C125 video quality is low

C125 video quality is low

C125 video quality is low
C125 video quality is low
2025-08-17 22:32:20
Tags: #Feature Request #Video Quality
Model: Tapo C125  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.3.2

Hello,

 

I have been using a C125 camera for over a year now. The video quality is set to 2k QHD and frame rate is set to 30. The image coming from the camera is not of good quality. This applies to both the live video and the ones stored on the sd card. I have not been able to recognize license plates just 6 feet away from the camera and the faces are blurry. I am guessing there is no hardware or software issue but rather it is just the way the video is encoded. Even though the camera sensor might be 2K the final video quality is not even HD. It's closer to something like 240p or 360p.

 

If you could add an option to record with a higher quality (even with a lower frame-rate to preserve space) that'd be great. I would rather record videos at full resolution 2K and 5-10 frames per second than a 240p image quality at 30 frames per second. For people willing to make that trade this type of option would help a lot.

 

Thank you.

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#1
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3 Reply
Re:C125 video quality is low
2025-08-19 03:55:28

  @TheTable 

Hi,
For the reported low video quality phenomenon, please confirm the following information for further analysis.

 

  1. Please ensure only one device is streaming the camera's live feed. Tap the Record icon on the camera's Live View page to record a video manually, then download the video to your phone. After that, please check the resolution of the downloaded video.

 

  2. Could you please send us the videos showing the camera's low video quality? You can upload the video to your cloud server (such as Google Drive) or YouTube, generate a download link, and send it to me (@Solla-topee) via a private message.
 
Best Regards

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#2
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Re:C125 video quality is low
3 weeks ago - last edited 3 weeks ago

 Hi @Solla-topee ,

 

1. I can confirm that recorded videos have higher quality than live ones if the bandwidth is limited or there are multiple streams watching at the same time. The resolution of the video is 2K QHD. I wish however that I could recognize faces or license plates much easier than this if at all. Other brands also suffer from this issue. I thought this could be an artifact of the encoding algorithm used though now I think it might also be due to the very wide angle of the lens or things like noise reduction etc. My cell phone records a better image but has a much narrower angle than C125. I am not an expert. It is possible that my expectations are too high for a 2K video with such a wide lens and I need a 4K camera instead. But I noticed other users here have previously made the same suggestion for different models too.

 

2. Unfortunately It won't be possible to share my private videos. The quality is the same you see on youtube reviews or anywhere else online though.

 

Not sure if you work for Tapo - if you do thank you for the quick response and If you think my expectations are unreasonable that is completely fine. I might then request that you make a 4K or higher Camera please to compensate for the wide angle or encoding. If on the other hand Tapo could add an option for their encoding algorithm somehow to not reduce the quality (maybe record uncompressed or reduce noise reduction if that's a thing) even if it records at a lower framerate like 5fps or 10fps it would be a much appreciated feature.

 

 

 

 

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#3
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Re:C125 video quality is low
3 weeks ago

  @TheTable 

Hi,
Thank you for your feedback. I'll log your feature request and forward it to the relevant team for evaluation, and continue to improve our product.
Best Regards

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