How do you deal with shadow movement detected as motion?

[DuffOfAges]

Camera mounted in the eaves to the side of my front door, pointing downward at about 45 degrees at front door and porch.  When it is sunny out, the camera detects motion every few minutes.  The only thing I can figure is that it sees shadow movement, as there are trees in the front yard casting shadows. 

What this means to me is that the camera takes one frame and several seconds later, takes another and compares the two.  The shadows change a lot in a minute.

I have adjusted the sensitivity, starting at 80, down in many steps, to 15, at which there are no motion triggers due to shadows.  Problem is, the sensitivity is so low that it will not detect a human being walking to the door.

Has anyone encountered anything like this?  If so, how did you solve it?

[TomMac]

The false trigger events are set off by IR or the reflection of IR... It can be reflecting off various items in the field of view.

Most common prblem I see is that user are trying to cover to much area ... max range for the PIR sensor is about 20ft.... and this leads to alot of false recordings.

In this case ( not seeing the picture ) I would guess if you can change the view, you may have to move the camera.

( btw most of my cams run 85-94% sense level and I get very few false triggers so I don't think you answer is there as if you lower enough to stop the false events, the cam doesn't pick up things that yoy want )

[DuffOfAges]

I thought it had to do with IR also, but I get no false triggers when the sun is not bright, when it is cloudy, or at night.  I only get false triggers with the sun is brightly shining and putting shadows on teh walls and porch.  This is a very close in installation -- distance from camera to front door is like 8 feet.

[jguerdat]

Again, it's not specifically the shadows but IR reflections. You might be able to reposition the camera (for instance, the other side of the door) to help with this but not every situation will have a solution. Trial and error is needed. Search for something like "pvc" here and check out the shield someone fashioned to help block Street movement - you might be able to use the same principle to help mask off some of the reflections.

[ericgreene73]

Shadows are a big problem for me as well.  I have tried moving the cameras around and have adjusted sensitivity settings to below 85% and receive text message notifications of motion detected 20 times a day.  The shadows are of trees (not necessarily moving) and our neighbors shadow of the house. hoping new software releases will fix this problem.

[jguerdat]

It's not specifically the shadows but the flickering of (reflected?) IR, likely from the sun which is a huge source of IR.  Shielding the passive IR detector in the camera by either repositioning the camera so the shadows aren't in the sensor's view or possible masking the sensor using a bit of tape to prevent the detector from being affected.

[ntguytx]

I am having the same problem,

NETGEAR your people need to step in here - recording shadows as movement is ridiculous, The ARLO camera should be better than this.  I am spending large amouts of time dealing with video clips that have nothing but flag and tree shadow movement.

[jguerdat]

Again, it's not the shadows themselves. It's the shadows blocking and then allowing IR to be reflected or otherwise passed to the detector. That shows up like motion does. If you eliminate that in the camera, how would you detect real motion? It's up to you to position the camera to minimize such activity and adjust sensitivity to help compensate for it. It's not a perfect solution but unless there's a totally different detection scheme, it is what it is.

[jbilbruck]

I also get triggers after moving the camera to a "better position". My first install was too high but the angle was too steep for good face recognition. It is installed above 6' and looking down at people walking up and I have it zoomed so it cover about 10 - 15' at the front door. I have reduced sensitivity to 50 and it still detects leaf movements and or Sunlight changes. I am getting numerous false detections a day and trying to maximize battery by reducing the false detections

[jbilbruck]

Of note graphs and or better placement videos would greatly help us newbies

[jguerdat]

There are placement FAQs (not sure about videos) available when you click on the support link.

[diannenet]

Just my two cents...........I understand there are solutions regarding sensitivity and movement but for such an expensive system we shouldn't have to resort to using tape or anything else to get what we paid for.

[jguerdat]

That's what the FAQs and (maybe) videos are for. However, not every case can be accounted for so some creative thinking can be involved to solve a particular installation issue.

[ensanguined]

I have this problem also, and can easily have up to 100 false positive recordings a day made due to this. Can Netgear not allow an option to reduce IR sensitivity then?

