Snapshot ... giveth then it taketh away? Bring back the 30 second interval please

Products Feature Request Board
1

My “Every 30-seconds” interval option on Snapshots has disappeared. Please bring it back.

I have 3 Stick-up Cam plug-in (all Gen 2), and all mounted outside, and all set at “Frequent” on their Motion Frequency. All 3 of them had the “Snapshot Capture” activated, all with 4 available choices for “Snapshot Frequency” of;

– Every 30-seconds.

– Every 1 hour.

– Every 14 minutes

– Every 5 minutes.

All 3 Cams were operating fine on “Every 30 seconds” option and were providing a Snap every 30 seconds.

Then one Stick-up Cam kept having issues going “Live View” … not connecting … better described as “never connecting”. I tried several recommended trouble-shooting solutions that did not help. I eventually tried “Factory Reseting” this cam (holding the orange button for 20+ seconds) and removed the cam off my android phone app, and then went through the entire set-up procedures again. It’s been only a few days now, and the reset Cam can do “Live View” again … BUT … when it seems that this Cam updated it’s firmware (during the set up process), it now only has 3 available choices for “Snapshot Frequency” of;

– Every 1 hour.

– Every 14 minutes

– Every 5 minutes.

I lost the “30-second” option! For my purposes, a single ‘snap’ every hour, or 14 mintues, or even every 5 minutes is pretty much useless … cool to playback and watch … but not useful for security purposes. Why even have the “1 hour” option at all on a Security Camera? The “30 seconds” option was the closest thing to continuous recording and I found it extremely valuable to catch stuff that occurred between motion-activation events, or activities that were occurring beyond the motion-activation range.

To double-check, I used the app to view the other two Stick-up Cams, and they both still had the “30-seconds” interval option for Snapshot … BUT then on one of these cams, I toggled from the “30-seconds” to “5 minutes” option and it switched fine, but now the “30-seconds” option disappearred and hasn’t returned! The last of the 3 Stick-up Cams is still on “30-seconds” and I don’t dare change that selection! So, I have 2 Cams taking Snaps at 5 long minute intervals, with 1 cam still at every 30-seconds. What happened?

I suspect that many Ring customers were selecting Snapshot with the “30 seconds” option and now your “Cloud space” availability on your servers is becoming an issue? I assume that is a reason why “Snapshots” are only stored on the Cloud for 7 days, instead of the 2 months like the Motion recordings? And also why my Cams Motion-activated recordings USED to record for 30-seconds, but later only record for 20 seconds Max? Or why you seem to resist all the many, multiple requests for longer motion-activated recording times (everyone complaining that 30 seconds, now only 20 on my cams, is too short … too insufficient for security purposes).

What is going on? Please bring back the “Every 30-seconds” option on the Snapshots.

2

I’m excited! My “30 Seconds" interval Snapshot option is back!

I don’t know what actually caused the original loss of the “30 Second” option. It could have been something to do with a Firmware update, or a glitch during a download, or the alignment of the stars with Jupiter and Mars.

But now all three of my outdoor Stick-up Plug-In cameras (Gen 2) have new Snapshot interval choices of:

  • Every 3 Minutes.

  • Every 1 Minute.

  • Every 30 Seconds.

When I did my original installation of my Stick-up cams, the instructions had me choose between Plug-in power or Battery power. Mine are all Plug-in powered. In each Stick-up cam there is an internal compartment for a click-in battery. Mine are empty. After setting up as a “Plug-In” device, all three cams had the following 4 choices available for Snapshot intervals:

  • Every 30-Seconds.

  • Every 1 Hour.

  • Every 14 Minutes

  • Every 5 Minutes.

After a few weeks, one Stick-up cam needed a full, hard, “Factory Reset” to correct a problem. That’s when the first camera lost the “Every 30 second” option, and I was left with only the 3 options of “1 Hour”, “14 Minutes”, and the “5 Minutes”. Shortly afterwards, another Stick-up cam also lost the “30 Second” option, and it was never “Hard Reset” nor had a ‘soft’ reset procedure.

With all three of my cams, both before and after the interval loss, the “Device Health” indicated everything was fine. The “Power Source” displayed “Power Outlet” (not “Battery”). All other “Device Health” indications were good too. I kept searching for a solution to get “30 Seconds” back, to no avail.

Today, I checked “Device Setting”, and then found and selected “General Settings.” To my surprise it displayed “Power Mode - Battery.” Huh? I’m not sure, but it used to show “Plug-in” or something like that. Now it was different and had switched to a Battery Mode. Took me awhile to realize I could click on “Power Mode” to arrive at another sub-set menu … showing “Battery Mode” and “Wired Mode” with a blue bar icon at the bottom of the screen to transfer back & forth between the two power modes!

But it now makes sense, why I lost the “30 Seconds” and eventually ended up with only the 3 interval selections. Stick-up camera’s power source can be either Battery or Plug-In. Lots of repetitive Snapshots can put a high drain on the battery if interval choice is very short. My cam mistakenly believed it was Battery powered (even though there is not even a battery in the compartment).

Selecting the “Switch to Wire Mode” blue bar, another setup process attempted to start. Apparently, the camera’s Blue light was supposed to start blinking … never did … and the process had to be initiated by pressing the cam’s Orange reset button. This was not a hard reset, but rather a momentary push on the Orange button for a soft reset. It turns out that all 3 of my Stick-up cams needed the Orange reset button pressed to initiate the setup.

Now with a completed soft reset, all three of my outdoor Stick-up Plug-In cameras show “Power Mode – Wired.” They all have 3 new, significantly shorter Snapshot interval options of:

  • Every 3 Minutes.

  • Every 1 Minute.

  • Every 30 Seconds.

I discovered that some of my previous selections had remained unchanged during this soft reset. But some did change back to factory default settings, such as Alert-sounds. Also, some previous features were gone, and several new features were added. A totally new “Motion Zones” format (just like those found on Ring Indoor Cameras) allows you to move 8 blue dots to create a tailored, geometric-shaped zone.

I apologize for thinking Ring intentionally stole away my favorite “30 Second” interval. And whoever was involved in the latest firmware that permits “Wired-Powered” Stick-up (Gen 2) cameras to have short intervals . . . Thank You!

Two things I still find bizarre. How did my Stick-Up Plug-In originally have 4 interval choices? And how did the camera change the power mode to battery? Bottomline, I can again select “30 Seconds” and I’m happy!

What would make me ecstatic? Provide new firmware for my hardwired powered, Ring Video Door 2 with a Snapshot interval shorter than its current minimum of “5 Minutes.” Yes? Maybe? Soon? ?