Nest Cam 1.69 Update ruined night vision even more

[SuperAdam]

So Google updated their nest cams AGAIN and further ruined Night vision, day time HDR got a bit better but nowhere near as good as it was with 1.65 software, I about had it with Google, look at these picture and tell me if I'm imagining things, the picture on top is the new 1.69 software and the one on the bottom is the 1.67 software just a few minutes before the update, look how fuzzy and grainy everything is with the update, it's like everything is out of focus, STOP MESSING WITH THE CAMERAS GOOGLE, we paid money for this, it's literally unusable at night now. 

 

[Bossman50]

Outdoor nest cam, picture is hazy from moisture

[Thepiotrek]

On and off here. Very hazy and grainy at night especially.

PS... you may have forgot to attach picture.

[Coffy42]

It probably isn’t foggy. There are several threads showing Google broke something with their last update trying to enhance image. This is causing all sorts of headaches for night vision or night quality. The best thing that I have found to improve some was an external IR floor light. 

[Fr008878]

Nest cam floodligt 

[RavenManiac]

So what’s the latest? Has Google acknowledged that the latest firmware release still has issues with nighttime video? 

[RavenManiac]

Since Google refuses to do anything about this situation or even acknowledges that the latest firmware release is still a problem, I would encourage everyone affected to reach out to 9 to 5 Google and post your thoughts on the article they published several weeks ago. https://9to5google.com/2023/11/28/google-nest-night-vision-blurry-update/

[wabtn]

Nest cam was fine for past 3 years.  Now one of the cams is dark.  I have to unplug the cam, wait a few minutes, plug back in and then issue goes away.  However, it continues to return to dark image.  Two photos are included in post - dark image was taken at 4:22 p.m. December 2023.  After unplugging and plugging in again, lighter image was taken at 4:33 p.m. same day.  What’s up?  Is this that same firmware issue from June 2023???Taken 4:22 p.m. Dec 9, 2023Taken 4:33 p.m. Dec 9, 2023

[RavenManiac]

Wow. That's crazy. I haven't seen that behavior before, but if it's reproducible, it's very interesting.

I'm still shocked that Google engineers haven't reached out to members of this forum, either with an update or wanting to secure and test some of the Nest Cams that are experiencing these problems. Can you imagine the positive response the company would get if Google engineers engaged the community and tried to troubleshoot this problem together?

[wabtn]

Agreed, consult your users, Google.

[WKEVINDAVIS]

It "looks" like it is cloudy, maybe your cam is being tricked to think it is becoming dark. If you catch you cam at the right time each day/night, the cam goes dark for a second before switching to night vision. Being at 4:30 something, may be the perfect storm, near night time and cloudy, so your cam is stumbling between day and night, my 2 cents worth.

[Wendi83]

I wish the fix would hurry up. I'm bummed that these cameras have never had issues till the updates and now they serve no purpose to the reasoning of what they are for. Let's just revert back to the way it was BEFORE the update? I'm no tech savvy person but with as many complaints and issues there are here you would hope that this would have been fixed A LONG TIME AGO. Video footage is meant to capture something and being able to have the proof and instead we all just have blurry blobs that we are paying for. My cameras have been crappy for over 2-3 months "didnt know it was an actual issue" but sadly I live in a place that has a lot of BS showing up and need video footage 2 times now and both times were during this issue and my video footage is worthless. Google we know it's hard to fix things but please please please make this a #1 priority for ALL OF US

[RavenManiac]

For somebody with the resources and talents of Google, the fix SHOULD be easy. Even rolling back the firmware would have sufficed until the actual fix was done. I suspect other issues are at play here, like purposely reducing the size of the Nest video files uploaded to the cloud to save on data storage fees. 

[NateZ]

I agree it resembles a badly compressed image.

[Adj]

Last week I noticed the viewing on my cameras at night and early morning were only showing black and white. I have always had my cameras on auto default night vision and did not change any settings that caused this issue. Anyone else have this problem?  I have noted the time of day and the lights with arrows in the comparison photos. I have 8 cameras, this happened on all of them.

[chaybee]

Can a representative from Google please chime in and let us know whether Google is standing by that this last firmware was the fix or if there is another fix in the works?  Because if it is the former, that will help a lot of us make the decision to move on from this topic and from these cameras. 

[davesomethin]

I contacted support via chat... Don't know what they did, but my cameras are now back to normal.  

