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Cam Indoor (wired) "Live video is unavailable"

cardonator
Community Member

Hi, I recently purchased the new Nest Cam Indoor (wired) 2nd gen and got it set up to replace an existing indoor camera. The setup and everything was simple and had good instructions and everything seemed to go fine.

The problem is, a couple hours later I tried checking in on the Live video from the camera and I can't get anything. When I go to the camera in Google Home, it says Connecting for several seconds then just says "Live video is unavailable".

Even more mystifying, I can go to the History tab on the camera and see camera history, but it slowly gets more and more behind as time goes on. I rebooted the camera with a 30 second delay plugging it back in this morning and I was getting Live video for about 20 minutes. Then started getting "Live video is unavailable" again. In the History, I can see video from about 30 seconds ago but the time it's available from just gets further and further back. The current time in the History tab just shows "Camera unavailable".

I'm having a really hard time understanding what the issue here is. It could be blamed on the camera just failing to upload the data fast enough, but I don't even see the camera in the Wifi devices list. I've literally never had this problem with the 1st gen device, it has always worked great. As of right now, the utility of the 2nd gen is completely ruined because I don't get any notifications when things are happening and I can't even jump in and see the live video. I also pay for Nest Aware Plus, so this is a pretty crappy position to be in.

1 Recommended Answer

HNA
Community Member

Hi, I did remove device and then set up the camera again as new. I did this step before and it worked for a bit then the problem recurred. But after I posted here , I did try the remove device method (again, so this is my second time) and so far it’s working and I haven’t had any problems

View Recommended Answer in original post

19 REPLIES 19

NestyNesterson
Community Member

Hi. Exact same issue here. Displeased to see nobody has helped you on this here. If I find a solution I'll come back and let you know. Right now it's seeming like I'll need to talk to Support.

 

Did you find a solution 😞 same issue here 

I wish I could tell you I knew a solid solution. But just like cardonator, mine just started working a couple days in. Makes no sense.

NestyNesterson
Community Member

Did some digging in this forum and found this: Go into your Wifi settings in the Google Home app and into Preferred Activities and uncheck both of those options. Didn't work for me but might for you. 

I will try this. Where can I find the Wi-Fi settings 

In you Google Home app, tap the Wifi button. Do note this is only going to be a viable thing to try if you have Google Wifi or Nest Wifi. If you have Google Wifi or Nest Wifi, you can control their settings from the Home app.

cardonator
Community Member

Thanks, Nesty. I did try that, unfortunately it didn't work.

I finally got it to work somewhat reliably but I had to basically factory reset the camera (delete it out of the home in Home app, unplug for 30 seconds, plug back in, wait for the blue light, then add back to the home in the Home app) 3 times before it worked reliably. Nothing I did prior to that made any difference.

It's frustrating that I never had an issue like this with the Nest app based devices.

Wow. I never unplugged it each time I removed it and re-added it to my account; I'll have to try that and see if it works. I agree, this is absolutely stupid. These new products and the transition away from the Nest app could not have been handled worse IMO!

 

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

 

Thank you for your feedback on this issue, I fully understand the frustrations of not having your new Nest Cams in the Nest App. I can imagine having to use two different apps at the moment is quite daunting, and could lead to frustration. 

 

However, the new Nest cameras and doorbell are exclusive to the Home app because we wanted to create an integrated experience with your speakers and displays. A Nest Aware subscription applies to all of your cameras, speakers, and displays in the same home structure. Thank you for your continued patience, and support. I am more than happy to assist you further with this inquiry if you wish. Please let me know.

 

Best Regards,

Brad.

HNA
Community Member

Hi I am facing the same issues as described by those above. I unplugged and plugged several times it didn’t work. When I removed the device and then set it up again it did work for a while and now it’s back to not showing live video. But videos do still get recorded in the history

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Just checking in to see if you still need assistance with this issue. If so, please let me know and I would love to look into this further for you!

 

Best Regards,

Brad.

HNA
Community Member

Yessss my cam is still not working 

Brad,

My camera suddenly started working, after waiting 2 days. I have no idea why. I am very tech savvy and cannot explain this. And even though I should be happy it ended up working, I am now left with constant anxiety that it could revert back to its busted state at any whim.

I had a support ticket opened and spent over 3 hours on chat with Nest support, who were absolutely useless.

So while my issue is solved, nobody knows why, and I am out of luck if it comes back again.

Your technical team really needs to look into this. I'd accept my experience being a one-off, were it not for 2 other people in this thread having the same issues, and many more on this forum, it seems.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

 

Restarting and factory resetting your Google Nest camera or doorbell will have different results:

 

Restart: Keeps all your settings, and it should reconnect to the same Wi-Fi network. This is helpful if it ever becomes frozen, has trouble reconnecting to the internet, or isn't working normally.

 

Factory reset: Erases all your settings and options, and restores its factory default settings. It will not automatically reconnect to Wi-Fi and you'll need to set it up again.

 

You can find this information, plus additional information on this process here. Please let me know if you have further questions.

Best Regards,

Brad.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Just checking in to see if you still need assistance with this issue. If so, please let me know and I would love to look into this further for you!

 

Best Regards,

Brad.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey Folks.

 

At this time, I'll go ahead and lock this thread. If you're still experiencing problems, feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

 

Best Regards,

Brad.

Lawelyk
Community Member

Hi there, I’m having the same issue at the other three above. Pretty frustrating. Will try the restart/reset options, but hopefully it comes back to working condition soon. 

HNA
Community Member

Hi, I did remove device and then set up the camera again as new. I did this step before and it worked for a bit then the problem recurred. But after I posted here , I did try the remove device method (again, so this is my second time) and so far it’s working and I haven’t had any problems

Dovo
Community Member

Having the same issues here, (Google Nest Doorbell) history shows the camera works, live view does not work on my phone in Google Home, nor does it work on my google Home Hub max (however it connected once after about 10 mins but never since.  Wifi analyzer shows very strong signal for the doorbell on a 2.4 network (located 3 metres from router). 
A fairly expensive product, aimed squarely at  consumers with little to no technical knowledge.  We have come to expect a substantially more user friendly experience than this from Google.  I (a network engineer and software developer)  and the other users here, as well as the many who have only viewed these forums rather than reply, not to mention the vast majority of users who have not looked here... all have a common experience here:  A Google product, that is not delivering on the promise, it is eroding my confidence, my clients confidence and that of the massive user base who have come to trust Google.  Please rectify this issue.