Three Levels of Picture Quality/Battery Life

[R_Lowe]

I read recently on Amazon that there were three settings for video quality and each (unsurprisingly) affected battery life: 

(A) - High quality (reduced battery life)

(B) - Balanced (compromise of image & battery life)

(C) - Best life (reduced image quality)

For anybody that's checked or tested with their own Arlo camera(s) in real world conditions, in your opinion will employing the lesser "(B)" or "(C)" qualities provide a clear enough video of somebody that would be useful to the police?  Or, alternatively, do you/does anyone recommend using the highest "(A)" quality exclusively, or for that matter, even staying completely away from the "(C)" quality altogether?

[bedlam247]

Hello,

I'm currently researching Arlo.  I have two-story house and a wired system is too expensive for me.  I really feared the acutal battery life is less than 4 months.  

In my opinion, I would want the best porssible solution in order to have the best picture to assist law enforcement.  No point in capturing a picture that is very difficult to recognize facial images.  So battery life is critical.  So far, from some of the postings.  Battery life can be as low as 2 weeks! That's crazy bad! 

David.

[TomMac]

I always use the best setting for videos... I rather use more batteries.

I checked the best video vs the lowest setting in the past... there is some more pixalation in the lower level of course in the video but still a good video, in a snapshot same but not as pronounced. 

Best quality snapshot 60k

Low quailty snapshot  50k

Arlo says;

Check your camera’s Power Management settings. To extend your battery life, choose the Best Battery Life setting. This setting trades video quality for improved battery life. For best video quality, choose the Best Video setting. This setting reduces battery life but provides the highest quality images. To balance the battery life and video quality, choose the Optimized setting. To access your Power Management settings, log in to your Arlo account, select Settings > Camera Settings, and select a camera. 

New batteries provide up to 4-6 months of power to the camera with normal usage. Normal usage is defined as 4 minutes of viewing or recording per day with the camera in the Optimized setting. 

Depending on your specific usage, you might see different results. Also note that a camera’s distance from the base station can affect its battery life.

Arlo cameras use different amounts of bandwidth depending on whether you set the camera to Best Video, Optimized, or Best Battery Life. When you set the camera to Best Video, it uses about 700-750 kilobits per second. When you set the camera to Optimized, it uses approximately 450-550 kilobits per second. If a camera detects low bandwidth, the Arlo system automatically reduces the bandwidth of the video stream to accommodate the lower bandwidth. 

Note: The bandwidth values are for each individual camera. To learn how much bandwidth your Arlo system uses, multiply the number of cameras that are streaming video at the same time by the bandwidth for the video quality setting.

[jeff_757]

Have you noticed a difference in battery life for the camera's using the 'Best Video' Power Management setting?

[TomMac]

No.... not that it doesn't help the batteries,  Just, I have only ever run in best quality mode

I have two internal cams with <= to spec use on OEM batteries installed on 2/24, and a third lightly use camera on rechargeables on 58 days, the forth is currently early in test run of Tangsfire with 19 days.

[jguerdat]

I've noticed no difference in battery life using Best Quality.  It strikes me that Optimized only lowers resolution at night, possibly optimizing battery life due to IR illuminators vs. camera resolution.  The Best Battery Life setting may truly increase battery life but I think resolution is reduced too much to be useful in many cases.