Arlo q shows wrong clip length

[Arlodog6578]

1.  Today I’ve noticed when I go to my Arlo Q library the clips show at the right length. 20 seconds, 15 seconds they show the right length in the library. When I open up the Clips to view the clip it says that the clip is one hour and 46 minutes long. When you play back the clip it only has the correct amount of time 20 or whatever length and may be in the library view. After the action finishe the image freezes and the video keeps playing.  This has started today and it happens with every single clip.  The cameras also failed to pick up some events today. Not sure if that’s related or not. Is anyone else having an issue?  I’ve got the latest iOS update.

[simpsonhomer]

I missed the key part during my rambling...

If you want to know how many seconds were actually recorded in a clip:

1. Download the file to your computer
2. Check the file size in MB (typical unit)
3. Multiply the file size by 7.5—that's how many seconds of video are in the file

For example, my 4.7MB file is 4.7MB * 7.5 = 35.25 seconds of actual video.  This is, of course, a general one-size-fits-all calculation but it should give you an idea of how much you may be missing during playback.

[ChrisPark]

What is going on? My Arlo Q seemed to be fixed for a couple of days, but this morning the fault is back again! Triggered audio alarm showing as over 2 hours long! Netgear - us UK customers need an answer, as we don't have any stores that will take returns as generously as Costco etc

[redking79]

Great detective work homer simpson!

Hopefully someone from Netgear reads your post and uses it to finally solve this problem once and for all.

[redking79]

Official word regarding what will be done for this error: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Q/Arlo-q-shows-wrong-clip-length/td-p/1512060

THREE WEEKS and nothing has been fixed.  Three weeks is an eternity for video camera security.

Since Netgear doesn't really care, I'll inform the stock trading public that customers have been returning their Arlo cameras and won't buy anymore.

Community moderators in this forum do not count as someone official from Netgear.

[Uj1980ct]

@redking79Thank you for taking that initiave. I use Arlo q for monitoring my disabled relative. I missed his falling and calling for help a week ago. Thankful a neighbor heard him calling for help and called local police. I have already started to research Nest. I regret having to go that way because I had been happy with the camera up to this last month. It had problems before that, but never this bad. I had them installed from 2016. Since my cousin was released from the hospital, I have been very worried that the camera will miss another event. And playback is soooo unreliable. 

[NetBox]

@redking79

That would be great but I'm beginning to lose all faith in Netgear!

I can't believe a high profile company such as Netgear is not able to fix this and quickly.

Surely if they know about the issue they should have a dedicated team of Devs working on this round the clock to resolve it.

They are losing face, losing customers and losing money.

It worked before, something changed with their system and they broke it......... Just undo what they did so we all have working Arlo cameras again. Surely its not rocket science!?!

[redking79]

@Uj1980ct Thank you for contributing your story.  I'm glad your relative was okay in the end.  People like you and I use Arlo to monitor and protect life & property.  But for Netgear, Arlo is just a side project they hope can bring in a little money.  That's why there has been no response from them for weeks.  Actions speak louder than words and it's obvious they don't care.  

Netgear's main business is networking equipment - routers, modems, switches, wifi extenders.  Go to their website, you will see four screens automatically scroll to show their products.  Arlo is the last screen.

[simpsonhomer]

FYI, this morning I reached out to Netgear Customer Support.  The chat transcript is below with a minor redaction (noted).

Kim S
Hi . Thank you for choosing NETGEAR.

6:20:57 AM
My name is Kim with Expert ID [redacted]. How may I assist you today?

6:21:05 AM
Me
I have an Arlo Pro 2 and when it's plugged in, the video file durations are corrupt

6:22:02 AM
For example, it'll record a 35-second clip that it reports as being 2.5 hours long

6:22:17 AM
Kim S
May I ask if how many cameras are affected?

6:22:27 AM
Me
And the viewer fails to play it back after a few seconds, making the video unusable

6:22:29 AM
2 out of 5 cameras are affected

6:22:35 AM
Only the ones that are plugged in

6:22:41 AM
It's related to the 3-second buffering that occurs when plugged in

6:22:54 AM
Arlo Q users are experiencing the same problem worldwide for weeks now

6:23:09 AM
Users are returning their products and posting on social media about their problems

6:23:18 AM
Here's just one forum discussion about the problem: https://community.netgear.com/t5/notificationfeed/page

6:23:38 AM
People are unable to view their videos

6:23:47 AM
Kim S
I sincerely apologize for all the trouble. Our engineering team is already aware of this concern and they diligently working to solve this problem.

6:25:02 AM
Me
Do they have an ETA?

