Basic Arlo 2-camera system ......new

[Gydancer]

Just installed my new system. I have 2 cameras.....one at the back of the house and one at the front. When I review the video from the night before, I find video frames from the camera located at the back, showing up on the front camera’s history.  But not the other way around! What is wrong with my set up?

Also, I am highly disappointed in the fact that there is simply too much delay between the first appearance of an object and the start of the recording that unfortunately last only 10 seconds.  Any way to alter these settings?  tnx   ~

[steve_t]

I'm assuming you bought the Arlo HD camera kit. The Arlo Pro and Arlo Pro 2 are so much better in every way. The biggest problem I had with the Arlo HD was, as you said, the delay between motion and recording. If the camera was at the front door, I'd often have a recording of the people leaving so only saw the back of them. My work around was to use 2 cameras at the front and have them trigger each other as well as themselves. Not ideal. 

As for recordings from the back in the front camera's history, can you post a screenshot? I've never heard of this before and was wondering if perhaps you were going from just the front camera to the full system library.
You can alter the length of the recording from between 10s and 120s but editing the rules for the cameras in your recording mode

[brh]

Look at the Mode section of the App. Under the "If the Following" section click on the name you have given the camera. A new page will open up showing all the cameras that are connected. Click on the circle on the right of the camera for the camera or cameras you wish to record video when this camera detects motin. You can set up one, two or more cameras to record when this camera detects motion. Now do the same for each camera you have connected.I had the same problem when I first set up my cameras and it took me a while to find this.

Hope this helps,

Brian

[brh]

The only way hat I know of to work around the delay is to mount motion detectors a few feet on either side of the camera to trigger the camera a few seconds earlier. Unfortunately, Arlo does not make motion detectors and I know of no other manufacturer's motion detectors that will natively connect to Arlo.

I use my Arlo cameras in conjunction with Smartthings so I have many motion sensor choices.

Arlo really should address this delay problem.

Brian

[steve_t]

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brh wrote:

Arlo really should address this delay problem.

Brian

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It was addressed in the Arlo Pro and Arlo Pro 2 cameras. Their recording after motion detection is near instantaneous

[brh]

Good to know as the delay is one of the disadvantages of using with Smartthings as both systems are talking to each other and Smartthings is cloud based.

Brian

[Gydancer]

First, let me thank all of you who have replied to my post.  Yes, my system is the 2-camera HD kit.

I had deleted the cross-recording of events between the 2 cameras, before a "screenshot" was suggested. It has been a couple of days now and the condition has not duplicated itself......so will continue to monitor that situation.

However, I'm in a funk about what to do now, about this delayed recording business. I hear suggestions that 2 cameras could be used at the one location so that one camera will activate the other. I am not sure I am understanding this correctly? If so, does that mean I have to spend another almost $200 ($400 if I get one for the back door too) to get the system to do what I expected it to do when I bought it?

Or, buy the Pro model that I understand solves the time lapse issue. In other words, I spent $400, for a system that may as well be a "dummy" set up, and if I want one that works I have to pay extra, is that how this works? You know, the first thing that comes to mind is the work that will be required to stuff all this gear back into the packaging (what a mess that will be) and the hassle of sending it back to Amz. I just noticed yesterday that this same system at Sam's has had a substantial price drop (01/02/18).

It's too bad that the functioning of this system is not on a par with it's aesthetics - nice looking gear, this. The more I chew this oyster, the bigger it gets. Decisions, decisions.  ~

[brh]

Well, it all depends on what you want to record. If you are trying to catch the postman quickly delivering mail to your home then you might miss him in the video, but if you want to record someone at your front door trying to break in, a couple of second delay is no big thing as it will probably take them a little time to do so.

Also, positioning is important. Try to position the cameras in such a location that gives you the greatest field of view so that the camera can detect motion as soon as possible. Set the motion sensitivity to maximum.

Brian

[brh]

Secondly, before you return it, compare the features with other camera systems. Do the other ones offer free cloud services for up to 5 cameras? Or how reliable are they? Look at reviews of the other systems and you will soon find out that the grass is not always greener on the other side. If you continue to purchase other items to enhance your home security or home automation will the they, (including Arlo), be compatible with the system you use?

Brian

[steve_t]

Get the Arlo Pro kit. It's more than worth the extra money

[Gydancer]

So basically you are saying what I have said. It $400 ($379+tax) to get a 2-camera system, but if I want one that works, I have to pay extra. I thought I had done my do-dilegence when I shopped for this one. It is much more expensive than many of the others I shopped, but Arlo seemed to be a higher quality system (not to mention the backing of Netgear). Do you think it would be possible to get full credit on the current one, towards an upgrade? I suppose I should be asking Neatgear this question.  Thanks for everyone's help on the forum. ~

[brh]

It seems that you are so disappointed that your system did not meet your expections that your mind is made up to return them. That is your decision so this will probably be my last post on this subject. But in fairness to Arlo what you purchased was older technology. In my case I purchased the same set two years ago and only a few weeks before the Pro cameras were available and did not even know the Pros existed. If I had known I definately would have purchased the pros. You can be forgiven for also not knowing all the differences between the older HD Wireless cameras and the Pro models, but what I don't understand is since you purchased them from Amazon, did you not read all the questions/answers and all the hundreds of reviews? There are so many bad reviews on there about this delay problem and batteries running down very quickly. These are two of the problems that were fixed in the Pro models.

