Motion Sensitivity picking up pets when set for People Only

@Mannyshere14

I am in the UK and having the same issues with 3 x Floodlight cams.

I have a ‘regular’ wired CCTV system recording 24/7 but I wanted something to give me instant alerts to catch illegal parking and dumping of rubbish.

Previously, the cams worked reasonably well but now with sensitivity turned right down (but not on ‘People Only’ mode as I need to catch vehicles too) all day and night the cameras catch cats and/or reflections of car headlights from the driveway.

I don’t know if other brands have more advanced detection?

@justanewbie wrote:

@Mannyshere14

I am in the UK and having the same issues with 3 x Floodlight cams.

I have a ‘regular’ wired CCTV system recording 24/7 but I wanted something to give me instant alerts to catch illegal parking and dumping of rubbish.

Previously, the cams worked reasonably well but now with sensitivity turned right down (but not on ‘People Only’ mode as I need to catch vehicles too) all day and night the cameras catch cats and/or reflections of car headlights from the driveway.

I don’t know if other brands have more advanced detection?

Hey i feel for you, your not alone - last few days have drove me crazy as we have had some sunshine which makes matters worse with people shadows regardless of settings. I have had car lights setting them off even when no where near the motion zones but because the lights flash on to the motion zone it sets it off. The rat was back also had some pigeons! luckly i have turned motion alerts off during the night now to get some sleep.

But when i am out i have to turn my phone on silent because otherwise the cameras keep belling off my phone all the time.

I am due to follow up with RING again tomorrow sfor an update as i have not had any update on my refund.

What i will do is test other cameras out at somepoint and i mean test them out proper, and if they are just as bad then they will be going straight back before the grace period expires.

The only cameras which seem more ‘intelligent’ are the Nest Cam Outdoor IQ but at £330 per camera and £24 for recording 30 days for the first camera and then £12 for the next camera, it gets expensive very quickly.

I wonder if they have a ‘grace period’?

@justanewbie wrote:

The only cameras which seem more ‘intelligent’ are the Nest Cam Outdoor IQ but at £330 per camera and £24 for recording 30 days for the first camera and then £12 for the next camera, it gets expensive very quickly.

I wonder if they have a ‘grace period’?

Yeah i was looking at those and didnt agree with the price of recordings. I am sure most have a grace period.

The other one i am looking at is the cameras from Ubiquiti - Unifi Protect - no monthly fee and free cloud storage for streaming and viewing reocrdings - think is always on record - you can get a piece of hardware for it to store all footage locally. I have the internet networking from them so worth giving them a try also.

I already have Unifi APs so I have been looking into their Protect cams - they seem good but from the reports/reviews I have seen, the motion detection isn’t that great.

@justanewbie wrote:

I already have Unifi APs so I have been looking into their Protect cams - they seem good but from the reports/reviews I have seen, the motion detection isn’t that great.

There must be a camera out there that has nailed the motion detection! i have just been on the Nest Community page and you know what it kind of resembles this community… issues with motion dectection, power, recording and connection issues.

So starting to look like the grass isnt any greener :laughing:

So I didnt recieve any updates from the escalation or from logistics so i got onto chat support - i spoke to 2 different advisors and they could not obtain an update so sent escalations again - then a team leader took over the chat and issued me 4 replacements in the meantime!

So while i await updates i will have the pleasure of reinstalling 4 cameras and then packing the others up to return - i told the team leader i am doubtful that they will resolve the issues but i have had a change of tatic (i have noting better to do) while waiting i shall keep returning and getting replacement until i get an outcome that i will be happy with!

I posted a direct message on Facebook Messenger. It was a typical response asking I do all of the previously requested and submitted info, such as uploading a copy of the video along with a screenshot of settings for each camera. I declined and asked them to review the case file and asked that they post something acknowleging this is a known issue and is being worked. Of course they provided nothing in return. Here is their response:

“Our team is always working to improve the motion detection of each Ring device, and we appreciate your feedback. We’re unable to provide any specific details on when a new motion detection update will be released, but keep an eye out in the Ring App for any new features.”

