Should Arlo Q's camera be on even when it is disarmed?

[ToastyFlake]

My Arlo Q's camera appears to be active even when the system is disarmed. Turning off the lights in the room or putting your hand in front of the camera will activate the infrared lights, even when it's disarmed. Consequently, the infrared lights stay on all night long even though I have the camera disabled in the app.  Is this normal behavior?

[TomMac]

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ToastyFlake wrote:

My Arlo Q's camera appears to be active even when the system is disarmed. Turning off the lights in the room or putting your hand in front of the camera will activate the infrared lights, even when it's disarmed. Consequently, the infrared lights stay on all night long even though I have the camera disabled in the app.  Is this normal behavior?

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yes.....  You can disable the IR light if wanted... but since the Q cam has the option to record all the time, the IRs are on.. Since its powered , its no problem

[ToastyFlake]

Since I have not chosen to have the camera record all of the time, it makes no sense that the IR lights would be on when the camera is not supposed to be recording.  It's quite disconcerting to have the red infrared lights on pointed at you when you are naked in your bedroom.  Is the camera on too?  Yes, you can turn the infrared lights off in settings but then everytime you went out and armed the system you would have to go into settings and turn it back on.  

Of course, the infrared lights are the minor point here.  The main question is whether the camera itself is taking video and transmitting it over wifi while I am at home?  Is my naked butt going to show up on the neighbor's baby monitor?  Can the people at Arlo see a video feed when my camera is supposed to be disarmed?  Can anyone else intercept the video feed?

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

It shouldn't be recording as long as you haven't activated the continuous video recording.  If you have, it's monitoring everything it sees all the time. It's using the same stream as normal recording so is encrypted and is going only to the servers for review later. Do you have CVR enabled (it's an extra cost thang)?

[ToastyFlake]

No I don't have CVR enabled, which is why it's puzzling that the camera appears to be active when it's supposed to be disarmed.  My concern isn't that the camera is "recording" but that the camera is always broadcasting video of what's going on in my house over wifi, even if I am home with the system disarmed.  If it is doing this, how do I know someone outside of my house can't intercept the video stream or that someone can't access the stream from the internet by accessing my router.  Of secondary concern is that the infrared lights are burning a large portion of the day and the camera itself may be active which will reduce the life of the camera and waste electricity.  

[jguerdat]

I'm not 100% sure but youre likely streaming all the time, even without CVR. Enabling CVR may just be paying for the privilege of being able to use it. Since there's some prebuffering going on so you see a couple of seconds prior to the event that kicked off motion detection, it's got to be always recording the scene. Whether you can take advantage of that is the paid part.

As for the IR illuminators being on, that sounds like the room is dark enough for night vision to engage. Electricity waste is kind of moot since they're LEDs but opening shades or similar may help.

[j1stealth]

Hi,

This is not normal behavior.  I have the same issue with you.  My camera were disarmed and I noticed it turn on by itself and IR on and then off.  Check to see if your battery will drain in less than a week.  I drained 2 set of batteries in 2 weeks.  support is no use.. crappy system

[TomMac]

@j1stealth

This is about Arlo Q, there are no batteries... ac powered. Try the Arlo section

@ToastyFlake

My concern isn't that the camera is "recording" but that the camera is always broadcasting video of what's going on in my house over wifi, even if I am home with the system disarmed.

It has been mentioned that there is "pre-buffering" going on with the Q cam... this allows a few seconds of data on the front end after a trigger event to record so the motion isn't missed.  That said, it's prob the main reason for the illumnators being on all the time ( if you cant see it , it can't record ).

Also, the CVR function will allow a 24/7 record time line that is viewable.

I personally wouldn't put the Q in a 'private' area of my home ( tho do with the Arlo ) but I guess its a personal choice.  I have no real problems putting Q type of camera in other areas tho.

[c0mm0]

I also don't like the infrared lights coming on in disarmed mode either. I don't think the camera is recording but I don't get why the lights need to be on when the camera is supposed to be off. The way I fixed it was to go into settings for the camera and turn night vision off. It can always be turned back on manually but personally I think night vision shoul be turned on only when armed.and in motion detect mode or continuous record mode

[TomMac]

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c0mm0 wrote:
I also don't like the infrared lights coming on in disarmed mode either. I don't think the camera is recording but I don't get why the lights need to be on when the camera is supposed to be off. snip

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The Q isn't recording per say, but it is pre-buffering.  So, if a trigger event happens it has the second or two before it occured.

The IR lights on the Q are on in low light so it can see what it is buffering just in case of a record event.

[wilburville]

My brain is asking "How does the Q camera know a few seconds before an event will occurr to generate a pre-buffering, unless it's streaming constantly back to the servers"?

Pardon me. I know this is the Q thread but is pre-buffering occuring with the Arlo "egg" cameras as well? And if so, wouldn't that consume battery capacity especially with IR lights on after dark?

I have brand new 1 Q and 2 egg cameras. R7000 router, latest update. I am getting some funky behavior on one 50% depleted egg battery in less than a week so am trying to compare the Q technology with the "egg" techology.

[ToastyFlake]

The wireless "eggs" should not be prebuffering like the q.  Motion has to activate the cameras on the wireless  units, which is why someone can move out of the frame before the camera captures it. My q captures a few seconds of video before the motion or sound that activates it.  It does seem that the Q's camera is always activated, unlike the wireless cameras. 

[Elizabeth35]

One of my invited says pending and I need this perdon

[Elizabeth35]

One of my invited says Pendimg

[jguerdat]

That person probably has completed the acceptance process.  There's a link in the email sent to that person that has to be clicked to accept and then there's a couple of other steps to complete the process.  Be sure that (s)he is reading all the steps starting with the email.