New Ultra not 4k

[Dwnh]

Just purchased 2ultra pack of cams. Retired my old base station so only the new one is in play. I have a subscription and upload speeds are good as I have a fiber connection. I can’t get it to record in 4k. No zoom, no auto zoom, best recording quality is set. Full mode set (not wide or ultra wide). Still no luck. Ideas?

[Streak2]

What subscription plan do you have?

"The Arlo Ultra 2 can both live stream and record in 4K, though doing so requires a paid Arlo Secure Plus or Premium plan and specific local network setups for live viewing."

[Dwnh]

Secure Plus Premium.

 I am going to add a Sd card later this week for recording locally. 

What specific local network setup do I need?

[Dwnh]

Specifically 

• SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSD UHS

[StephenB]

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@Dwnh wrote:

Just purchased 2ultra pack of cams. Retired my old base station so only the new one is in play. I have a subscription and upload speeds are good as I have a fiber connection. I can’t get it to record in 4k. No zoom, no auto zoom, best recording quality is set. Full mode set (not wide or ultra wide). Still no luck. Ideas?

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In the past, there have been some reports that the app isn't showing the resolution properly.

Try downloading one of the recordings to a PC.  Then check the resolution there.  On a Windows PC, right click on the mp4, select properties, and then details.  Frame height and width are shown on that screen.  (4K is 3840x2160).

[Dwnh · Accepted solution]

Interesting. I think I have it now. I did dl to my phone but I wasn’t seeing 4k “badge” before. It’s showing now this morning. I did adjust my router and give the base station priority on QOS. Lots of work but I think I finally made it! 

on the other hand I thought 4k would look better than it does, but I’ll take it!

[Edinburgh_lad1]

The 2k/4k badge, depending on the model of the camera, doesn't always show; I have no idea what this depends on but certainly that happens on my 2k pan and tilt. Restarting the stream can sometimes fix the issue. I've not tried my Ultra cameras.

As regards the quality, you need to have a 4k receiver to see the quality, but also Arlo's other parameters aren't the best (for example, the bit rate). 

You can check my other post about bit rate in the Pro 2 section, specifically about the Pro 2 camera. 

 @StephenB can add more as that's his area of specialism.

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

 @StephenB can add more 

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I agree that that the 4K quality is disappointing.  That is because of the low bitrate Arlo is using.  In most situations it's hard to distinguish 2K recordings from the Pro 6 from 4K recordings from the Ultra.

IMO the main benefit of the 4K in the Ultra is that you can zoom out the image more when you are setting up your camera view.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

And that's daytime footage. Nighttime footage on, for example, Ultra, which is probably the main reason why people get this kind of system, is even more disappointing. A face recorded on my cameras during the night (I use black and white night vision) is an oval with two darker dots. The boss, however, assured me at some point that there is no difference in quality whether you have a subscription or not.

If one uses local storage, I really have no idea why the user can't control the bitrate and/or frame rate in such situations - simple enough to add to the app. Unless they're worried that too much data would pass through their servers - as live streaming goes through their servers - but that, of course, could be easily addressed, too.

Overall, as @StephenB pointed out several times before, it's better to have higher bitrate than 2k/4k resolution, and I agree. (The footage used to be much better even on my Arlo HD camera. Now? Pixelated and difficult to endure, though in my case sufficient enough to distinguish my cat from a cushion 😁)

[Dwnh]

It is disappointing. We were hoping to see license plates- and it is better but not great. I may have to reposition the camera.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

deleted 

[StephenB]

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@Dwnh wrote:

 We were hoping to see license plates

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Unlikely.  Reliable license plate capture generally needs specialized cameras.  The plate is only a foot wide, and you need at least 60 pixels across the plate to read the text clearly.  (80-120 pixels being the recommended number).  You almost certainly aren't getting that many.  You can use video editing tools to confirm this. 

Also, when the car is moving there is motion blur.  On top of that, at night the glare from the vehicle lights generally results the plate being too dark to read in the image.

So in this case, the bit rate is only part of the issue.  Arlo cameras simply aren't designed for plate capture.  Usually you use a camera with a narrow field of view, aimed along a path where the car has to travel.  The cameras usually use a high frame rate to control motion blur, and often there is added lighting in that area to manage the glare problem.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

However, the irony is that Arlo uses examples of license plates as a way to show how good the Ultra camera is. See the example below:

https://blog.arlo.com/best-security-setups/why-security-camera-resolution-is-incredibly-important/

I'm sure I've seen Arlo adverts, too, with license plates being used to highlight USPs of Arlo cameras. 

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

However, the irony is that Arlo uses examples of license plates as a way to show how good the Ultra camera is. See the example below:

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It'd be better if they didn't do that.

I guess you could try zooming in on the video settings screen,  and center the image around the area where the license plate should be.  That likely gives you the best chance of getting something readable.

[Dwnh]

As far as I understand, zooming negates the 4k ability.  😞

[StephenB]

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@Dwnh wrote:

As far as I understand, zooming negates the 4k ability.  😞

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It's a digital zoom, so the pixels captured in the image drops when you zoom in.