topic Re: New CVR not recording in Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight

New CVR not recording

TimJ2380 — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 01:52:25 GMT

I have just purchased a Smarthub, Pro 3 floodlight and 2 x Pro 4 cameras. The cameras all came with a 3 month trial. I then purchased a CVR plan for the floodlight but it won’t record anything. Nothing at all. Any tips?? Could it be because I’m only using a trial subscription?

Re: New CVR not recording

StephenB — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 10:54:28 GMT

@TimJ2380 wrote:
I then purchased a CVR plan for the floodlight but it won’t record anything. Nothing at all.

CVR requires the camera to be AC powered (note the solar panel doesn't count). Are you doing that?

Re: New CVR not recording

SCMordac — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 18:15:28 GMT

My Arlo Pro 3 floodlight stopped recording suddenly.

I have local storage for my system and have a few cameras. I bought the Arlo Pro 3 floodlight for my driveway thinking that after the trial was over it would just record to local storage because I did not see any where any indication that the product would STOP WORKING without a subscription. This feels like a money grab by the company, a rip off, and complete fail. I will NEVER buy another Arlo product unless this is fixed. I wish I could return the product but it's been too long and the store won't take it back. I sincerely, completely, and utterly regret this purchase because I wasted a lot of money on the device.

I'm now looking at other security solutions that don't require a subscription.

Re: New CVR not recording

dcfox1 — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 18:32:29 GMT

@SCMordac wrote:
My Arlo Pro 3 floodlight stopped recording suddenly.
I have local storage for my system and have a few cameras. I bought the Arlo Pro 3 floodlight for my driveway thinking that after the trial was over it would just record to local storage because I did not see any where any indication that the product would STOP WORKING without a subscription.

It will record to the Base/Hub local storage like your other cameras if you have it set up and the floodlight connected to the Base/Hub. If connected to your wifi it will not as it goes to the cloud since it is not connected and a sub is needed since your trial ran out.

Re: New CVR not recording

SCMordac — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:50:24 GMT

It is connected to the base/hub and is only detecting motion and not recording. I have stepped through all the settings in the app I could find to see if there was a setting I was missing to enable to local recording and did not find anything. If you have any specific suggestions to try they would be greatly appreciated because I am severely disappointed and had loved my Arlo system until now.

Re: New CVR not recording

dcfox1 — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:58:10 GMT

@SCMordac wrote:
It is connected to the base/hub and is only detecting motion and not recording. I have stepped through all the settings in the app I could find to see if there was a setting I was missing to enable to local recording and did not find anything. If you have any specific suggestions to try they would be greatly appreciated because I am severely disappointed and had loved my Arlo system until now.

Not sure if you have a Smart Hub or a Base but only the VMB4540 and VMB5000 Hubs can access local storage in the app. You may have been seeing the free 7 day cloud storage on other cameras if Pro2 and older. For the a base you need to eject the USB and view it in a computer.

For a Base How do I set up local storage backups on a USB device using my Arlo base station?

For a Smart Hub What is Direct Storage Access and how do I use it? (arlo.com)

Re: New CVR not recording

SCMordac — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:13:48 GMT

Thank you for the information and response. I have the VMB4000. It is on the list of devices that can leverage local storage. I thought the floodlight was considered one of the "wire-free" cameras included in the rolling 7 days as noted in the help articles. "All wire-free cameras can record to local storage, even if your Internet goes down. Arlo Pro 2, Pro, and Wire-Free cameras always have 7 days of free rolling cloud storage." - from How do I set up local storage backups on a USB device using my Arlo base station?

It seems very sketchy and underhanded as if they are trying to force users to the subscriptions by making it difficult. This creates a usability inconsistency for the application and user experience with the family of cameras.

Why should I have to disconnect my storage to see videos for just this one camera that doesn't get the same 7 days of rolling cloud when it is a "wire-free" camera?

I am still very disappointed, but appreciate your help pointing out the root cause of the problem. It's technically recording, but I can't see it unless I disconnect the storage, connect it to a computer, and manually view it. Not worth my time. I'll find another brand of product for the garage.

Re: New CVR not recording

dcfox1 — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 21:00:00 GMT

It has been that way for models released since the Ultra in 2018. The Pro2 and older still have the free 7 day cloud. Yea even on the Hubs Local is not ideal so to me a sub is worth it along with the other features with it. Now with secure it has unlimited cams on a plan.

Re: New CVR not recording

SCMordac — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:59:50 GMT

Thanks. I understand what you're saying and I do have Arlo Pro2 devices/Hub-Base kit. In reading the information I thought that since the floodlight says it's wire-free in the description in several places it would get the 7 days as well.

I also understand that these places have to make money, but the plans seem a little expensive compared to other brands. It doesn't look like they offer any discount for purchasing a whole year of service like others do.

Re: New CVR not recording

StephenB — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 11:11:39 GMT

@SCMordac wrote:

I thought the floodlight was considered one of the "wire-free" cameras included in the rolling 7 days as noted in the help articles.

The confusion is because the original Arlo camera (released back in 2014) was branded as the Wire-Free. So in that article it is a specific model (like the others in the list). The capitalization is a hint, but obviously you missed that. Lack of foresight on Arlo's part, but that ship sailed 7 years ago.

It would be better all these articles pointed to a single article that also included the full list of cameras that required a subscription.

As @dcfox1 says, starting in 2018 (the Ultra), all new cameras require a subscription for cloud storage. The packaging for these cameras says this (sometimes in smaller print than I would like).