Outdoor Nest Doorbell (Battery) - Poor live feed footage

[DutchBhoy7]

I've had a nest doorbell for a few years now and the quality of the live feed and recordings via the Home app has always been good.

However, I've noticed recently that the live feed footage in the app has drastically decreased and is very pixelated.  The recordings are still of a high quality so its not showing on there.

My internet is of a decent standard and wasn't an issue before so not down to poor coverage/bandwidth.

I've tried rebooting the camera and changing a few settings but no change.

Any ideas what could be causing this?  I assume its been down to a firmware upgrade to either Home app or the camera.

[slix71]

I have a doorbell camera and 7 nest battery cameras. They are on the 422270 build as you stated. They are still blurry no matter if you're just looking at the feed starting or if you leave it on the live view for a while. Stays blurry. I've obviously invested a bunch of money on these due to their ease of installation. I hope that gets a real fix soon because they serve zero purpose as-is. 

[MCaud]

Same here resolution never increases. Had zero issues prior to that firmware update and feed was clear. With this "fix" the feed at least no longer cuts out completely...

If within warranty maybe its time we open disputes. Camera is defective at this point, did not spend all this money for 140p live feed with bitrate so bad it looks like Minecraft. Next camera system will be self hosted... ridiculous.

[Super_paulie]

still no update for me here in the UK. Getting pretty sick of all my visitors looking like 6 giant blurry squares, its such a massive waste of technology. HD, yeah right.. HD is the very least you should expect, not like 140p or whatever the hell this mess is.

[satyrica]

Firmware has updated, but the quality (or lack of) issue persists - erratically.  As I type, the quality of one of my live streams has degraded, yet was ok earlier this morning.  On top of this, I feel (maybe others can chime in) that firmware 422270 is an improvement over 416403, *but* not at the level of quality we had before that.

Given that google does not seem to want to dedicate full-time attention to what is our full-time problem, maybe we should take this discusstion to gizmodo, 9to5toys, the verge, or cnet to get some better traction?  

What does the hive mind think??

[slix71]

Well, I give up... done with the google garbage. Everyone here has the same complaints and no one from Google can provide real details as to what the heck you've done with these expensive cameras to make them into paperweights. I already installed a Reolink system and it blows the nest cameras away, even when they did work. Google, you need to step up your game or you'll keep losing business.

[treys1]

What's the deal here, I have 7 of the newer gen Nest Cam (Battery) & a Doorbell and even on 422270 the live feed is terrible..... I also pay for a Nest subscription and I am on my second year of that. We can we expect a fix, or will Google buy back hardware so we can switch to another system?

[satyrica]

The night vision (especially) is reminiscent of the "glamor shots" photos from the mall in the 80's.  That blurry/fuzzy/vaseline on the lens look.  And it's not working out.  I think I need to ditch these.

[un_BEN_annt]

My cameras are running on 422270 but the live view is still pixelated.

[Ravippe]

Live in the USA... The nest doorbell has been successfully upgraded and firmware and the problem seems resolved...

The rest of my nest cameras are still in the old firmware they have notupdated yet

[DutchBhoy7]

I'm in the UK and mine has updated to the new firmware. As Kelan said, the quality starts low but then becomes fine after that. Thanks for fixing. But as others have said, this shouldn't have happened in the first place of proper testing was done before releasing a new update. 

[rickytenzer]

Mine are updated, but the issue is still there. Prior to this issue, the cameras loaded quickly and I had full quality and full zoom right away; now, it takes 3-5 seconds for quality and zoom to be at max. I can't understand why this was changed!?

[satyrica]

No updates here.  6 indoor and outdoor cameras, none have updated yet.  If quality does not at least go back to what we had previously, this is going to be messy.  I think gizmodo.com is reporting on this now, the userbase is gonna revolt!

[Ravippe]

only 3 of my cams out of 7 are updated with new firmware.. no ryme or reason... some on battery updated, some on plugged in... the FARTHEST away from router updated first.. so i dunno 

[blergh]

I have 10 cameras and 8 of mine updated in the last few hours. The other 2 updated 2 days ago.

[Ravippe]

I think this was implimented because the battery is sucking too much power giving poor "life"... charging every 4 weeks etc...

Think if it as hard start every time you check... they probably thought.. lets make it a soft start...

For me im ok with a blurry video to load quick for 5 seconds and then let it get clear after... 

[mercury670]

I have battery doorbell. Video set to Max quality, I get 8-10 weeks per charge. 

[bpcs]

You're lucky! It's 6-8 weeks if I'm very lucky for me. I have about 6 video events per day average.

