Question on Direct Storage Access

[j1ades]

I have an older Arlo system with VMB4000r3 base and older Pro cameras along with one Pro4 and one Essential that I must pay a subscription to view. I am thinking of buying a new base model VMB5000 or VMB4540 which supports DSA to get rid of the subscriptions.
1)Is viewing DSA video remotely using port forwarding as easy as viewing a suscription video within the Arlo app? 2)Is there a preference between VMB4540 or VMB5000 for DSA? 3)Might you know if both VMB4550 and VMB5000 support the very old Arlo Pro cameras?

[StephenB]

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@j1ades wrote:

Is viewing DSA video remotely using port forwarding as easy as viewing a suscription video within the Arlo app? 

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No.  Limitations include

• recordings can only be viewed in the app (not my.arlo.com)
• recordings can only be viewed using the primary account (not friend accounts)
• no thumbnails, so the video must be downloaded to the phone before you see anything.
• no ability to take manual snapshots or manual recordings while livestreaming

You will also need to choose to see local recordings in the app (exact steps depend on whether you see "Library" in the app menu, or if you instead see "Feed" and "Dashboard").  So a bit more friction there.

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@j1ades wrote:

2)Is there a preference between VMB4540 or VMB5000 for DSA?

3)Might you know if both VMB4550 and VMB5000 support the very old Arlo Pro cameras?

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The VMB4540 uses USB for storage, the VMB5000 has a microSD slot underneath.  The VMB4540 is less expensive, and is 2.4 ghz only; the VMB5000 is dual band. 

In the case of the VMB4540, I recommend using a thumb drive and not an SSD.  The USB port only supplies USB 2 power levels, and it is fairly easy for an SSD drive to accidentally get disconnected or powered off.

Something in the 128-512 GB range is more than enough capacity.   

As far as compatibility goes, the list is here:

• https://kb.arlo.com/000062284/Arlo-SmartHub-and-Base-Station-Compatibility

One warning here - several users have had trouble reinstalling their legacy cameras when switching to a new base.  Since the cameras are not supported anymore, support generally won't help.