Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

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philip_rhoades
Guide
Guide

After a couple of days of getting familiar with the cameras - I like some of the new features (which is why I bought these cameras) however there are a number of annoyances but also an actually serious problem - the security activity I want to capture is typically short-lived and I am finding that the cameras are only recording activity from about 5 seconds AFTER the activity starts!  My other Swann camera sensibly records from a few seconds BEFORE the start of the activity - with Arlo I am losing about 50% of the value of the recording . . is there a fix for this major problem? - I can't find anything on any of the menus about lead-in seconds of recording or something equivalent . . 

 

Thanks,

Phil.

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jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

When AC powered you get the 3 second lookback capability. However, the likely solutions without adding power are 1) camera positioning and 2) motion sensitivity in your modes and rules. If not familiar with these, check the FAQs in the support section here. 

 

Make sure the camera not only monitors the area of real concern (not the street or sky, as much as possible) and that motion is across the FOV, not at the camera. Increasing motion sensitivity may also help. Post screenshots of the camera views for suggestions.

JehovasFitness
Luminary
Luminary

There has to be a glitch in the firmware update.

 

I've had Ultra for over a year and no issue. Past several weeks I am missing footage from from first 5-30s of activity.. Oddly this mainly happens in one direction.

Target_Acquired
Apprentice
Apprentice

Hello.  In my experience with the old "version 1" Arlo cameras, it seemed that one particular firmware update actually made the "missing the first x seconds" problem A LOT worse.

 

When I first set up that system, I would miss 1 to 3 seconds, with the motion capture alert being delayed another second or two.

 

It was VERY annoying that the pizza delivery guy could ring my doorbell before the alert would ping my phone saying there was somebody walking up my walk.

 

Now in the back yard, I had 3 cameras trained on the slider doors, arranged at 9, 12, and 3 o'clock to the expected area of action.  And in the rules, I programmed each one to start the others if motion was detected.  That way, if one camera picked up motion, I'd be recording with all three.  Still had the lag, but now I had a better chance of having SOME record of an intruder, whereas with just one camera, it would not capture ANY images of the person, because the person would have walked past the cameras long before the recording ever started.

 

Luckily, I never had anybody walk into that area with ill intent, and I was okay with a lot of filming going on when I was back there adding chemicals to the pool and so forth.  On occasion, hard rain in the pool or wind in the foliage would set off the cameras, and on extremely windy days, I had to shut that group of cameras off just to give my cell phone a break and have some peace while at my job.

philip_rhoades
Guide
Guide

I am experimenting with increasing the motion sensitivity and the use of zones - preliminary results suggest a slight improvement - I will report back later when I have had more recordings . . 

 

Thanks.

JehovasFitness
Luminary
Luminary

I have been having same issue with Ultra 1 for months now.

 

The recording will catch my car half way up the driveway on the cloud. If I go to the hub storage it's all there.

 

this isnt' a problem while working from home, but if I'm at work and remote this is problematic.

 

I've reset the base, taken out the battery and still nothing. This is a problem on their end, it was fine up until about 3 months ago.

 

That or when I made the change to be able to view the hub recordings while on my network.

philip_rhoades
Guide
Guide

Well "experimenting with increasing the motion sensitivity and the use of zones" didn't get me very much further - this is dumb! - I had webcams 20 years ago that didn't have this problem . . I will have a look to see if there is a firmware update but things don't look good ATM . . hmm . . guess there isn't an update . .

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