[chaybee]

Share the chat transcript with us please.  

[Adj]

Did they have you change any settings and what software version is on your cameras?

[RavenManiac]

Yes, please share the chat transcript. Also, check your camera's firmware version and post it here.

[Adj]

What software version? 1.69 Openmaster 388143?  Can you report back with an image at night?  That seems to be the lingering issue with this software, daytime is good, nighttime is BAD.

[larrymcj]

No...that's the issue "you" (and obviously many others) are experiencing. But as many others have stated (myself included) before this release, night vision was horrible. The minute this version was applied to my Nest Outdoor camera, night vision was back to as good as it ever was. In B&W night mode and at 40 feet from the camera, I can count the "3 river rocks in our perimeter beds. It's sad this is a lingering problem, but it's not for everyone, as some cameras work fine again after the latest firmware upgrade.

[PbPretzels2]

It's not just "him". There's are tons of us who still have this issue. I'm glad your camera works well but for many, many of us, the problem is still persistent as ever.

[larrymcj]

Point taken, and I've revised my reply accordingly. But it can't be deemed still a mess across the board, as it's fixed for many.

[chaybee]

Well than "your" lucky because there are plenty of us in which this release did not resolve the problem.  There's no coincidence that many of ours worked fine until it was ruined and have not returned to working fine since the last rollout.  The bigger issue is Google's lack of clarity.  Just say "it's fixed, it's over" or "were still working on it" so the customers aren't just sitting in the dark.  

[larrymcj]

I've already revised my reply...but regardless, Google will never make an official appearance in a support forum to add clarity to something like this. It's just not going to happen

[chaybee]

@edmundB "Community Specialist" was quick to let us know there was a firmware fix on the way.  Maybe he can at least let us know that is the final fix.  All I'm asking.  I am well aware an actual Google rep will never say a thing.  Hell, I don't even think Google has ever publicly acknowledged accountability for a mistake.

[RavenManiac]

And 

---

@larrymcj wrote:

I've already revised my reply...but regardless, Google will never make an official appearance in a support forum to add clarity to something like this. It's just not going to happen

---

And that is extremely telling. Basically, you have a company that doesn't care about its customers. That approach didn't work out too well for Anheuser Busch. 

[davesomethin]

 

 

[davesomethin]

First pic is the other night.  Now it's magically back to how it was (second pic).  Chat transcript is just me b!tching about quality, along with pics... I stopped responding when they wanted me to provide serial number.  Next morning... Back to normal.  I had been toggling the cam on and off, so perhaps that is what "did something".  Understand the frustration, product and service isn't cheap and the dark pic defeats the purpose of the cam.

[chaybee]

That picture with your natural lighting certainly looks like mine used to.  Thank you for sharing.  

[PbPretzels2]

What about night vision? 

[RavenManiac]

Well, you've certainly piqued my curiosity. Can you post the current firmware version of the Nest camera above? Also, what kind of camera is it? Thanks!

[PbPretzels2]

Yea but the problem we all have is with night vision. He is not using night vision. It also looks like there's a garage light on in one pic and no light in the other.

[SuperAdam]

Neither one of these photos have night vision enabled, these prove nothing. 

[Super_paulie]

Black and white night time is pretty much back to how it was in 1.67 for me.

 

[davesomethin]

I don't recall who asked:

Model: Nest Cam (battery)

Software version: nq-user 1.69 OPENMASTER 388143

Night vision:

 

[RavenManiac]

That's pretty **bleep** good. And it's the same firmware most of us are on. Have you done anything different? Maybe a new WiFi router? The fact that you can actually read the stop sign blows me away. I haven't been able to do that in months.

If not, and since @davesomethin complained, do you think Google is now selectively enhancing certain accounts? Sorry, that's the conspiracy theory in me.

[RavenManiac]

Here's my Nest Battery Cam with the EXACT same firmware. 

[davesomethin]

Same router (pretty old at this point). What's odd is only my garage cam was impacted. Backyard never degraded - same model, same firmware..

[chaybee]

Yep.  Same exact firmware as well, same s*** picture.  My wifi is 1GB 2x Amplifi Alien routers, 60+ smart devices with no issues on any others.  It's definitely not a wifi thing (I rebooted router, factory reset both outdoor battery cam and doorbell cam just to be sure after the announcement of the firmware "fix".).  No idea what is going on with Google here.