Pixelated video Arlo Pro

[jjs4653]

Has anyone experienced pixelating video in the first 2-3 seconds of the recorded video.  It happens every time for me.  It has great reception  full Wifi bars... and does not happen with my original Arlo camera.. just with the new Pro.

[jbaker8390]

I'm going to try my go at support, I have until the end of the week until I have to return it to Bestbuy. I'll report back to see if i recieve any different information.

[SteveWhite]

Unlikely in my case as I tried the base on channels 1,3,6,11 with identical results. Also tried powering off the 2 other wifi cameras in the vicinity with no change. The other 2 wifi cameras in the area are rock solid. It's an Arlo issue through and through.

[jbaker8390]

I just saw on another thread that a user who is using the Arlo Q was experiencing ghosting. I'm assuming this is the same symptoms we're seeing. The solution to the issue on that thread was lowering the resolution of the recording. I'll be testing this, although this as a fix is pretty unacceptable.

[jbaker8390]

Another video today showing pixelation/artifacting. My ticket is still open and pending.

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/79E5712F182B3C3D_201701

[SteveWhite]

Wow, neat visual effect but not what you want to see on a security camera!

I have a theory as to why this is happening.  I've heard that the cameras do not compress the videos.  If that is the case, it's likely that the compression engine, whereever and whatever that is, is suffering from frame buffer underruns, a condition which could cause the types of artifacts you are seeing.  Why this is happened I have no idea, but I'm inclined to believe its a communication glitch between the camera and the coppression engine.

[robsss]

I am having the exact same issues with my Arlo Pro Cameras as well. I replaced 2 regular Arlo cameras with 2 Arlo Pro cameras about 1 month ago. The original Arlo Pro cameras worked great for 8 months. The 2 new Arlo Pro cameras have video that is pixelated whenever there is movement. I am using the original base station. Nothing else in my home network has changed, so everything points to the new cameras. I have not opened a support ticket yet, but will do this now. This is very frustrating....

-Steve

[robsss]

Here is a really bad example from this morning:

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/A74F85D987DBEECB_201701

and another from the other day:

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/8B8BDB3E52F8E543_201701

and one more:

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/85F147F570B543B6_201701

My old Arlo cameras never had an issue with the exact same setup.

-Steve

[manofice]

Robsss, that is really bad. If you say your original Arlo Pro's didn't do that, it makes me think it's camera related. Mine does it but not every time, that is why I thought it was netgears infrastucture issue, but maybe it's device issues.

[robsss]

It does not do it every time for me either. Just picked some bad examples to show what sometimes happens.

I had purchased a 4 pack of Arlo Cameras from Best Buy and split it with a co-worker. He took the new hub and I continued using my old hub. His 2 cameras seem to be working fine. I wonder if the old hub is having issues with the new cameras.

Like I mentioned before besides changing out the 2 old cameras for 2 the new Arlo Pro cameras, the infrastructure is the same. I still have 2 old Arlo cameras that are still working fine. All cameras have "3 Bars" of network signal. 

[underdog2003]

Well here is a video I took with the "replacement" pro in the same room as my base. I also had no issues with my old arlos with the same setup i had with the pro.

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/DE3A87915916F3C3_201701

And here is a video sample from where it was mounted.

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/B0DDB98364FD2876_201701

I returned mine to best buy and sent back this replacement camera which was worse than the original pro i sent back in the first place.

I'm back to my old arlo which works fine, but lacks the night vision capabilities and sound that the pro has. oh well.

[manofice]

Wow Underdog, that is REALLY bad...totally unacceptable.

[SteveWhite]

Underdog, can you repeat the test without holding onto the camera? My concern is that by holding the camera you are influencing the signal strength attenuating it with your hand.

I would set the camera on the desk a couple feet from the base and walk quickly in the path of the camera. This will see how bad the breakup is with a clear line of sight between the camera and the base. Please post your results.

Also worthy of mention. I was able to stabilize and slightly reduce the occurrences of this by carefully mapping WiFi frequencies in my home. I made sure the base station was in the same channel as the nearest, strongest source, which in my case was the router. I made sure that channel 6 was used as it was clear in my area.

The AP/Extender nearest to one of the bad cameras was moved to channel 11, and the other AP/Extender and Arlo base at the other end of the house was moved to channel 1. I estimate these changes reduced the frequency and severity by a third.

I still see breakup on 3 cameras connecting to one of the bases but it now happens only about 1 out of 3 recordings. Was happening each time before. This leads me to conclude that this is a multi-layered problem; weak wifi from the cameras, poor error correction, and possibly cloud/connectivity issues among other things.

[manofice]

SteveWhite....Undergood returned his...so he won't be able to test further.

[robsss]

When I get home today I will check what channels my wireless network is using. I have a NightHawk router and 1 repeater in the house. Arlo hub is using a ethernet/powerline connection to the home network.

[JamesC]

The video clips linked above appear to be due to WiFi interference. Those of you experiencing this issue, consider relocating your Arlo Base Station limiting any nearby wireless devices as much as possible. Then (for testing purposes) bring the affected camera(s) close to the base station (within a few feet) and see if you still have the same behavior.

JamesC

[robsss]

While it is possible it is Wi-Fi related, nothing has changed on my configuration from when I replaced my original Arlo cameras. And my current old cameras I am running also seem to work fine (as they have since I have owned them). I also don't think it is a distance issue, since all of the cameras are not that far from the hub and I have a full 3 bars on all 4 cameras.

This problem is only happening on the Arlo Pro cameras.

[jbaker8390]

Wifi interference is not the issue. As others have said I have used the original Arlo before upgrading  and never had this issue. This is isolated to the new cameras. I've have tested the cameras within close proximity with no change, additionally, all of the cameras have excellent reception with max bars for wireless connectivity.  It's unfortunate because thus far besides this issue the Pro is great, especially the battery life, but this issue alone is huge deal breaker.

[jguerdat]

Just out of curiosity, you have removed the clear plastic shield from the camera face, right?

[jbaker8390]

Yes the clear plastic shield is removed from all camera faces. If video artifacting was resolved due to a physical transparent plastic layer instead of compression I'd be amazed.

[AUTX]

JBaker - are you using the old hub with new "Pro" cameras?   Is this the same set-up for everyone experiencing problems?  

If this is the case, i would go to BB and pick up the new PRO system and re-test your cameras connected to the PRO HUB then quickly return it.  

Seems like a simple test Netgear would have already performed to verify backward compatibility but you never know.  Either way, if your new cameras worked with the new Hub then that would solve the mystery.  

[Memcor77]

I'm using the original arlo base station and have the problems with the pro cameras.

[jbaker8390]

Hi AUTX,

I'm using the new base and new cameras, I no longer own the original base station. It seems like the issue is stemming from the software on the pro cameras. 

[jjs4653]

I went and returned my Pro today to Best Buy... will wait and see if it gets fixed

[jbaker8390]

I returned it today as well. Don't recommend the pro until this issue is fixed.

[robsss]

Update: So I went home and disabled all wireless networks at my house. In this very unscientific test, the cameras did seem to work better. I then turned the wireless networks back on and did a network analysis on what channels were being used. There was some slight overlap, so I adjusted the channel on the router to get rid of any overlap.

I will see what happens with the cameras today. The first video I saw today was not promising. Of course the original Arlo cameras are still working fine.

.