Pre and post motion detection recording

[Gary8744]

My Arlo Pro recording starts with the movement that triggered it.  It would be nice to have a Pre and Post time so the triggering event is closer to the middle of the recording. 

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

Gary8744,

Due to it's battery operated design, Arlo Pro recordings are triggered based on motion detection, the device is not constantly streaming. The Arlo Q/Q Plus being wired devices, do have the feature you describe as it will begin recording prior to the motion trigger.

JamesC

[wannabfast]

How do you set the Arlo Q to record Pre-Event?

[jguerdat]

It automatically does this since the camera is constantly streaming.  The stream is used for the optional CVR (continuous video recording) feature.  Since the stream is already there, a motion event will cause a few seconds of video prior to the actual motion detection to be prepended to the video in the library.  The fly in the ointment is that if you do have the CVR option, your videos no longer have that prebuffer - you have to rely on CVR to see what happened just prior to recording.  I've whined about that but...

[TrulsZK]

Yes

In my opinion CVR should not change the algorithm for smart recording. Have noticed it but have not thought of it.

During my testing, if the power is disconnected quickly I end up with no recording at all

For me this is an issue as a burglar may steal/destroy the camera

[silanah]

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jguerdat wrote:

It automatically does this since the camera is constantly streaming.  The stream is used for the optional CVR (continuous video recording) feature.  Since the stream is already there, a motion event will cause a few seconds of video prior to the actual motion detection to be prepended to the video in the library.  The fly in the ointment is that if you do have the CVR option, your videos no longer have that prebuffer - you have to rely on CVR to see what happened just prior to recording.  I've whined about that but...

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Hi jguerdat, TomMac or James C (or anyone)

Your comment raises the questions

(1) Is the Arlo Q/Q+ also streaming when the camera is in 'Disarmed' mode?

(

2) Is the Arlo Q/Q+ streaming when the camera is turned 'Off' in the app/web interface?

Someone a while back mentioned that an Arlo/Arlo Pro wireless camera can be 'disarmed' and/or 'off' but still start recording if a Mode for another active camera has a rule that says (for example) 'motion on me, record both me and camera Y'. So even if camera Y is 'off' or 'disarmed' in the app, it will record when the other camera's rule is triggered.

In that case, 'off' or 'disarmed' is not really 'off' unless you pull a battery.  Is that still the scenario with the Arlo/Arlo Pro wireless? 

Is that true also with the Q/Q+ streaming?  Is the camera never really 'disarmed' or 'off' unless you unplug it? 

3) If the Q/Q+ is constantly streaming, what happens to the all the streaming video that isn't actually saved to your account becasue there was no motion event that triggered it?  Since the cameras are internet connected via your wifi router, does that data just bounce around the internet?

Sorry these might be silly questions but I don't have the tech background to know. 

thanks

[jguerdat]

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silanah wrote: 

(1) Is the Arlo Q/Q+ also streaming when the camera is in 'Disarmed' mode?

Yes.  

2) Is the Arlo Q/Q+ streaming when the camera is turned 'Off' in the app/web interface?

Just tested this. It appears to be not streaming since my CVR does not work until I turn it back on.

3) If the Q/Q+ is constantly streaming, what happens to the all the streaming video that isn't actually saved to your account becasue there was no motion event that triggered it?  Since the cameras are internet connected via your wifi router, does that data just bounce around the internet?

It's going to the server which keeps it for use of CVR or pre-buffering for recorded videos.  If you don't have CVR, I'm not sure whther it's saved other than the few seconds for pre-buffering - enabling CVR doesn't give you the previous days' worth of stream.

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[TrulsZK]

The few seconds buffering is not uploaded as I monitor my internet usage and it only drastically increased when I turned on CVR

[jguerdat]

You can tell if the pre-buffering is going on by watching your videos.  However, use of CVR turns off the pre-buffer - you have to use CVR to see what happened just before the motion was detected.

Your observation of Internet usage may well be correct (my router's monitor seems to be next to useless). It may be that without CVR nothing is streamed and there's an internal buffer in the camera that does the pre-buffer.  I can't prove it either way.