Arlo Ultra 2 Cameras and Base Station VMB4000r3 stopped recording

[BFritz2019]

So I’ve had the VMB4000r3 base station with Pro cameras for a while - no subscription because the 7 days worth of recordings were just fine.  Sometime aroun January 2022 - I wanted to start upgrading the cameras from Pros to Ultra for the better quality.  So I did …. However, on two different base stations (Vmb4000r3) and two different ultra cameras the recordings just stopped and I no longer have my recordings available.  Does the 7 day no longer work after the trial period?   Funny part is, the Best Buy salesman assured me that it would be just fine.  

is it true that once the trial ends so does the recordings?   I even purchased a 1

[Dannybear]

All camera models after the pro2 require a subscription plan to make cloud recordings.

[BFritz2019]

Thanks.  Unfortunately that was one of the reasons I chose Arlo over Ring.  Looks like I’ll be getting rid of the Ultras and go back to Pros.  Sad that companies are forcing people into a non value added service.

[Arlouser041822]

Arlo will also assure you it will be fine. It won't be fine from my experience. Before purchasing anything from Arlo I actually contacted their support (before they charged you to speak to someone) and made sure I'd be able to still locally record video and use the motion detention to do so after the subscription and how to do so; They confirmed I would definitely be able to with my system (they still say this.)
I have 6 Arlo Ultra cameras that came with a year subscription. Once that subscription ended I lost the ability to save any recordings, locally or not, lost access to any local recordings I had on my micro SD card (from the app,) and most definitely do not have the ability to use the motion detection to initiate recording.

This company is a disgusting excuse for a user friendly experience or business. Their support is as well.

They are concerned with one thing, making money. I have no clue why anyone still uses Arlo or would pay for a subscription to record video locally on a system with devices you paid in full for. On top of that why would one pay Arlo for support on issues that have existed before my subscription or warranty ended? The default answer Arlo supplies is "I suggest you pay for the $2.99 subscription solely for technical support then cancel it."

Everything mentioned is completely unacceptable behavior.

[Arlouser041822]

And local recordings apparently

[StephenB]

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@Arlouser041822 wrote:

I have 6 Arlo Ultra cameras that came with a year subscription. Once that subscription ended I lost the ability to save any recordings, locally or not, lost access to any local recordings I had on my micro SD card (from the app,) and most definitely do not have the ability to use the motion detection to initiate recording.

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You must have the VMB5000 base if you use a microSD card.

Are you seeing the option to configure direct access to local storage in the app?  If so, what happens when you do that?