H6 Camera pixelation , have to restart HUB

[Erniem23]

I have two H6 cameras that frequently go into pixelation. The cameras are plugged in all the time with a battery inserted into the camera. It does not matter if the camera has a battery. The cure is restarting the bridge. My other cameras are H8's and do not have any issues.

Please advise a solution.

Thanks

Ernie 

[DannyBearAgain]

Try unplugging the problem cameras as a test to see if the pixelation recurs.

Can you describe what the pixelation looks like?

[Erniem23]

I have tried unplugging and removing the battery and the pixelation reoccurs again at some time, never a consistent amount of time. The cameras will be fine for several days, or it will occur  in a few hours.

Best way to described the live view or recording is all squiggly.  

Thanks

[DannyBearAgain]

Are you’re getting the digital smearing effect, like moving left to right then seems to reset every two seconds?

 If you make a manual recording you can insert a shared link of the recording in your post.

Tap more on the recording, tap share then copy link to then post. Only lasts 24hrs.

[Erniem23]

I will send once it occurs again.

Thanks for your assistance

[jguerdat]

This sounds like a signal strength/quality issue. What are the WiFi icons showing? Try moving the base  away from the router to see if that helps. Do all cameras do this or just some? Have you checked for nearby wireless devices that could be interfering with the signal? What is the house construction (stucco, brick, stone, cement all have issues with blockage)? If you bring a camera closer to the base for testing does the issue go away?

[StephenB]

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@Erniem23 wrote:

I have tried unplugging and removing the battery and the pixelation reoccurs again at some time, never a consistent amount of time. The cameras will be fine for several days, or it will occur  in a few hours.

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I suggest running the camera on battery only for a few days (no AC power), and see if the pixelation still happens.

Pixelation is either due to the signal quality (loss somewhere between the camera and the Arlo cloud), or a camera hardware issue.  So another test is to try moving the camera indoors (6-10 feet from the base is ideal), and see if the pixelation goes away.  That would help sort out if it is a signal issue (or not).

[Erniem23]

It only happens with these two cameras, I have two others at this home with any issue. My home is stucco construction, the cameras are not  far from from the base station. A camera is actually further away but is a model H8 without issues. The cameras that have the issue are H6's. 

I have removed the AC adapter and are running them only on battery, it only has been about 20 hours. This cannot be a long term solution because this is a second home and the batteries will not last. I specifically had plugs installed in the soffits so these cameras can be on AC power.

If it cannot be resolved I will probably replace these cameras with Apple Homekit Secure Video cameras. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations on Homekit cameras?

Thanks for all your assistance.   

[StephenB]

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@Erniem23 wrote:

I have removed the AC adapter and are running them only on battery, it only has been about 20 hours. This cannot be a long term solution because this is a second home and the batteries will not last.

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This was only suggested as a test.

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@Erniem23 wrote:

It only happens with these two cameras, I have two others at this home with any issue.

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Also, try swapping the cameras.  Then see if the problem moves with the cameras, or stays at the locations.

[Erniem23]

I have attempted to paste a link to a video of my pixelation issue. I hope you are able to view it.

https://my.arlo.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/942F96EBB29A76AC_202304

Thanks

[DannyBearAgain]

Unfortunately I am not seeing it, just a arlo logo.

[Erniem23]

How do you post a video? I saved it, but I can't upload the video file.

Thanks

[DannyBearAgain]

This article may help but it does state that you can only share cloud recordings.

https://kb.arlo.com/1118509/How-do-I-share-video-clips-in-my-Arlo-account 

[StephenB]

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@DannyBearAgain wrote:

Unfortunately I am not seeing it, just a arlo logo.

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@Erniem23 - I am able to see it.  The pixelation keeps repeating (kind of pulsating) - which suggests that it might be camera hardware and not packet loss.  What is happening is that the i-frames in the video (sent about every 2 seconds) are clear, but the the p-frames being sent in between are very blocky and pixelated.

