Will Sighthound support Arlo HD cameras?

[dannyjo]

I have a Arlo 100% wire free system with 4 cameras. Would I be better to use this system with Sighthound? or is there a redundancy there?

[Devin]

Hi dannyjo,

I'm not familiar with the Arlo software, though I can say Sighthound has a lot of unique features. I researched the Arlo cameras and unfortunately the only information I could find on using them with third-party software was this Arlo forum post (https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-A ... h/td-p/740) in which a customer stated "I found out the unfortunate answer from a Netgear product manager. The RTSP stream is encrypted and thus cannot be used to integrate with other software."

It would appear they want you to use their own software with these cameras but I would recommend contacting Arlo support to see if they have a stream URL you can use for third-party software.

Regards,

-Devin

[dannyjo]

I am not sure what I need to hook IP cameras up for the sighthound? Say I want to install a camera outside pointing towards the house, do I need an electrical outlet nnearby to plug the camera into, or do I need to run cable from that camera to inside the house?

[Devin]

Hi dannyjo,

Sighthound Video will work with virtually any IP camera that supports third-party software regardless of how you have it set up. Some cameras will work over WiFi and most require a power cable. If you have a power outlet outside the house I'd recommend searching for a WiFi camera. Please see this article for a description on the types of cameras you can connect as well as a list of cameras that are pre-configured in our application that have been confirmed to work.

Regards,

-Devin

[Semper Vaporo]

All cameras will need some sort of power to operate, so unless you have a massive battery capacity there will be a need for power wires to run the camera.

"Wireless" means that the Signal from the camera does not require a wire. Wireless can be either a simple industry standard RF Video signal (often called Closed Circuit TV [CCTV]} or a WiFi RF digital signal, or possibly a cell phone RF signal. An RF Video signal would require a receiver tuned to the transmitted frequency and something attached to it to display/store (Monitor/VCR) the video data (or convert it a digital signal that a computer can input to store/interpret (like for use by Sighthound).

A "Wired" system can also be of similar signal types, but sent over a wire instead of radio waves, usually at a faster data rate and with less chance of interference and receipt/snooping by others.

There are also methods of combining the power and signal wires, either built-in to the camera or by some external adapters. If the camera is a "network" camera (often called an IP camera) then power can be supplied over the Ethernet cables, and this is known as POE (Power Over Ethernet). Another method is Ethernet Over Powerlines (EOP) where you plug an adapter into the standard AC power lines and connect the network cables into them and the data is transmitted over the power lines. Similar systems are available for CCTV type cameras.

With many newer IP cameras, there is some redundancy between the features built-in to the camera itself and the capabilities of Sighthound. The newer IP cameras can detect motion and send e-mails/txt messages and are accessible via cell phone aps, etc. But presently Sighthound has the upper hand at distinguishing between Human and "other" detected motion. And you can view/monitor multiple cameras at the same time on one central system. Plus all the video is stored on the computer for later use, with an intelligent method of reducing the storage load to keeping just the relevant (motion detected) video clips for a longer term than something like a VCR that will store everything until storage is used up and then it deletes the oldest video without regard to whether it is of detected motion or not.

[dradb]

Semper, Arlo does run on batteries. 4-6 month life. Sounds quite useful.

[yovinman]

I would like to re-visit this topic to find out if Sighthound has tested this camera with their software. I have invested in Sighthound and I do not want to be the guinea pig here by buying a Netgear Arlo camera only to discover it does not work with Sighthound because of encryption issues, etc. I like the form factor of the Arlo for outdoor placement. Sighthound what say you?

[ryan]

Unfortunately Arlo cameras are set up to work within a Netgear ecosystem rather than providing a camera with full user access so there is not a publicly available stream that Sighthound Video would be able to record from. In the specific case of Arlo SV would be unable to record even if this wasn't the case as the camera only activates video on abrupt sound/motion events so there is not a constant stream to monitor and save.