Tech support???

[Box22]

Are there any actual “Arlo people” that actually know about the product that are involved in support/help?

There is no phone number to contact (that I can find).

I started to try “chat” and it just asks questions like it’s trouble shooting.

No person.

Doesn’t chat imply you will be communicating with someone?

Are you supposed to ask about your problems here and hope someone can help you?

[jguerdat]

This is a user forum but Arlo employees @JamesC and @ShayneS are the mods here.

If you have a subscription (required) use Settings, Support (Center) to select your camera model. You will be presented with various options to contact official support.

[Box22]

Trying to figure out the “subscription” thing is my issue at this time.

I am aware of the paid options/services available but still can’t find exactly what the the cams & hub can do without paid services.

Is the hub even of any use without paid service?

I am not interested in any of those services.

All I want is video clips to go to the hub & save and view on the feed. Checking the system before I got it I thought this was how it worked. I bought/own/have the cameras, router, & hub.

I could be wrong but I believe the equipment & tech can do this without anything ever leaving my property.

Cameras, router, hub?

There should be no reason to send to Arlo servers or wherever and then back to the hub. Nobody anywhere has to do anything.

What am I paying for?

All these “extra” paid services for doing nothing in many industries is getting ridiculous in my opinion.

Just like BMW charging a monthly fee to use your heated seats.

You already bought & paid for and everything is already there.

Of course there is free enterprise and you can charge as much as you want for anything regardless of what it is if people are willing to pay.

[StephenB]

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@Box22 wrote:

I am aware of the paid options/services available but still can’t find exactly what the the cams & hub can do without paid services.

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The details depend on what exactly you purchased (in particular, what hub model you have).

Here's a place to start;

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062312/What-options-will-I-have-when-the-Arlo-trial-ends

[Box22]

Thanks for the response. 

WITHOUT  a service plan, your Arlo device WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE the following features:

• Live Streaming
• Push Notifications
• Two-way Audio
• Auto Zoom & Tracking*
• LOCAL STORAGE RECORDING*

*Auto Zoom & Tracking and Local Storage Recording are not available for all Arlo devices.

I can’t find the answer if it’s there somewhere.

What I am looking for is a simple, official, definitive answer.

Can the Pro4’s do local storage to VMB5000 without a paid subscription?

I don’t see that as a difficult or highly technical question.

Should be either yess or no and it may be staring me in the face but I can’t find the answer.

[Box22]

To clarify the previous post a bit more the * denotes

Local Storage Recording are not available for all Arlo devices.“
Where do I find if it’s available?

[StephenB]

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@Box22 wrote:

Can the Pro4’s do local storage to VMB5000 without a paid subscription?

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Yes.  The local storage feature is in the base, so video from any camera connected to the base can be locally stored.  In the case of the VMB5000, the storage is on a user-supplied microSD card.

There are limitations to the feature though, so IMO not a great experience:

1. recordings are only available from the app (not the browser)
2. recordings only available from the primary account (not shared accounts)
3. no ability to make manual recordings or snapshots
4. no thumbnails - videos need to be downloaded to the phone to view
5. remote access requires router settings changes that some find difficult (and which don't work with some internet service providers)

[Box22]

Note: Accidentally clicked solved button. Not solved.

Yes. Thank you.

Cameras do work. They detect motion, send push notifications.

I can do live view and they are synced to hub.

No recordings.

Hub is OK because there are a couple of older cams on it and they do record just not Pro4”s.

The only thing I haven’t tried is a factory reset of the hub but again it is recording.

Any ideas?

[Box22]

Don’t know if this will show up because I accidentally tapped “solved” awhile ago.

Finally decided to do complete reinstall. Reinstalled new app, factory reset base, synced with camera. (Only did one at this point).

The camera does detect motion and sends alert.

That is as far as I can get. Goal is to be able to view videos on sd card in base in “feed”.

The instructions page 61 “View the sd card status”.

1. Open the arlo app.

2. Tap “smarthub/base station bridge”.

There’s more but this is as far as I get.

