No option to record or even stream in 4K

[rovvp]

I have 4 Arlo Ultras which were working fine prior to moving to a paid plan.

The cameras came with a free 12month subscription to Arlo Secure (2K recording).

While in the free period I was able to stream in 4K. I was able to record to a local SD card in 4K an I was able to record to the cloud in 2K. This was perfectly fine and how I understand the subscription would work.

I have now made my first payment for Arlo Secure and suddenly I can only view and record video in 2K. I can not even stream in 4K locally. 

I should be able to stream in 4K and even record locally in 4K if I'm not mistaken? 

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@rovvp wrote:

I should be able to stream in 4K and even record locally in 4K if I'm not mistaken? 

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You are recording the same video simultaneously to the cloud and locally, and your plan only supports 2K.  If you upgrade to Secure Plus, you will get 4K recordings (and also 4K local streaming) again.

[rovvp]

Thanks for your reply.

I will say, this isn't what I wanted to hear as it shows Arlo up for disabling key features (4K streaming) unless you pay for a premium plan. 

Arlo appear to have changed their subscriptions this year and with that they started disabling camera features unless you pay for a premium plan, this is kind of highway robbery and I'll be making a complaint.

[detroitlions]

This was my exact complaint seven days ago here.   Why on earth would I want to spend $14.99 / month for 4K cloud recordings when they always offer discounts for the non premium plan?  Last week I could have signed up for $3.99 / month for six months for 2K videos.  That is exactly what I would want, 2K cloud videos along with 4K live streaming and storage.   NOPE!!!  Not possible given Arlo locked it down to force you into their completely overpriced $14.99 / month plan.  This was my final straw too. I wish the competition had something similar as I would bolt in one second flat.  Sadly I have yet to find anything.  Hopefully one day soon.

[dcfox1]

@detroitlions As the solution post stated it doesn't  record in two separate resolutions at the same time as the same recording goes to the cloud and Hub per the subscription. So you can't get a 2K and 4K in the same recording. 

[LandJS]

dcfox1 I believe he said he was recording in two separate res at the same time until his free period ran out.  Just like us original subscribers had 1080p and 4K at the same time until the free ran out.  So say that's the way they do it but not that they can't because that has clearly been disproved.

[StephenB]

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@LandJS wrote:

  Just like us original subscribers had 1080p and 4K at the same time until the free ran out.  

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I've heard that said, but never saw that myself (and I was an original subscriber).  AFAIK, the camera's hardware just isn't capable of sending two video streams at two resolutions at the same time. 

If I'm wrong about the underlying the camera hardware capabilities, it would still be the case that simulcasting two resolutions in the camera would use a lot more power than encoding a single stream.  So that mode would have shortened battery life considerably.   Poor battery life was one of the big complaints that Arlo was dealing with when the Ultra was initially launched (as you might recall, they put the brakes on it for while, and then re-launched in March 2019.  I guess they might have discontinued simulcast as part of addressing the battery life problem - I did own the Ultras before the re-launch, but I could have missed that feature drop.  While I did have microSD cards in the base, I wasn't paying that much attention to the local recordings.

I think you have said several times that you aren't getting 1080p and 4K at the same time any more (whether you have a subscription or not).  So right now, with a 2K subscription people will only get 2K recordings both on the microSD card and in the cloud. 

Whatever the case in the past, people should be able to do 4K livestreaming with a 2K subscription.  One complication though - any manual recording (which only goes to the cloud) would be limited to 2K.  So the stream would need to be restarted at the lower resolution whenever you hit the record button.  

FWIW, the main benefit I see for 4K is that you get some more detail in the recordings.  I'm not that interested in seeing 4K live if the 4K isn't being recorded.  I don't livestream much anyway.  Though obviously there are folks here who use the system differently, and have different views on that.

