Lapse in Detecting/Recording - Not Me!

[R_Lowe]

I've read several posts where folks mentioned it took from 5-20 seconds after motion was detected to commence recording (and in some cases made modes to trigger other cameras so they wouldn't miss things).  Now that 3 out of my 4 cams are up and running I performed a little experiement and am happy to report that my recording was instantaneous as far as I could tell.

I'm not sure if it's because I have a good router (Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 I think it is..), all the recent auto-software updates, or good karma, but I checked my front porch cam.  I figured I'd open the screen door, stand on the porch, look at the camera with arms outstretched and count to the camera with fingers, 1, 2, 3, etc.  I went to about 15 (had to take a shoe off -- haha/kidding).  When I came back in to view the vid on my computer I wa expecting to first see myself at the 8 - 10 second point, but no, the recording actaully showed the screen door opening, obviously the very first motion.

I'm happy.  And ESPECIALLY happy because my two indoor Dropcams still give me "alerts" about 30 minutes after they happen whereas Arlo is for the most part, immediate!  Liking this more and more and more!  Ultimately, I think Netgear is fixing little glitches here and there and thought this would help anybody sitting on the purchasing fence.  

[jguerdat]

Well, a router isn't going to do anything for motion detection since it's not even in play until the video is uploaded. However, if latency can be reduced I'm all for it.

[Schorschi]

Not sure what your test proves. It seems you were mostly stationary. How long did it take between opening the door and holding your hands out?

The ultimate test is: walk briskly past a camera's field of view from left to right and for a separate recording event from right to left. Take note of where you are when recording starts. Then decide if that's still satisfactory to you. For some Arlo owners it isn't.

[R_Lowe]

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Schorschi wrote:

How long did it take between opening the door and holding your hands out?

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Two seconds to push open the screen door, step onto the porch, turn around, look up and hold out my arms.  But the point is it DID catch the screen door opening (outward from the front door). 

HOWEVER/UPDATE:  It seems as if it has reverted to being a little laggy.  Now that it's been up for a weekk or so and I'm  catching the mailman and circular deliverers more or less departing, it appears my system is acting like everybody elses (and I can better grasp the concept/trick of having one Arlo that detects motion trigger the recording of another).

[rmurph]

mine still takes too long to start recording. Is there anything I can do or download to improve it?

[Schorschi]

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rmurph wrote:

mine still takes too long to start recording. Is there anything I can do or download to improve it?

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Nope, unfortunately, there isn't and it's a known issue of the Arlo system. So, unless Netgear is able to speed up the reaction time of the cameras there is no improvement in sight.

Some people use two cameras to monitor the same area and criss-cross the trigger-record mechanism. That is, create rules that has camera B start recording when motion is detected by camera A and vice versa.

Imagine, for instance, a pathway along a house where you would place one camera at either end pointing towards the pathway, i.e. you have a large portion of overlap covered by the two cameras. You would set up rules to have the one camera record when motion is detected by the other and vice versa. So, an intruder walking past the first camera and triggering a motion event on it would have the other camera start recording in expectance of him walking past the second camera and hoping to get a head-on capture of him.

Of course, this scenario would require twice the amount of cameras to compensate for a shortcoming imposed by the system in the first place. And, it may not work for all locations anyway.

Suggestions have been made by users to have Netgear design dedicated sensor devices that could be utilized in such a manner as described above, i.e. physically separating sensor and camera. Others have requested to allow multiple cameras to start recording footage triggered by the same motion event - currently it is only possible to have (at most) one camera record, given a motion event.

But all these suggestions are, of course, workarounds for a system that is seemingly lacking in reaction time.

[R_Lowe]

Schorschi was spot on with his immediate post above (and I've been very intrigued myself with the "triggering" rule scenario).

Other than that, a very low-tech work-around would be to set up your camera -- as best as you can -- to include an area where, when it detects motion, you are able to see the "money shot" later.  If, for example, you have a porch-cam to perhaps monitor a delivered package from being stolen, if the camera triggered 15-feet from where the package lays, when it actually commences recording, it would then have allowed sufficient start-up time to catch the real/pertinent action (the "money shot") that you are specifically seeking.  Arlo is a new system so like everbody else, you'd have to experiment to discern your optimal settings (sensitivity, placement, etc.).  But once done, voila I'd think! 

[RobertRosal]

If they cannot fix the lag on these cameras and they want people to keep purchasing, they should come up with a low cost motion sensor that can be added to the system.

This motion sensor should be small and not only have the standard wireless protocol but also the wireless zwave protocols as well.

The bad user reviews in my mind will definitely be coming out and may make this product fail.  This product is a great idea and needs superior support now and in the future to see its success.