When I open the app at bottom of screen there is devices, library, (which I want to change to feed but don’t see how), mode, & settings.

No mention of base at all.

Kind of stuck here because instructions don’t match what I’m seeing in the app.

[jguerdat]

When you first tapped "Solved" you could have gone back to "unsolve" it. I don't know if that works now - it likely is an option for only a short time.

The current apps support two different user interfaces (UI) - one that shows Library to view videos like you have as well as one that uses Feed (the new UI). You happened to select the FAQ for the new UI which is why you're having problems. These days, near the top of the various FAQs is a link that will point you to either the old UI's version of the FAQ or the new one. Here's the version you need:

https://kb.arlo.com/1146857/How-do-I-set-up-local-storage-backups-using-my-Arlo-Base-Station-or-Smar...

So, click on Settings, My Devices, your hub. Select the local storage/storage settings selection (I'm on the new UI so can't see what the wording is but it should be obvious) and continue the setup. 

[Box22]

Thank for the reply.
Got new email address. Set up new arlo account with new email. Reset hub.

This time “feed” shows at bottom. (Setting up on ipad but also using android phone)

Added camera. It does record. When clicking “feed” get message “there are no events for this day”. Nothing there.

When clicking devices, base, storage settings, recordings are there.

Grayed out thumbnails but when you click to view them a thumbnail pic remains.

Not sure if this is how it is supposed to work but at least I can access recordings.

Other issue I do get push notifications on ipad but nothing to phone.

If I log into account on phone each time I need to go through making it a “trusted device”, which logs me out of other opened accounts.

It will send notifications to ipad signed in or not but phone must be signed in to work.

Didn’t have this issue before. Both phone & pad always notified at same time signed in or not.

Had ten cameras on this base. Five Pro4’s & five older ones not sure of model. Worked fine. Sent notifications 

[Box22]

Edit to above post.

Just saw in instructions push notifications are not sent if logged out.

Weird because I was getting on two devices.

[jguerdat]

Basically, what you're seeing is what you should get if you don't have a subscription. A sub allows cloud recordings but without one all you can do is use local recordings. Thus, when you go in the hub's settings for local storage, you see those videos but only with a blank thumbnail until you download them. That's correct and expected operation.

As for notifications, if you're logged out of the app, push notifications simply can't happen - you're logged out. You should just background the app and then push notifications will work properly.

[Box22]

Thanks that makes sense and everything appeared to be working like it should and then this morning I see the Pro4’s stopped recording.

This thing is driving me nuts.

They sense motion & send notifications but no recording.

All settings are on to record and I didn’t do anything Im aware of.

Restarted the base and no difference.

All cams working just no recordings.
Again everything is turned on and looks correct.

Dont see anything else to change.

[Box22]

Adding to above. Email function also not working anymore.

Never had issue before.

[StephenB]

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@Box22 wrote:

Thanks that makes sense and everything appeared to be working like it should and then this morning I see the Pro4’s stopped recording.

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Can you confirm that these cameras are in a subscription plan?  It sounds like the trial subscription(s) expired.

[Box22]

They are not in a plan. That has been my whole issue.

I just want videos saved to hub so I can view them

with “feed”.

I know it can be done but things keep coming up.

[jguerdat]

As I said before, the local recordings DON'T show up in Feed. You must go to your hub's settings, Storage Settings to view any local recordings.

[Box22]

Sorry I screwed up when I wrote that. Recordings were showing in storage settings. They are grayed out you have to click to view.

Everything was working, I did nothing and yesterday everything just stopped recording. Still detected motion and sent notification.

Everything looked good as far as settings, no problems with any equipment. Got annoyed with the whole thing and just left it alone for the day.

(They were set off a few dozen times throughout the day)

Again I did nothing, now this morning new ones are showing up.

(new ones only. Nothing from yesterday)

At this time it is working like I want. The next thing is I have two bases.

VMB5000 & VMB3010. These were set up to share with each other.

Had this working before so hopefully no problems.