topic Re: Buffered recordings in Arlo Pro 4

Buffered recordings

Chalkie2016 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:15:06 GMT

Does Arlo provide a feature that allows users to view the time period just before and after an alert?

I use my cameras to monitor wildlife, and I feel like I'm missing some activity. My friend has a much cheaper Wyze system that lets her scroll through footage before and after an alert to see additional activity. She can then download the entire segment. Each camera has an sd card which allows this.

Can I put an sd card in my hub to have the same feature? If not now, will a similar feature be available in the future?

I just finished a long chat with support that was less than productive

Re: Buffered recordings

StephenB — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:23:52 GMT

@Chalkie2016 wrote:

Does Arlo provide a feature that allows users to view the time period just before and after an alert?

Some of the models have a foresight (pre-roll) feature that gives you 3 seconds before the motion was detected. They have to be AC powered to get that feature.

https://kb.arlo.com/000062053/How-does-the-Foresight-feature-work-on-my-Arlo-camera

There is no way to get video after the recording stops. But you can just increase the recording time in the camera rule.

Re: Buffered recordings

Chalkie2016 — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:04:51 GMT

Thanks. Support told me there was no such document.

All my cameras are on solar power and it won't work with that. Why? That doesn't make sense.

Maybe it's time to look at other systems that can do more for the same $

Re: Buffered recordings

jguerdat — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:07:07 GMT

Solar panels are just trickle chargers and don't work at night anyway. Use of AC power is required for the pre-roll so the camera can be active all the time.

Re: Buffered recordings

StephenB — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:29:58 GMT

@jguerdat wrote:

Use of AC power is required for the pre-roll so the camera can be active all the time.

@Chalkie2016 - When on battery (or solar power) the cameras don't capture video until motion is detected. Which of course is too late for pre-roll.

Capturing the video all the time (to enable pre-roll) requires too much power even with the panel.