Arlo - Define an area for the motion sensor to trigger within

[Dal-z]

Hello all, I can't see it as an option to define the area of view where the motion detector should be active for? Example: Only the right side of view should trigger the motion sensor, and the left side view should not.

Can you please confirm this? (Hopefully not....:/ )

Are there any plans to implement such a great feature? (Note that the myDlink cameras have this feature already....)

[TomMac]

On the ARLO and ARLO PRO, the PIR device covers the ENTIRE field of view....

The only work-around has been some users have physically masked small portions of the sensor with like elec tape, etc

[eightbit]

I'd just like to add I would also like to see this feature - as would i'm sure, lots of other users. My batteries will be drainedwithin the month as the wind creates some movement in the field of view - I've tried to reduce sensitivity and then nothing gets recorded - impossible to get the balance right

[Gsjtjdicndak]

This is a much needed feature. When people have cameras on their front doors they don't want everyone on the sidewalk setting off the sensor, for instance.

[jguerdat]

That's usually fixed by proper positioning of the camera. That won't always be possible, of course. However, we've been told that zones on the wireless cameras won't happen. Maybe future hardware will be different.

[Gsjtjdicndak]

That's unfortunate. I spend $170 on a camera that can't pan and it doesn't have a feature that my cheap d-link and TENVIS features have.

This could easily be solved with software. If the camera can detect motion, one can draw a box where motion is not detected. This is laziness on the part of Netgear.

[jguerdat]

No, it's the nature of PIR detectors which see the whole scene. The Q cameras use pixel-based detection which provides what you seek.

[Neonlex2002]

So how is it that the Ring camera is wireless and can square off what someone wants to actually detect for motion. 

---

jguerdat wrote:
No, it's the nature of PIR detectors which see the whole scene. The Q cameras use pixel-based detection which provides what you seek.

---

[jguerdat]

No idea since I don't have one and don't have any knowledge.

[Gsjtjdicndak]

My neighbor showed me that in the Arlo app you can adjust zoom on the camera, I wonder if this will focus the motion detection on just the visible area, then, and if this will partially provide some ability to exclude areas from motion detection.

I have growing outdoor plants that blow in the wind and get larger in summer, so being able to avoid detecting moving rose bushes ever time the wind blows would save batteries, review time, and annoyance.

[jguerdat]

No, Pan and Zoom has no effect on motion detection. It is simply a cropping of the visible view.

[tinokremer]

To be more clear, the Arlo camera has a Passive Infra Red sensor. It's the big round thing under the camera. This sensor basically detects heat. As stated above, there is really no way to make the area of detection smaller besides physically covering the sensor with tape or something else.

As it detects heat, you will see much more triggers when it's cold outside. I had during the winter (freezing outside) a lot of triggers when a cat was walking like 6 meters away, which do not happen now when it is much warmer. This is easily explained as well, the detector 'sees' difference between cold and warm. If the surroundings are very cold, a small portion of warmth is easily detected. If the surroundings have the same temperature as the object itself, detection won't be possible at all.

The crop you can setup is for the image itself. It makes little sense to use, unless there is a part in the image you NEVER want to see like part of a wall or something.

The Arlo Q and many other systems do not use a PIR sensor, but rely on continuous 'recording' and analyzing pixels. If many pixels change at the same time, obviously something has changed in front of the camera, allowing it to trigger.

This way of detecting takes much more energy though as it needs the video system continuously switched on combined with a computer with software running on it to do the calculations for detection. The Arlo (and Arlo Pro) camera's are wireless and battery operated. The PIR itself uses very little energy, allowing it to continue working for weeks or even months on a single charge.

Because of this, you cannot use your Arlo (Pro) behind a window as it will not detect heat through the glass, while an Arlo Q setup behind a window will easily detect changes in the image.

[jguerdat]

FWIW, I use a small piece of tape to block detection of cars on the street for one camera.  With a little ingenuity, you could physically mask the PIR to some degree to create a "zone".

[Gsjtjdicndak]

Interesting!

I think the Infra red motion detector gets less false positives than pixel sensors, especially at night.  I have a camera that triggers constantly all night long (so I had to shut it off), because the pixel sensor goes crazy in infra red mode, maybe because of all the pixel changes when the image is grainy.