Videos Not Available on Base Station

[maharrm]

I recently started to experience the error, “Videos stored on Base Station are not available. Please check connection settings.” when trying to access locally stored videos in the Library (I have a VMB5000r5 base station recording to a microSD card). 

I have previously been able to access videos with Port Forwarding enabled and also without Port Forwarding when connected to my home network. 

I have again disabled Port Forwarding and am connected on my home network, but still receive the same error.

i can see from the storage setting info that my microSD card appears to be saving videos as the amount of space used is increasing.

Anyone else experiencing this error recently? Thanks. 

[ShayneS]

If you are still experiencing this symptom, please make sure that the forwarded ports have been setup on the router.

To check if the forwarded ports from the app are open, you can utilize the below port checkers:

https://portchecker.co
https://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/
https://canyouseeme.org/

If the ports are still closed, the router's firewall or ISP can still be blocking the ports. Please reach out to your ISP or router manufacturer for further assistance. 

[vtmad]

No, my problem is solved. I had already updated to 5.01 but that did not solve things. I then did an IOS update and that took care of the problem.

[ShayneS]

The development team is working on the fix for the issue with the remote access. I will provide another update as soon as I have more information related to the release. 

Thank you for your patience

[KartDude]

I have three Essential Spotlight Cameras and two Ultra Cameras. I also have a VMB4540 Base Station. I also tried a VMB5000 with same results. About mid July my wife and I noticed that on our iPhones that we are not able to access the local recordings when we are outside of our home network. When we are inside of our home network, we can access the recordings. I am able to access the recordings on my iPad which is connected via WiFi when I am outside of the network.
I contacted Arlo support and they suggested that I check the Port Forwarding options on my Linksys Router. I noticed that Port Forwarding status on my iPhones says "Not Available", but on my iPad it says "Available". I tried several times to "Refresh Ports" and reconfigured and restarted my router and got the same results.

Finally Arlo support reported that this is a known issue and they are working on it. I am suspicious that they are really "working" on it because this is not a revenue generator and they have been "working" on it for over a month now.
Are you looking at the local recordings both inside and outside your local network?

[Vtphotomom]

I have actually checked that and it's on on both my phone and the hub or router or whatever it is. I've had this problem off and on and for a long time if I had watched a recording while I was at home then that same day I was able to watch other recordings if there were motion at the house while I was away. That's not even working anymore. I've contacted them several different occasions about this over the last 3 years. It's getting kind of old

[StephenB]

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@Vtphotomom wrote:

I have actually checked that and it's on on both my phone and the hub or router or whatever it is. I've had this problem off and on and for a long time if I had watched a recording while I was at home then that same day I was able to watch other recordings if there were motion at the house while I was away. That's not even working anymore. I've contacted them several different occasions about this over the last 3 years. It's getting kind of old

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Is your phone Android or iOS?

Do you have a subscription?

What model smarthub are you using?  (Look for a VMBxxxx label on the base).

[Vtphotomom]

I have a Google pixel 7, my hub is a VMB4540-100NAS I do not have a subscription and I sincerely believe that Arlo punishes you for not having one because it is not working as it should. Was told that it would work but it's constantly giving me troubles

[StephenB]

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@Vtphotomom wrote:

I have a Google pixel 7, my hub is a VMB4540-100NAS I do not have a subscription

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Are you using port forwarding for remote access?

[Vtphotomom]

Yes, I am. 

[jsimps9901]

No I am not seeing traffic on ports 7871 or 11271. Y

[StephenB]

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@Vtphotomom wrote:

Yes, I am. 

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Ok.

One thing to check in your router settings is the local IP address of the smarthub.  That can sometimes change when the router or smarthub are rebooted (for instance after a power failure).  If it does change, then the port forwarding rule in your router will forward traffic to the wrong IP address.

So see if the current IP address matches what is in the port forwarding rule.  You can find the current IP address in the router's attached device list.

Most routers have a way to reserve the IP address, so it will never change.  Is that something you have done?

If you aren't sure where these facilities are in the router interface, you can post the manufacturer/model of your router here, and I'll see if I can find the user manual for it. 

[StephenB]

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@jsimps9901 wrote:

No I am not seeing traffic on ports 7871 or 11271. 