Frankly, this is total BS. Maybe with enough pushback from the community they will post something.

BTW, please post the results after replacing 4 cameras. I am certain this will be worthless. I have replaced 3 cameras due to failure and there is no change whatsoever. I have replaced 2 Doorbell Pro’s, 1 Floodlight Cam. The People Detection, we should now call it Cat Detection, doesn’t work on ALL devices regardless of being replaced.

@B-H wrote:

I posted a direct message on Facebook Messenger. It was a typical response asking I do all of the previously requested and submitted info, such as uploading a copy of the video along with a screenshot of settings for each camera. I declined and asked them to review the case file and asked that they post something acknowleging this is a known issue and is being worked. Of course they provided nothing in return. Here is their response:

“Our team is always working to improve the motion detection of each Ring device, and we appreciate your feedback. We’re unable to provide any specific details on when a new motion detection update will be released, but keep an eye out in the Ring App for any new features.”

Frankly, this is total BS. Maybe with enough pushback from the community they will post something.

BTW, please post the results after replacing 4 cameras. I am certain this will be worthless. I have replaced 3 cameras due to failure and there is no change whatsoever. I have replaced 2 Doorbell Pro’s, 1 Floodlight Cam. The People Detection, we should now call it Cat Detection, doesn’t work on ALL devices regardless of being replaced.

This is one the most frustrating things with RING… we know there is an issue… the firmware has been blamed but yet nothing official being said?

I have been checking the other headings on the community for other devices and there is mention on them about devices going off for no reason etc. but a lot of time and effort could be reduced if there was a section on this community that had a heading something like “known issues” so before neighbours frantically start posting duplicate posts and then feel like they are being ignored it would be a whole lot neighbourly to have something like this?

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I have had better luck lately. Either no critters or its not picking them up. BUT…it did trigger from some sort of floating alien looking thing that swung in front…It was really freaky looking like it came from the woods then swung back in to the woods. Then the next minute, it alarms again…and it was a spider crawling on the lens…I guess that alien looking thing was something from its web.

I thought we could download and save videos if we wanted but I cant see a way to do it, only a way to send a link. I want to be able to save videos to my device and delete them from my events list. No time to start that discussion here…probably wouldn’t be happy with the result of an inquiry anyway…

They have drove me crazy today as we have had sunshine again which has caused an insane amount of false alerts (people shadows) plus the usual culprits !

By the way you can download videos to your phone just press the share button and it takes you to another pop up saying what a link and just press share then you will be given an option to download (icon) on my iPhone it’s the one at the end of the line of options to share, so click that and it will start to process the video for download! On iPhone it goes straight into the photos app. Hope that helps.

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Sorry to read that Manny. It would drive me crazy too. Fortunately we’re in a rural area so seldom anyone walks by and I don’t get sunshine triggers. I do have one of my driveway alarms, the one at the entrance that goes off almost exactly at noon on certain sunny days though. Cant figure out anything else. It’s a gyro/magnet trigger (for cars) but can be triggered by moving it like a squirrel jumping on it, but I’ve ran up there after triggers and can never see any animal that would cause it. It will just go off multiple times around noon and stop after while…doesn’t do it at any other time and that’s when the sun is at its peak of course.

Thanks for the tip on the video download. Searching the site did’nt take me there right away and I’m too busy to spend half a day researching it here. You saved me some time and hassle and I appreciate it!

No worries glad I could help!

Hopefully these motion issues get fixed soon! :slight_smile:

Here is the latest review of Arlo on TechHive. Obviously, Ring has a problem if the reviewers are writing this. Maybe a little pressure from competition will help.

"Arlo Video Doorbell review: Finally! A doorbell that can tell cats from people"

@B-H wrote:

Here is the latest review of Arlo on TechHive. Obviously, Ring has a problem if the reviewers are writing this. Maybe a little pressure from competition will help.