As I said before, most of the competing cameras use the same type of motion detecting where motion coming straight at the camera is not as good as the detection of motion coming across the front of sensor.

Now, if you place the cameras in an area that has little activity you can leave the cameras always armed and there will be very little delay and the batteries should last a few months. But if you place the cameras in an area that has high traffic and you leave the cameras armed all the time you will get constant alerts, the batteries will run down in a couple of days or weeks but you won't have much of a delay. So there is a compromise between battery life, placement and weather against having the cameras in a disarmed state to only turn on and record videowhen motion occurs but living with a delay. That is just the way it is. At this stage of technology I don't see many systems out there that do a better job over all than Arlo.

Good luck,

Brian

[Gydancer]

Thanks, Brian. You are probably correct - my rep precedes me in these maters. I just now discovered something that I did not know before. If I select "live" feed there is no delay. However, I assume this cause a short life for the battery? I still don't understand how an extra camera near the same location as the one at my front door, would activate the motion sensor on the other camera.

I had an Amz. pkg. taken from my porch recently - hence the new camera system. But if the camera picks up only the back of the person, that is not much of a surveillance. I wonder if a security light that has a faster motion sensor response would trigger the Arlo camera more quickly?

And, in my own defense, when one is naive about a subject one does not always know what questions to ask. In my research I spent all my time reviewing the clarity of the pictures and the angle of capture, and the reputation of the company. Without experiencing it first hand, I wasn't smart enough to know that delay time would be much of a factor.  It just seemed to me that there were a lot of perfectionist nit pickers who were complaining.

I'm at that point in life that I forget to unzip when I go to the bathroom, let alone trying understand all the ins and outs of all the recent technology. In other words I am a DA on some of this stuff. I would just like to deter anyone from violating my space without consequences. Crime is very expensive for all of us, and those of us who are on SS are no exception. Probably, percentage wise, there are very few criminal occurrences that have resulted in arrests, as a result of having a record, but it probably makes us rest easier.  ~

[brh]

I know what you mean - my home was burglarized two years ago and they hit me hard. The scary thing is that as my wife was coming in the back door from work they quietly slipped out the front door. That is why I am trying so hard to help people and I take home security very seriously. I have a professional security system that is monitored 24/7. I also integrated my cameras with Samsung Smartthings as I can do so much more with it. I can have many brands ofmotion sensors, smoke alarms, door and window switches, water leak detectors, etc turn on the indoor cameras, turn on lights, notify me and show me the recordings. But nothing is perfect. Smartthings has its problems too.

I think in a couple of months the new Arlo lights will arrive and if you burchase them with a solar panel your problems will be over. You can use them to natively trigger the cameras and if the placement is good you can offset the delay. 

Both now and if you purchase the soon to be released lights, placement is everything. If you are using the cameras to see who or what is entering your driveway then you need to place the cameras at right angles to the driveway. If you want to monitor the front of your home so that you can see anyone tring to enter your door or windows, mount the camera at right angles to ythe front of your house. By having a wider angle the motion detectors will pick up motion sooner and there will be less of a delay.

Later if you pick up some Pro cameras take these for use indoors and mount the pros outside.

While the two camera approach works, it might or might not be a waste of a camera, but consider this. Automobiles will trigger the motion detectors much farther out than a person will, so uing one camera pointed down the driveway and one camera to allways monitor your door is not a bad idea. The driveway camera could trigger the door camera to start recording. Remember, good security does not start at your front door, but at the edges of your property.

By the way, I have probably gone overboard, but I have so far spent over a couple of grand on security equipment and plan on buying a lot more, especially cameras. My life and my wife's life are worth the expenditure.

I am simply trying to be helpful,

Brian

[brh]

gydancer,

My thoughts are that even with a video, probably the thief would not have been caught unless someone recognized him and/or he had a criminal record. The trick is to know and be alerted as soon as the delivery person arrives, (they don't always knock on your door or ring your doorbell - and sometimes they lie and never show up but claim that you were not home so they couldn't deliver the package), so that you can immediately retrieve the package and/or confront the person trying to steal your package. 

I know that you do not have smartthings but I am mentioning my set up to give you something to think about. My camera is mounted about 8 feet high under the eave of my house and facing at a 90 degree angle to my open storm door. In other words, I can see the whole front of my house in the camera image. Now, I placed two motion detectors each about 8 feet from my front door on either side so that the delivery person must walk across the field of motion regardless of the side he comes from. The cameras are in the armed state as I am expecting either a delivery person. One of the motion sensors will start the recording. I have another motion sensor facing downwards for maximum effect just in front of my storm door and an open/closed contact switch on my screen door. When motion is detected the camera starts recording, I get a notification that the sensor has sensed motion, another notification that the camera is recording, a lamp in my living room will turn on. When he gets to the porch the porch motion sensor will also send me a notification that iit has detected motion. Then if he opens the storm door to knock on the main door The open/closed sensor notifies me that the storm door is open. I look out my window to see who is there, wait about a minute for the video to complete, then I disarm the cameras and sensors and go out and retrieve the package.

So when recently I was really anticipating the arrival of a package that was scheduled to be delivered before the weekend, I received an email the the driver had tried to deliver the package but no one was home. Since none of the sensors had fired and the camera hadn't fired, it was pretty easy to know that the driver was lying.

Anyway, think about the best way to mount your camera to minimize the delay to maybe a second or so.

Brian