Arlo Basic Cameras Blurring During Live View

[dsiu2902]

Firmware upgrade again to 1.12.2.1_2798, causing the live streaming, image or recorded video downgrade, lower the resolution, is everyone having the same problem yet. the Firmware upgrade was yesterday midnight (May 21, 2019).

[parsrgood]

Thanks for the post and acknowledging that netgear has a problem. The more negative responses in this forum the better. Hate to think that they continue to sell a faulty product to a misinformed consumer. 

[Felix_T30]

Hi there,

I have exactly the same problems with the horrible blurring picture after the update.

The streams on the echo show do not work either!

After 1 or 2 seconds "buffering"

[pm22]

version 2.7.2

3/22/2019

Batteries are fully charged.

Nothing has changed except POOR VIDEO QUALITY starting about a week ago.

All three cameras are affected.

[Bjoern64]

As it is now, the product is useless.
Leaving a movie on an intruder to the Police would only result in them looking for a person who is very similar to Freddy Krueger from the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street, it is not possible to see faces properly as it is now.
Can't use the recordings for the purpose for which they were intended to be used.

Please fix this now.

[MikeBravo]

---

@dsiu2902 wrote:

This is all started with the new firmware upgrade to 1.12.2.1_2798 "automatic firmware upgrade by Arlo without your concent".

They do not  want to roll back or restore our old firmware, and they don't know how to fix. It has been 5 days now.

What concerns us greatly is that there are some situations such as with our Dell computers where firmware is updated and CAN'T be rolled back.

I'm hoping that isn't the case with the Arlo base stations if they can't fix it.

---

[ilenewkam]

We recently had the new firmware update automatically installed. Since then we have experienced the same issue with blurry images. Has anyone heard from Arlo on this issue?

[MAGIC710]

The same in Austria with two cameras. Rebooted etc - its pixelated. I tought first its the browser but its definitely not. 

[TomMac]

Have you tried a diff browser like Fire Fox with same resuts?

[jguerdat]

---

@dsiu2902 wrote:

Can you give us some information about your system, what kind of base stationand camera do you have, what is the firmware version you are using? Are you watching thru IOS or desktop?

Can you share a link with the video (at least 60 seconds) that is after May 22 or May 23, 2019. We will take your word for it.

---

Sorry, didn't realize you were asking me for info.

I have 3 base stations, an original VMB3000, a newer VMB4000 and an Ultra SmartHub. Most of my cameras are connected to the Ultra hub but a mix of Pro and Pro 2s are on my 3000. I don't often get videos from these cameras since they're in the backyard, aimed at my deck and koi pond/filter. I've attached one 30 second video since it's one of only a few and has more length than the others. It's from a Pro camera. The 3000 is on 1.12.2.1_2798 and the camera is on 1.092.0.23_32920. I use both Android and W10/Chrome.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xj38fmnxp4yrvg/1558885585611.mp4?dl=0

[ralfyguy1]

No offense, but this is a pretty crappy video quality and has nothing in common with a 720p resolution. It's more of a 240-360 at the most.

[dsiu2902]

Thank you for your information and video jguerdat,

With this close-range setup with your camera, you should be able to see very good details. If you always get this kind of video, it means you don't get what you pay for.

Maybe the camera is not set to "Best Video" option.

You can check the camera setting to see is it in "Best Video mode"

[parsrgood]

Hopefully Arlo’s forum moderator will view the video that  jguerdat supplied. It is terrible video. With that said. Mine is worse. Resetting the video quality won’t fix it. This is on Netgear. It’ their fix.

[pcbrew]

Thought I would add more datapoints to this. 

I have 2 systems at different locations - 3x H7 camera and VMB3010r2 base and both show the same issues.

Video is way over compressed, can see the macroblocks.

The little postage stamp video preview is better quality than what gets saved when you record or take a still snapshot.

