Firmware upgrade again to 1.12.2.1_2798, causing the image or video downgrade, lower the resolu

[dsiu2902]

Firmware upgrade again to 1.12.2.1_2798, causing the live streaming, image or recorded video downgrade, lower the resolution, is everyone having the same problem yet. the Firmware upgrade was yesterday midnight (May 21, 2019).

[parsrgood]

@DRstjames. 

That is your choice, but this has been going on for more than two weeks. I have been through several of these faulty app and firmware mishaps with Arlo. And I think that people looking at buying this product should know what to expect. 

[dsiu2902]

Giving them a bad review is a good starting point, but obviously they don't care.

Customer support making us going around the circle.

Even one of the customer support told me that normal time for Engineering team to fix the firmware is approx one month.

(Time will tell)

Only time when they care about us is when "**bleep** hit the fan", everyone will start panicking.

All complaints must be directed to the Arlo company's chief (CEO or President).
Since Netgear is not longer responsible, Arlo can do whatever they wants.

Therefore, I have filed a complaint to BBB of Ca, Consumer affair, Federal Trade Commission and Pissedconsumer.com, hope the CEO or the President can do something for us, now, I just want them to refund my money.  

[parsrgood]

@ dsiu2902. Good job. If you want a punch to sting. Hit em in the pocketbook. Everyone considering purchasing Arlos products needs to be aware that Arlo has taken a good product and deemed it useless due to their unqualified engineers and customer support. There's a lot to be said about the old saying " If it aint broke, don't fix it" We are customers, not chimps. We want the best bang for our buck. So...... once again. If you are genuinley upset and fed up with spending your hard earned dollars on a inferior product. If you're truly upset that your security cameras fail to provide security. You'll do everything possible to warn others of spending big $ on a sub par product.    

[GaryBoisseau]

I have started to spread this issue on social media. If they are not QCing their firmware before releasing it and not rushing to fix it, then the buying public needs to know.

[jubbsy]

My 4 cameras have been offline for weeks. It's a security system thatis totally useless at the moment. How can they possibly take so long to fix their update that broke all our systems leaving us with no security

[French65]

In the last couple of weeks the live feed view from 3 camerad is very pixelated, basically rubbish. I've tried all the normal fixes and the wifi is good, problem still persists. Any ideas- got latest app etc

[TomMac]

Has any new devices been added to the home ??  Heavy pixelation tends to be interference or lack of signal to the camera.

Had one problem where a person put up a large mirror which blocked some signal to camera.

[jguerdat]

Have you reset the system and started fresh? That may be the fix - it has been for others. Don't wait weeks.

[dsiu2902]

The bottom line is that they just don't care. The reason why becasue they can see 229 replies and 1584 views for this forum.

But according to the  two ideas I created (listed below), only 12 people liked the idea of rolling back, and 8 people liked the idea of manual firmware upgrade.

If this number is correct, only 12 people may be affected by this horrible firmware an others will not affected.  Maybe only 12 people including myself is a laboraty mice.

Please support the following two ideas by giving a "Like",  so that they can no longer do this again in the future:

Roll back to previous firmware 1.12.0.1_27940 from current firmware 1.12.2.1_2798:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/Roll-back-to-previous-firmware-1-12-0-1-27940-from-...

Manual Firmware Update:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/Manual-Firmware-Update/idi-p/1701867

[dsiu2902]

Has anyone tried  jguerdat recommendation by doing factory reset yet?

I have not seen any any annoucements /posted this horrible firmware have been fixed.

[MikeBravo]

---

@jguerdat wrote:

Have you reset the system and started fresh? That may be the fix - it has been for others. Don't wait weeks.

---

If you have been reading this thread you should by now have seen that we've all done that multiple times, already contacted customer support who along with the moderator has told us that it definately a bug and that they are working to resolve it. 

The major problem is that it happened in the first place when it jeopardized such a large installed base that depends on their product FOR CRITICAL SECURITY and thus should have been accorded a good deal more consideration before deploying.

[MikeBravo]

---

@dsiu2902 wrote:

The bottom line is that they just don't care. The reason why becasue they can see 229 replies and 1584 views for this forum.

But according to the  two ideas I created (listed below), only 12 people liked the idea of rolling back, and 8 people liked the idea of manual firmware upgrade.

If this number is correct, only 12 people may be affected by this horrible firmware an others will not affected.  Maybe only 12 people including myself is a laboraty mice.

Please support the following two ideas by giving a "Like",  so that they can no longer do this again in the future:

Roll back to previous firmware 1.12.0.1_27940 from current firmware 1.12.2.1_2798:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/Roll-back-to-previous-firmware-1-12-0-1-27940-from-...

