Smart Notifications - I Am Receiving Motion Alerts When "People" Only Is On

[nedkelly78]

8 pro2 camera's,  i am subscribed to the smart detection/notification and only have 'people' on alert, but on some of PRO2 cameras i still get alerts for motion. looking at the camera info, the HW version this is happening on is H4, while the H5 are OK. They are all PRO2 though. I only want people. tried resetting the base and re-syncing the cameras but no luck very frustrating.

any ideas?

[JasonDimF]

Hi 

I read all the posts here for SMart Notifications and followed every step to reset cameras, base station etc but problem is not solved. 

I signed up for the trial of Smart Notifications and would like to continue to the paid subscription but only if this works. 

To test the Smart Notifications I EXCLUDE "persons" and walk in front of the cameras (x2). Both send me notifications that detected motion. And message says "A person was detected" even though the option for PERSON is NOT selected. 

Any suggestions?

[dcfox1]

I get some quicks once and a while and turning the notification off and back on helps. Since it did label you a person it is detecting you properly. But since you want to not get person try turning it on then off. 

[RDPJr]

New Customer, motion alerts work all too well but pretty worthless! I drive in my driveway then right in front of the camera and get no alerts or recording's. I have turned cameras off and on, reset base station, remove the camera (deactivated it) then the major hassle of adding it back. I have to mess with and check these every day to make sure they work and there's always a problem. It seems apparent that the highly advertised smart notifications are terribly unreliable and rarely ever work! I will not spend hours of my time on the phone with Arlo support. Their contact options are pretty much useless. I guess I should have researched more because any company that claims to have this suffisticated of a system would undoubtedly have a more suffisticated option for support built into their APP!!!

[ShayneS]

Hi @RDPJr

I have provided an article with further information regarding camera positioning for optimal performance. It sounds like the cameras may be either too far and/or at a suboptimal angle to pick up motion. You may also want to try and adjust the sensitivity within your modes for the desired camera(s).

How do I position my Arlo wire-free camera?

[RDPJr]

The cameras have a great wide viewing area. I set the area's I want to record in video settings. So am I to understand that this record area doesn't really mean anything? I'm getting the impression that I have to mount them closer to the ground so they can be pointed directly at an area I want to record people, animals and vehicle's. This suggests that the motion sensor range is a lot less than the settings for recording and activity zones implies. If this is true then they need to be placed where anyone can easily see and get their hands on them. Putting cameras outside of a house usually has to be under the eaves which makes the motion sensing almost useless. I have to say that when I first installed the driveway camera it wasn't sensing car's so I moved it to a lower and more direct angle but it seems to be even worse.
The Arlo videos and instructions point out the shared area of the viewing angle that are supposed to help with not receiving alerts when there is movement on a street in the distance. There's no way these cameras could sense that! I'm in the country and don't have to worry about that anyway.
I've read something about 25 ft, who has a house that is only 25ft from the road? The app and settings make us very comfortable with what we are setting but it doesn't seem to work!

[Kane1959]

My camera does the same picking up motion . After carefully taking a second and third glance , I found that the camera was picking up movements made by the wind but there was more . In the corner of the pic was several people walking , a bird ,a wasp , a flag , a tent and a fast cat . My cameras seem to be doing a Great job . The camera knows what it is seeing and we could too if only we look closer .

[FlatBugger]

Hey, I reckon the problem with smart notifications lies with the AI that's analyzing the video clips. This problem with smart notifications has little to do with the camera hardware or software itself. So resetting hardware or updating software will have no effect on this problem. When the camera motion detector sensors movement it will activate the camera and record for period of time. This video clip and every video clip will be uploaded to the arlo cloud for analysis. It's the AI that arlo uses that has problems, namely the inability to do a good job of working out what's an animal, person, vehicle or package. I've found by enabling all forms of motion detection from the smart notification page I get a much more accurate library of clips that reflect what's been going on in front of the camera. Yes I get a lot of footage to wade through but its all the footage, assuming arlo grants me access to all the footage it receives from my cameras. I've found that allowing arlo to decide what's valid footage or not gets me very hit and miss access to my library of clips because arlo will delete all footage that doesn't meet the rules set by it's motion detection software. If you want to miss out on possibly important clips of motion from your cameras, please continue to rely on arlo's smart notification selections. I'd rather have all the motion detected available to view. I'm much better at object detection than arlo's AI. Oh and turn off arlo notification alerts to your phone. Just check in when it's convenient for you to look through the content. Alerts have little value, things will happen and your best bet is to review the footage after the fact and decide what value it has.

[AJAJ]

My trial subscription is ending in a month.  The cost of keeping it going is exorbitant.  I mean ridiculous!

I don't see why Arlo should charge extra for zones and people detection.  I hope I'll be able to use the system after the trial ends.  I would never recommend Arlo to a friend if it won't work without a subscription!

[FlatBugger]

Depends how much you value security I guess. For me the cost is nominal. There is a list of features you get for your subscription. Yes the cameras still work without subscription, just not as convenient. You'll work it out.

[dcfox1]

Agree. The use of cloud storage for newer models alone is worth it.  A streaming TV service cost more per month. 

What options will I have when the Arlo Smart 3-month trial plan ends?