A few questions about Arlo, VMB3000

[nikosi]

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding the Arlo.

1)

Is it possible to hide the SSID from the Arlo Base Station? I understand this does not enhance security.

2)

How are the Arlo Pro Cameras doing the motion detection at night? With a night vision device I can see the IR LEDs quite brightly, but they only turn on, after motion is detected. The camera appears dark, if not recording.

3)

Arlo Basic subscription only gives 7 days of storage online. If a USB stick is added, are all videos stored, and only deleted if there is not enough memory left and the overwrite is set?

4)

If a USB stick is full and no videos are written anymore, does the base station indicate this with its LEDs? Is there an indicator without going to the arlo webpage? Is there an indicator on the webpage?

5)

If I look at the live video feed on an android phone, how is the video transferred? Is it transferred from the camera via modem to Netgear servers and then to the smartphone or directly from camera via modem to phone?

6)

If the modem is down and no internet, but the network attached to the Base Station is working and a smartphone with the Arlo app is connected via WLAN, are the live feeds watchable?

7)

The Arlo Base Station creates a WLAN on channel 13. When the Sync button on the cameras is pressed, do they try to sync ONLY to the Netgear WLAN or all that are present on channel 13?

I could not sync a camera to the base station without turning off my home WLAN, which is the only WLAN present on channel 13.

[jguerdat]

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Answers are embedded - bear with me.

nikosi wrote:

1)

Is it possible to hide the SSID from the Arlo Base Station? I understand this does not enhance security.

No.

2)

How are the Arlo Pro Cameras doing the motion detection at night? With a night vision device I can see the IR LEDs quite brightly, but they only turn on, after motion is detected. The camera appears dark, if not recording.

The nighttime detection is the same as daytime - it uses PIR detectors which detect IR. The IR illuminators are only for nighttime lighting, not detection.

3)

Arlo Basic subscription only gives 7 days of storage online. If a USB stick is added, are all videos stored, and only deleted if there is not enough memory left and the overwrite is set?

Yes.

4)

If a USB stick is full and no videos are written anymore, does the base station indicate this with its LEDs? Is there an indicator without going to the arlo webpage? Is there an indicator on the webpage?

No, the base has no "full" indication that I know of. Using the app or web page and checking Settings, My Devices, your base, Local Storage, your drive shows available space. I'm not aware of any other interface notifications but have mine set to automatic overwrite - perhaps not using that setting would generate a message?

5)

If I look at the live video feed on an android phone, how is the video transferred? Is it transferred from the camera via modem to Netgear servers and then to the smartphone or directly from camera via modem to phone?

You always see the video from the servers - there's no way to connect to the stream directly. That's why there's a delay between clicking Live View and the display actually starting. There's also a small lag in what's displayed vs. realtime.

6)

If the modem is down and no internet, but the network attached to the Base Station is working and a smartphone with the Arlo app is connected via WLAN, are the live feeds watchable?

No. See above.

7)

The Arlo Base Station creates a WLAN on channel 13. When the Sync button on the cameras is pressed, do they try to sync ONLY to the Netgear WLAN or all that are present on channel 13?

I could not sync a camera to the base station without turning off my home WLAN, which is the only WLAN present on channel 13.

The channel is dynamic and generally tries to use the same channel as your router, if the two are close enough. If separated, the base will select its own channel based on congestion.

The cameras connect to the base basically via WPS. There's no other ability for the cameras toconnect to anything else.

If you're having issues with the home WiFi interfering, try moving the base away from the router. Some have found that a foot or so is adequate; others have needed greater distances which can be achieved by a long cable or a WiFi or powerline extender.

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