Outside Recording Delay

[paintguy]

Is anyone else having a problem with the delay in long it takes motion to detect and the start of recording? I have found that outside the delay is too much to see anyone who is approaching my house. I have looked at videos and the recording shows the very end of someone in my family opening my door if at all. I have played around with the sensitivity also to get it to record earlier. This and the battery issue are the biggest problems so far. Does anyone have ideas how they got theirs to not have so much of a delay?

Thanks

[lsiders]

Thank you for your reply Kristyn.  However, I have adjusted the cameras many times and they are about 8-9 feet up from the ground.  They are also pointing downward at a tilt.  I promise you, I have done all that is recommended by ARLO on this project.  This is a large investment for me, so I do want the cameras to work as they should.  I have followed all recommended instructions. I also have used the "Test Position" feature and the "Motion Detection Test" feature and it has a huge delay as well. 

This morning, I pulled out of my garage and drove immediately in front of my front door on my circular drive, which is only 8 ft from the front door.  I have 2 cameras active shooting 2 different angles in front of my home and garage area (My garage is in front of home and my front door is immediately next to it).  Both cameras should capture movement coming from my garage and my front door at the same time just at different angles.  They are aimed to capture this movement and the garage and front door are only 2-3 ft apart from each other.  Remember the sensitivity is set at 100%.  Nothing was captured at all on my cameras when I left!  No notice of activity (per my rule), and no video was made.  I was totally amazed by this!  I was in a SUV (large vehicle) blatently in front of each camera moving, and nothing was recorded!  Please explain that one to me!

[Hula_Rock]

@lsiders

I FEEL YOUR PAIN !!!!!!  kind of like this:

[lsiders]

Yes, alot like that.  However, I have a circular drive that drives immediately in front of my front door (about 8 ft from it).  So I backed out of the garage and drove forward in front of my door on the circular drive.  No recording what so ever! Huge SUV....Now, this is the crazy part....My husband left a few minutes after me, and his was recorded on both cameras.  Small Toyota Prius! 

[Hula_Rock]

Trust me, I do feel you pain !  I have been complaining about the EXACT issue for months.

[lsiders]

Thanks!  Although it is great to know that someone shares my pain, I do hope that ARLO is listening.  Something must be done immediately about this issue, else the entire system is useless to me and anyone experiencing this. 

ARLO...Are you listening?????

[scjessey]

I have experienced similar problems to others who have posted here, and I am unsatisfied with the excuses given. The common reason given for the delay between motion detection and recording is the fact that your system needs to communicate with Netgear's servers before recording can commence, and I don't disgree with it; however, that does not explain why recording does not happen until long after notification, which also goes through the Netgear servers. The current sequence of events seems to be as follows:

1. Motion sensor detects motion
2. Camera reports motion to the base station
3. Base station reports motion to the Netgear server
4. Server sends notification to customer that motion has been detected
5. Server directs customer base station to begin recording
6. Base station directs camera to wake up and send video
7. Camera sends video to the base station
8. Base station sends video to the server

What should happen is this:

1. Motion sensor detects motion
2. Camera automatically wakes up and reports motion to base station
3. Base station reports motion and sends video to the Netgear server
4. Server sends notification to the customer that motion has been detected

There's currently too much back-and-forth going on, and this is obviously going to be significantly magnified if the Netgear server is located in a different country to the customer.

Until (and if) Netgear remedies this, the only solution is to use a multi-camera approach. Position one camera to catch motion and a position a second camera to record video. Then create a rule that records on the second camera based on motion detected on the first. Perhaps in the future, Netgear can sell discrete sensors without cameras that can better fulfill this secondary role.

This post was edited to reflect a followup comment!

[Hula_Rock]

You forgot one that adds to the delay:

-  When Motion is detected, The Camera needs to turn ON to start recording.  Remember, the camera is in a Coma state and only turned on when Motion is detected.....

[scjessey]

Hula_Rock wrote:

You forgot one that adds to the delay:

-  When Motion is detected, The Camera needs to turn ON to start recording.  Remember, the camera is in a Coma state and only turned on when Motion is detected.....

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Excellent point. In my view, detecting motion should automatically wake the camera.

[jguerdat]

Sorry to have to ask but is the running man for the various cameras green?