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That's good.  One trojan that is known to use port 4000 also uses the other two. I'm not saying there is malware - only Arlo can say whether they normally use that port for something.

There could be some IP address spoofing going on.  Have you tried disconnected the smarthub, and double-checking that the traffic stops?

[DannyBearAgain]

Do you have the permission enabled to access the home network in the arlo app settings under the iPhone’s settings page?

Access to your recordings will only work if the iPhone is using the local wifi and will only work if you have setup port forwarding on the local router when using cellular data.

https://kb.arlo.com/000062337/What-is-Direct-Storage-Access-and-how-do-I-use-it-for-Arlo-video-recor... 

[TotoyLaki]

Yes, my IPhone’s Port forwarding is enabled and configuration (IP address & router’s port forwarding settings) is the the same as my IPad and yet my IPad says port forwarding is available but my Iphone says not available.

It’s also yes, that without port forwarding, I can only replay recordings on my IPhone when I am home and connected to my Wi-Fi. 

Thanks

[DannyBearAgain]

looks like a long term known issue unfortunately.

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Ultra/Videos-Not-Available-on-Base-Station/td-p/2336336/page/17  

[StephenB]

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@TotoyLaki wrote:

I am able to make port forwarding to my ultra smart hub to work on my iPad but not to my iPhone.  Am I missing any extra step?  How do I make my iPhone enable my hub’s port forwarding?

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It is a bug in the iphone app.  Likely the version on your iPad is older.

[Vtphotomom]

I didn't get a chance to check the ip address until just now and everything is fine. I'm really at a loss for why I can't see my videos. I tried redoing everything yesterday so when I was out today I tried and it said that it could not find any videos and that they were working on it. It has said that though since I purchased everything years ago . Every once in awhile it works for a little while and then it stops again. 

[BlackDot]

For those still experiencing issues trying to view locally stored video on their SmartHub VMB4540 (or similar), I found that completely deleting and reinstalling the Arlo app on my iPhone solved the problem and the videos would now show up under 'Storage Settings' where previously nothing. Make sure to delete all the cached application data.

I'm on Arlo app v4.19.

Good luck.

[gbweir]

Is that access on the home network or can you access the videos on the smarthub externally away from your home network?

The problem I have is external access, which I had before v4.14

[BlackDot]

Hi @gbweir,

That is a good question. To access locally stored video when I’m away, I have an OVPN connection setup which works great and more secure than the port forwarding method. Many new home router setups support your own private OVPN server and could be a quick fix to your problem. 

[nhudon]

Nah! It’s not working.

it should work with port redirection from external network as it was before.

[Sourour2]

Because they want you to pay for subscription. They will loose customers definitely 

[TotoyLaki]

Apps on both my IPad and IPhone have the same versions.  

Thanks

[MrMolok]

Don't give up - contact your local consumer protection authorities and ask them to help you.

It is illegal (at least in the EU), when a company like Arlo breaks the functionality of your product, without issuing a working fix in due time.

This stopped working end of May, and is still not working - so Arlo have NOT handled this in due time.

My camera system is in my house in the country i was born, however the last 5 years I have been living abroad. So not being able to access the videos stored on my base station completely destroys the usability for me...

[KartDude]

I have had the same problem for a few months now.
The problem is that the viewing recordings via the the port forwarding feature is not working in iPhones when outside of the local network. It does work on my iPad and when I am inside of my home network. I have reported it to Arlo support and they say that it is an issue on their end and are working on it. No timeframe has been given.

[StephenB]

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@KartDude wrote:

The problem is that the viewing recordings via the the port forwarding feature is not working in iPhones

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That is your problem for sure, but @Vtphotomom is using Android, which does not have that bug.

[StephenB]

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@Vtphotomom wrote:

I didn't get a chance to check the ip address until just now and everything is fine. I'm really at a loss for why I can't see my videos. I tried redoing everything yesterday so when I was out today I tried and it said that it could not find any videos and that they were working on it. It has said that though since I purchased everything years ago . Every once in awhile it works for a little while and then it stops again. 

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Can you see your videos when you are home (with the phone connected to your home wifi)?

[Vtphotomom]

Yes, it works at home, just not outside of my home wifi