Android Emulator to Run Arlo App on PC

[SageGrouse]

Has anyone loaded an Android Emulator onto their desktop PC in order to run the Arlo App?  Since the videos will not play on a PC with any web browser that I have found the only way to play them on a PC is to download them and use VLC Media Player or similar which is additional, completely unnecessary in my opinion, steps and it's starting to get old.  Since Arlo/Netgear seems to have no interest in fixing the issue I can either buy a Mac to view videos on my desktop or try to find another solution.  The videos play just fine on the Android smart phone so I was wondering if the Android app will work the same on my PC as it does on my phone or if the HEVC video issue will cause the same problem when using the emulator.

[StephenB]

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@SageGrouse wrote:

Has anyone loaded an Android Emulator onto their desktop PC in order to run the Arlo App? 

I have, and it doesn't work.  The Arlo app won't load - I believe it is looking for libraries that aren't available with X86 Android.

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@SageGrouse wrote:

  Since the videos will not play on a PC with any web browser that I have found

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They will play with both legacy edge and chromium edge on my PCs.  Though I believe this might require GPU support for HEVC/H.265 video, as others here have found those browsers don't work for them.

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@SageGrouse wrote:

 ... I can either buy a Mac ...

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That won't solve the problem either, as Safari also doesn't support HEVC video.

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@SageGrouse wrote:

Since Arlo/Netgear seems to have no interest in fixing the issue 

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The issue is that the browsers just don't support the codec that is used.

Arlo would either need to convert the video for the browser (which would add lag and reduce quality) or provide a Windows app.  So it's not a simple fix.

FWIW, Netgear is not involved, Arlo was spun off about 2 years ago.

[SageGrouse · Accepted solution]

I went ahead and tried this and it works.  It works very well, in fact.  BlueStacks loads fine although it takes almost a minute to do it (so I just leave it loaded) and the Arlo mobile app works on my PC just like on my phone.  Video playback is not 100% because it's a bit jumpy at times but the point is that I can buzz through the videos quickly on a big monitor, I don't have to download them and all the information is still on them; date, time, camera name, etc.  In my opinion there are MANY advantages to doing it this way over downloading the videos to watch on VLC media player and one of the big items is the time stamp remains on the video using the Android Emulator.

Arlo was apparently made for a smart phone so the Android Emulator works better than the Arlo website on the PC for everything other than when it comes to deleting a large number of videos; can only delete them one at a time.

Another advantage is that I can leave the Arlo app open on my computer all day and all night and it never times out and the motion notifications from the cameras pop up in a little window at the lower right of my computer monitor whether the Arlo app is on top or not.  I can't take a photo of the videos that I'm watching but I can take a screen shot and paste it into Word or similar software.

You say Safari doesn't support HEVC video but, although I don't have first hand knowledge, everything I read says Safari DOES support HEVC.  This information has been linked to from several other users.

https://caniuse.com/#feat=hevc

Also, I don't know about Mac but I have seen a woman using an iPad to look at the videos from her monitors at home so maybe a Mac can't play the videos but I know for a fact that an iPad can.  That was the deciding factor for me in buying the Arlo Pro 3 system was watching her on her iPad.  I'm not sure I would have gone with the Arlo if I had known all the hoops I'd have to jump through to play the videos on my PC.  Actually I can revise that;  I would NOT have purchased Arlo if I had known I couldn't play the videos on my PC unless I downloaded them and lost the time stamp, etc.  It's a pain.  The woman with the iPad said it all works fine on her Mac but again I have no first hand knowledge so I'm just assuming she was telling me the truth. 

Running the Arlo app on my PC using the BlueStacks Android Emulator is not perfect but it works very well, has many advantages to using the Arlo website and the videos can be watched directly on the app without downloading.  For now this is the best fix that I have found for watching the videos without jumping through a bunch of hoops.

[dcfox1]

I assume your talking about 2k recordings. I cant view them on tablet but can on desktop. I use pan and zoom witch  defaults to 1080 and can view them on tablet. I cant tell the difference anyway. 

[SageGrouse]

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@dcfox1 wrote:

I assume your talking about 2k recordings. I cant view them on tablet but can on desktop. I use pan and zoom witch  defaults to 1080 and can view them on tablet.

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Yes, I'm running the 2K video recordings on my PC using the Arlo mobile app running on BlueStacks Android Emulator software.  

You say you can't view them on your tablet but you can on the desktop.  What computer and software are you running?  Also, what tablet are you using and what is "pan and zoom" that you are using to view the videos.

[StephenB]

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@SageGrouse wrote:

I went ahead and tried this and it works.  It works very well, in fact.  BlueStacks loads fine

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Interesting.  I tried Bliss in a VM, and that does not work.  Maybe I'll try again sometime with BlueStacks.

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@SageGrouse wrote:

You say Safari doesn't support HEVC video but, although I don't have first hand knowledge, everything I read says Safari DOES support HEVC.  This information has been linked to from several other users.

https://caniuse.com/#feat=hevc

That site also says the Chromium Edge doesn't work, and I know for a fact that is incorrect.

I don't have a Mac though, so I can't test Safari on that platform.  I did just check it on an iPad Pro, and it does work there.  So it is quite possible that it will work there (at least on Macs with hardware HEVC support).

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@SageGrouse wrote:

Running the Arlo app on my PC using the BlueStacks Android Emulator is not perfect but it works very well, has many advantages to using the Arlo website and the videos can be watched directly on the app without downloading. 

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FWIW, my interest was in seeing if 2FA would let me trust the app running on the emulator.  I much prefer using the web client on a PC, but not allowing me to set up the PC as a trusted device will be a huge problem.

Edge already allows me to view the videos w/o downloading, so you might try that and see if that works for you as well.  I wasn't keen on legacy Edge, but the new Chromium version is a step up.  I'm not prepared to change from Chrome right now, but I don't think I'd lose much if I did switch.

[dcfox1]

@SageGrouse To answer ur questions I'm not sure of details off hand but desktop is at least five years old windows and an nvidia vid card. It works fine. Tablet is a last year microsoft surface with lasted edge chromiom update. I could see 2k on tablet for about two weeks after arlo got rid of flash then got the must download again. I made no changes so not sure what happened. I meant the pan and zoom setting in the arlo app that only records then in 1080. I believe unchecking 2k setting will go to 1080 also but not sure.  Defeats the point of 2k but i cant tell the difference and I use my tablet most of the time. 

[dave_wain]

I use BlueStacks v4 on a PC - works nicely - set-up was a bit of a dog - didn't have a smartphone - had to print the QR code.

But I can't find the download folder for the videos. I've got Windows IIS working, but I want to play the MP4s to my TV - where is the download folder?

[dave_wain]

Yep - but I'd still like to view the MP4s via the TV - haven't quite got that to work just yet.