“Arlo Video Doorbell review: Finally! A doorbell that can tell cats from people”

Hey TechHive may have given it a glowing review… however i have learnt most recently to always check the community forums of any product that seems to be too good to be true!

Having checked Arlo’s community forum i have noticed issues with it, seems quite familiar to some of the issues faced with RING.

Dont get me wrong it maybe better in some ways to RINGs but i now dont tend to rely on what tech review sites/youtube say anymore. :laughing:

Update.

Its been a few days now since my 2nd lot of replacements being up and running…

Not had any false alerts from the front drive camera yet (have it set on the lowest motion setting and people mode is off)… maybe the stray cats have not been round? also not had any sunny days so there has been no people shadows to test it with!

The garage cam is still picking up the smoke coming from the boiler flow pipe (the pipe is over 20ft away from the camera).

The Garden cam is still picking up a Rat and birds on the lowest motion sensitivity with people only mode off ( i am now testing it with people mode on). - also getting audio interference on this one so i am looking into the cause of this.

The final forth camera i have installed indoors to test it out - have managed to figure out a way to stop recordings/motions when i dont need it to and have turned the spotlight off.

I still have all the notification alerts on snooze and also have snooze periods on smart devices - so they are not disturbing me for no reason anymore (not ideal as i amy miss something important). I just review the alerts when i get up in the morning now and just glad that the rodents in the garden did not wake me at silly o’clock.

Hows things with everyone else?

No change - being driven mad by alerts from cats and car lights reflecting on a wet driveway - this is on the lowest sensitivity setting.

Selecting ‘People Only’ mode sometimes limits the number of cat alerts but also misses important alerts that I do want such as cars.

If only there was a cars and people only mode!

@justanewbie wrote:

No change - being driven mad by alerts from cats and car lights reflecting on a wet driveway - this is on the lowest sensitivity setting.

Selecting ‘People Only’ mode sometimes limits the number of cat alerts but also misses important alerts that I do want such as cars.

If only there was a cars and people only mode!

People Only mode never really did much to resolve the false detections for me… it just picked up everything and sometimes missed detecting “People”

The sun is shining today and its perfect sun shadow weather :laughing: So the front drive camera is on the lowest motion sensitivity mode - with people mode off - lets see what happens :flushed:

@Mannyshere14 wrote:

@justanewbie wrote:

No change - being driven mad by alerts from cats and car lights reflecting on a wet driveway - this is on the lowest sensitivity setting.

Selecting ‘People Only’ mode sometimes limits the number of cat alerts but also misses important alerts that I do want such as cars.

If only there was a cars and people only mode!

People Only mode never really did much to resolve the false detections for me… it just picked up everything and sometimes missed detecting “People”

The sun is shining today and its perfect sun shadow weather :laughing: So the front drive camera is on the lowest motion sensitivity mode - with people mode off - lets see what happens :flushed:

Update

Ok well i am deflated… i thought there would be an improvement but nope the people shadows strike again, also had a magpie trigger a motion alert. The thing is the sun isnt directly hitting the Camera so its not even like its glare from the sun at all.

I am going to give it a few more days and see what happens - i will update Support on this also.

We don’t need fancy “black box” algorithms, all we need is more settings to fine tune the sensitivity and the triggers.
A neighbour’s freaking cat gets on my yard at very late hours (3AM-5AM), and the motion alert wakes me up with a mini heart attack. I need the motion alert because I’ve had people trying to get into the house to steal.
So in this case, a less sensible setting for the white pixels of the white cat, the car lights, the shadows, etc, would be great.
The super special algorithm you have now for motion zones is just a pixel counter, i.e., it counts how many pixels have changed inside the zone, you’re not fooling anyone. So let us fine tune that! Some chinese cameras have this kind of advanced setting.
Leave your pride aside and let us “hack” our motion settings for our own very unique layouts and “false positives”.