[rickytenzer]

I understand that, but when they are WIRED (not on battery) this shouldn't be necessary; they should forego that feature when wired. 

[bpcs]

Exactly!

[satyrica]

Several of my nest cams have updated to 422270, but some are reporting the following (nest cam outdoor):

How do I interpret what firmware version these cameras are running? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Micha_123]

Same here, Life feed is only in Low Quality doenst change to high quality even after some minutes stays at low quality, recordings are good.

Glas fiber connection with 1Gbit upload and 1Gbit download.

Wifi Mesh network where the mean AP is 1 meter (on the other site of the door) from the Doorbell.

Have WiFi speeds (on speedtest) around 600mbit/s up and down. Wired speed on my internet is 930mbit up and down.

So that cannot be an network issue.

The best firmware was the 1.65, best image quality, best night Vision.

Now from 1.67 firmware video Quality was broken, en after years and some updates later they have doenst fix it.  

Every update brings an another Bug on that device!!!!    Google Please roll it back to 1.65 im Missing the good Quality and perfect working video that was on the 1.65 firmware !!!!! All other firmwares  had bugs amd on every update you get more bugs !!!!

[Zimster]

UK user here, it's gone live over weekend. still not a fan of the slow ramp up of quality 

[Micha_123]

Im afraid that the next update wil Fix one thing and brake 5 other things.

Science 1.67 is it so, 1.67 poor quality night vision terrible.

1.69 better day quality but still no fix on night vision and sometimes the picture is flikkering (over day) really like an stroboscope.

1.73 picture still flikkering sometimes an give one more bug with the low quality issue on Live feed.

Now waiting for the next update, low quality on life feed seems to be fixed (as i can read reports of other users they have almost the new firmware) but now im really afraid that one thing wil be fixed and other thinks wil be broken.

My hope to the picture quality like 1.65 firmware (specially on night) is almost gone, i dont think anymore (after years  no fix on that) that the video quality at night wil be so good as it in 1.65 was.

[Hrcuk1986]

So I've had the update and every so often it's high quality on life feed immediately but with occasions where it's starts off poor then gets better however I'm still having poor quality  majority of the time for live feed. This is regardless of how long I leave it open for I just wish they'd fix it properly. 

[mercury670]

In Australia. Received the update overnight last night. 100% frustrated that it still takes 5-7 seconds once the app is opened for the quality to ramp up to where it should be to start with.

Do we know if there's a further fix / plans to backdate the firmware to the version 2 updates ago? Considering nothing was actually broken and things were working just fine, it seems ludicrous that they'd even attempt to change anything.....smh

[Ziflin]

Mine installed the update (422270), and I can confirm that the problem is definitely still not fixed yet. It will start off low resolution, then sometimes after only 3-4 seconds it will switch to high resolution video. Other times it will take 30-40 seconds (not acceptable). It will also sometimes randomly bounce between low resolution and high resolution for some reason.

This is over AT&T fiber w/ 360+mbps up & down. Hopefully this will improve, because I'm about ready to go back to my Ring doorbell... I still don't know why was this update not completely rolled back or tested properly?

[Micha_123]

Ok, so dont need to be naïve and hope this wil fix the problems.

Lukly i have only the Doorbell. I don,t care about it anymore.

The doorbel is an battery one but as wel wired (no need to recharge it) and also triggers the old chime. So i use it as an simply Doorbell.. if some one ring it most of the time its also delayed on the nest hubs to ring, and before the video starts on the nest hubs i have already open the door and see who is on the door. 

Have also cameras from other brands at the Place which are Recording. If i seen the good quality on 1.65 firmware was the reason to change old cameras woth nest ones.

Now they are changed for an other brand cameras.

Other brand cams If i open the app it takes no one second to have the live picture on my phone.

Doorbel if i open the home app ot takes about 5 second to see the life feed with an poor quality haha.

If alexa wil be available in dutch Language, i wil change the doorbel for an ring again and buy the Echo schow, 

Seen in working in germany, if someone rings the ring bel, it dont take an sekond to have the chime on echo schow, arround an  second later you have the live feed on the echo schow in HD. 

Nest Doorbell takes about 3 second to chime another 5 seconds "connecting" and then the life feed on the nest hub2.

Now i dont wait anymore for an google update, they cant fix anything siemce 1.67 firmware, and mostly 2 years later still the same problems. I wait for amazon to introduce alexa in netherland (in dutch Language) and then bye google. 

If google cant fix problems within arround ,2 years (science 1.67 firmware) then they dont fix it anymore. 

