"Record Activity Until Motion Stops" Does Not Work

[chawks]

There is a similar topic that was started in Dec of 2016 and was closed as "solved" in 2017, yet I still have the exact issue.

Camera is set to record until motion stops (up to 300 seconds) yet stops at 9 to 15 seconds while there is still valid motion (at an angle, not head on moving toward the camera) and VERY loud audio. 

And then sometimes, one of my Qs will record for 11 or more MINUTES when there is NO activity (motion or audio) in the frame.

The results are completely unpredictable and frustrating as hell. I had one situation today where the motion and audio went on for 15 minutes (I was watching live through the portal) yet the recording stopped at 12 seconds. I really needed to capture the activity but the system did not.

Furthermore, when I attempt to set a fixed recodring duration other than 15 seconds (default), there is no Save button on the portal and hitting anything else (back, edit rule, another camera, etc.) doesn't save the setting either - so I'm stuck with 2 options: a completely unpredictable, dysfunctional/non-working "Record activity until motion stops" or "15 seconds" which is utterly impractical in my use case.

Anyone else having this problem or found a solution?

I am at the point of boxing all four of my Arlo Qs up and returning them for a refund, leaving the Arlo and Netgear solutions behind for good. I'd rather not if I can help it, as I like the Q as a concept - but it needs to actually WORK.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[chawks]

I should add that all 4 cameras have the latest f/w update, are on a strong, reliable enterprise grade Wi-Fi system that's connected to a 300+Mbps Internet connection through an enterprise grade router. I've disconnected, removed/resync'd, and unplugged/rebooted them all to no avail. All cameras exhibit this same issue, so I know it's not isolated to a single device/camera.

I'm at my wit's end and can't figure out anything else to do to resolve...

[TomMac]

One thing of note from yr original post...

if you are watching Live View as stated, the cam does not record unless you manually start a record session.... You over ride the motion detect when live viewing.

[chawks]

Hi TomMac,

Thanks for your reply!

I thought about that but that has not been my experience prior. It's not that I doubt you or that that's how it's supposed to work - it's just that I have been able to watch live and then return to the Library and re-watch the same event that I saw live in the past - without manually starting recording when in live mode. Perhaps that was a fluke and/or error in the programming I encountered, but that only reinforces the inconsistency/unpredictability I'm suffering.

I plan to specifically test this over the next couple of days.

[chawks]

To add one more lovely to this situation:

I found elsewhere in the Community that indeed, the web portal has NO save option for changing the recording duration (or any other option for that matter) where the iPad app DOES.  (Holy crap! Really!? WTF?!)

So, I changed the recording duration to 20 seconds, armed a Q and started audio and motion activity 3 feet in front of the camera. It starts actually a little early (that's good and indicates it's using a buffer - nice!) but then ends the recording consistently 4 seconds early (at 16 seconds. I repeated this test with a duration of 30 seconds and recording stopped at 26 sec.) - not so nice. 

This shorting of the selected duration kinda sucks but, OK with predictability, I can work around that. Here's the kicker though: I gave the camera constant motion and audio so that at the end of the 20 or 30 second recording, there was MORE activity to trigger a new recording. It did NOT restart recording until 20-45 seconds later (variable and unpredictable... ugh) so all activity was not recorded. 

A LOT can go down in 20 to 45 seconds! This is NOT a security camera solution like this. There appears to be no re-trigger setting to adjust this delay. When a camera is set "...until activity stops" I've had recordings basically butt up against each other temporally such that only 1-5 seconds is not recorded. So that option works better for retriggers but is liable to stop recording WAY too early; or not.

This is crazy making.

Somebody give me a reason not to give up on this platform and return these things; please!

I really like the concept, the 'free' 7-day rolling storage, the decent daytime video quality and acceptable night quality when within 15', the size and mounting capability of the Arlo Q product line but all that is thrown rapidly out the window if I can't trust the thing to actually work as intended.

Sorry to be so long-winded and 'ranty' but dayum... Color me frustrated. Very frustrated.

[TomMac]

---

@chawks wrote:

Hi TomMac,

Thanks for your reply!

I thought about that but that has not been my experience prior. It's not that I doubt you or that that's how it's supposed to work - it's just that I have been able to watch live and then return to the Library and re-watch the same event that I saw live in the past - without manually starting recording when in live mode. Perhaps that was a fluke and/or error in the programming I encountered, but that only reinforces the inconsistency/unpredictability I'm suffering.

