arlo ultra 4x + base station: a newbie questions

[JohnR7181]

Hi, I'm using my Arlo for monitoring someone suffering from dementia and I'm quite happy so far (especially love these base stations, having to qr scan then manually update the wifi for 16x nest cameras was something i had learned to dread haha).

Questions:

- In the 'rules' mechanims, can I use IFTT or similar to go around the system limitations (low siren volume for example, which i could replace with a mains connected buzzer should something trigger the motion detector).

- Does the base station, once equipped with an SDCARD, record all the time or only when motion is detected? In other words, does my system need to be 'armed' for the LOCAL recording to happen?

- Can I watch the feeds from another piece of software? I love the idea of hooking several cheap 4k moniitor together and say, IINA or VLC the feeds to each. 

- Can the rules make use of the 'advanced' detection options (pets etc) so i could, for example, send a notification when my dog comes home from his walks rather than getting notified for any movement at the door?

- I'm very technically minded (in all honesty, i bought alro because I couldn't be bothered spending the time setting up a PoE system with say, blue iris at the back), so is there ANYTHING you guys recommend i do to improve my experience with the cameras? A simple example would be to 'auto start streams for all cameras' when login in the website, so i can have a live view of the property 24/7 rather than having to manually hit 'play' on each camera each time. Any quality of life improvement not in the manual, basically!

- The subscription system is very strange and won't let me input a UK bank account because i bought the cameras from amazon spain and registered as a spanish user. This is annoying because i want to upgrade the lot to the best CVR possible (in the context of therapeutic monitoring, these things DO matter). 

- Is anyone aware of upcoming upgrades with say, face recognition? Would be useful for me to know if the person im monitoring has been in their room for too long, for example. 

Thank you!

[jguerdat]

1) No experience here. MAybe, maybe not. Someone else will have to jump in.

2) Arlo records only on motion. The optional CVR works with AC-powered cameras but isn't recorded locally.

3) Only after you've downloaded the videos locally.

4) That's what Arlo Smart is for.

5) Not automated, no. The cameras are motion-activated and require cloud access. You can manually start live view when connected but be aware that automatic recording is disabled - you have to manually record.

6) It's not where you buy the cameras but where you activate them Remove the system from your account and try setting up again in the UK. You may need to use a new account to pull this off.

7) Not at the moment nor do I know of any upcoming update.

[brh]

@JohnR7181,

Wow, a lot of questions, LOL. I will do my best to answer them for you. Short answers.

1) The Ultra cameras are quite new and the developers are probably trying to iron out all the kinks in the software before they tackle integrating with other devices. I understand, although I am not using it that the Ultra cameras are either working with or soon will be working with Apple Homekit. Personlly, I use the Samsung Smartthings to control my Arlo cameras and other IoT devices but the Ultras will probably take a while to be integrated with them. In the Fall of this year Arlo is supposedly coming out with other devices that work on Zigbee and Zwave. Check their announcements at CES 2019.

2) There is a feature called CVR that you can research but there is a fee for using it. Add that to the fees for PVR to record in 4k and it gets quite expensive, although I think you can purchase these plans for one or two cameras if you wish. The system needs to be armed to record anything, even to the SD card.

3) I don't believe that you can use other software to create feeds but you could use an iPad. 

4) Smart Notifications are sent to your phone or email account depending on the switches that are selected, but these are filtered for notifications only. The cameras will still every event.

5) You might want to look at the Arlo Baby as I believe it will record 24/7, (not sure as I don't own one), but they are indoor only. For the most part Arlo systems are designed to be able to mount anywhere and run on battery power, thus the lack of some features. Some features are added if the cameras are under constant power, (plugged into an AC outlet using the power adapter).

6) If you are in Spain then that could be a problem. You could check with Customer service to see if there is anyway to set them up as pretending to be in the UK so that you could use the credit card.

7) There are mixed feelings about Face Recognition by Arlo's customers and customers of other competing systems. I haven't heard anything about Arlo adding this feature.

Amazon reviews and Q/As are a great place to see what the cameras will do and not do.

Sorry i could not answer your questions in as much detail as you probably wanted, but I did take a stab at it. Also for monitoring elderly people indoors, look at the Arlo Q and Q Plus, but again, these are indoor only.

Brian