Cameras are dont nest, they are other brands with an NVR and Cloud.

Two Nest hubs and 4 mini speakers, wil be saled after switching to alexa and ring. The doorbel goes to the trash, dont sell it, because with that poor quality and bugs im afraid that the buyer wil say that i sold an broken device. 

[LeeroyJ]

Mine have Updated to the new software but the quality is unchanged.

[Micha_123]

Now i see mine is also updated to the newest firmware.

Here is an demo how long it takes to get an video if i start the camera from home app.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ay7Y8fE7-5E?si=qtn694ZDEU_ZHg8R

Its not an internet issue (1Gbit up and down fiber glas) draytek 2927 router, TP ling mesh APs where the mean AP is arround one meter from Doorbell.)

Life feed seems ok. First 5 seconds low quality and then it switches to high quality. That wil be ok.

Takes as wel long time after opening Home app and open camera to see the stream (arround 5 until 10 seconds, but that was always so)

Wil check how fast it rings the nest Hubs if someone push the Bell. 

And now wil see if the terrible quality at night wil be better.

Maybe last chance on me for Google devices on my site if the are no new bugs.

Will see if nothing other is broken.

On the other site is it really crazy that of there is an bug, that the users need to life with it almost 2 years (bad night quality) but wil see tonight if the picture Quality is back like in 1.65 firmware it was.

[Deatrickwill43]

How do you reboot the camera 

[rickytenzer]

I legitimately cannot believe that no one from Google has chimed in yet about this failure of a fix... What a fall from grace...

[Selah]

I am facing the same issue with one of my Nest Cameras. They are all on the same firmware, 1.73 OPENMASTER 422270 however there's one of my cameras in particular that appears very fuzzy and like there's a glare when night vision is on. It's almost like there's a bright light that's next to the camera making it hard to see but there are actually no lights on.. the quality is just terrible.

[satyrica]

Ditto this.  One camera in particular (Nest Cam, Wired, Indoor) is fuzzy/low-resolution, and night-vision is almost un-watchable.  Motion-blur, ghosting, and no detail - there is no way I could read a license plate or get detail on a face if more than 5 feet away.

[Kbish13]

This is piss poor from Google. "Updated" 422270 firmware is still terrible especially in night vision. They have enough dev resources and money to throw at something which should be an easy fix. Don't worry about new "ai features" I just want a clear camera.

Can someone from Google please respond to this post and everyone else waiting for an answer...

[Micha_123]

Forget it, sience 1.67 its broken, its almost more than an year ago amd its stil not fixed (night Vision).

 Seems like google dont give about it that it is almost more than one year broken and they kant/ wont fix it. It was even more worst with the updates above 1.67 there where only new bugs coming to it(Before with 1.65 Firmware it has an perfect quality at night) 

One Year no fix on it after more than one year and you really think it wil be ever fixed? Hahahaha.

Simply i know ita hard to make an choice (if you have more google/nest cameras)

But for now the only options are.

Live with it (dont believe anymore that it wil be ever fixed like in 1.65 firmware)

Or if you want a really good Quality especially at Night, buy other cameras.

How long you wil wait for an fix that in my opinion never be come

[rickytenzer]

@kelanfromgoogle please provide an update, this situation is incredibly frustrating.

[DavidG20]

On the latest firmware (gq-user 1.73 OPENMASTER 422270) and my video quality is still trash.

[bpcs]

It's better than 1.72 was, but still nowhere near how good it used to be. For a premium product, it's not good enough.

[mercury670]

@kelanfromgoogle

We need an update and a fix, promptly. Our unit has been updated a couple of weeks ago. It still takes 10-15 seconds for the video feed to clear up. It quite often flickers as though it can't get the right brightness balance (and no, it's not in any direct light). Further, it's draining the battery quite a lot faster - this time around it's taken 4 weeks off the typical battery life.

Let us know ASAP what us being done and when it will be resolved. Very much on the verge of returning it and buying a Ring cam instead.

You're Google. It's not like you don't have the staff or resources to fix thiso  properly - hell, just revert to the previous firmware before it caused the issues in the first place. Hundreds of thousands of users and no one there seems to give a rats. Very disappointing. 

[treys1]

@kelanfromgoogle Is never coming back and we are all f*cked out of our hundreds (or thousands) of dollars that we spent on these cameras. I'm just glad I didnt add the 3 more I wanted which would have cost another $600ish bucks. Guess it's time to find a different solution, see if I can claim these as defective with Amex extended warranty and cancel my annual subscription.... Lame