I plan to specifically test this over the next couple of days.

---

Yes, if the recording has been triggered and then you go to Live, the video will be in the library.

But if you go live first, then the camera will not record.

( changed recently as to allow you to go live during record... in past the camera wouldnt let you go Live till it was completed )

[TomMac]

So, I changed the recording duration to 20 seconds, armed a Q and started audio and motion activity 3 feet in front of the camera. It starts actually a little early (that's good and indicates it's using a buffer - nice!) but then ends the recording consistently 4 seconds early (at 16 seconds. I repeated this test with a duration of 30 seconds and recording stopped at 26 sec.) - not so nice. 

Yes, the Q camera has a 3 sec "look back" feature cause it's on ac power ( and so do some of the other Arlo cams ).

In effect, the camera is always recording and adds the prev 3 secs to the front end of a trigger event recording.

I don't really the video ending early at my end, but I do notice it can be +/- about 2 sec.

As to the save feature, if always auto saves when on the web when you hit back... try a diff browser like Fire Fox

[Sigoo]

Given this is an Arlo-hosted forum, when can we expect an answer to these questions? Not exactly great customer service.

It's poor reflection of the Company that that the issue appears to have been around for some 3 years and is still not resolved, and the documentation and config screens still oversell the functionality by continuing to state it's a feature.

I would recommend and buy additional Arlo products if they fixed the "Record Activity Until Motion Stops" issue, but not until then.

[ShayneS]

Hi @Sigoo

May I ask what settings you are using & the issue you are experiencing with your camera?

[Sigoo]

Hi @ShayneS ,

Settings are:
     Device On - On
     Wifi Network - 'connected'
     Camera LED - On
     Time Zone - (UTC)
     Flicker Adjustment - Auto (50Hz)
     Device Info:
          HW Version - VMC3040r6
          Firmware - 1.9.0.0_269

Video Settings:
     Video Resolution - 1080p
     Zone 1 - set
     Rotate Image - Off
     Night Vision - On

Audio Settings:
     Microphone - On
     Speaker - On
     Speaker Volume - 100%

Mode Settings:
     'Armed 2' Custom mode - On
     Rules - 'Record video on ... if ... detects motion'
     "if the following"
     Motion is detected - On
          motion sensitivity - 9
          Zone 1 - On
     Audio is detected - Off
     "Then do the following"
     Record video - On
     "How long do you want to record?"
          Record until activity stops (up to 300 sec)
"And do the following"
     Push Notification - On
     Send email alert - Off

Issue being experienced:
Camera is set to record until motion stops (up to 300 seconds) yet stops after what seems to be a random number of seconds (typically around 15 or so) whilst there is still obvious motion.

Look forward to hearing from you.

[jguerdat]

Post a link to a typical video.

[Sigoo]

Hi @ShayneS and @jguerdat,

I'm not sure how this forum works and what the Arlo Moderator and Guru accreditations mean, i.e. whether you're Arlo employees or just kindly helping out?

Either way, I wondered if there was any progress on this. I'm not happy to post up a typical video as the video footage is private - nothing seedy but I don't think it appropriate to post it up.

Surely there's an answer to this - either the "Record Activity Until Motion Stops" works or it doesn't. If the Arlo assertion is that it does work (even though I and various others seem to think it doesn't) then surely there are (presumably unpublished) parameters that influence how 'well' it can be expected to work?

[jguerdat]

Shayne is an employee, as noted by his avatar, while I just have spent far too many hours on these forums. I'm retired IT.

You can always generate a specific video to demonstrate the issue. I have done that in the past to figure out how the system works for this function. I started close to the camera, walking back and forth across the FOV, slowly increasing the distance between me and the camera to see at what point motion stopped being detected. I also tested how long I could stop moving before the recording stopped.

[Adrienne58]

SO?!?!? I'm writing in May,2019 ... this issue is NOT SOLVED!

Everything is working in my system EXCEPT I cannot see anything longer than 10 seconds!  Yes, it starts a new 'alert'/recording ... but it misses information - and it's not anywhere near the 5 minutes I'm supposed to be able to record with the 'keep recording till motion stops' command.  GRRRRRR!!!!

[jguerdat]

Don't forget that it's not a timed 5 minutes. Motion has to be detectable by the camera (not your eyes) and can't stop for more than ~5 seconds based on my testing. If motion starts, stops, starts, stops, etc., you may get the short videos since the stoppage was long enough to cause the recording to stop.