Grainy and pixelated video quality, camera's have 3 bars

[harry581]

i have just bought 2 Arlo Q cameras. both cameras have this problems. at the end of every recorded 15sec video, it gets grainy and pixelated for 3 or 4 seconds before the video ends. its is very annoying. i dont think it is a software issue. i think this is a hardware issue. one camera is for my home, one for my work, but both exhibit the same issue. please help me out here. these cameras get hot quickly. i have updated the firmware , so its latest. 

[harry581]

my arlo q are only 2 to 3 metres away from my router. so the signal is not a issue. the upload speed is VDSL at my home, which is fast enough, capable of more than 2mb upload. at work is ADSL. 

1080p videos are grainy at the end of it.

720p videos are not grainy. so why????

[TomMac]

The issue may very well be your upload speed....

The Q cameras can peak at 1.5Mbs up, you run two of them, it's possible to be over the max you have.

Or with other traffic on the line same issue

That's why it works fine at a lower rez of 720 ( less band width )

[Dbasc]

I also have two arlo Q cameras that are experiencing the same issue as the original post with 1080p recording..   I was getting ready to make a post until i saw this thread.   I have 300/40Mbps cable service at home.   My network consist of R8000 router, and two netgear Orbi's set as my main wireless access point.  I'm getting full bars to all my arlo Q's throughout the house..   In fact, im getting +250mbps through out my entire house with the orbi's.  Wifi upload speed isn't the issue!  I also have the latest firmware.   Both Camera's experience the same pixalation at the ~12-15 second mark and get better towards the end when the recording stop.  I also like to note that i dont see much pixilation when watching live view.  I do get the occasional stutter in live view.   Kinda weired that my arlo pros are flawless.            

It doesn't make any sense to lower the resolution as that defeats the purpose of the arlo Q's

[harry581 · Accepted solution]

Ok. I fixed it. It's because I used a third party cheap cable. These thin third party cable simply can't provide enough amp and voltage to the Arlo Q. I tried all third party micro USB cable last night. The Only cables that work are Samsung, Panasonic, and Arlo cable. I will try 1A iphone charger today to find out if Arlo really needs 2A or not. That should fix the grainy video issue. I think 99% of after market cables are of low quality. I was using a Xiaomi power bank to try out all those cables. I think the Arlo Q needs a consistently high voltage and amp that a good cable can carry, especially when recording in 1080p, which requires high voltage. I think Arlo Q can run on low Amp, but not on low voltage.

[Dbasc]

im using the cables that it comes with, and i still have the same the pixelation issues on both cameras.     Just to update.  I can do 5-10 minute manual recordings @ 1080p  with zero pixalation...   It has something to do auto/motion detection recordings..

[TomMac]

contact Netgear Support, they may have a better answer

[harry581]

Today the pixelation in my videos comes back, so it s not the cable that's the problem. I think it is the Arlo server that is the problem. Arlo server might be congested at certain time of the day. Am I paying such a high price for a toy camera?? I will contact Netgear soon. What's the best way to contact Netgear then?

[harry581]

It doesn't matter how high the speed of Fibre we have , if Arlo has a slow server, then some videos will be choppy. Thats what I think. So high speed fibre makes no sense, if thousands of users upload their videos to Arlo server at the same time. I think there is nothing we can do, nothing Netgear can do either, unless Netgear wants to invest in high speed server. We getting stuffed. I think I'm getting my next camera elsewhere.

[Dbasc]

Harry i aggree with you...  Today was horrible.  Lots of pixalation!  im still under my return period.  I'm still debating on returning these things.  aaarrrggg.  The weird thing is, the video quality is perfect if you initiate a manual record.  I recorded a 5 min video with no choppiness or pixelation @ 1080p.  My arlo pro's run perfect so im at a lost.   

[turbosix]

I have the same issue sometimes

example of pixelation at 14 seconds:

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/FF636369F2CFA686_201708

i also have another separate issue that the first few seconds of motion are like 10fps:

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/9642E176D99F8AC4_201708

you can see as i enter the frame it is very choppy, it smooths out after a few seconds but it is very annoying. 

[Dbasc]

yup turbosix star.  same thing as the rest of us...   I don't think its the camera's fault as much as the quality of service it self..   i bet if you were to record a 10min manual video it would look perfectly fine.  Mine does.  They were multiple instances that people walked up to the door right at the 12-14 sec mark and the video glitched out so bad that i couldn't tell who or what they were.  Frankly i cant take a chance on something like that.  I will be returning my arlos tomorrow..   😞