Was this with the camera on AC power?  Or was it on batteries?

Also, did you try swapping the camera with one of the ones that doesn't have this problem?

[StephenB]

@Erniem23 

Here is what one of the i-frames looks like:

The very next frame is a p-frame (predicted from the previous i-frame).  Normally it would look as sharp, or a bit sharper.  But it looks like this:

This continues (gradually getting worse) until the next i-frame two seconds later.

[StephenB]

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@StephenB wrote:

This continues (gradually getting worse) until the next i-frame two seconds later.

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FWIW, here is the very last p-frame in this sequence (right before the next i-frame).  You can see it significantly blockier than the p-frame in the previous post - which was bad enough.

The fact that this is repeating is suggesting to me that it might be a hardware issue.

[Erniem23]

Thanks StephenB.

The camera's that have this issue are plugged into AC with a battery inserted in the camera. I have tried without having a battery in the camera with same results. After I restart the hub the issue will clear up but after some unspecified time (Couple days) the issue will return.

Is this issue resolvable? 

Thanks

[jguerdat]

You said that running on battery seems ok several posts ago. That could mean it's the AC power supply causing the issue (unless I missed something). A different supply or maybe a solar panel could be useful.

[Erniem23]

I was only able to run battery a short time, about 20 hours. This issue might not show itself for a couple of days. I have two cameras with the issue, on two different power supplies.

[StephenB]

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@Erniem23 wrote:

I was only able to run battery a short time, about 20 hours. This issue might not show itself for a couple of days. I have two cameras with the issue, on two different power supplies.

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Could you try shifting the camera to an area with less traffic as a test,  and try running battery for a few days?

Also, have you ever seen this behavior when livestreaming?

[Erniem23]

This will occur without any traffic in view of the camera's.

Yes I see this livestreaming.

I am not at that home for awhile, cannot unplug AC.

I really think the cameras are defective. Also based on Arlo's End Of Life policy I am not sure I want to stay with the technology. Do you have any experience with Apple Homekit Secure Video cameras?

[StephenB]

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@Erniem23 wrote:

I really think the cameras are defective. 

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Could well be, though it is a bit odd that two would fail exactly the same way.

Are the cameras that don't have this problem using a different base?

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@Erniem23 wrote:

Do you have any experience with Apple Homekit Secure Video cameras?

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No.

[DannyBearAgain]

I still don’t have access to the uploaded recording, the link only lasts 24hrs anyway and looking like it needs a moderator to approve it which is likely why no one can see it except superusers.

Thanks @StephenB for the still frames and analysis, I tend to agree with the hardware analysis although I believe it is more a  issue with the camera hardware design and related to the misuse by the camera firmware since the issue first appeared after a firmware update back in early 2019.

I already raised the issue with the arlo engineering team back then and they failed to successfully resolve it.

All they could offer was to reset the camera daily which has reduced the occurrence.

@Erniem23 

How long will the problem last, for me it will recover when the camera gets reset by the arlo daily polling.

Note that If is allowed to continue the camera will eventually stop outputting video.

i placed a smart switch on the camera’s power adapter to power cycle it to force it to reset the camera video encoder when away. I use a 60sec off/on cycle.

you can test this yourself by turning off the camera power adapter when the pixelation occurs, wait 60sec then restore power again. I have batteries installed to keep the camera active during the power cycle.

If you have a subscription your entitled to raise a fault case, my warranty ran out so lost the ability to continue chasing a fix.

[StephenB]

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@DannyBearAgain wrote:

looking like it needs a moderator to approve it which is likely why no one can see it except superusers.

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Actually not - as far as the forum software is concerned it's just a hyperlink.  My browser does have my arlo account credentials saved - that might have something to do with why I was able to access it.

[Erniem23]

Yes all camera's are on the same base hub.

The only difference is the one's having the issue are H6's the other's are H8's. 

Thanks