I came here to say the same thing. We need to disable the auto-update, because the problem is back-albeit not quite so bad-but it's back nonetheless. I've been rebooting cameras and the H500 and my network AP before I decided today to check the firmware version only to find that it's no longer the beta FW.

  

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share an important limitation with the Tapo H500 Hub that might affect other users as well.

The Issue: I recently contacted TP-Link support (Wayne-TP) regarding HDMI output issues with my H500 Hub, and he informed me that HDMI streaming doesn't work when continuous recording is enabled on the cameras. According to support, HDMI streaming only works when cameras are set to "detection recording only" mode.

My Setup:

• 1x Tapo C560W
• Several Tapo C520WS
• 1x Tapo C211
• All connected to a Tapo H500 Hub

Why This Is Problematic: The whole reason I purchased the H500 was to replace microSD cards with a centralized, reliable continuous recording solution. For my use case (and I suspect for many others), AI detection-only recording simply isn't sufficient – I need complete footage coverage, not just event-triggered clips.

It seems counterintuitive that a hub designed for enhanced recording capabilities would lose HDMI functionality when using its primary feature.

Temporary Workaround: For now, I'm using an iPad for live viewing while maintaining continuous recording.

Hope for Resolution: I really hope TP-Link will address this in a future firmware update. This limitation significantly impacts the usability of the H500 for users who need both continuous recording and HDMI output.

Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any thoughts or additional workarounds would be appreciated!

  @Wayne-TP Thank you!  That has fixed the problem and it's working properly again.

 

I do hope that fix gets incorporated into the production version soon.

  @Matthieu27 

 

Nah man, I'm going to beef with this right here.

 

All of the marketing materials point to the ability to monitor streams of video from constant-streaming devices. Nothing says "Monitor your security cameras when they sense motion". THat would be like the internal hard drive only capturing video when motion is sensed, or something equally as silly.

 

I think Engineering and Support have a tough situation to manage given the fact that we bought this witht he expectation that marketing claims were accurate. They have to deliver and at this time, they are struggling to do so.

 

From Tapo's website: 

• Flexible Viewing: From Mobile to Monitor​​: Watch live view and playback on your phone or tablet or monitor up to 4 live views on larger screens with the built-in HDMI port.​

 

I feel for support and engineering on the product side. Even though this is a complicated problem to address, you must address it and do it without gaslighting us into believing that the device was not intended for this purpose.

 

This is very similar to the marketing claims about the doorbell surviving on 4 AA batteries for 7-10 months, while experience tells us that 4 AA batteries only last 1 month at best. Support shot back a suggestion tha ttheir lab testing showed 7-10 months, and I should buy lithium batteries. FIne, but your marketing materials need to be corrected so that people don't read what you wrote as product copy, take it at its word and then find out later you omitted facts.

 

So this is a frequent occurrence at TP-Link.

 

The new version of the HDMI-optimized firmware has resolved the issue on my H500, and should be incorporated into the regular firmware stream.

  @Wayne-TP Unfortunately, I think I spoke too soon.  While the HDMI output is working, it's no longer doing any continuous recording, and the cameras that are set to do that are only saving a few seconds worth during an event trigger.  Rebooting the hub appeared to fix it for an hour or so, but then it started doing it again.

 

I'm also not sure whether this was related to that, but my C400 is also no longer able to tag anything with vehicles or pets, only motion and people.  This appears to have started about the same time that the Tapo Hub was upgraded to the beta firmware.

Agreed. The new firmware recording and detection is broken. Please fix. Literally repackage the prior beta release and everything will go back to working as intended.

  @sroza1 
 

Hello,

Thank you for your detailed response. I also sympathize with the TP-Link teams who have to manage this delicate situation between marketing promises and technical reality.

I'd just like to clarify one point: when you say that "the new version of the HDMI-optimized firmware has resolved the issue on your H500," does that mean you now have continuous recording enabled and working on your device?

  @Matthieu27 

 

Like captain pack rat noted, there are bugs in this supposed beta release that have actually broken detection and continuous recording. The beta release fixed output to my lcd panel (mostly, I do have one quadrant that isn't working), so I was premature in noting that it was fixed because of other bugs. 

  @Matthieu27 

The firmware that came with my hub (not sure what version) could record up to 4 streams continuously, with additional cameras (I currently have 6 more) by detection only, but the ability to output to HDMI was glitchy, frequently pausing, playing in slow motion, and often running up to several minutes behind.  Recording and playback (from the app) were not affected by the display issues.

 

I requested to be added to the beta group and received version 1.3.8.  This appeared to solve all the HDMI issues without affecting recording; I was still able to record 4 cameras continuously and the remainder by detection.

 

A few days ago the hub automatically upgraded to 1.3.9, which apparently does not have the HDMI optimizations, so the hub began having the same issues as before with HDMI output (pausing, slow motion, lagging minutes behind), but recording was unaffected.

 

Yesterday I received the beta version 1.3.12 and while the HDMI output is working, recording has become erratic for ALL cameras, not just the continuous stream units but the detection-only units as well.  There are large gaps with no recordings at all, there are recordings that will not load and only show a black thumbnail, and there are recordings that are only 2-4 seconds in length.  I would estimate that less than 10% of the detection events are being recorded properly, and the continuous cameras have only a few useable minutes from the entire day.   I have also seen the hub spontaneously reboot in the middle of the day.

 

This 1.3.12 beta version is literally worse than nothing, since it is unable to record reliably.  I'd be better off with any of the three previous versions, even the ones with broken HDMI.