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Phoebus's profile

Wednesday, September 18th, 2024 7:00 PM

Doorbell Camera No Video issue still not fixed

It should have become painfully obvious by now that the door camera has a WiFi issue. As I can see from the posts here, I am not the only one who gets the dreaded No Video message despite flawless connectivity tests (-41dbm / 6.5 Mbps in my case). 
It happens in about 10% of recordings, with no apparent rhyme or reason. 
Or I will attempt to watch a live feed and repeatedly get a “camera disconnected” message. Then suddenly it connects and the connection test is flawless again. 

This has been going on since the door camera was introduced. No apparent attempt to fix this, but the monthly rate is going up again. 

I am losing faith in this company to provide reliable security 

1.4K Messages

2 months ago

@Phoebus I can only agree. 19+- months in.

However even with weak wifi antennas that I suspect these doorbells have and the fact that one of mine is sunk back into a recessed doorway and surrounded by brick, with a steel door nearby.

All unhelpful, but as you say, I also have good Dbm and enough upload Mbs.

What helped some, I still get occasionally black or unfinished videos. Not as bad as they were with the first two doorbells though.

I was told the two replacements have Simplisafe modified antennas. Same look, doorbells Pro. I can't verify nor prove nor disprove.

They seem to, better live views mostly...

Less bad video's.

Still a couple here and there. My WiFi is Mesh, perhaps they actually switch access points now, I don't know.

One or a both new ones will occasionally get the orange Haze between day and night artificial light. Switch resolution back and forth fixes it, until it happens again.

These news one do blink disconnected and then go right back to connected off and on. Don't know why. Firmware is 2.6.2.171. standard I think.

However, even though I wasn't believed, they downgraded from .176 when received and setup. Don't know why, not the first firmware that downgraded here.

These doorbells released around 2017ish+-. Fairly old technology.

If it holds true, they should start swapping them out and mod them all.

At least now they're both a bit more useful than the old Pros. But not perfect. No wifi cams, doorbells or battery powered ever again for me.

6 Messages

@dlpsr​ My suspicion is that, like other companies (e.g. Google with Nest - their thermostats haven't been updated for years despite having several annoying bugs) they acquired some technology and then lost the people who actually knew how it worked.

If I had any assurances that the equipment from other companies worked better, I'd immediately switch. But it appears everyone is having issues. For a while, Simplisafe was at least reasonable with regard to pricing. But even that advantage is slowly disappearing...

1.4K Messages

@Phoebus​ I'm building my own so to speak. DIY 

I think there can be WiFi issues with any device out there occasionally, as many as these, probably not. 

So, I've built my own parallel entry, motion, leak etc. sensor system already. A few more Zigbee sensors.

Cameras will be power over Ethernet, doorbells will also be power over Ethernet.

Slowly, tested etc.

Foolproof? Maybe not, but 99.99 percent better than any WiFi or battery cameras out there.

I don't have monitoring anymore so that matters very little, but available for my DIY if found necessary down the road. Cheap currently.

Maybe when I'm old, I'm only 70 now.😁

No more commercial systems ever for me. Their primary concerns are monitoring fees. Almost, all of them.

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