[R_Lowe]

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Robert,

I understand your concerns but respectfully, I don't think this small glitch is a deal breaker whatsoever and it would certainly not cause this [product] to fail.  Yes, these cams take a handful of seconds to whirr-up and record once they detect motion, but for my money, I'm most interested in catching a burglar in the act; and he's going to run into SOME time-consuming impedements actually breaching one of my doors or windows.  That said, there's plenty of time to catch him in the act and produce at least 10 seconds of  good images for the police (unlike, say, a mailman who comes up, puts the mail in a slot and leaves with merely a photo of his backside).  I've caught myself on Arlo "film" several times and I'm wholly satisfied with when and how much it records.

Anyway, in the spirit of your critique, I admit that while I do have several Arlos outside, I do still have a couple of always-recording Dropcams inside; yet I still firmly believe the Arlo cams are extremely adequate for most situations.   Both Dropcam and Arlo have their good features, but certainly neither are perfect.  That's my 2-cents worth of opinion.

[RobertRosal]

Maybe I am asking too much of the Arlo system as I'm with you that having the Dropcam as well is viable addition to the Arlos.

Again, respectfully, the Arlo as I see caters to those who need the flexibility of a complete wireless hookup and those looking for an easy solution without paying an arm and a leg for a professional installation.  I consider myself a techie and not the average user, where my sister who isn't a techie, would be a likely candidate to purchase this system.  As for me and my brother, who saw what an Arlo can do, and saw the delays with mine.  Agrees with me that, lets keep our Dropcams and leave this system for those who believe that this all you can get with a motion detection camera.

So in closing, I may be asking too much but would love to see this product be just as good as wired system, or even better!  It is a great idea!

[R_Lowe]

Maybe you are asking too much, but certainly I understand that your concerns are not unfounded.  Maybe I'll modify my last comment vis-a-vis your bring up a professionally wired camera system by saying I'm personally happy enough with the system for the price.   I'm sure our comments will help prospective buyers decide one way or the other if Arlo is for them.

[TomMac]

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So in closing, I may be asking too much but would love to see this product be just as good as wired system, or even better!  It is a great idea!

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I've had a dropcam and they had their faults too.... The Arlo system is designed for ease of use, ability to move around via wireless, good video, and waterproof cams.  But all systems have their design framework , and once used outside of this, it is pushing the envolpe ( so to speak ).

IMO the Arlo is very good system,  as I've mentioned before the biggest problem I've seen is people that try to use arlo for what it wasn't design and then complain when it doesn't work right.

As a techie, you know whats out there and have to pick a sytem that operates within your needs.

[Oldskullgamer]

Most story's I read about delay are when recording outside. If I'm recording in the house, and the camera is in the same room as the hub, maybe 15 feet away, is the camera still delayed badly with motion recording? Can anybody who has experience with these cameras comment. This is how I would have mine set up and the delay is a potential deal breaker for me. 

[TomMac]

Delay is related to the starting of the sensor to trigger reocord and prob also ( to what you see ) is the travel time of the video re upstream and back down.

I don't find the delay excessive, when streaming there is a 1-2 second delay for me on my system ( both inside and out, the range doesn't make a diff )

What many have mentioned is the delay in the start of record... I have a very slight delay, but I have 1) set my locations very well for sensing motion 2) took the time / effort to trial and error the amount of sensitivity/record time for each camera.... end result is good enough for me.

There are tricks that can be done with the cameras such as "reverse" sense - record on opposite cameras but only if your location applies to that... other wise take your time in setup.

Is it perfect, no but then again it doesn't have to be as its a secondary security system for me.

[djphat]

Hello, I just recently purchased my arlo system (4 camera).  And unfortunately I think I bought it thinking that it would work exactly how it doesn't.  

I have to concur that it does not pick up motion then record quickly enough.  I always miss either people coming or going.  Cars already parked or just about to park, and or already left or just about out of view.  I have a big drive way, and it should take a few seconds to walk to my front door.  But, this system is that slow, you can miss most of the "action" before your out of view.  The issue also is that my area isn't big enough to limit the field of view to not pick up street traffic, or some bushes or trees from also triggering the motion and record.  Its' fustrating to say the least.  I understand it has some design limitations, and really there is no way to know that before purchase.  Additionally, with out some kind of GEO fencing to aid this system from picking up either false positives, or enabling it to record faster within the zone you want.  This system is a pretting big step down from almost anything else.  Yes, its battery powered, and you have to work within that limitation of how long we need that to last vs. being able to record whatever you want as much as you want.  But, this basic issue of delay is that bad you could very well miss someone coming into view to break into your home (facial pic, weapons on person, clothes, what direction entered from, etc).  I'm serious that this system completely misses cars moving right infront of it for so long, you only see it halfway out of my driveway.  This is including people walking up to and getting into the car.  Now, that's people walking.  Imagin someone running up to my front door.  I have 2 cameras that should see you with penty of time to spare before getting to my door.  If I ran from the drive way entrance to my front door I could beat the time it takes for either to pick you up and record anything.  Again, I have a big area of drive way space.  It is also shared with my next door neigbor, I could hold 12 cars tightly around my home space.  I have the cameras just touching the entrance to the drive way and another crossing it to my front door.  Somethings I catch, MOST I don't until it's at best half way moved away, or even further out.  

