Library missing after a month of use.

[EyeSpectre]

I've got a single 3040 that I've had a month and this morning I noticed all videos missing.  I've seen some of the posts going back to last year where there were cloud related issues with saving recordings, but I did contact tech support via chat this morning and they could not tell me what is going on.

After installation, the camera worked as expected for over a week.  I have basic motion settings on and the basic subscription for saving seven days of video clips.  Clips are set at one minute length.

I havent logged into the camera in a couple of weeks, but I've been testing it for an elderly family member to use and now I wanted to show him how it works.  But the library was empty.  I'm the only one with access to the system.  

The really strange part is that if I mess around with the filters, just select any two or three options in the filters, run the filters and then clear the filters, I can see videos from December 1.  But I only have the basic seven day subscription.  I'm concerned those videos are even accessible, not to mention still in the cloud.  I've downloaded several of the files and sure enough, they are from December 1.  I've attached a screen shot of my library.

But between December 1 and today, nothing.  And today is just from early this morning when I got on the computer.  But I should have been able to see earlier clips from when I went into the living room, which the camera is monitoring.  Tech support looked at a screen shot I sent of my library but they were stumped.

Any ideas???

[jguerdat]

There was just another similar complaint. Since you've already contacted support, about all you can try is logging out and back in as well as trying the app to see if anything is different. It doesn't seem widespread (yet) - mine are fine.

[EyeSpectre]

Interesting note:

This afternoon, for no apparent reason, there are no recordings from about 2:30 - 5pm.  We have guest and there were peopl emoving through the house this afternoon, but no videos.  I have this camera looking across my living room and into the kitchen, yet no recodings were triggered?  Very odd.  My kids were making a gngerbread house around 4pm, right in the line of sight, but the camera saved no recordings.  

I wonder if I just have a bad camera?

Of course, that does not explain why I an still manipulate the filters to show me videos from the first of December.  They are still there.

[jguerdat]

Still happening? Try enabling all notifications to see if the system is actually recording but not showing up in the library.

[EyeSpectre]

Yes, still having a problem, althought not sure what the problem actually is.

I have it set for motion and sound and one minute clips.  i also have notifications on.  That worked for a few hours.

as of now, at 5:15EST, I have no notifications and no recordings from the camera.  However, we've been in the living room watching football and movies since 2pm.  At some point around 3:07, it decided to stop recording and stop sending notifications.

i think I've seen enough.  Tech support can't give me a clue about what's going on, the camera seems to have stopped recording twice in the last 48 hours and I can still manipulate the library to show me recordings from nearly a month ago, even though I only have seven days of retention.

Judging from what I've see in the forums over the last year or so, this kind of thing seems to happen often, which is a big concern.  If I cant rely on videos to be there when I need them, and the camera just stops working randomly, not to mention videos being available way past their retention span, then I don't see any reaons to keep this thing in my house.  I bought it new from Amazon, so it's not like it's a refurb.  This is touted as a securiy device, but the "security" portion is full of holes, rendering it basically useless unles you're just going to use it to monitor wildlife activity in the backyard.

I have a feelign this is going back to Amazon this week ....

[jguerdat]

First step is to reset the camera by holding the reset button until the LED flashes amber. Remove the camera from Settings, My Devices and resync. It might just be somethng out in la-la land in the camera that a reset would cure. If resetting, be sure to remove the camera from Settings, My Devices.

[EyeSpectre]

Thanks, and I hear ya on resetting the camera and taking it out of the system and adding it back, but that's just casue for more concern.

I did reset the camera a couple of times when I first got it and started testing it.  i wanted to put it through its paces and make sure it could do what it's supposed to do because this was going to go into the home of an elderly family member.  Like I said before, it was working pretty much as needed the first couple of weeks, and then I realized just a couple days ago that it had stopped --- reasons unknown --- at some point after that.

The major concern is that this is supposed to be a highly available security and monitoring device that you can set up easily and put anywhere.  So if a reset works, that's fine, but what do I do if/ when this happens again?  What do you do if you have this installed up high in a corner of the room where you have to get up a ladder to reach it?  Every so often get the ladder out and take it down for a reset?  What about when I send this to someone's home and tell them all you have to do is plug it in and voila, it works?  And then it doesn't?  Walk someone through dong a reset on their wireless network when they are all thumbs when it comes to tech gadgets?  At that point, I've deviated completely from what I expect from this device.

Not to mention ---- and this is the thing tech support will NOT address with me, no matter how many times I ask --- what about being able to access videos from a month ago when I only have seven days of retention?  Seems to be quite a hackable hole in the Netgear machine.  I'm quite surprised that several days after posting this, not a peep from Netgear/ Arlo.  Suppose you expect, as a privacy matter, that your videos aren't accessible after seven days, not because you don't want to pay for the extra storage, but because you WANT to know what after seven days, those videos are gone?  Except they're not?  Imagine all of the activity in your home on a regular basis stored indefinitely, as far as I know, out in the cloud for someone to find w/o your knowledge?

While resetting the camera may solve my immediate stability issue, I dont see where it solves the storage/ cloud/ retention issue.  Plus, I dont need a short tem camera fix, I need to know that I can install this and leave it and it will be reliable.  And I have no assurances from Netgear, after several days, that they can make this the case for me.

EDIT:  I dont see why the previous reply is marked as SUCCESS when it's not.  Is that suppoed to mean my question has an answer?  it does not.

[jguerdat]

A reset really shouldn't need to be done often at all. My various cameras and bases have only been reset when I wanted to change something significant, never due to loss of connectivity or other issue. My suggestion is really just to start from a known point since we don't know what the issue is. If it continues, I would suspect either faulty hardware or a goobered profile (with the hardware being much more likely).

As to why you can see videos from long ago but not current ones, I have no explanation. I would have to suggest keeping the case open and getting it escalated for resolution. Of course, this may also point to a goobered profile which may only be resolved by creating a new account and adding your devices to that account. Not exactly satisfying but may be the best solution. I believe support has had to resort to this sort of thing for others.