Same behavior on iOS, Android and web

[madkiwi]

It's not your fault, it is the latest firmare Arlo pushed out to the base stations last week. You need to look at one of the many threads here talking aboutthis very issue.

On my phone the videa looks kind of ok when it is in app mode, but if I make it full screen (Pixel 3 with 5.5 inch display) it is obviously pixelated and maybe 4-5 fps. On my 24" desktop monitor it's a joke.

[jguerdat]

All my cams are set for Best Video. What people seem to struggle with is how the cameras record and store. First, the lens is a fisheye lens with an equivalent of 10-15mm on a full-frame DSLR (depending on the model) - it's very wide angle. Then the original and Pro cameras are 720p - <1 megapixel - which results in quickly pixelating as you attempt to zoom in. Then add on fairly aggressive compression to save disk space and upload bandwidth. You're simply not going to get image quality comparable to even cheap cell phone cameras. These aren't ID-type cameras - they're a monitor-type. If you have doubts, download a high-quality fisheye image from the Internet, resample it to 1280x720 and then save it using a compression level that gives you approximately the same size file as what you get from your cameras taking a snapshot. Zoom in and see what you get.

[mcmu12]

I’ve had these cameras for almost 4 years and the quality was fine at “optimized.”. 5/21 something changed - firmware update.

[mykleg09]

I agree with mcmu12. These aren’t new cameras and the picture quality has always been great. Something changed. And it wasn’t on my end.

[parsrgood]

jguerdat, You're fortunate that you don't have problems with your system. But the rest of us on this forum are experiencing serious problems with ours. It was brought on by arlos last firmware update. This is not the first time it's happened. 

[MikeBravo]

---

@ilenewkam wrote:

We recently had the new firmware update automatically installed. Since then we have experienced the same issue with blurry images. Has anyone heard from Arlo on this issue?

---

Yes, another user, dsiu2902, and we are having the same issue. It seems to affect are Arlo basic cameras only, not our Pros.

According to dsiu2902, he was updated over five days ago and as yet Arlo has not responded.

[AsoloHeart1955]

SO TERRIBLE! I hatye my cameras now. Can't even see what is in the video since they are so bad with the pixcel issue. Anyoone want them? I am so done with Arlo. 

[AsoloHeart1955]

[AsoloHeart1955]

These are terrible. I do not like my arlo gear anymore. I can't get a decent view or video. Fix it or I change to something else.

[dsiu2902]

MikeBravo, do you have any problem with your system? what system do you have? is it the pro? or basic wireless?

Were you watch thru IOS or desktop? Which firmware version do you have? Maybe this can will tell us the some clues? 

[AsoloHeart1955]

I tried it. NOT better actually worse now! May be trashing my Arlo cameras if they can't stand behind their product and update correctly.

[vingg]

Last summer we had issues with kids breaking into garages at night going thru unlocked service doors. They were after the garage refrigerator of beer. I was able to pick the kids up one night on my camera system after hearing that they cleaned out my next door neighbors fridge. The clip we gave the sheriff was good enough that once he saw the faces he knew who one of them was of the three from my Arlo camera. Last night I walked the same path and not knowing it was me  I would have never been able to recognize a face with the current playback clip quality. I also was able to use my Arlo Pro camera that I use for my front step to get a clip of the Amazon delivery  person throwing my package from about 10 feet away to my door instead of walking the sidewalk and gave it to Amazon. They indicated to me the clip allowed them to correct the behavior of the driver. We had Amazon delivery’s two of the past three days and they walked up to the door and it would be hard to use this for identification at this time. I know this system is not to be used for security but I should not have quality issues with the same system that was used before. Please roll back the firmware now and restore my system to the quality level it had on May 19^th. Then please allow me to turn off and on updates. Been in electronics and IT for over 30 years and the number one rule is do not make changes to something that is working fine. Never I have updated firmware on something that was working  other than at installation time. Firmware updates are only done to fix an issue. .