[lsiders]

Yes, absolutely green.  All motion is on, no schedule, so 24/7 motion.

[lsiders]

This is how close the garage is to my front door with a circular drive.  I have 2 cameras; one at the front door shooting at an angle toward the drive, and the other on the left side of the garage door shooting over the drive toward the front door area.  There is no way that my large SUV backing up from the garage and driving forward in front of the front door would have have been outside of the cameras range or view.  But no recording was made.  Shortly afterward, my husband left and did the same action I took, and his car was recorded. 

I still need answers.  All camera men are green, no schedule, 24/7 recordings should be taking place.  100% sensitivity. 

[scjessey]

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lsiders wrote:

All camera men are green, no schedule, 24/7 recordings should be taking place.  100% sensitivity. 

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Make sure you have gone into Settings and setup Rules to dictate how recordings should be made. For example, I have two cameras on my front porch ("Porch" and "Front Door"). One camera looks down the length of the porch and the other looks out from my front door toward the street. I did not want motion from the street (like cars) to cause the "Front Door" camera to record, but I did want it to record the faces of individuals moving toward my front door. I created two Rules:

1. If my "Porch" camera detects motion, record from the "Porch" camera.

2. If my "Porch" camera detects motion, record from the "Front Door" camera.

So whenever anyone approaches my front door, I have two cameras recording that have been triggered by one of them. That said, recording does not usually start until a full two seconds after the motion sensor has detected movement and I have received a push notification, which I believe is a pretty serious flaw in the system.

[jguerdat]

You may also have faulty hardware.  I'd place a trouble ticket via phone since they'll want to step through various things.  It would speed up any potential replacements.

[scjessey]

I'm not ready to submit a ticket just yet. I've only had the system up for a few days and I'm still tinkering with placement and sensitivity. Still, the time between notification and recording is troubling.

[lsiders]

I may be ready to submit a ticket.  Thank you for the information.

[TomMac]

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/3852BAA7F1D130A9

here's an example of fairly good sense, I get the person 5 steps inside frame.

[lsiders]

Here is an example of a UPS delivery man where the recording began while he was placing the box at my front door.  Not upon approach, but while he was leaving my front door area.  HUGE delay!

https://arlo.netgear.com/#/viewShared/F934F68529B798E7

[Hula_Rock]

@lsiders

I have multiple examples of that as well.  Arlo does not like / does a poor job of motion detection if the subject walks towards the camera.  I suspect a MOD to chime in to echo my comments shortly in a scripted kind of way..

[RobertRosal]

Can it be better, absolutely and it's almost luck with these cameras on placement and if they will perform as advertised.

As for mine, I live with it and in hopes that Netgear can make some changes to make it better. 

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/322963381D9628AA

https://arlo.netgear.com/hmsweb/users/library/share/link/A218EDEA39814C2B

[wahmed]

I think the real issue is that there is no "local" recording cache.  And if that indeed is the case then the only way to solve it is via Hardware an no firmware update will help.  For example there should be local storage on the camera that the device records to first and then syncs with the cloud.

[TomMac]

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wahmed wrote:

I think the real issue is that there is no "local" recording cache. 

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It's not the issue of non-local recording... but more the factor of batteries.  The unit sleeps when not in use to preserve same and then has to "wake up" and then start transmitting video...there is no pre-recording buffer due to lack of full time power.

[Paul_FCCL]

The most recent base station software update (1.6.xxx?) seems to have improved this, recording delays are not so bad now.

Any one else notice it?

Thanks.

Paul FCCL

[TomMac]

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Paul_FCCL wrote:

The most recent base station software update (1.6.xxx?) seems to have improved this, recording delays are not so bad now.

Any one else notice it?

Thanks.

Paul FCCL

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The latest I is have on the cams ( written down ) is 1.2.2688

I haven't seen an improvement in wake up speed, but then again mine has always been pretty good at  about 2 sec delay. 

It is possible tho as they tweek the s/w

[lsiders]

I'm not sure if the verson I see on my app is for the app version, base station, or cameras.  Does anyone know?  The version on my app is 1.8.5.

[TomMac]

IOS v 1.85

Android v 1.102-9903

Arlo base v 1.6.2-4344

Arlo cam v 1.2.2688