Arlo Ultra Sound Issues

[Mjbeuke]

Hey guys - I am having a couple of issues and have a couple of questions about the Ultras:

When I got home from vacation today I noticed my new SmartHub’s light was amber - and some of the video recordings stored on the cloud taken by my Ultras while away were sort of “glitchy” and choppy... weird stuttering going on with anything in motion (EX. A car driving by would be chopping across the screen - no pixelation or video degradation just bouncing around in a choppy looking manner.....) I have 2 cameras in the front - one ultra connected to my SmartHub, and one Pro 2 also connected to the SmartHub.... the Pro 2 did not glitch and showed the same motions clearly where the Ultra was choppy/glitchy.

Also, when I pulled up the app upon getting home - I noticed the cameras had a firmware update available - so I just updated them both and rebooted the base station.....

1) does anyone have any idea what the update is for??? As usual - the idiots at Arlo find it better to push out an update without saying anything about it in advance....

It seems like after the update the sound is all screwed up - way sensitive and cutting in and out both on video and live view.... it was not doing this before which makes me made for the reason outlined above....

2) Has anyone else been experiencing these issues with Choppy motion in video taken by the Ultras???

I have not noticed or seen this issue in the 2 days I set the new system up before I left for vacation.... one of my Ultras has full WiFi bars - the other is missing one bar. My internet is a Cable connection with 200 down 15 up - and there are absolutely no connection or internet issues on my home network. I have a $500 router, home NAS I streamed from while on vacation, and over 50 smart devices in total around my home including cameras of another brand - all of which have zero issues.

I appreciate any advice or shared experiences along these lines... I still have 15 days to return these to Amazon if things don’t level off. So far I like them, but I’m overall completely dissatisfied with Arlo’s customer support both in my Pro 2 5-camera kit that has a bunk base station firmware that freezes.... and now issues with the Ultra.

Arlo really makes it hard to remain a customer...

[Pgsullivan]

My Ultras sound on all 4 cameras is not working right, it’s all disjointed and breaks up constantly so can’t make anything out. Mic is on and have tried with or without wind noise reduction and no different. Also can’t get the two talk to work. I also have the Pro cameras and when on line and you press the mic and it connects with that you press and hold to speak but the ultra just seems to mute the mic on and off, and so can’t get it to work to hear my voice . Not sure if connected to my first issue, am I missing something? All the video images are absolutely fine, just the sound issue

[JamesC]

Pgsullivan,

The development team is currently reviewing these reports. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.

JamesC

[Pgsullivan]

Thanks. Is that also with the two way talk? Should it operate in the same way as the pro cameras, eg press and hold to talk? Arlo Ultras only just out the box so not sure if a different process to my Arlo Pros set up.

[JamesC]

Pgsullivan,

Tap microphone icon and the push to talk button should appear. Tap the push to talk button again and that should open the mic (button will turn gray and a "Tap to Mute" message will be displayed".

JamesC

[Pgsullivan]

Thanks James

That’s not working on any camera, just talking into my phone and nothing coming through cameras not sure if connected to my original issue with Sound then?

[JamesC]

Pgsullivan,

I tested this and did not have any issues with push to talk.

What device/OS version are you using (iOS, Android, PC)? Do you see the same behavior when using a different device?

JamesC

[Jdubbs4131]

This issue just started this week however both my Arlo Ultras have horrible audio quality. It is very scratchy or just plain dead at times unless I reboot the base station. Then it is mostly bad still. I think this is related to recent firmware update. My Arlo Pro 2 and both Pros are solid.

[Pgsullivan]

My ultra cameras sounds had never worked, the attached just shows all I pick up is crackling in live view, or triggered recording. This is terrible. What is going on. Is this the sound issue that most are experiencing? I pay extra for 4K quality and the sound is pathetic and this is on all 4 ultra cameras. Have rebooted the base but no different

[JamesC]

Pgsullivan,

The development team is working on a fix for this issue. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.

JamesC

[Pgsullivan]

James

When are the timescales, surely such a major problem would have utter focus and be resolved in days not weeks?? Reading back it appears to be previous firmwares causing the problem, so again can’t be that hard to retro solve. I have spent £1.3k on 4 Ultras and this just a fairly catesohtophic loss in functionality that I can’t hear anything, can record sound and the two way talk which was sold as ‘Unparalleled Audio’??? Is that because no other company has non existent audio and certainly not ‘crisp two-way conversations’!!! I hope the ‘team working on it’ doesn’t go the same way that comment was used for the Arlo baby cam! If it’s not resolved before my return period runs out I’ll have to rerun them as faulty. After already owning the baby cam, and was let down by the dropping the monitor, to also owning Pro and Pro 2 cameras I waited a while to invest in the Ultras in the hope that any kinks would be worked out by then. I guess I was a few years to early again!!

