Arlo Email Preview Pictures

[fentonius]

Is there a way to make Arlo send me email alerts with the actual picture embedded in the email?

The reason I ask is that I have found that the email just contains a hyper link to the picture, not the actual picture, and that link expires so it's useless to see anything in the email longer than a week ago. Also, most email clients block the download of the picture, so it makes it take a lot of time to sort through.

Thanks in advance

[jguerdat]

You won't get the actual video in the email due to data usage to do so. Also, the link expires in 24 hours while the library provides the previous 7 days before they drop off.

[fentonius]

Yes, I know all that thanks - appreciate it.

I probably wasn't clear enough - I'm taking about the "picture" that appears in your email as a preview... That is a downloadable image, currently. I'm asking, is there anyway to make the email "contain" the image preview as a jpg? My old security system did that and it worked well for places that got alot of activity... Image this:

1) You have a busy camera spot

2) You get a few hundred notification

3) at the end of the day, you want to review the shots

4) Currently, you have to view each email, wait for the darn preview image to download, then decide if you want to review the recording. Takes ages. What would be better is if the images are already inside the email, so you can just wizz through them.

[jguerdat]

Just tested this. The image in the email IS a jpg but also is attached to a link to view the video. You don't need to wait to set up to download or view the video - the preview image is already there. That takes very little time to display. So, every email just includes a preview image, not the video itself.

Maybe I don't understand what you're asking even though you tried to make it clear for me.

[fentonius]

Sorry for not being clear, let me try this:

1. - I don't want the video as an attachment...
2. - I want the image preview
   • I do NOT want to download it at the time when I view the email, it's too expensive and takes too much time.
     • I want it to be already attached to the email as a jpg attachment. This ensures quick and easy triage of detected movement.

"That takes very little time to display" - ha for you maybe. Try on a 4G iphone, or anywhere in the center of the USA.

What if you are not connected? Say you were on holiday and on the way back, want to review the previews while on the plane? The way it is setup is too expensive, people just want to quickly review what is going on.

Besides, the way it is setup, they have to process all of the preview requests in real time, it must be very costly in 'cloud' processing time

I hope this makes sense now

[jguerdat]

Just tried this via cell service and the image shows instantly. The emails should show everything all at once. Not sure what you're experiencing but it's certainly not universal. I could review the emails at a rapid clip on cell service with no issue.

Reboot your phone and contact your provider.

[fentonius]

Thanks for testing on cellphone. It's great that it's working for you, I never said that it wasn't (please don't take my comments as an insult to the product) - I said that it takes time to load the image, and if you have a few hundred to look through especially with limited connectivity, then it takes time - too much time! 

Going back to my original question, as I now believe you understand what I am talking about, is there a way to make Arlo send me a jpg attachment, rather than a link to a frame in the video held on the server?

[jguerdat]

No.  The email you get is the only one.  I just don't get why you're having issues viewing just the email thumbnail - it just doesn't take that much time to load. I did just look at the source of the email and I do see that the jpg is not actually embedded in the email - it's a link to the Arlo servers.  So, if your connection to the servers is slow for some reason, that thumbnail will be slow to load although it's only ~70kB for the one I checked.

I guess the issue is that the image is not actually embedded in the email which, theoretically, would provide you with a quicker response to see the whole email, links included.  Have you ever tried to look at the access times to your Arlo server?  Depending on your devices, use a traceroute utility to see the path to arlo.netgear.com.  Mine looks like this:

C:\Users\jguerdat>tracert arlo.netgear.com

Tracing route to ArloProdLB-1815857678.eu-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com [52.210.250.70]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.10.1
2 18 ms 9 ms 8 ms 142.254.218.125
3 30 ms 23 ms 20 ms agg63.hnrtnyaf01h.northeast.rr.com [24.58.232.209]
4 15 ms 13 ms 13 ms agg46.hnrtnyaf02r.northeast.rr.com [24.58.49.70]
5 17 ms 21 ms 21 ms be28.albynyyf01r.northeast.rr.com [24.58.32.70]
6 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms bu-ether46.nycmny837aw-bcr00.tbone.rr.com [107.14.19.102]
7 24 ms 24 ms 23 ms 0.ae2.pr0.nyc20.tbone.rr.com [107.14.19.147]
8 25 ms 24 ms 23 ms nyk-b5-link.telia.net [62.115.34.145]
9 24 ms 35 ms 82 ms nyk-bb1-link.telia.net [213.155.131.136]
10 108 ms 104 ms 104 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.135.95]
11 105 ms 101 ms 101 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.140.231]
12 101 ms 99 ms 99 ms a100-ic-314170-ldn-b1.c.telia.net [213.248.104.222]
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 112 ms 123 ms 112 ms 176.32.106.14
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 111 ms 111 ms 110 ms 176.32.107.5
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

If yours is looking to have much larger numbers, that's your problem.  The raft of >100ms in mine is a problem in the first place for speed of response.

[fentonius]

Thanks.

About your diagnosis - I understand that your access to the arlo servers is fast, even where you are in Wichita - the point is, other people will not have the same access speed as you so you should consider that... I appreciate your help though

Dear Arlo, I formally request that there be an option to embed preview images in emails.

Thanks again

[jguerdat]

I don't think my access is fast, regardless of how I try to connect. I have 25Mbs download and 2Mbs upload speeds but the issue above was there when I was on 15 down and 1 up. The potential issue is that my server is in Ireland while I'm in Rochester, NY. That tends to swamp my actual ISP speeds since my connection has to be transatlantic to do anything. Yours may be the same or completely different. It's worth testing just so you know.

[jguerdat]

BTW, my cell service just got me 2.5-5Mbs down and .5Mbs up. Not exactly zooming.

[jeoten]

Just chiming in here, when you say "embed", the email contains the JPEG attachment.  It is your email client that determins if it renders a picture inline or as simply an attachment (as any file attachment) in many cases.  That is, if you view your email in another app or browser or look at it using Yahoo Mail vs. Google Mail vs. Apple iCloud Mail, you may see it as embedded inline.

[fentonius]

Appreciated, but you are incorrect - no matter what email client you use, there is no jpg attached. You can verify it by downloading your email then turning off your internet and try and view the preview image. Doesn't show

[fortuna]

I am in full agreement with the Arlo customer's observations and request.  Please add .JPG to the actual e-mails.  It is truly a pain when you have been traveling for more than 24 hours and then are unable to easily view the pictures via the e-mail alerts.  I know that I can log into my system and then review them camera by camera, but that should be unnecessary.  I too would like to be able to scroll through these "old" e-mails to see what has happened.  At least make it an option for Arlo customers, do you want jpg's or links in your e-mails.  Surely this cannot be that complicated for a product so well designed as Arlo!

[Talisman3]

I completely agree with the abover users requests that an email jpeg snapshot of the event should be sent along with the email notification email. A simple link to the event is ok but not as effective as an embedded snapshot jpeg image inside the email.

We previously used Logitech's 750e outdoor cameras, while the camera hardware themselves were not very good and prone to failiures, the software was amazing and extremely customizable. It allowed a single jpeg snopshot image to be sent inside of the event notification email. This was extremely useful. From the single snapshot within the email you could tell from the image if you needed to investigate further by clicking on the link or accessing the cameras recording data or if it was something that didnt need investigating further.

I really dont know why Alro is not set up to do this. I am waiting to buy this product but will not until email preview snapshot pictures are a feature.

Get to work Netgear, make it happen, make your products amazing, we are waiting.