Pro5s that is set for 2 mins, just records 20 secs one time.  I have an Essential 2K Gen2 right next to it right now for testing, and the Essential is doing a MUCH better job and is smoother than the Pro5, but other quirks i have noticed but i attribute to wifi channel swapping on my mesh network so I nailed up the channel statically and its been solid... another topic entirely.

Long ago I did have a rule that turned on multiple cams triggered by another that seemed to work fine.  I didnt have 6 cams doing that tho.