[Atrinidad]

Same here..the sound constantly cuts on and off..like if your muting and unmuting your tv constantly. Probably the only issue I’m having so far.

[Kammfam]

Yep, still having this issue as well. Choppy audio on recordings, and now NO audio on Live View. This has been ongoing since the latest firmware update and only affects the Ultra cameras. My audio is still fine on all my Pro2 cameras that are connected to the Ultra base station.

[Redpower187]

This should have been fixed long ago, this is becoming a joke. Audio was perfect before the newest update.

How long does it take to look back and see what was changed between the newest update and the update prior that could have caused the sudden drop in audio quality???

It is the only thing stopping me from buying more cameras at this point.

Come on Arlo! it's time to up your game and stop losing business.

[manchj9]

I’m having the same issue with the stuttering and the choppy sound when is this going to be fixed this is been going on forever in fact this has been going on since I bought the camera kit.
My Arlo pro 24 camera kit never had any issues with that as far as the choppy sound
Another thing that I’ve noticed is the camera button and looking at my view disappears and reappears on its own I sometimes have to restart the app and order for it to show up again so you can’t take a picture or record the video while you’re watching live it’s only fixed when you restart the app Sometimes it works but most of the time it does not.

[Mjbeuke]

This issue is still going on....

Also the latest and greatest base station update seems to have majorly crippled my 2 Ultra cams... now they aren’t even recording on motion - the motion sensing is working (I tested it in the device utilities and the light is blinking on movement) - but no recordings are produced and no notifications are had....

I mean seriously??? An update to the cameras themselves completely ruins the sound recording one week - and the next week you update the base station and now they won’t even function as a recording device - literally the whole point of these cameras???

@JamesC we would greatly appreciate an update on these several compromising issues.... and rather than the generic company line of looking into it - can we get some sort of a specific timeline???

This is your flagship product.... the livelihood of your company and employees are riding on the back of your flagship... as consumers and early-adopters we desperately need to know that these things are being taken seriously.

I have multiple support tickets in that have never been responded to or followed up on at all. You’re our only hope JamesC!!

[n1976jmk]

Good morning Mjbeuke, unfortunately there is a lot of us in the same situation. I have a 2 camera Ultra system with door bell and door chime and pretty much rendered useless right now too 😥

[Mjbeuke]

The only workaround I have found for now is I have Smart Outlets connected to my wifi - and I bought some pretty nice ones that have the capability of scheduling on/off times on a reoccuring schedule.

So I've set the smart plug up to turn off the base station for 1 minute, and then turn it back on. So its automatically power-cycling the base station every 6 hours.....

Now, this is still not perfect.... There tends to be about a 3 hour window that the issue starts again..... so power cycling 6-8 times a day is absolutely ridiculous - and no one should HAVE to buy a smart plug just to have their damn $600 camera system function somewhat.....

This is a WORKAROUND Arlo - not your excuse to let this go unaddressed for months with no updates.

PLEASE HELP US ALL

[Kammfam]

@JamesC - please, PLEASE give us an update about this sound issue. I have these cameras up because of a protection order against my neighbors, and I need videos for court purposes. They do me no good if the court can't hear my neighbors threatening me because my vidoes are just full of static!!!  This has been ongoing for weeks now and is completely unacceptable!

[troy97]

Hi this is happening to every camera it will drain the battr

Check out the video from my Arlo camera. Just click the link below to view.

https://my.arlo.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/A0E1843711170B25_201908

But don't wait too long -- this link will only work for 24 hours.

Enjoy!

[Redpower187]

This needs to be fixed!

[Redpower187]

Hurry up and fix it, has been over a month and still no fix!

[Kammfam]

And still no response about this issue, and no fix with the firmware release this week. My audio is horribly staticy and choppy on all my Ultra cameras, but my Pro2 cameras (on the same base station) have crisp, clear audio. I need this fixed!!!!!!!

[KelvinOr]

Worst tech support I have ever seen

[wds83]

I have the same issues with my 2 Ultra Cameras. Just bought them 3 weeks ago. The Pro's I have the sound is crystal clear. I will be returning  my Ultra Cameras if there is no fix  and update in the next few days. Its a shame because I like the features on the Ultra's

[LandJS]

after seeing comments come after the latestest firmware update I checked my 6 cams for today as my daughter had been out to let her dog run.  She walked around the outside of the house about 15 feet out talking on her cell phone and there was not one sign of any breakup or static as she chatted.  I was suprised at how well I could hear her.  Hope they can find the issue but not sure it could be a widespread firmware thing