Arlo Ultra 4 VMS5240-100EUS cameras

[Thirlwall]

Hi, I am thinking of buying an Arlo Ultra 4 twin camera set with base station (Hub)

I have read a few of the reviews on line but need to know a few more things:

I don’t want to pay any data storage charges. Will the SD card be sufficient to store my past data?

How do I view the footage. Can I view it from the hub to my phone?
Do I have to take out the SD card and put it in my computer to view?

Can I view past history on my phone?
Can I use an Arlo doorbell with the system and how does the doorbell camera vary from the main cameras?
When the SD card is full does the system over right on the card?
How far back does the SD card store?

Sorry if these questions seem stupid. 
Thank you in anticipation. Peter

[Edinburgh_lad1]

These have been answered before - had you searched for answers before you posted your questions?

[Thirlwall]

Hi Edinburgh Lad, I’ve only just joined the forum and I am not familiar with navigating my way around it. You could humour me and point me to the answers. I didn’t want to make a career out of Arlo research I just want to buy a couple of cameras. Peter

[Edinburgh_lad1]

> I don’t want to pay any data storage charges. Will the SD card be sufficient to store my past data?

It depends on the size of the SD card. Please also note the specs of the SD card required to be able to handle 4K recordings. 

> How do I view the footage. Can I view it from the hub to my phone?

You can use Direct Storage Access (for my needs, it sufficient). However, this option is far from being perfect: a) your cameras need to be on the same WiFi network; b) there are no thumbnails; c) If you'd liek to access these from outwith your network, you need to set up port forwarding or VPN. Both have risks, as you'll be opening ports on your router. Also, Android VPN access to Direct Storage currently doesn't work (it hasn't for a year; have a look at the Pro 3 section, where this issue is raised).

>Do I have to take out the SD card and put it in my computer to view?

No, but you can if you want to. You can view your recordings from your app, but not from the web.

> Can I use an Arlo doorbell with the system and how does the doorbell camera vary from the main cameras?

Yes you can. You need to look at the specs of the doorbell camera (have a look at Youtube, too) - have you already done it? 

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

> How do I view the footage. Can I view it from the hub to my phone?

You can use Direct Storage Access (for my needs, it sufficient). However, this option is far from being perfect: a) your cameras need to be on the same WiFi network; b) there are no thumbnails; c) If you'd liek to access these from outwith your network, you need to set up port forwarding or VPN. Both have risks, as you'll be opening ports on your router. Also, Android VPN access to Direct Storage currently doesn't work (it hasn't for a year; have a look at the Pro 3 section, where this issue is raised).

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A VPN is more secure than port forwarding, as the connection is authenticated by the router (as well as the base).

Not sure what you mean by restriction (a).  Once the camera is added, what matters is the ability of the phone to reach the smarthub (which is connected with ethernet).  Any local wifi that allows that will work.

I'd add a few more restrictions:

(d) no ability to make manual recordings.

(e) no ability for "friend" accounts to access the recordings.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

> A VPN is more secure than port forwarding, as the connection is authenticated by the router (as well as the base).

It is more secure, but I'm yet to experience the benefits of connecting to my hub using a VPN connection.

> Not sure what you mean by restriction (a). Once the camera is added, what matters is the ability of the phone to reach the smarthub (which is connected with ethernet). Any local wifi that allows that will work.

Not if you have two devices broadcasting two different networks but being connected to the same router. So, it needs to be the same SSID.

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

> Not sure what you mean by restriction (a). Once the camera is added, what matters is the ability of the phone to reach the smarthub (which is connected with ethernet). Any local wifi that allows that will work.

Not if you have two devices broadcasting two different networks but being connected to the same router. So, it needs to be the same SSID.

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On-boarding the camera can be a pain, as discovery of the camera sometimes fails if the phone is connected to 5G.

But accessing the local storage requires only that the app can communicate directly to the base station.  I have tried this with multiple SSIDs on my network,  and didn't have any problem with it.  A guest network could be a problem in some cases (depending on whether the router allows a device on guest to reach the wired base station).  But normal extenders, or different SSIDs for different bands should just work.  

Can you give more details on the configuration that isn't working for you?  Can you ping the base station when connected to the problem network?

[jguerdat]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:
> A VPN is more secure than port forwarding, as the connection is authenticated by the router (as well as the base).

It is more secure, but I'm yet to experience the benefits of connecting to my hub using a VPN connection.

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As opposed to what - port forwarding? The use of a VPN is the more secure way of connecting since opening ports means a port scanner could find that port and perhaps utilize it.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

It's irrelevant. What's relevant is that using VPN isn't working with access to the base station's storage card on Android, and it hasn't been fixed for at least a year.

I wrote to Matthew McRae, the chief executive, to complain about that and other things, bit I'm yet to receive a reply/acknowledgement. If I don't, it'll be telling.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

Regardless of whether you're using VPN or port forwarding, you'll be opening ports, with the former allowing you to encrypt the connection.

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:
Regardless of whether you're using VPN or port forwarding, you'll be opening ports, with the former allowing you to encrypt the connection.

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Actually my Orbi router supports OpenVPN natively, so I am not opening any ports.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

So does mine (Draytek). However, with OpenVPN you will also be opening ports (TCP/UDP) as how else do you want to create a tunnel to access what's on your local network. The difference between a VPN and port forwarding is that the former applies encryption. Of course, you can access websites through VPN by not opening ports, like for example my employer gives me access to VPN (they typically use port 443), but I'm their 'client' so I don't need to open my ports, but to be able to access your local network, you also need to open 'the door' to it. So, anyone having the key can access it. Otherwise, your router's firewall will block access as unauthorised, so by opening a port, you're authorising access, as it were. Isn't it how all that works?

Anyway, can you access your direct storage on your Android when you do OpenVPN?

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:
So does mine (Draytek). However, with OpenVPN you will also be opening ports (TCP/UDP) as how else do you want to create a tunnel to access what's on your local network.  ... The difference between a VPN and port forwarding is that the former applies encryption

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Encryption is not the only difference.

In the case of  a VPN implemented in the router, the router itself authenticates the VPN connection from the remote device, and terminates the TCP (or UDP) connection from that remote device.  The data received over the authenticated VPN connection is routed onto the local LAN (which is not the same as forwarding it).  All other traffic received on the VPN port is rejected. 

This is very different from port forwarding, where all traffic received on the port (from any device on the internet) is blindly forwarded to a specified local device.  

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:
Anyway, can you access your direct storage on your Android when you do OpenVPN?

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I no longer have an Android, I switched to an iPhone a while ago.  But when I did (last year), I was unable to access direct storage over OpenVPN.  FWIW, at the time I reported that to Arlo.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

Thanks for all the info about VPN. It was unnecessary, as I know what it is and how it works.

The last issue that we were discussing here was that you said you weren't opening any ports with VPN, so I'm glad you did more research on the net to educate yourself.