Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Motion detection sensitivity seems to be changing, why?

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Draygen
Tutor
Tutor

So I've had my system for a few months now, and up until now the motion sensitivity has been mostly consistent (about 95% of the time it captures), and the distance it captures hasnt changed.  The issue I'm having now is two of the cameras seem to have lost or changed their sensitivity. Both were detecting people walking 15 - 20 feet away no problem. Now they're only catching people about 30% of the time. I've tried the detection settings, signal is 3 bars and the other max, I've reset both the base and the cameras, and both have full batteries. I havent changed location or adjusted them other than that and this seems to have just started recently (maybe the past week or so). Has there been a new update or anything that i've missed or is it an issue with the cameras? Thanks!

112 REPLIES 112
Draygen
Tutor
Tutor
I wish it was as easy as placement. They haven't moved in months and were working great. I've moved acouple trying different angles and closer but no luck. There is definitely a delay on the recording that wasn't there before either.
Rudy
Apprentice
Apprentice

I had the system for months prior to the May updates made by NetGear ( firmware, application, server additons, whatever )

I can honestly say it did work well and to my satisifcation.

 

But since the updates, I have kind of given up, its been over a month now. Sometimes it works as expected sometimes it doesn't motion and connectivity seem to cause the major problems for me

Emmett
Guide
Guide

I'm doing surveillance outside our business.  I have so far collected an abundance of videos of nothing, meaning god knows what set the motion detector off, and yet, at times I know there was line of sight motion it doesn't go off at all.  Two days ago I go from one video of having 4 couches outside the gate, right to the store manager leaving.  3 guys moving 4 couches one at a time did not set off the motion detector once.  Last night I have 7 videos of absolutely nothing and not one video of a car passing by, which I refuse to believe didn't happen multiple times.The cars set it off sometimes and sometimes they don't.

 

I do not know what to do except ask for a refund.

 

Em

JPC
Prodigy
Prodigy

Rudy wrote:

I had the system for months prior to the May updates made by NetGear ( firmware, application, server additons, whatever )

I can honestly say it did work well and to my satisifcation.

 

But since the updates, I have kind of given up, its been over a month now. Sometimes it works as expected sometimes it doesn't motion and connectivity seem to cause the major problems for me


Mine too.. It was working for me as well with less bug... Eversince they added some new features on this new firmware such as "Flicker Adjustment" ..I dunno' if you guys noticed it and maybe it's not related to the issue... But in my case, I got some odd results on my system such as pixelation, green screen, &  motion sensitivity has increased... & I have to re-adjust/reset Camera/Base when it does... Good thing I used my magnets which came with the system to hookup my 4-cameras & it's not set too high in height else it would be a pain to be back and forth if it's hooked securely.. Now with this recent server issue for some of us got affected by it... It's not a good sign for Arlo/Netgear.. Right now, my system is working and responding great.. I hope it stays this way and I really hope Netgear will release a stable firmware soon.. I LOVE this product when it's working but I just HATE it when it's not.. Love and Hate relationship...LoL

 

Emmett
Guide
Guide

I really thought it would be the answer to a long standing problem I have.  I guess I had super high hopes for it and it fell short.  I'm trying to think of another use for it in the store as we already have an ubunti airvision system with 12 cameras there.  But I'm still think about asking for my money back.  Those pictures are FAR from HD.

 

Em

Draygen
Tutor
Tutor

bigboost i have the same issue with one of mine. I've tried dropping it down so it couldnt see the street and cars still tripped it. This is the current view and basicly i made a schedule so it doesnt record during the day. defeats the purpose i know....

 

IMG_1331.PNG

Draygen
Tutor
Tutor

So back to the original issue. Here's the camera view i'm having issues with the most. Maybe i'm missing something. It picks up maybe 30% of the time now. It used to be more like 95%. As you can see it has a clear left to right field (which pir's like) and it's covered. The picture is the first frame of the video it captured and you can see i'm almost out the other side.