6:25:24 AM
Kim S
As of now we are still waiting an update from them.

6:25:49 AM
Me
I just got a video that is reported as being 5 hours long...it plays for about 12 seconds and then goes black

6:25:50 AM
Note that my battery-powered cameras are ok

6:26:05 AM
It's related to the 3-second buffering

6:26:14 AM
Kim S
Noted. This problem was in high priority and once we receive an update from the appropriate department we will send you an e-mail or we will post an update on our support site.

6:27:55 AM
Me
Is there any way to escalate this issue so that it receives more attention? Is there a way to roll back the changes that effectively disabled all Arlo Q users (and plugged-in Arlo Pro 2's)?

6:28:08 AM
Kim S
This concern has already been escalated and they are now working for a resolution on this matter.

6:28:58 AM
Me
Okay, thank you. This is certainly proving to negatively impact Netgear's reputation. Otherwise I love my Arlo Pro 2's. I appreciate your time and the information you provided.

6:30:17 AM
I hope the problem is fixed quickly. Thank you.

6:31:01 AM
Kim S
I really appreciate that you took the time to share your experience. Words cannot express how deeply sorry I am for the trouble you have been through in setting up the system. Your opinions and comments are very important to us, as they assist us in constantly improving our service performance and product quality. This issue has no doubt caused you some frustration and we want you to know that this is certainly not typical of our organization. Once we have an update we will keep you posted.

6:31:18 AM
Me
Thank you very much.

6:31:34 AM
Have a great day.

6:31:39 AM
Kim S
You too, sir. Again, thank you for choosing NETGEAR. Have a great day!

6:31:49 AM
The agent has ended the chat.

[NetBox]

This issue must be costing Netgear thousands. Not to mention retailers and the wasted time for all involved.

How many customers have bought brand new Arlo products in the past few weeks, got home, set them up, had problems, spent hours and hours trying to fix them, contacted customer support, got fed up, tried again, read online, given up, then packaged everything back up again and just returned it to the store for a refund.

The waste of time, effort, fuel and money, its ludicrous.

They should be pulled from sale until Netgear get these issues fixed, its just not fair to customers or retailers too as I am sure they don't get reimbursed for loss of profit or additional delivery costs.

Hope they get this fixed ASAP and it stays that way once resolved.

[Janice805]

I did.  Got so frustrated that I returned all 4 Arlo Q's to Costco after 7 months.  Then purchased Arlo Pro instead.  Any other problems and back they go too!!!

[Zzzzzzzzzz]

Hi Janice805! I wanted to follow up about your Arlo returns to Costco. Did they give you a hard time or just refund it with no problem?

My Costcos told me that the security cameras are subject to the 90-day return policy, so that includes the Arlo and Ring cameras.

Thanks!

[Customer18]

I found customer support to be eager to assist with my concerns; however, there appears to be innate flaws with the device, which have not been addressed by the moderators as best as I am able to tell. I do not have any hope that those seemingly innate issues will be addressed, and given that the Arlo portion of Netgear is reported to become an independent entity, it might be prudent to consider Arlo a defunct brand in terms of innovation and services. I have seen recent acquisitions of competing non-Nest products by a larger corporation lately, so I am hoping there will be something similar from one of those that offers features like the Arlo Q does when it is actually functioning properly. But, I suppose you can wait forever hoping for the right balance of cost and features. I am so frustrated at this point I have considered subscription-based products from Nest, but fortunately, I talked myself out of the cable box-rental fee business model offered by Google.

[Mack1359]

I can't believe we're now in ...what....week 3?

I've already had a package stolen from my porch and of course the camera was worthless as the clips are screwed up even when downloaded to VLC.

Today I came home and someone had illegally dumped items on the sidewalk right outside my house in view of the camera.

Another waste of time as the 2 minute clip shows as 2 minutes but tries to play as a 3 hour clip.

How the hell a company can basically have a customer install base with non functioning cameras and not publish an official formal statement communicating what they did to break the system and when they'll fix it is beyond shocking. 

I can't return mine as bought from Amazon nearly a year ago and I can't find a phone number anywhere to get through to Arlo to get any assistance.

They've also DELETED some of my comments about this from Instagram so new customers don't realize that the company is unprofessional and don't really care.

[redking79]

@Mack1359

You can try contacting Amazon and see what they say regarding a return.  They're surprisingly flexible depending on your purchase history and your previous returns.  You might need to contact someone at the level 2 tier of customer support.

Also remember to leave a review on Amazon so people know that Netgear doesn't care about customers.

