Arlo Pro and Fire TV (Alexa Skill)

[Lax12]

When trying to use the new Arlo Alexa skill through Fire TV, the Fire TV is stuck on a "Waiting for Netgear" screen and never loads the video feed.

Fire TV and Arlo Pro camera and base station are up to date. Restarted both, did not resolve the issue. Discovered devices in the Alexa app and double-checked device names, no found issues.

Any reason why the Fire TV is unable to connect to the Netgear base station/Arlo Pro camera? Is this a known issue and fix coming?

Thank you.

[JeremyBrumm]

Hi All,

Since the newest update to Amazon Alexa I have downloaded the Arlo skill.  Are we now able to call up our cameras on the Fire TV?

This is an amazing feature that i have waiting for.

Jeremy

[steve_t]

I think it's just for calling up the cameras on an Echo Show but if you find it works with Fire TV, let us know

[mechevarria]

Bumping so this gets some more attention.  I have the exact same issue and did the same troublshooting.  I rebooted the FireTV and renamed and re-discovered the devices.  The Waiting for Netgear screen appears and hangs indefinitely after issuing an Alexa command like show the front camera. 

Version 2.4.4.09.1044_18113
Firmware 1.092.0.5_13833

I am willing to help debug.  If any of the developers or support staff see this, feel free to reach out.

[steven5986]

I am having the same problem: On my FIRE TV it says Waiting for Netgear. After rebooting everything I was able to say Alexa, show me the front door and it worked once but haven't been able to get it to work again. I noticed when you say  Alexa, show me the front door the middle green light on the Arlo base station starts blinking which means it is trying to connect to the arlo servers so my guess is an Arlo server overload problem. Maybe the servers are overloaded today because Netgear sent out an email today about Arlo now supporting Alexa?

[Heckmonster]

Same issue,. Camera never loads on fire TV.. "Waiting for Netgear"

[Heckmonster]

Same issue,. Camera never loads on fire TV.. "Waiting for Netgear". The only way I can get it to work is if I already have the camera up live on my phone arlo app.

[Dandro]

This was happening to me as well.. I realized I was saying "Alexa, show me camera a".... where my camera is named camera a. The part that it was hanging on was the "me" in front of it. It worked perfectly by just saying "Alexa show camera a"

[g3niu5]

Apparently doesn't even work on 1gen fire stick

[Brinkley4]

Same here.  Added skill, approved account link, renamed cameras, grouped them et al, still getting same waiting message.

Btw: has anyone  watched the promo video? https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/d04b29e2-8454-4197-819a-b67ad7040c77/arlo-voice-enable...

Is there any chance that a live stream will appear THAT quickly?

[BrianDev]

Same. And if you read the skill reviews this is a huge problem. Dennis and Naveen if you are reading better get some communication out and let us know what is being done.. This is a big flop and there is zero communication to customers acknowledging a problem.. Every single Arlo owner with a Fire TV is having a terrible user experience. We all got the announcement email. Get involved!

[mechevarria]

In the meantime I do have a workaround, same as posted above by a couple people.  

I have a camera named "Front Camera".  If I open the Arlo app on my phone, tap the live button, keep my phone open/awake, then say "Alexa, show Front Camera", then the feed comes up in a couple seconds.  Works everytime.  If my phone goes to sleep or I close the Arlo app then the feed immediately goes to buffering.  I also do not say "show me" or "show the", just "show".

I agree the biggest problem is the lack of communication.  Bugs happen, version 1.0 is never smooth, but not being responsive is bad.  Its not too tough to have someone from Netgear monitoring the customer forums and responding back with "We are aware of issues with Alexa integration and our devs our looking into it.  We will post an update on the forums in a couple weeks with a status".

EDIT:  Nevermind, response below.

[JamesC]

I've escalated this topic for further investigation. I will provide an update as soon as I can.

JamesC

[Brinkley4]

Here’s a new wrinkle.  I’m using a FireTV box on my main tv.  It goes into a ‘sleep’ mode ( Devs don’t crucify me I only know the LED power light is off so I’m referring to it as sleep mode for lack of understanding) but when I ask Alexa to show the front door, Alexa wakes the FireTV, which turns on my Samsung via HDMI CEC and the Arlo camera showing a live feed is on before the backlight on TV completely powers up.  Now, if I then ask Alexa to show me another camera, bingo ‘Waiting...’comes right back.  I performed this test multiple times, same result.

hope this helps

[Heckmonster]

Now Alexa is saying "sorry cameras dont work on this device". I didnt change anything..

[Heckmonster]

Any reason my echo would say "sorry, cameras dont work on this device". When they came up before? I unlinked and re-linked everything.

[rb4321]

I used the workaround also works for me.  However you need to call it up on your phone first what good is that?

[MLPUB]

Same. Stuck on waiting for Netgear. Only works if I launch the Arlo app on my phone and bring up the live feed first. As a previous poster said "what good is that"? Anyone find a workaround?

[Hrusso]

Same here. But even the phone workaround does not work for me. Is it an authentication issue?

[MikeDJ]

I finally got it working. It’s not ideal and clearly there is an issue with the Arlo Alexa connection. I have the Arlo Pro Base Station and 8 Arlo Pro cameras. I also use the Element 4K TV with Alexa built in as well as Fire TV Sticks with Alexa remote (Called 2nd generation) on my other TVs.

So all you have to do is make sure your cameras are on. I use routines in Smartthings to arm and disarm my Arlos but however you do this it won’t matter. You do not have to push live on the cameras like some suggest, even though it does work sometimes.

The key is to request Alexa show you the camera 2 times. “Alexa show me the front camera.” Wait a second then request again, “Alexa show me the front camera.” It works. Still frustrating since I have the ring pro Doorbell and I don’t have to do that for it to work. Hope this helps until they come out with a real fix.

[rfisch]

Is this issue being actively addressed by Netgear engineering?  I am seeing very little response in regards to whether or not this is a defect or having to initiate video on phone prior to engaging Alexa is an anticipated user experience?  Please update.

Thank you.

Ryan

[Gadgetmann]

Yes thank you that works

[rfisch]

I was able to get this working but only when initiating the video stream from mobile device first and as mentioned in previous posts when I stop he video stream the firestick just goes to buffering and then shuts down.

[MikeDJ]

When you request it the first time let the “Waiting for Netgear “ to display on the screen. Don’t clear it off the screen or touch the remote, then request the camera a second time. Give it a few seconds and the “Waiting for Netgear” will disappear and the live view will display. This is working consistently for me now.

[MikeDJ]

A quick way to turn on or off your Arlo cameras so you can view them is to set up a Group under the Smart Home section of the Alexa App. I have one called Cameras and put all of the Arlo cameras in it. Then you just say “Alexa turn on the cameras.” Or “Alexa turn off the cameras.” I’ve used this since buying an Echo Show for viewing camera feeds quickly.

I never need to open the Arlo app and just leave it in Smartthings mode. The arming and disarming is handled based on the settings in Smartthings. I only use the above group function to override the arm disarm function that Smartthings usually handles.

Hope this helps someone.