What is the Base Station for?

[uptownvideo]

I am considering getting the Arlo wireless camera system and I have a few questions.  What exactly is the base station for?  If I hookup a usb drive to it can I save my recordings?  When the camera senses motion does it email or text a picture or video clip?  Is there a way to login to the app and see live video and audio? 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[kmiller8821]

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uptownvideo wrote:

I am considering getting the Arlo wireless camera system and I have a few questions.  What exactly is the base station for?  If I hookup a usb drive to it can I save my recordings?  When the camera senses motion does it email or text a picture or video clip?  Is there a way to login to the app and see live video and audio? 

Thanks in advance for any help.

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The base station (for Arlo and Arlo PRO) is used to communicate with the arlo cameras on a special secured wireless network.  It is low power and designed just for the arlo devices.  You can only connect the base to the cameras and the base is required. You can not connect arlo cameras directly to your existing wireless network. The base station plugs into your home router via a standard ethernet cable.  If you purchase Arlo PRO, then yes, you can put a USB drive in the device and those recordings will be saved to the usb device and to the cloud.  The cameras can be configured to email you and/or send a push notification when they detect motion.  Currently, there is no image when you are sent a push notification but you will get a screenshot in email.  You can logon to the app, or to the arlo website, and view your cameras, see live video and on Arlo PRO, live audio.  The ORIGINAL Arlo system does not support audio, if you are looking to purchase a new system, I would highly recommend the Arlo PRO as it has more features, rechargeable batteries, a siren built into the base station and USB capability.  Those features are exclusive to the PRO series, the PRO cameras also have better motion detecting systems.(They can trigger on motion or audio).  I have had my Alro PRO since November 2016 and it works very well for me.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

The base is used to allow the cameras to connect in a secure manner. It's actually just a very limited router set up for the sole purpose of attaching the cameras to the Internet. If they attached to your existing router, anyone with access to your WiFi could see and control them.

If you purchase a Pro system, you can use a USB drive to record videos. Any video recorded to the cloud also gets recorded locally. Any interruption on Internet access will still result in recordings being stored locally but will not be uploaded to the cloud when access resumes. Also, the only way to view the recordings on the USB drive is to eject the drive so you can view them on a computer. It does not act like a NAS.

Upon detecting motion and recording, two notifications are possible. Push notifications happen on a mobile device with the app installed and occur as soon as recording starts. Email notifications happen when the video has completely uploaded to the cloud and contain a link to view the video as well as a snapshot. You can turn them on and off as desired.

Lastly, the app or a browser pointed at the Arlo website is what's used to control the system as well as to view videos.

[uptownvideo]

Thank you for the good information.