Not recording and no manual record button

[Jasongotbeer]

I have 3 out of my 7 cameras that no longer record video to my hard drive/ locally. They also do not have the manual record buttons either. I no longer have a subscription and was recording locally with no issues up until a few weeks ago. I have tried removing the devices and setting them up again as well. I have the flood light as well doing the same. I have tried everything I could find in these threads. 

[StephenB]

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@Jasongotbeer wrote:

I have 3 out of my 7 cameras that no longer record video to my hard drive/ locally. They also do not have the manual record buttons either. I no longer have a subscription and was recording locally with no issues up until a few weeks ago. 

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Manual recording requires an Arlo secure subscription.

1. Are all your cameras connected to your base/smarthub?
2. What model is the base?  Look for a VMBxxxx label on it.

[Jasongotbeer]

All cameras are connected. VMB4500r2. All my other cameras are recording and I do not have a subscription.

[StephenB]

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@Jasongotbeer wrote:

All cameras are connected. VMB4500r2. All my other cameras are recording and I do not have a subscription.

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The VMB4500 supports local recording, but does not support playback.  The ONLY way to see recordings on the USB stick is to eject the storage using the app and connect it to a PC for viewing.

All the recordings you are seeing in the app and on my.arlo.com are coming from the Arlo Cloud, not the USB drive.

Legacy cameras (Pro, Pro 2 among others) were sold with free 7-day cloud storage, which Arlo still provides. 

Essential cameras and the Floodlight camera were not sold with that feature, and both models require an Arlo Secure subscription to get any cloud recordings. Now that the subscription has expired, you can no longer see recordings in the app. 

Options are to

1. resubscribe
2. eject the USB stick from the base (using the app) and connect it to a PC  to see the local recordings.
3. upgrade the base to a VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthub and use the direct access to local storage feature

(3) has some significant limitations, so you should post back before going down that path.

[Jasongotbeer]

I'm currently using an external hard drive and not a memory stick. What are the limitations to the other Smart hubs? I would much rather pay for a hub than a subscription.

[StephenB]

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@Jasongotbeer wrote:

I'm currently using an external hard drive and not a memory stick.\

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That makes no difference as far as the feature goes.  While you can use either, I generally recommend thumb drives for a couple of reasons:

1. Generally USB hard drives are not as reliable as internal hard drives - that market segment is driven by lowest price, not performance
2. thumb drives have more than enough storage  128-512 GB is more than enough (personally I use 128 GB)
3. The hard drive is bulkier, and it is easy to accidentally disrupt the connection.

On (3) - The base only supplies USB-2 power, so you might also need to provide separate power to the drive.

Note the VMB5000 only has a microSD slot, so if you do want to use a hard drive or thumb drive you should get the VMB4540.

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@Jasongotbeer wrote:

What are the limitations to the other Smart hubs? I would much rather pay for a hub than a subscription.

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Details are here:

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

Limitations include

1. recordings are only available in the app, not my.arlo.com
2. recordings are only available from the primary account, not friend accounts
3. no ability to make manual recordings or take snapshots
4. no thumbnails - videos need to be downloaded to your phone before you can see anything
5. If you are using the "Feed" interface, the recordings are not shown in the Feed.  There are a couple more steps needed to see them.
6. remote access requires router setting changes that many find difficult, and which won't work with some internet service providers

On (6) - there is also a bug in the current iOS app.  The port forwarding method of remote access doesn't work on iPhones or iPads at the moment.  That was reported here in early June - Arlo hasn't said when they will fix it.

FWIW, Arlo generally doesn't prioritize fixing local storage bugs, so it can take a while for them to get around to fixing them.

[Jasongotbeer]

So basically Arlo is forcing me to buy a subscription for something I really don't need because they chose not to allow playback on certain models?

Whether I upgrade to a better smart hub or not I will still not be able to retrieve video on certain cameras unless I remove my external storage an hook it to a computer?

[StephenB]

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@Jasongotbeer wrote:

Whether I upgrade to a better smart hub or not I will still not be able to retrieve video on certain cameras unless I remove my external storage an hook it to a computer?

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I didn't say that.  There are a lot of posters here who use local storage instead of a subscription - living with the limitations I gave you above. 

If you upgrade to a VMB4540 you'd be able to retrieve video from the new cameras from the app. If you use an iPhone, then port forwarding is broken at the moment.  But a home VPN would still allow remote access.

[Jasongotbeer]

So all my cameras would record and I can use the app with the VMB4540? I use Android. Just limited to the snapshots which is no big deal. I just want to be able to check my phone throughout the day and check recordings and a live stream.

[StephenB]

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@Jasongotbeer wrote:

Just limited to the snapshots which is no big deal. 

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I suggest reading the limitations I posted more carefully.

Local storage is NOT limited to snapshots, and I never said it was.

1. recordings are only available in the app, not my.arlo.com
2. recordings are only available from the primary account, not friend accounts
3. no ability to make manual recordings or take snapshots
4. no thumbnails - videos need to be downloaded to your phone before you can see anything
5. If you are using the "Feed" interface, the recordings are not shown in the Feed.  There are a couple more steps needed to see them.
6. remote access requires router setting changes that many find difficult, and which won't work with some internet service providers