 

IMG_1334.PNG

JPC
Prodigy
Prodigy

Draygen wrote:

So back to the original issue. Here's the camera view i'm having issues with the most. Maybe i'm missing something. It picks up maybe 30% of the time now. It used to be more like 95%. As you can see it has a clear left to right field (which pir's like) and it's covered. The picture is the first frame of the video it captured and you can see i'm almost out the other side.

 

IMG_1334.PNG


 

I don't see anything wrong with your setup... Netgear really needs to work on the Motion Detection Bug.. All we can do really is wait until they come out with a stable firmware and hopefully fix this issue..

 

Try re-position your camera to the left making the edge of the right screen almost the edge of that Outdoor light and see if it helps and do 95% of sensitivity and 100% on detection.. It might help coming out from the door but coming in from the outside is another.. Test it out and see.. 

 

Also make sure you have a stable connection of your internet.. Do check it here: http://www.speedtest.net .. So you know there's no connection issues between your ISP and Arlo's Server since this has been the problem lately.. 

Hula_Rock
Prodigy Prodigy
Prodigy

@Draygen:

 

You almost have the same coverage area that I am trying to cover (Driveway).

 

Nice Jeep!  I see a WRV sticker, you in VaBch?  I just came back from vacation from the OBX

 

 

Hula_Rock
Prodigy Prodigy
Prodigy

EXACTLY MY PROBLEM !!!!!

Emmett
Guide
Guide

Actually D, we're a small thrift store in AZ,m and's that's really the problem - you can't make out anyone's license from 10 feet with this HIGH DEFINIFTION (that my 2.0 MP webcam takes clearer photos than) camera.  And the mtoion sensors are for **bleep**.  See I have the advantage of seeing things it cuaght and things it let slip by.  It lets A LOT of **bleep** slip by. If we didn't paint the thing brown to blend in with what it's mounted on which we're not allowed to mount it on (phone pole), I would already have sent this total pice of **bleep** back.  Arlo sucks balls.  Hope the language is not too offensive.

Em

Emmett
Guide
Guide

Yeah HULA it's like I took over $200 that could have gone to Veteran projects and threw it out the window on this  total piece of **bleep**. I have egg all over my face because I though this to be a solution to our problem and sold it to an enite group of people.  HIGH DEFINITION; TOTALLY WIRELESS, NIGHT VISION, in threory this is great.  In REAL WORLD APPLICATION, Arlo is just another problem I have, and it's designers should be ashamed of it.  This is just another internet  subscription gag. 

 

Em

Hula_Rock
Prodigy Prodigy
Prodigy

@Emmett

 

I share your frustration, ask anybody on this board,  even been accused of Trolling Arlo/Netgear.  If I spend 349.00 of my HARD EARNED MONEY to use as a tool to protect my property and FAMILY.......  IT BETTER PERFORM AS ADVERTISED !!!!!!!  PERIOD.  It really "chaps my hide"  to see countelss advertisements on Twitter stating "High or low, in or out - we truly go anywhere" (in regards to camera placement).

 

This system has some MAJOR ISSUES that needs to be fixed.  The thread that I have started "Motion Detection Testing (Part Deux)"  now has over 23,000 veiws,  Some at Netgear has to see the amount of traffic on the threads and address our issues.

Emmett
Guide
Guide

I'm not shocked by that amount of views, Hula. This morning I'm supposed to believe that not one single vehicle passed our store from 8:04PM last night till about 6:30AM this morning. Ridiculous. In my library I have 19 vidoes of absoluteley nothing but leaves shaking, and yet somehow, another car drove up to this one pictured below, dropped my store manager off, and she got in her car and drove away AND THERE IS NO RECORDING OF ANY IT. And BTW what about a timestamp? Very important in secuity videos and only available in the online library it appears. This camera/system is a TOTAL piece of **bleep**.

ArloNothing.jpg

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

The timestamp is on some browsers/computers but not all...