[LandJS]

as an original subscriber (talking Arlo ultra here) your first year free would have been 1080p to the cloud with 4K to the SD and live and it was indeed true until that free year ran out.  What is offered to the newer subscribers I can't say but he clearly said he had 2K cloud with 4K SD and live for his free trial.  I have no reason to doubt him, therefore the capability does exist.  I preferred 1080p to the cloud myself as it was faster and for me the cloud was basically a quick check.  Everything about Arlo is pushing people to the premium plan.  Even the new secure, taking off the camera limit and improving e911 could have easily been done in the old plan.  All the new one does is start weaning off all the people they have to give E service to on the old plan who didn't go elite.  Yes you can keep the old plan but at a higher cost, no new customers on that plan.  You have been on here long enough to know how they operate and have enough experience to know adding the two benefits was easily done if they wished.  The only thing in their defense is they are certainly not the only business that does these things.

[StephenB]

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@LandJS wrote:

he clearly said he had 2K cloud with 4K SD and live for his free trial.  I have no reason to doubt him, therefore the capability does exist.  

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He did, but with all do respect to him, I actually don't think that's correct.

[dididj]

The same.

When i bought arlo ultra over a year ago , with 1 year free plan  arlo ultra recorded at 4k locally , FHD in the cloud, 4k in streaming.

Now with arlo smart  everythin goes at 2k locally, cloud and streaming.

[LandJS]

And with all due respect to what you think, I did indeed have 1080p to the cloud with 4K to the SD and live for a year as did many others and if you go way back you can even find James saying you didn't lose 4K to the SD and live when going to 2K.  I'm sure he would no longer say it but that doesn't change the fact that under the original plan 1080p cloud with 4K SD and live was what everyone but maybe you had.  It was and is possible.

[JonJadot]

I can confirm what OP is saying.  I too just came off 1 year free.  Had 2k cloud and 4k local recording and streaming.  Now since signing up monthly, no 4k streaming, no 4k local recording.

[burgr86]

Same here, don't understand why you can't view 4k local and still only record 2k to cloud.  Why is this so hard?

[LandJS]

it's not hard and they clearly do it for your first year then take it away to push you to the more expensive plan.  The only thing is that it's not just them.  Think of when you sign up for a phone plan and at the end you must pay more to keep all the perks.  Or a tv sub that doubles in price after the first year.  There are really many services that increase price after the initial period.  Still don't like it but it's life.  The only thing with Arlo I take issue with is them saying it can't be done when it clearly was for a year, I find it insulting and makes them look stupid.  To be upfront with customers it should be stated at purchase which does happen with phone plans and TV plans etc.  They did with the original plan but then used what many consider deceptive methods of ending the plan and refusing to reinstate it.

[JonJadot]

I have a 1 Gbps fibre link to the net an gt-ax11000 driving my network. Bandwidth is not an issue, the issue is deceptive practices by Arlo and software locks on advertised features.

[PGalore]

I created a thread not long ago on this topic https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Ultra/Cannot-live-stream-in-4k-Anyone-else-having-the-same-issue/...

Basically, during free trial period, you are on a so-called legacy plan where you can still live stream in 4k and record to cloud in 1080p with your Ultra cameras.  When you start paying for subscription, unless you opt to choose the highest level, you won't be able to live stream in 4k and record to cloud in 4k. HOWEVER, you should still be able to live stream in 4k regardless of your subscription level.  In fact multiple KB sources and a screenshot that pops up when you add a new camera support this claim.  If you don't have any subscription, you should be able to live stream in 4k and record locally to your SD card in 4k, but I haven't tested that yet. 

I didn't get any help on here or via chat, but a tech support reached out to me after I left a review on iPhone app.  He agreed with me and said that he would escalate this matter internally but he was honest enough to say that he didn't know if ever I would get any update on that.  He also confirmed my earlier point that if you pay for premier or whatever it's called now that enables you to record in 2k to cloud, you will be restricted to 2k live streaming, but if you don't have any subscription at all, Ultra cameras should be able to live stream in 4k and record locally to your SD card in 4k.