[Janice805]

I called "before" I purchased them and they said the return policy was not under the 90-day umbrella like some of the other electronics.  Absolutely no problem with the return.  Always try to buy at Costco for that reason.

The day I purchased the Pro set, one camera would not work properly.  On the phone with Netgear (again).  Turns out the camera was malfunctioning.  It appears they would send me a re-engineered/reburbished camera.  I said I just bought this "yesterday" as NEW.  So back to Costco.  I bought a 2nd set (of Arlo Pro's with 3 cameras) so I can try to find 3 (out of 6) that work, then one set will go back to Costco (again).  God bless Costco 🙂 

P.S.  So far nothing good to say about ARLO.

[ArloJesse]

Thanks for the update, Janice.  I've never been a member of Costco but, as of this week, I am going to join specifically for the reason you mentioned. It sounds like they take good care of their customers in situations like this when other companies are not living up to their reputation.  I'm shaking my head over the fact that Netgear tried to offer you a "refurbished/used" camera to replace your new camera. Let us know how the Arlo Pro is working for you. 

[ArloJesse]

Good point about Amazon, RedKing. And customers should leave reviews to forewarn other buyers of what is happening with these cameras. 3 weeks of broken cameras is not acceptable.

[Mack1359]

I finally got through to Arlo/Netgear telephone support.  What a waste of time.

Here's the short version.

Tech guy insisted I do troubleshooting on the camera as the problem was fixed last Thursday.

I explain to him twice that it is NOT the issue from last week where customers could not log in but is in fact the issue with 2 minute clips showing as 3 hours etc.

He says "Yes, I know, you've already told me twice" then goes on to insist I troubleshoot the camera. If it doesn't work he will send me a replacement camera.  I'm getting annoyed now as this guy clearly doesn't understand the issue.

He puts me on hold and comes back and says that the camera issue is indeed on their side. They are working on it and it may be another TWO TO THREE WEEKS before a fix is rolled out.

He then tells me that a replacement camera will fix it.  So I decided to roll with it and say "ok - sure - go ahead and send me a replacement camera" there is a pause and then he says "Well...actually....that won't fix it as its on our side".

This is beyond a joke.  I can't believe Netgear are treating customers like this and that their tech support people are so clueless. 

[DawnM]

Hello all,

The Arlo engineering team is actively working on a fix for this issue, and it is currently in the testing phase. We plan to tentatively release the fix by the first week of April (barring any complications we may come across in testing which may extend this date). We appreciate your patience, and assure you this is a top priority for our engineering team.

Sincerely,

Dawn Marshall
Community Manager, NETGEAR

[Mack1359]

Dawn - nice of you to reply BUT does Netgear/Arlo understand that its been already three weeks that these cameras are basically useless and now you're saying its more than 2 more weeks of a broken system.  How can a company that promotes itself as a supplier of SECURITY cameras take 5 weeks to fix/patch something you broke?  I've spent YEARS in the tech arena and never before have I seen an issue so badly mismanaged as this. It's shocking. You broke it - you need to fix it - FAST. Not 5 weeks worth of stringing people along. It's truly astonishing. I think its time we, the customers, work on having some articles published on the top tech news sites covering this and making sure customers know NOT to buy your products as they can be broken by you at any time and can take up to 5 weeks to fix leaving your customers with systems not working as sold.  Shameful "support" by Netgear/Arlo if you could even call it support.  What a shame because prior to you breaking the functionality I was a big fan and though these cameras were some of the best out there. Oh boy was I wrong and do I feel foolish now.

[Terk]

I was about to create a new post about this issue as I finally was bothered enough by it today to do something when I found this discussion and had hoped someone had a fix for it as it has been going on for a while.  I'm glad to see they responded that they are aware of the issue and working on a fix.

[Samchu]

It is very strange. The clip length stop at 20 some second. even the real recording time is about 1 min. But it shows the full 1 min in my husband’s computer. So I feel there is some incompatibility between I phone and Arlo q

[ChrisPark]

Motion triggered alerts seem to be working now, but audio triggered recordings are still affected.

[jubei]

Ah thanks for that update. After updating my iPad Air 2 to the latest arlo app my only way to create detection zones were gone. Then I remembered I had IOS 7 installed on my old iPad 3 so I installed the older version of Arlo app on to that to create zones. Geez... This company... Please pull your finger out and fix this video length issue.

Hey Netgear, any chance you can make it so I have an option just to record to my SD card only instead of your cloud and sc card?

[Zzzzzzzzzz]

Are other people having problems logging into their Arlo account to check their cameras/videos this morning?

It's worse than usual. Using Chrome on my laptop, I can't get in. It seems to let me log in and then kicks me out immediately....