Arlo Q motion blur

[Wsh2150]

I have an Arlo Q. I have it set to 1080p. I have 100% signal strength for WiFi. My speed is 35-40mbs download and 6-7mbs upload. The picture looks great except when there is motion. The furniture in the room is nice and clear, but anyone walking through is blurry and I get a little ghosting. This will make it almost impossible to identify someone.

[TomMac]

About the only thing at this time is;

1) check the sw for the latest version on camera

2) lower rez to 720 and test again ( this may help )

3) do a reboot of the camera via the reset ( hold for 10 secs, you will have to re-sync )

Put in a trouble ticket to Netgear if if occurs again.

It has happened before and sometimes related to data thru-put ( not your case ) but also a compression problem, server issues, dropped key frames.

Never really locked down to answer.

In my case it happened for a short while and then went away without any change on my part.

[Wsh2150]

Thanks for the reply. It has already been reset for a different issue. I don't want to drop to 720p. The biggest reason I got this camera is because it is 1080p and I would be able to zoom in on a face better, but not if its blurry. Maybe they will get this fixed.

[bignicknicknick]

Same issue with my camera too! The only way to fix it is to do 720p for now.

When I restart it works for a short while on 1080p then gets "ghosty" again as an object moves across. I'm just sticking with 720p but they need to fix this soon since it's advertised as 1080p.

[jguerdat]

Arlo cameras will drop resolution automatically if upload speed is insufficient. Ensure that there's no bottlenecks between the camera and server. Poor WiFi can cause this, too.

[Wsh2150]

Well, thanks for the replies. I had the same experience with camera doing well for a few hours after reset then degrading. I've also had motion blur issues in 720. My Internet upload tests are about 6mb so that shouldn't be the issue. There are a few things I like about this camera, but there are more that I dont. I am taking it back and getting another pro battery cam.

[Jimh4938]

I'm having the same problem.  Just bought two brand new cameras last week (Arlo Q twin pack).   Recordings from BOTH cameras have blurred motion. Both cameras are set to 1080p. My download speed is around 35Mbs, upload around 18Mbs. 

One camera is shooting out the front window.  All recordings have this this motion blur.  Cars driving by slowly around 20-25 miles per hour are blurry, even though watching the same camera remotely through a live feed, there is no noticeable motion blur.  

Following this thread, it looks like internet speed is being blamed as the cause, so I thought I'd download a few of the videos clips to my devic. I think this should completely eliminate internet speed from the equation. 

In fact, even the downloaded video clips have the exact same motion blur. 

It it seems to me that there is some camera setting in the firmware that is not set correctly, and is not capturing the motion correctly.  Again,there is no noticeable blur when watching the live feed remotely. 

Not sure how internet speed could be the cause. 

I really like like these cameras, but it seems there are a small handful of things that need Netgear attention to get fixed, and then these will be really nice!!  Can we get your help a Netgear??

Jim

[JamesC]

Jimh4938,

Can you post an example of the motion blur you are describing? It sounds like it could be interference or poor signal strength causing the issue. Consider moving your camera (temporarily just to test) close to your router to ensure a good connection and see if you get the same results.

JamesC

[bignicknicknick]

No - it's definitely an issue with the firmware. My camera is less than 40 feet away and this issue only happens on 1080p.

When I restart the camera is works temporarily on 1080p then starts having issues the next day. I'm connected via 5ghz (full signal) and it only happens on 1080p.

720p works perfectly. I have 100/100 wifi so it has to be with the firmware..:

[Jimh4938]

Hey JamesC,

Happy New Year, Hope you're doing well.

I downloaded about half a dozen video clips that show the motion blur.  The clips are about 20 seconds long, so I tried to trim them down, but for some reason, it won't allow me to save the trimmed video clip.

Anyway, I'm trying to attach two examples, but see no way to attach them to this message.   Instead, I uploaded one of them to youtube.  I'm pretty sure this was recorded in 1080P, but to be honest, I'm also trying your advice to drop down to 720P, and I just can't remember when I did the switch, so these may be at 720P.  Maybe you have a way to tell the resolution.

