topic Re: Can you schedule video clip upload time? in Arlo

Can you schedule video clip upload time?

PCIFM — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 22:02:49 GMT

We have 8 cameras that record motion clips and upload in what I assume is near-real time. That file transfer to the Arlo cloud is the largest consumer of bandwidth on our network. I would like to schedule uploads en masse during a non-work time of day to take advantage of that unused bandwidth instead of the individual up loads. Is that possible to do in Arlo? If not, is there a suggestion for local storage that also give remote access to the cameras and stored video clips?

Thanks.

Re: Can you schedule video clip upload time?

jguerdat — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 13:51:55 GMT

You can't schedule mass uploads. Use of a hub that all cameras connect to can record locally. The VMB4540 uses a USB drive and the VMB5000 uses a microSD card. Either way, you can set up the app to use either a VPN to your router (not all routers support this) or port forwarding to give you access to the clips remotely.

https://kb.arlo.com/000062337/What-is-Direct-Storage-Access-and-how-do-I-use-it-for-Arlo-video-recordings

Re: Can you schedule video clip upload time?

StephenB — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 20:15:53 GMT

@PCIFM wrote:

We have 8 cameras that record motion clips and upload in what I assume is near-real time.

Not quite. The cameras aren't saving the motion clips for upload. They are streaming the video to the cloud in real time.

Since they are not storing the clips in the camera, uploads can not be scheduled later.

If you use a smarthub, the streams are recorded in the hub as they are streamed, so that wouldn't reduce your peak bandwidth either.

What is your ISP upload speed? What mix of 1080p, 2K, and 4K cameras to you have?

@PCIFM wrote:

If not, is there a suggestion for local storage that also give remote access to the cameras and stored video clips?

If your cameras are compatible with a VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthub, then you could drop your Arlo subscription and only use local storage.

https://kb.arlo.com/000062284/Arlo-SmartHub-and-Base-Station-Compatibility

In addition to losing cloud recordings, you would lose other subscription features like activity zones and object detection.

Local storage offers a worse user experience, but several here do use it instead of paying for the subscription. Limitations include:

Recordings can only be viewed in the app - not on a PC (my.arlo.com).
Recordings can only be viewed using the primary account (not friend accounts)
There are no thumbnails, so everything needs to be downloaded to your phone before viewing.
You cannot take snapshots or make manual recordings while livestreaming
Remote access requires router setting changes that many find difficult, and which do not work with some internet service providers.