From reading hundreds of threads am I the only one who feels like 'jguerdat' and his constant, pro-Netgear (but yeah, sometimes useful), repeptitive comments are actually stifling proper support from Netgear staff who read these threads and go "this one's sorted, JG's got it! My boi!" even though the problem still definitely exists? JG are you like an undercover Netgear employee, or a paid mouthpiece, or something? Could you not use your clout to get things improved, rather than just put up teflon walls all the time?

[jguerdat]

If you would take the time to look at the FAQs, videos and your settings, there IS an IR sensitivity setting in each mode/rule.  It defaults to 80% and can be set to your preference.  Be sure to save any changes.

As for the rest of your rant, /ignore.

[ensanguined]

Now you're just taking the piss right? If this is an option and it has some relevance, why not mention it in the twenty six other deflective comments you already made in this thread? Seriously?

Why not tell me where to amend it then? I have never seen an adjustment feature in the Arlo wireless modes named 'IR sensitivity', so if you're going to pretend to be helpful, why not actually BE helpful? It can't be the motion sensitivity you're referring to, or are you talking about the brightness adjustment you amend during live play, which actually doesn't impact the IR sensitivity?

To my point exactly, please actually be helpful if you're going to block Netgear from answering, you have to stop pretending to be all-knowing. Stop providing these snide remarks that force multiple clarifying responses just to increase your post count.

So once again, how do you adjust the sensitivity of the IR?

/point proven

[ericgreene73]

It's obvious Netgear could care less about this issue or they would respond to this issue. I have tried everything and shadows are a problem regardless. I received a survey today and answered it honestly.  I dont know who this dude is that thinks he's the genius, but I would bet he is one of their incompetent engineers who can't fix the issue.

[ericgreene73]

Why do you think you have all the answers here?  Let Netgear answer these questions.  It's their crap equipment.

[ensanguined]

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ericgreene73 wrote:

It's obvious Netgear could care less about this issue or they would respond to this issue. I have tried everything and shadows are a problem regardless. I received a survey today and answered it honestly.  I dont know who this dude is that thinks he's the genius, but I would bet he is one of their incompetent engineers who can't fix the issue.

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Amen to that! He tells the OP to use STICKY TAPE (YEP, STICKY TAPE PEOPLE!) to block the 'passive IR detector' in multiple posts, and then acts like a total tool telling me to go and read the forums, watch videos, study the FAQs and the like because it's like sooooo obvious that the IR sensitivity setting is contained within the modes! WHAT THE HELL! Netgear, get this fool into line ASAP please, stop relying on him as your front-line filter to shut us plebs up. HELP US! I am such an idiot owning over $1,500 of Netgear Arlo product...

[jguerdat]

Take it easy there, big guy.  Of all the things wrong in the world, this ain't one of them.

The "IR sensitivity" IS the motion detection sensitivity.  The cameras use passive IR sensors to detect differential change (motion) so changing that setting is all you can do.  The wording may not be what you like but it's what we have to work with.

As for using tape over the sensor, that wasn't my idea - I was simply relating what other users have used to solve some issues.  Since you can't possibly set zones using a PIR, you can reposition the camera so it doesn't "see" the unwanted motion or you can somehow mask it.  Users have tried various things including a short piece of PVC pipe as well as tape to create this mask.  It's a limitation of this sort of design, just as it is with most motion-detection devices such as exterior lights, etc.  The Q cameras use a pixel-based detection scheme rather than PIRs so can set up zones and do things in software that the wireless cameras will never be able to do.  Maybe some backend programming could be implemented (or not) but that's not what we have right here and now.

For the record, I'm a retired IT pro and am here of my own volition.  I'm trying to help, regardless of your feeling about how I present things.  Ignore me if you like - I won't miss your interaction at all.

[Geoff]

Don't shoot me down, but I had a very similar problem.

I inverted the camera image (or you could mount the camera upside down) which pretty much solved the issue.

It's a pain reviewing the videos but any you need to keep can easily be rotated to view.

[jguerdat]

Post a screenshot of your view - maybe we can make suggestions.

A side note, the first person who came up with a solution for his problem used a short piece of PVC pie and also inverted his camera to make it work right.  Perhaps it's more the inversion than the masking.  Have you tried physically inverting yours to see if it makes a difference?

[Slostang50]

Same problem, my camera is inverted, and I have the viewing area very small but it constantly seems to go off with the shadows. https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/697E4E83B6B2E91E_201612