Also, this is a rural area with very little wifi interference, but to be certain, I used istumbler to fine tune the 2.4 channel to reduce any interference, and 5G is no issue for interference out there, given the bank of channels, and its a rural area.

Finally, its worth noting that the router is in the same room as the camera.  No more then 10 feet away, with full wifi signal.

One other question I have.  This is a remote camera. The router is a Netgear dual band 2.4/5G router.  I notice that the camera(s) are both connected to the 2.4G wifi network.  Is it worth trying to REMOTELY connect both cameras to the 5G wifi network, or do I risk loosing connectivity to the cameras, and won't be able to talk to them until the next time I'm at the location?

Thanks again JamesC for looking into this issue!!

Jim

[video]

[bignicknicknick]

^ That video is exactly what I'm seeing too!

In 720p it works perfectly.

[Slagish]

Seems like they're cameras can't handle full 1080P at 30 or higher frames per seconds. That's the issue. Frames are reduced when the quality is increased. That's probably why they default it to 720P. Thanks for the sub par cameras netgear.

[Jimh4938]

JamesC,

Has anyone from Netgear had a chance to look into this motion blur issue?

a sample video was requested, and I think I posted a sample on the same day. 

Could you please provide an update of this issue?  Is it being investigated?  Any thought or theories on this issue, besides upload speed or wifi interference?  Any target date to get back with a resolution?  Anything else we can try to help debug the issue?

if the cameras have some issue that can't be fixed via firmware update, I'd like to know that soon, as my window to return the cameras ends in two weeks. 

Would appreciate any any update you could provide JamesC. 

Thanks. 

Jim H

[bignicknicknick]

Agreed. The more I think about it I agree with your "frames issue" comment.

Why would a camera advertised at 1080p default at 720p?

[JamesC]

Jimh4938,

If you're able to rule out interference/poor signal strength, I would advise the next step being to contact the Arlo Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[Nine29]

I have had the Arlo Q for almost a year now and it does the same thing.  I reboot and also unplug it occassionally which seems to solve the problem temporarily.  I also have great upload speeds (10+mb), close to the wifi, and no other interferences. 

[bignicknicknick]

^ This!

It temporarily works after a reboot in 1080p. Netgear has to be aware of this issue.

I tried calling and my call got "Disconnected" while waiting on hold. Very disappointed in the customer service right now...

[Jimh4938]

Well, after much thought and deliberation, I have decided I am going to return both of my Arlo Q cameras while I still can (return policy).

This was not an easy decison, because the Arlo Q is a REALLY nice camera system.  However, there are a few issues with the cameras that I feel can't (or won't) be fixed by Netgear in this current hardware version.  And even though I'll really miss having the cameras, I feel that it will be worth the wait, becasue I'll either find something better out there, or Netgear will correct most of these issues in the next (better/faster) verson of the Arlo Q camera hardware.  

With said, I think its only fair to list everything I like about the current Arlo Q camera as well as those things I think are areas for improvement.

I have two Arlo Q Cameras (Arlo Q twin pack) that I purchased on January 1, 2017

Camera 1:

  - Firmware: 1.8.3.0_9926

  - Hardware: VMC3040r6

Camera 2: 

  - Firmware: 1.8.3.0_9926

  - Hardware: VMC304r6

Advantages (there's is a LOT of thingks to like about the ARLO Q camera!!):

1. Great packaging
2. Incredibly easy to set-up.
3. Very nice hardware/mounting system
4. Fairly good camera quality with nice wide angle view
5. Very easy and simple to zoom using the IOS app
6. Very nice software controls.  The user interface/GUI on the IOS app is fantastic!!!
7. Great job on the motion detection zone GUI!!  Very easy to set-up specific activity zones and to turn them on/off.
8. Love, Love, Love the 7 day cloud storage (Kudos Netgear!!)
9. Great job on the GeoFencing, and it actually works!!  (again, nice job Netgear!)
10. Very easy to schedule the cameras, arm/disarm, and also really like that these have audio detection as well!
11. Nice Live view.  Quality is great.  Easy to zoom. No noticable video studder even when watching two cameras simulteously, remotely in 1080p.
12. Really like the little circle that tells how many new videos have been captured since last touch
13. Netgear has done an amazing job to make it easy to find all controls, like: Live view, Library (videos), camera settings, activity zones.  Great Job!!!

