Very dissapointed - Arlo Q recording gaps

[Bedowyn]

Hello.  First time user.  Not sure if I might also be a last time user.  This is very frustrating.

My need is very simple... I am looking to record video outside the front of my house, near my front door and outwards to the garage.  To that end, I have purchased and mounted an Arlo Q.  I have run power and is protected from the elements. The wifi signal is strong, as we are withing feet of the access point, and the cable modem behind it has a fine and regular connection.  

I have no signifigant issues setting it up with my Android phone, and have since been able to manage it from the website.  I was able to set a zone, turn off audio based alerts, and adjust sensitivity.  The general experience has been pretty good.    But when it counts, this thing has been more miss than hit.

Keep in mind that I did sign up for the $10 a month PVR service.  So, in theory, I should be recording all of the time.  However, here seem to be occassional but signifigant periods where NOTHING records.  Almost like the camera lost connectivity.  But during that same period, my internet and wireless connections were up.  (I am in IT and habitually monitor/log these.)  

In addition, when I do get an event - lets say Fed Ex drops a box - we seem to have a pair of repetitive issues.  Two specifically:

  1. There is a delay before recordign starts.  This basically means I capture little of value.  How difficult woudl it be to have the system tack on an additional +6 seconds at the front of the captured clip?  Especially when I am paying the PVR fee anyway?  But this seems to be a known issue, and something I can live with; I can use the PVR functionality to "rewind."

2. The camera seems to flake out, just as it needs to be recording these events.  I have seen a combination of things, such as half the screen blurring or turning green.  Other times, I do not see movement, but instead just fragments of animation; perhaps the compression failed.  A few times, the audio and video have been wildly out of sync, so that portion of movement that I can make out appears several seconds too late.  My latest issue was no video at all, but instead just audio.

Seriously... is this now a $220 paper weight?  

[TomMac]

First, i can say that the Q camera isn't spec as rated for outside... but you do say a protected area and I've run it that way too so I don't think its a problem.

To me it sound like the camera is having problems.. it is possible it is defective.

The Q camera does a pre-record buffer of about 4-5 seconds... If anything, I find my over sensitive ( sense set on 4 ) and it records everything.

As to the other issues, I've seen the 'fragments' or ghosting as I call it on a rare basis now , and feel it may be due to server issues or maybe dropping key frames in the compression mode , not sure.

Green screen happen now and then , but I ve seen it as more of a problem with flash ( as the d/led video works fine on a diff viewer )

Contact Netgear, put in a ticket... or if possible return it for a new one which ever may be easier for you...

Actually, surprised to hear your having problems with the Q ( usu the reg arlo cams )

[nngnng]

I feel your frustration- These product are not reliable. I am using the Arlo wireless it's a hit and miss when it comes to recording.

Browse around the forum there are problem with these product. I'm looking to replaced it with lorex or foscam cameras. 

[TomMac]

@nngnng

Sorry, but the Arlo Q and regular Arlo operate totally different as to detection and record... you don't have a Q so how would you know how it works?

[MrSpoons]

I have an Arlo Q and it does exactly the same thing....its garbage.  Support are of little help, but then again you can't solve bad design.

[nngnng]

How is the pay working for Netgear- Must be a good commission for every positive feedback you post. Keep up the good work.

[nngnng]

I really hope Netgear doesn't make another security cameras again- THIS IS THE LAST................Totally unreliable..... 

[nngnng]

More and more people are realizing these product are JUNK....I can get something more reliable with the money I spend.  Netgear are advertising as high end security cameras- how can this be true- The important feature of  security cameras is motion detection - The Arlo takes between anyway between 5-10 seconds to wake up the cameras and record- That means you will be missing video. Read around the forum and listen to what people are saying.... I am tired of hearing Netgear and some users are saying about positioning the cameras. That is just an excuse. You shouldn't have to fiddle around with the setting to make it work.

[TomMac]

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nngnng wrote:

I really hope Netgear doesn't make another security cameras again- THIS IS THE LAST................Totally unreliable..... 

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Negitive comments can be good... it gets Netgear to at least be aware of a problem and fix it.

But your 'debbie downer' comments don't help or fix anything... at least say something constructive one way or the other

[Bedowyn]

So more and more reading, both hear and at amazon, an unanswered call to support and chatting with one person in the industry, and it feels like I have gambled on the wrong brand.  😞  Again, I am willng to work hard to make this product work.  But I am going to need some help with this.  And if that is not forthcoming... ?

Meanwhile, I am forced to consider alternatives.  Does anyone have a suggestion that would meet the following requirements:

Needed

• Night and Day camera.
• Connects via wifi.
• Has and can respond to motion.
• Should run off of AC; do not care to mess with batteries.
• Record sound
• Record on an ongoing bases

Optionally

• Store data locally, so that not dependent on cloud and broadband
• Ability to notify to my phone
• Two way communication

Thanks in advance!

[JamesC]

nngnng,

I have sent you a private message in an attempt to assist you with the issues you are having with your Arlo system. Please respond to my message, I would be happy to help find a resolution.

Bedowyn, MrSpoons

The symptoms you describe could be due to a signal strength issue. How far away from your router is the Arlo Q? What signal strength is being displayed by the indicator on the cameras screen?

