topic Re: sd card viewing in Arlo Ultra 2

sd card viewing

cama81z — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:43:00 GMT

have they fixed the issue on the ultra 2 base station so you can view the sd card on my phone without taking it out of the base ?

Re: sd card viewing

StephenB — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:55:46 GMT

@cama81z wrote:

have they fixed the issue on the ultra 2 base station so you can view the sd card on my phone without taking it out of the base ?

This has been working with my own VMB5000 base (though I don't think it was ever actually broken).

Re: sd card viewing

pjama — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 22:19:12 GMT

This works for me only if my mobile and arlo base station are on the same network ie home

It doesn't work with android over VPN the last time I checked and it doesn't work with a PC browser.

I bought my Ultras early on the basis that Arlo would develop access to files on the SD card. I envisioned access similar to cloud with some limitations but was sorely disappointed in just how lacking their final implementation was.

Re: sd card viewing

StephenB — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 00:36:32 GMT

@pjama wrote:

it doesn't work with a PC browser.

Yes, and it never has.

@pjama wrote:

It doesn't work with android over VPN the last time I checked

I also saw this when I was running Android last year. Now I'm using an iPhone, and VPN does seem to work there.

Have you tried setting up port forwarding?

Re: sd card viewing

cama81z — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 00:52:24 GMT

this will be on my home network. so i will be able to view the sd card video library while i am outside the house?

Re: sd card viewing

cama81z — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 00:54:18 GMT

i thought there was a firmware update was supposed to fix this

Re: sd card viewing

StephenB — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 00:54:47 GMT

@cama81z wrote:

so i will be able to view the sd card video library while i am outside the house?

If you set up port forwarding or use a VPN.

Some downsides when compared with cloud storage:

No access from the web ui
No access from friend accounts
No manual recording
No thumbnails

Re: sd card viewing

cama81z — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 00:58:24 GMT

so i guess these cameras are going back to the store .

i dont want to pay for cloud storage

Re: sd card viewing

pjama — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 04:34:37 GMT

>> it doesn't work with a PC browser.

> Yes, and it never has.

Agreed; It has always been a half baked solution. Which is my point, the whole local storage implementation is disappointing and this is just another aspect of it.

> I also saw this when I was running Android last year. Now I'm using an iPhone, and VPN does seem to work there.

Hmmm, interesting. Presumably with the same router? Yeah I heard iThings work OK but presumed that was also with an iThing router but I know little about iThings. I've had contact from Arlo and given them quite a bit of info and suggestions but have heard nothing back. My android DOES work to see local storage if it's on the same local network as the base station.

I'd be interested to know what router you have your VPN on and whether the VPN IP address of the phone/client is in the same network as the base station and home network ie Your base station would be on your home network, eg 192.168.1.0/24, with something like 192.168.1.20 but your VPN may give your phone a different network eg 10.1.1.5 or same network eg 192.168.1.21.

> Have you tried setting up port forwarding?

Nah, I'm a bit reluctant to hang my base station out on the internet for the world to try and hack. Arlo have not demonstrated enough transparency or credibility for me to trust exposing a black box on my inside network directly to the outside world.

Re: sd card viewing

cama81z — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 05:12:35 GMT

I have port forwarding on my night owl camera system. Works great. Will set up the system before I commit to install cameras to see if I can get sd card videos when I am not in my home range

Re: sd card viewing

StephenB — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:31:30 GMT

@pjama wrote:

I'd be interested to know what router you have your VPN on and whether the VPN IP address of the phone/client is in the same network as the base station and home network ie Your base station would be on your home network, eg 192.168.1.0/24, with something like 192.168.1.20 but your VPN may give your phone a different network eg 10.1.1.5 or same network eg 192.168.1.21.

I use OpenVPN, hosted by my Netgear Orbi router. My home network is configured as 10.0.0.0/24; the VPN connection also uses a 10.0.0.0/24 IP address.

The router and VPN didn't change, the only difference was the shift from Android to iPhone.

Re: sd card viewing

Edinburgh_lad1 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:49:17 GMT

It's worked for me so I think they've fixed it. I was able to access videos on my base station (SD card) using my mobile network here in Scotland.

(Android phone, Draytek router with SSL VPN set up)

Re: sd card viewing

StephenB — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:52:36 GMT

@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

It's worked for me so I think they've fixed it.

That's good to hear. VPNs are (IMO) a more secure approach then port forwarding.

Re: sd card viewing

Edinburgh_lad1 — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 12:38:23 GMT

I still had to have the fort forwarding function on in the app. But not on the router I don't think.

Could someone check out whether this works or not?