Smearing videos?

[TomMac]

Anyone else notice an increase in the videos smearing at times?  Not browser ( as tested 2 ) and d/ls show the same.

My lag is still fairly short in the range of 1-2 seconds ( or about 3-4 ft ) but smearing has increased.

 I don't really care about slight lag problem as an open floor plan allows multiple cams to trigger each other and second cams always get face shots but this smearing just ruins the video.

Data speeds 28Mbs+ down, 6Mbs up, with pings around 10-12ms

[CloudHopper]

The smearing issue has disappeared on my camera. I'v had over 10 days of consistently "normal" recordings without any ghosting or my usual database service errors, and I haven't changed a thing on my network.

Have any of you had the same improvement?

[Geoff]

Still the same for me.

In fact, just checked one of my cameras and the recorded clip is the worst I've had so far! 

Spoiler

[TomMac]

Still getting smearing as stated in my OP.

I seem to see that it occurs more during the day than at night for my location ( and not speed as my lowest is 5mb up/15 down, mostly higher ).

The only thing I can see from this is a traffic problem outside of my system.; ie the far end problem.

[Geoff]

Just bumping this thread.

I still have this problem and am sure that others do to.

Come on Arlo..........let's have a respone!!

[RobertRosal]

Smearing came back again, with me not doing a thing.  Not that bad though.

As for internet speed, it cannot be the case.  My speeds are 75 up and 75 down.  Actually up tests around 80 and down tests at 75.

[TomMac]

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RobertRosal wrote:

Smearing came back again, with me not doing a thing.  Not that bad though.

As for internet speed, it cannot be the case.  My speeds are 75 up and 75 down.  Actually up tests around 80 and down tests at 75.

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Still believing it's  either a base processing error or compression error ( maybe on key frame )

[RobertRosal]

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TomMac wrote:

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Still believing it's  either a base processing error or compression error ( maybe on key frame )

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I think you are right, as I see similar issues using inferior video converters.  Creating a rip of a dvd using different manufacture software gets different results.  With usually the most expensive ones being the better.

[BetsyS]

Having this constantly and I only JUST bought this less than a week ago. This is bs.

[KLG]

I have had the 2 camera system 2 months now. The "smearing" started after 2 weeks of perfect system performance. The problem worsened (100% smearing), then improved. I now get "smearing" about 25% of the time. I think it's due to Arlo servers being overloaded and has nothing to do with home environment. Arlo support was no help. I sent many examples of "smeared" videos as requested, but never received any explanation or guidance! My theory is they have sold many new systems (just as I read reviews and bought my system 2 months ago). Their servers are overloaded or other system is overloaded. The system works well enough for me to see who is approaching my house and who is at the front door. If you can still return your system and don't mind installing wires and plugs I recommend you do so. Otherwise it appears Arlo is a work in progress!

[justinmire]

I am having same issues.. Nearly 100% of my videos have video smearing where motion is happening.  Video is near useless.  Has anyone found settings or anything that helps.  It appears to me as a problem with the video compression. 

[Geoff]

Hi Justinmire

I have played with different settings with no luck.

I am living with the issue for the moment.

No actual helpful response from Arlo ...........still waiting.

Cameras on live mode,no problems!!

[Tom1492]

Just purchased 3 camera and having same ghosting issues. I think it might be the activation time when a detection occurs to reach the base unit connected to wifi. It's not an instant connect. There seems to be a 2-3 second lag. Any thoughts??

[XipperPDX]

What I find amazing is that in 4 months Neatgear has made no progress on this, they have no recommended steps, they seem entirely clueless.  Perhaps if they didn't make this such a closed-box nightmare advanced users could have a chance of troubleshooting.  I just happened to have purchased a 5 camera setup and so far the videos are almost all useless due to this problem, how could I possibly trust this as a "security" product when it seems more likely that the video will not have playback than it will...doesn't seem very secure if it is a crap shoot to it working or not.

What i find interesting is that anytime you contact support they have the same script of idiot questions and suggestions, but nothing that would actually lead to solving the problem.  The system is flawed, they have inadequate capacity in their service platform and I have no faith in their ability to fix the problems as they are in the design...and to make it better likely means forcing users to buy all new crap again.  So these are very expensive worthless cameras, once Netgear decides to stop supporting the or they continue to fail to scale and manage the service adequately you are out several hundred bucks for something that does nothing but eats expensive batteries.  