Suggestions for improvement:

1. There is noticable video blur/studder in almost all videos in library.  This is a problem in1080p mode as well as 720.  I have provided Netgear a sample video of this blur, and in the last week or so, I literaly have hundreds of examples of this motion blur; with cars driving by (slowly - 20-25 MPH), and the blur is terrible.  Netgear is on the record saying that this motion blur is due to inadequate internet speed and/or wifi interference.  My environment has fast internet (30+Mb/s download and 18 Mb/s upload).  I have fine tuned my wifi channels to minimize/eliminate? wifi channel congestion on 2.4 and 5G frequencies, and I still see the motion blur in 1080 and 720.  But as a suggestion to Netgear, why not eliminate internet speeds and wifi interference from the equation?  Couldn't you consider using some minimal (onboard) buffer storage in the camera so that it captures full motion 1080p video in buffer, and uploads the full 1080p quality captured video (non blurred) to the cloud; regardless of internet speed.  Fully understand that it may take a few seconds longer to upload the video to the cloud, but I'm guessing most end users would prefer to have clear motion library videos, that may take a couple seconds longer to see, rather than getting videos to the cloud a few seconds faster, but the motion is all blurred.  This is especially important when end users are using these cameras as security devices, pointing out windows, when facial or license plate identification can be really important.
2. Capture motion video, even when watching live video.  The current HW/SW platform disables motion detection when watching live video.  If this can't be accomplished, at least give the end user a notice in the GUI that motion has been detected on the camera, and live view will be paused while the motion is being recorded.  Disabling motion detection in live view doesn't seem like the preferred way to handle this case
3. Zooming quality seems really poor on the current HW version.  I understand this is a tough one, simply because of camera optics and zooming, but this isn't a cheap camera (About $190 on Amazon).  It seems at this price point, there could be a little better camera optics which would provide "better" (not asking for perfect) image quality when zooming.  
4. Please consider adding Motion Sensitivity per motion detection zone.  The current IOS GUI seem to support only one level of sensitivity for all zones.  This makes is very hard to manage the video library size and to find videos for a critical motion zone.  If I want to set an area near the front door with maximum sensitivity, it also forces all other selected zones to have the same sensitivity.  As a result, I end up getting hundreds of videos as the other zones have more activity and (thankfully), the front door/porch area doesn't have too much activity.  
5. Along with point 3 above, the video library allows the user to filter on Camera, but currently there is no way to filter by activity zone.  This seems like a simple add to the GUI, which would give huge beneficial returns.  For example, I would like to be able to filter library videos based on the motion zone that triggered the recording.  When video is captured by a specific (very important) motion detection zone (eg: front door), I have to look at every video in the library, and guess which zone captured the motion, or I have to disable the other motion detection zones.
6. When looking at videos in the library every thumbnail looks exactly the same.  It seems that when the camera senses motion, it (very nicely) goes back a few seconds in the video capture so that when watching the video in the library, the user can see a few seconds before and after motion was detected.  However, for the library thumbnails, the suggestion is to show one of the frames from the motion detection, in the library thumbnails, rather than the first frame (pre-motion).  That way, the user can (much more quickly) scan through the library thumbnails to find videos of interest.  Currently, all thumbnails look exactly the same.  The end user must watch the full video to see what is going on.
7. Please consider adding the timeline feature to the free/7 day cloud storage.  Even though the timeline would jump from video to video (not contiguous video), it still would be a great feature to string all of the clips together in a timeline view so the user can scan/scrubb through the timeline

As I said above, the Arlo Q camera is a really nice camera system that has a fantastic GUI/user interface.  Kudos Netgear!!!!

However, at the price point of ~$190/camera, this isn't exactly a "cheap" camera.  There are a handful of improvements that I feel need to be considered to make this a "best in class" monitoring/surveillance camera that would knock out the competition.  I respectfully ask Netgear to consider some/any of the ideas/suggestions listed above and keep the user community posted.  I'll be watching closly, as I like Netgear products, and I think many of the ideas above could be implemented without "breaking the bank" investment.

Best Regards.

Jimh4938