Manual Firmware Update:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/Manual-Firmware-Update/idi-p/1701867

---

I agree that the apparent apathy ( or maybe these other folks just have too much going on to hold Arlo's hand) is encouraging arlo to take their time, but the fact of the matter is that after acknowledging that it IS A BUG, they don't need any further evidence nor requests to fix it. 

Its just a matter of good business practice and apparently since they spun off from Netgear management hasn't yet felt the need to accelerate their support response.

What they might just find out one day is the truth in the saying, 'what goes around, comes around.'

[SEWII]

When will you at Arlo understand that it does not help with a reset.
Get a new firmware now directly or roll back the old firmware.
All I see is a single fog!
Do you understand nothing?

[jguerdat]

---

@dsiu2902 wrote:

Please support the following two ideas by giving a "Like",  so that they can no longer do this again in the future:

---

Unfortunately, this won't help. The number of open cases is what causes the metrics to change. A user forum really has no way to force a change. Open cases and keep responding to them every few days to keep them alive, even if there's no new information.

[SEWII]

When will the system be good again? Will there be any new firmware?
As it is now, I get no message.
Can you give it?

[dsiu2902]

 jguerdat,

First, when you said "That may be the fix - it has been for others",
where did you get this data/information?

Second, when you said "Unfortunately, this won't help. A user forum really has no way to force a change"

Per  @ShayneS comments earlier, 

Right now, our only choice is to follow their recommendation.

so, they don't have any other excuses to give them more time. It has been more than 2 weeks now.

Third, Do you have any relationship with Arlo company?

[MikeBravo]

---

@SEWII wrote:
When will you at Arlo understand that it does not help with a reset.
Get a new firmware now directly or roll back the old firmware.
All I see is a single fog!
Do you understand nothing?

---

I've begun to watch my recordings more closely as he distortion seems to be getting worse.

[glcjr]

Now they buried your two ideas threads by combining them with a thread from 2016... You don't suppose its because it makes them harder to find...

[ShayneS]

@glcjr

This is merely to have the request combined together and contribute to the likes & comments. Having all direction lead to one Idea in the board will help with potential implementation. This also helps with receiving as much traction for the request.  

[jguerdat]

---

@dsiu2902 wrote:

First, when you said "That may be the fix - it has been for others",
where did you get this data/information?

By reading every new message here. I can't point you to them since I don't know them. Unlike most others here, I scan all messages multiple times a day, sometimes with hundreds of posts.

---

Second, when you said "Unfortunately, this won't help. A user forum really has no way to force a change"

Per  @ShayneS comments earlier, 

Right now, our only choice is to follow their recommendation.

so, they don't have any other excuses to give them more time. It has been more than 2 weeks now.

---

There are a total of 3 Arlo employees that monitor these forums. JamesC, JessicaP and ShayneS. They may be able to help in certain cases (I've seen several cases opened for users who seem stuck) but, while official employees, they are not part of the official support as accessed by https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx.

---

Third, Do you have any relationship with Arlo company?

---

Other than spending WAY too much time here for free (or T-shirts, as some have said), I have no official relationship with Arlo. Superuser is an "honorary" title provided by the software - I got it after something like 3000 posts years ago. I'm retired IT and plan to keep it that way.

[MikeBravo]

---

@jguerdat wrote:

---

@dsiu2902 wrote:

First, when you said "That may be the fix - it has been for others",
where did you get this data/information?

By reading every new message here. I can't point you to them since I don't know them. Unlike most others here, I scan all messages multiple times a day, sometimes with hundreds of posts.

---

Second, when you said "Unfortunately, this won't help. A user forum really has no way to force a change"

Per  @ShayneS comments earlier, 

Right now, our only choice is to follow their recommendation.

so, they don't have any other excuses to give them more time. It has been more than 2 weeks now.

---

There are a total of 3 Arlo employees that monitor these forums. JamesC, JessicaP and ShayneS. They may be able to help in certain cases (I've seen several cases opened for users who seem stuck) but, while official employees, they are not part of the official support as accessed by https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx.

---

Third, Do you have any relationship with Arlo company?

---

Other than spending WAY too much time here for free (or T-shirts, as some have said), I have no official relationship with Arlo. Superuser is an "honorary" title provided by the software - I got it after something like 3000 posts years ago. I'm retired IT and plan to keep it that way.

---

Meanwhile folks, hoping we can play well together, i am certain now that my recordings are definately getting worse. 

I don't understand why unless they are messing with the system trying to fix it. If they are its not working. 

As an aside, a recent reply to one of my posts described the uses of both pairs of batteries as going to signal capture and then video compression collection or something like that. I didn't save the post so I don't quite remember.