After reading this entire thread and many others, and trying to work with support to troubleshoot I can say that the solution is to return this garbage.  The forum is entirely worthless, as all of the posts are marked as "solved" but the link to the solution doesn't actually provide a solution...like this thread the problem isn't solved at all.  If it is a WiFi signal issue, perhaps they shouldn't have made the idiotic decision to overlap with the existing WiFi channels of the router in your house...as some users like yeself have a WDS mesh of multiple access points on that channel and the RF interference for competing devices on the same channel is a bad design, but good luck getting Netgear to admit that.  Just like why they claim we need to forward ports 80/443 to solve this problem, when the device should use UPnP to request ports to be opened...and they shouldn't use fixed 80/443 ports as what if you wanted 2 bases on the same network?  Or what if you add the new Arlo camera that doesn't use the base, won't it also need 80/443?  

It is apparent that Netgear didn't actually plan this thing out well, they failed to plan for the interaction.  The API method their service uses to talk to the base station/cameras is obviously badly implemeted, they need to go back to the drawing board and actually hire people that understand scalable multi-tenant APIs so that they could ever have a chance of opening that up for developers to make it useful.

[Coolsome_Dude]

Hi All,

Anyone have any update on this? Most of my captured recordings have some kind of smearing or other graphical glitch. Sometimes the playback seems to 'hang' other times it jumps. I have had the system since 30th November and it has definitely got worse, from maybe affecting one recording per day to nearly all. If it was as bad as this on day one I'd have assumed the unit was faulty and sent it back.

[Geoff]

I still have this problem.

I am frustrated that Arlo hasn't responded in a positive way other than suggest moving the router!!

To considerably reduce this, I have set my cameras on 'Best Video' mode.

Regards

[jguerdat]

I also use Best Video since it doesn't seem to affect my battery life much.  Questions, though - what's you're upload speed for your Internet? How many videos are you uploading at the same time when you notice the problem (check the times on the videos)? Are there other devices that could be plugging up the Internet pipe at that time?

I do see occasional blockiness (not sure if that's what's meant by smearing from other folks) as well as compression artifacts in many of my videos over the past year.  It's hard to pin down since I only have a 1Mb/s upload and sometimes am uploading 2 videos at the same time but it's generally as clear as it will ever be.

[Coolsome_Dude]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses. My download speed is approx. 30 Mbps, upload around 10 Mbps. Base unit is not far from the camera (in fact I'll check tonight to ensure it's not closer than the recommended minimum of 10 ft - but I feel that's clutching at straws) Only one camera at the moment, and the problem persists when no-one is in (i.e no Netflix etc.)

I've just made the change to 'best video' and I'll wait and see 😕

[Tom1492]

Yes I too have changed to the Best Video Mode and seems to have improved the video. I also purchased a wifi extender improving my signal to the cameras.

[Coolsome_Dude]

After setting the power managment to "best video" the smearing problem has all but gone away. The "Optimised" setting isn't that ... well ... optimised - it's unusable on my setup.

I can't really comment on the affect on battery life since I'm still on my first set of batteries. It's almost been 2 months on the first set, If I get 3 months out of them I'll be happy.

[JethroXP]

I've had a single camera system for a couple weeks now.  I was working fine and I haven't changed anything from the initial setup, but recently noticed some odd video that is consistent with every capture.  It's like over exposed, noisy, wavy areas, not sure if this is the same "smearing" problem discuss here.  Can someone re-share an example of the smearing so I can compare?  The previous examples shared have expired.

[JethroXP]

Just checked my video history, everything from February 4th and earlier is fine, however everything from February 5th onward has the weird smearing.  This is an example of what I'm seeing.  Is this consistent with what others see when they describe smearing?

[JamesC]

JethroXP,

Some users have experienced this issue due to interference. Consider relocating your base station, making sure it is away from any other wireless devices and be sure your cameras have the best signal strength.

JamesC

[JethroXP]

I Thought it was a bandwidth issue, but after upgrading my Internet connection, and now moving the base station away from my wireless router, nothing has change.  This photo was taken with the base station only about 5 feet away from the camera, and about 20 feet from the wireless router.

Any ideas?  Is this just a bad camera?

[JethroXP]

With a second camera I've confirmed that this is a bad camera problem.  The first camera worked fine for about a month then suddenly bagan displaying the smearing video.  I now have a second camera that works fine.  How do I get a replacement for the bad camera?

Original Camera:

New Camera:

[TomMac]

Is this consistent with what others see when they describe smearing?

Yes, the smearing is the same , but in the number of cases I've had and seen it's not the camera... as the situ happens and then goes away for weeks before happening again.

I'm still sticking to the bad relay of video from the camera to the far end problem.