JamesC

[MrSpoons]

Signal strength is full....probably because I bought a AC1900-Nighthawk WiFi Range Extender and put it in the next room...it still drops signal.   Just face it, you are flogging a dead horse with this junk...I've already accepted it as a bad purchase.

[JamesC]

MrSpoons,

Is the Arlo Q connected to the Range Extender or to your router? What is indicating that the Arlo Q is dropping signal? Do you get any error messages?

JamesC

[ensanguined]

I have the same problem as the OP, except the device is TWO metres away from my Unifi AP-LR inside the house and has full connectivity. Really frustrating to see that CVR works around 30% of the day.

I feel like it only started happening after an Arlo firmware patch went through around 2.5 months ago. Not one thing on my end has changed in the last 6 months.

Come on guys, the cost of the devices is high enough but paying the monthly subscription fee is becoming a massive bug-bear of mine with the way the service has been. To me, this is a software issue, plain and simple.

Anything I can do in the meantime configuration wise on the Arlo end to improve this and actually get some semblance of what I am paying for?

[JamesC]

ensanguined,

Is the Arlo Q indicating that there is an issue with signal strength (flashing purple LED)? What signal strength is shown on the cameras screen?

If possible, consider temporarily relocating the camera, preferably in clear line of site of your router to see if you get the same results.

JamesC 

[ensanguined]

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JamesC wrote:

ensanguined,

Is the Arlo Q indicating that there is an issue with signal strength (flashing purple LED)? What signal strength is shown on the cameras screen?

If possible, consider temporarily relocating the camera, preferably in clear line of site of your router to see if you get the same results.

JamesC 

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Hi James.

After that firmware patch around a few months ago yes, I did see the purple light turn on once in a while. I remember it freaked me out because I had the Arlo Q configured not to show any lights, and there it was, lighting up. I had never seen it once before that, in the 2 months or so I owned it before that.

I haven't noticed it for around 6 weeks now since though (but obviously I can't be sure if it's turning on all the time as I am not in front of the camera constantly), but the signal strength shown on the browser settings page is full and on the app it shows as 100%. Can we not trust that information?

I do trust it because I have wi-fi items working fine around 15 metres away without line of sight, that's how strong the UniFi signal is, so I can't understand, if it is, why the Arlo keeps dropping out in terms of the CVR. Are there logs generated that you or I could peruse?

The Arlo is around 2 metres away from the UniFi on a slight bend around the walls of an open loungeroom, so while there is no line of sight there is absolutely no chance the signal strength is an issue.

Thanks.

Daniel

[JamesC]

ensanguined,
 
It seems it may take more in-depth troubleshooting to resolve this issue. Please consider contacting the Arlo Support Team for further investigation. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. If you have any additional questions/concerns feel free to private message me. I would be happy to help.

JamesC

[spelling]

Hi JamesC,

I like many of the posters here have the same ghosting issue on the CVR paid service, I paid for the service on an annual basis Thursday after receiving the camera.

On Thursday BEFORE the camera was upgraded (firmware) I had flawless coverage, android app showed 100% and the webservice showed all bars.  The previous reply in this thread asked a specific question (essentially) "are we to believe in the reported wifi quality" as clearly if we are then questions of "please move the camera and see if it is better" are rather moot.

Now I upgraded (sillly boy I know) the firmware yesteday, and the purple light is now flashing - whereas it did not before.  Again moving the camera, if the light goes off, means that Netgear made a change in the wifi module - this is not good.

However, I am trying to work here with the camera, as I don’t want to waste the time, fail, and ultimately send it back as “not fit for purpose” - I also need another 5 of these to cover what I want covered.

Now, as mentioned I paid for the yearly full CVR service, which to me, means that the camera should be recording to the cloud 24/7. I have no issues with my internet, pingdom confirms that for me, and more importantly, my VPN would go down on my PC and I would be alerted by SMS within 20 seconds – this has not happened – my download speed is 73Mbps and my upload is 20Mbps, so plenty for this one little camera to harness.

The CVR service has ghosting in plain daylight. I must admit the quality is not great either (I poss need to play with the camera settings). I have set the camera to 1080p, but still cannot read a car number plate at say 27 feet (more or less 9 meters max). This is all online viewing mind you, nothing downloaded. Also whilst grumbling about the online service, if I try to watch it via my mobile phone (Samsung S7 Edge) the image is mostly grey (could be light green as I am colour blind) – is there any way to fix this, I find I have to close the first clickthrough as it rarely connects first time, the browser (from clicking the image link in email) and click it again, it opens the arlo site to view the footage – but generally grey 😞

I am hoping this is all solvable and the camera got good reviews etc on reputable sites, but that was before the last firmware upgrade I would suggest. So, one last question, how can we roll back the firmware upgrade that broke the wifi ?

So to confirm - I wont be moving the camera, as mentioined in another thread, it is where it is because it is mnitoring (using that word loosely at the moment) the area I want monitor. I have spent out some £400 / $500 on this setup of 1 camera having 247 cloud recording.  I need to get it fixed, or RMA it.

Thanks,.

Chris

[JamesC]

spelling,

If you are not willing to relocate the camera to further isolate and your WiFi indicator shows 100% it seems it may take more in-depth troubleshooting to resolve this issue. Please consider contacting the Arlo Support Team for further investigation. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link.

JamesC

[spelling]

Hi JamesC

Ticket created.