My point is that more than a few posts previously said that only one set of batteries was used at a time. 

So, now the question is, who is right? 

Would help immensely if Arlo would post a definitive answer.

[jguerdat]

---

@MikeBravo wrote:

---

As an aside, a recent reply to one of my posts described the uses of both pairs of batteries as going to signal capture and then video compression collection or something like that. I didn't save the post so I don't quite remember.

My point is that more than a few posts previously said that only one set of batteries was used at a time.

---

In the original wireless cameras, there are effectively 2 sets of 2 batteries - front and back. To prove it remove 2 of them (front or back) and notice the camera works fine but will report only 50% on fresh batteries. The camera alternates between the two sets to maximize battery life (giving the unused set a chance to recuperate some, I suppose). Poor contact can cause one set of batteries to be used while the other is disconnected. That's why I recommend just lightly placing the batteries into their slots and let the battery door do the pushing. Of course, corrosion, etc. on any battery contact negates that procedure.

If all is properly done and the issue continues, I would open a case with support since it could just be a bad camera.

[dsiu2902]

First, don't do factory reset or hard reset your base station. I was thinking if I do factory reset today and , hope that everything will return to normal. It is worse than before.

So don't waste your time, if you start over, you need to resync all cameras again for nothing.

Secondly, I noticed that when they asked you to replace the battery (approx 15%),  I noticed that two batteries drain fasterer than the other two, why? I am not sure. But I noticed that the range of motion detection has been decreased.

(I lived in the cul de sac, I usually can detect the car, but when the battery starts to run out 25% or lower, I can't detect the car)  

Third, I was told by Chat support that the MP4 compression to MP4 is performed on the cloud storage.  2.4 Ghz Signal transmission is only used for camera to base, ethernet cable/router is only used for base to cloud storage, I found this to be not true today.

I have pro base station, I unplugged the ethernet cable from the back, I triggered my camera outside, and then checked my USB memory at the base, this video still shows blurry and herky-jerky motion. Therefore, I would say that compression decoder is located inside the base, and uses the horrible firmware to perform all decoding / compression of the MP4.

Conclusion:

Therefore, video files (Blurry) can be quickly transmitted between the base station and cloud storage, and can also be used for viewing. To save cloud storage too. This explains why they need this horrible firmware. 

Sorry for the long story.

[MikeBravo]

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@jguerdat wrote:

---

@MikeBravo wrote:

---

As an aside, a recent reply to one of my posts described the uses of both pairs of batteries as going to signal capture and then video compression collection or something like that. I didn't save the post so I don't quite remember.

My point is that more than a few posts previously said that only one set of batteries was used at a time.

---

In the original wireless cameras, there are effectively 2 sets of 2 batteries - front and back. To prove it remove 2 of them (front or back) and notice the camera works fine but will report only 50% on fresh batteries. The camera alternates between the two sets to maximize battery life (giving the unused set a chance to recuperate some, I suppose). Poor contact can cause one set of batteries to be used while the other is disconnected. That's why I recommend just lightly placing the batteries into their slots and let the battery door do the pushing. Of course, corrosion, etc. on any battery contact negates that procedure.

If all is properly done and the issue continues, I would open a case with support since it could just be a bad camera.

---

Thank you for replying. 

Your explanation is the one I remember from a previous post when we were trying to figure out why our battery usage was so different from what was officially reported which differs from a recent one somewhere in this thread that mentions different functions of the battery pairs.  

None of our seven (7) basic arlos appears to use their batteries the way you've described. On occasions too numerous to list our basic arlos would fail only to find that only two of the four batteries was exhausted, the other pair having a near full charge. 

Unless all seven have the same or similar defects which are utterly undetectable, using the battery door to compress the batteries when closing the cover hasn't produced any significant change in the rate and manner of depletion which is why we were looking for an official answer from arlo.

Except for one recent post by a user who experienced the same kind of strange battery behavior as we have (a battery that shows one percentage and then then next day an increased one) we haven't read of anyone else who has been having the same issues.

[dsiu2902]

ShayneS, why do you want to combine these two ideas with someone that was done on year of 2016.
There is no activity since 2016. Who will review the ideas that was created in 2016?

First,  they are referring to some issues that are not as severe than us.

Second, what happen to the idea of rolling back the firmware, which was completely removed?

Advise ASAP!!

Roll back to previous firmware 1.12.0.1_27940 from current firmware 1.12.2.1_2798:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/Roll-back-to-previous-firmware-1-12-0-1-27940-from-...

Manual Firmware Update:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/Manual-Firmware-Update/idi-p/1701867