Missing Videos - Possible Reason Why

[pc2k17]

Today I noticed that it appeared I was missing videos when I know motion was detected on the camera. I did some testing and here is what I noticed.........

This was happening over the summer a lot, but not recently at all until today. I noticed that after the camera records from a motion event that it can take anywhere from 10 seconds to up to 2 minutes for the camera to "reset" and be able to record again. Ten seconds would be normal, not 2 minutes.

Example, my pet tripped the camera and it recorded for 45 seconds as I have it set to do. After the 45 seconds, my pet was in front of the camera moving all around, but it didn't record again for almost 2 minutes. In some cases it recorded again in 10 seconds, some cases up to 2 minutes. This may be why recently there seem to be people reporting missing videos after they know motion was detected. I'm guessing this is a server side bandwidth issue. Servers too overloaded to accept the end record signal and send the reset to the base. Hopefully it goes back to normal later.

[jguerdat]

Doubtful it's server overload. Do you have CVR on the camera since that seems to be a cause?

[pc2k17]

No CVR. No smart. Old app. Old firmware on base and cameras. I was just saying the other day how well the motion detection is working compared to last summer. It was just today where I saw the issue, I'll monitor and see if it goes back to normal tomorrow.

I did notice Arlo is now using AWS data centers in the US, at least for downloading videos. Arlo.netgear.com still resolves to a Europe AWS data center. I just assumed it was some growing pains.

[jguerdat]

Where did you see the US AWS servers? If arlo.netgear.com resolves to Ireland still, I'm not sure that US servers would be used for anything.

[pc2k17]

When you download a video in edge you get a pop up asking to open or save.

Pop-up says: Do you want to open or save 123456.mp4 from arlos3-prod-z2.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com

[jguerdat]

Good catch. I have been lead to believe that the EU servers are used because there are stricter privacy laws there compared to the US. SInce the cameras can be moved from country to country, this likely is the lowest common denominator from a legal perspective. Downloading videos may be a different legal issue so a US server can be used (are they stored there or are they being transferred from the EU to the US to you?).  It's hard for me to guess since I never played a lawyer on TV...

[pc2k17]

I always wondered why they used EU servers, makes sense. I work with people from England, Scottland, and Spain, and I can attest they have some pretty tight privacy laws.

Ya and I don't know if the videos are stored on US servers or it's just pulling from EU first. Could be as Arlo expands that maybe they change the system to use your location, if the Arlo base is in the the US you get US servers, etc. Guess time will tell.

But as far as the strange delay in between recordings that I saw, I haven't seen anything strange since. I do have Arlo integrated into smartthings and have several routines that use the cameras motion sensors to turn things on and off, and smartthings was having some off and on issues the past few days. I suppose it could have "tied up" the cameras motion sensor stopping Arlo from using it and triggering recording. Idk, not exactly sure how that all works.

[pc2k17 · Accepted solution]

I just took a look at the smartthings logs and I also did a smartthings live logging test. Smartthings lets you log into an IDE and watch and log in real time what's happening on the system.

The other day while doing some testing I set up a routine in smartthings to send an off signal to a smart plug whenever the arlo camera detected motion. I see in the logs on the day in question and when live logging that when a person or animal was in front of the camera smartthings started using the motion sensor which stops Arlo from using it. I see an off command getting sent over and over and over because there was constant motion. I don't really use the cameras for motion sensors to trigger lights or plugs, I have smartthings sensors for that, but figured I just do some testing and see what happens if I did. So more than likely this was the cause of why it took up to 2 minutes in between recordings. I have removed the routine.