 

But if you d/l a file the file name is the date/time stamp in Epoch time which is easily converted to your local time

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Morse is faster than texting!
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sallydecorator
Guide
Guide

This happened to us last Friday night at our vacation home. The cameras were working fine, I could manually record and see images remotely. However, motion was not triggering them to come on in both the front and back yards. 

In an eerie twist of fate, someone broke in to our home during that time period, stole our TV, record player, and generally thrashed our home all while apparently enjoying a beer. 

I would have thought it was some high tech sleuths who figured out some way to jam the cameras, but the fact they left a beer bottle with fingerprints on it means they are not professionals. 

so, now it's down to WHY the cameras worked great for a year consistently, then stopped sensing motion.  This happened in Austin, TX so high humidity. I wondered if that had anythign to do with it? was not raining, though. 

 

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

sallydecorator,

 

Are you sure the cameras were set to a mode allowing motion detection at that time? If using a schedule, was the schedule set to trigger a mode activating motion detection?

 

JamesC

Hula_Rock
Prodigy Prodigy
Prodigy

sallydecorator wrote:

This happened to us last Friday night at our vacation home. The cameras were working fine, I could manually record and see images remotely. However, motion was not triggering them to come on in both the front and back yards. 

In an eerie twist of fate, someone broke in to our home during that time period, stole our TV, record player, and generally thrashed our home all while apparently enjoying a beer. 

I would have thought it was some high tech sleuths who figured out some way to jam the cameras, but the fact they left a beer bottle with fingerprints on it means they are not professionals. 

so, now it's down to WHY the cameras worked great for a year consistently, then stopped sensing motion.  This happened in Austin, TX so high humidity. I wondered if that had anythign to do with it? was not raining, though. 

 


I too had something STOLEN under Arlos' watch, well I did catch the persons leg as they walked down the driveway.  I learned my leason.

 

 

maj7b5
Aspirant
Aspirant

 


Draygen wrote:

So back to the original issue. Here's the camera view i'm having issues with the most. Maybe i'm missing something. It picks up maybe 30% of the time now. It used to be more like 95%. As you can see it has a clear left to right field (which pir's like) and it's covered. The picture is the first frame of the video it captured and you can see i'm almost out the other side.

 

IMG_1334.PNG



That's what I'm experiencing but my camera is mounted higher than that.

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

maj7b5 wrote:

 



 

IMG_1334.PNG



That's what I'm experiencing but my camera is mounted higher than that.


In the above view , I had to move my cam to the soffit over where the person is ( near gutter on corner ) facing out but also towards the door... this would start a record as they passed under and always get the face when they leave too.

Another trick of the camera is to pan/zoom the view smaller by about 10-15% then re-position the cam for the view wanted... since the PIR sees the whole field of view, it appears to start the recording sooner just as the subject enters the picture.

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Morse is faster than texting!
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maj7b5
Aspirant
Aspirant

ThanksTomMac!  I tested a few times and that pan/zoom tip you gave (they should call it crop)... it seemed to help me beat the delay I was having.  That's something I wouldn't have thought of on my own without hours and hours of testing.  I appreciate it.

TomMac
Guru Guru
Guru

maj7b5 wrote:

ThanksTomMac!  I tested a few times and that pan/zoom tip you gave (they should call it crop)... it seemed to help me beat the delay I was having.  That's something I wouldn't have thought of on my own without hours and hours of testing.  I appreciate it.


Good to hear...  It's a trick I've been using for a while.  Only took 3-4 months to fiq it out myself  🙂

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Morse is faster than texting!
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Paul_FCCL
Prodigy
Prodigy

Well said H_R!

 

Guys you should check out the topic: "recording delay", you'll find many p....-off users there!

Most reported Arlo flaw.......told by many under different topics but all with same problem. There is no cure,

no one is listening. All Netgear cares about is selling as many Arlo cameras as possible to unaware buyers.

 

Paul

nngnng
Apprentice
Apprentice

Yep- I learned my lesson- NEVER BUY A NETGEAR PRODUCT- not RELIABLE. I give up on these junk..... 

Figure8
Aspirant
Aspirant