In my opinion, it maybe the router that's just too slow to handle the video data coming at it.  It's only a 500Mhz MIPS processor, with 128Mb ram & rom.  Maybe it should have been a bit beefier to handle multiple video streams at once?  4 camera's maybe pushing this thing too far, and if your trying to record 2 cams at once, it may or may not feed it quickly enough and just picks one to record.  Even though another camera may have a better shot at viewing the action.  Also, with the 2 USB's on the back.  Maybe enable them to increse the storage (locally) so it can better handle more video streams at once.  I dont' know if the cameras have memory built in (SD card or some other RAM).  But, I don't think it's enough to handle what this IMO should be able to do.  Record quickly, and all cameras should be able to record at the same time.  Also, GEO fencing is an absolute must. You shoudl be able to point these at some areas that have lots of motion, but not have to be detected as it's not passing an area you want it to be triggered by.  

It is a cool idea, and I may just very well keep these things, and add a more reliable camera.  But, I shouldn't have to do that.  It's another application to deal with, and gets away from why we bough this system in the first place.  And I hate returning stuff.  

[jim67]

I got to see the back of a person after they sliced my tires.

I wish I keeped my old $50.00 wireless system on my computer.

The delay is really bad in mine and my friends. I'm down $150 for the camera and 2 tires

[Arlo_In_The_Biz]

I purchased a Canary for my house and it seems to detect and record instantly and sends alerts a couple of secs later. You can have up to four Canary devices per account. They're more expensive and larger than my Arlo system but seem to work the way I need them to work. At this point, I really regret throwing away my Arlo packaging.

[Jimminy]

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R_Lowe wrote:

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Robert,

I understand your concerns but respectfully, I don't think this small glitch is a deal breaker whatsoever and it would certainly not cause this [product] to fail.  Yes, these cams take a handful of seconds to whirr-up and record once they detect motion, but for my money, I'm most interested in catching a burglar in the act; and he's going to run into SOME time-consuming impedements actually breaching one of my doors or windows.  That said, there's plenty of time to catch him in the act and produce at least 10 seconds of  good images for the police (unlike, say, a mailman who comes up, puts the mail in a slot and leaves with merely a photo of his backside).  I've caught myself on Arlo "film" several times and I'm wholly satisfied with when and how much it records.

Anyway, in the spirit of your critique, I admit that while I do have several Arlos outside, I do still have a couple of always-recording Dropcams inside; yet I still firmly believe the Arlo cams are extremely adequate for most situations.   Both Dropcam and Arlo have their good features, but certainly neither are perfect.  That's my 2-cents worth of opinion.

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I strongly disagree.  This will be a deal braker.  People don't usually buy this kind of equipment to take family videos but for security reasons and in 12 seconds you may miss the most essential part of an action.  A babysiter gives your child a smack over the head: time needed 3 sec.  Your camera will have filmed only the child crying without having a video proof of the abuse.

A burglar shoves the homeowner and the homeowner falls and hits his head against the corner of a table fataly.  Time needed: 5 seconds.  There is no video proof that the burgler shoved the owner, only that he was in the house.  The owner might have sliped and fell on his own.  This could be the diference between premeditated murder and accident.  A punk can throw a stone at your car's windshield and run away from the view in less than 10 seconds.  All this and much more can be lost in 12 seconds which is how much lapse time there is between the end of a video and the motion detection reactivation in my arlo cameras.  Cheap chinese cameras with ugly 1990's design have a better motion detection capability than this.  This si totally unacceptable for this day and age, and all the other features mean nothing if they don't record when something is moving!!!  What else is there?  That guy's postman wasn't even runing and he still only got his back as he was leaving.  "Yeah, see I got the back of this blue jacket and yeah great, we can identify him no problem......is was a rare brand"      Ridiculous!~

[aseeling]

I bought these 4 cameras to catch people doing something they shouldn't. My problem is that I only get a back shot, or a car that may or may or may not have just pulled up, ormay be pulling away, or some such activity that is over before there is any good coverage. If there is no solution, and by the comments above it seems there is none, these are going back to Best Buy

Does anyone know of a system that works better?

[JamesC]

aseeling,

Due to the design of these cameras being battery operated, there is a small delay as the camera wakes up from it's battery conservation state to start motion detection. Take a look at the following article for some tips on how to improve (reduce) this delay: Optimizing motion detection performance on Arlo Wire-Free cameras

I hope this helps!

JamesC