Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
× Arlo End of Life Policy Notice
To view Arlo’s new End of Life Policy, click here.

Establishing First System - Choices

Reply
Discussion stats
  • 1 Reply
  • 430 Views
  • 0 Likes
  • 2 In Conversation
dc68
Follower
Follower

Not sure if I have the forum and my question is more general than camera specific.

 

Making first purchase and like what I see from the camera options for building a home system.

 

I am not into paying the monthly fees which is why I am not going to one of the "Security / Monitoring Companies".  What combination of products are required to capture video of an event once a situation has occurred?  I am want to playback video as needed or save if needed.  I am interested in probably four camera zones plus a doorbell camera.  

 

Would four cams, a doorbell cam, and a hub provide all of the necessary capability without paying a monthly fee for cloud service?

1 REPLY 1
StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@dc68 wrote:

Would four cams, a doorbell cam, and a hub provide all of the necessary capability without paying a monthly fee for cloud service?


To be clear, Arlo integrates their hardware into their cloud service, and you will lose some services and features if you are unwilling to pay the ~$10 USD/month subscription (which covers unlimited cameras).

 

The kit comes with a trial subscription, and this article outlines what features you will lost when the trial ends:

 

That said, there are people who set up direct access to local storage with a smarthub, and use that as an alternative to a subscription.   Direct Access has several limitations

  • recordings only available in the app (not the browser)
  • recordings only available in the primary account (not shared accounts)
  • no ability to make manual recordings or snapshots
  • no thumbnails
  • remote access can be tricky to set up (requires router settings changes), and won't work on some networks (including Starlink and T-Mobile broadband).

You also need a subscription for activity zones.  Some cameras do support hardware activity zones (w/o a subscription), but that requires the cameras to be connected to AC power.

 

Also, you need a subscription to access phone support.