Can I record locally to my network and not use the Arlo Cloud services?

[ArloNewbie]

Will I have the ability to record videos to Dropbox, iCloud and/or my local storage device?

[ArloTeam · Accepted solution]

Hello ArloNewbie,

Currently, all Arlo video content is conveniently uploaded and stored in the Arlo cloud for easy accessibility. You are not required to maintain or store your content in the Arlo cloud. Your videos can downloaded to a local storage device of your choosing, such as your computer or smart phone. You can then access them locally at any time in the future for your viewing pleasure. 

Thank you for your inquiry! 

Arlo Team

[spudatron]

So if you want to have the videos locally, then you have to download the videos from the cloud service?

Can you record directly to a network share (SMB) from the Arlo camera?

[David_NG]

---

spudatron wrote:

So if you want to have the videos locally, then you have to download the videos from the cloud service?

Can you record directly to a network share (SMB) from the Arlo camera?

---

Yes that is correct. If you want to have the videos locally, then you have to download the videos from the Arlo cloud service. As far a recording directly all videos are recorded and stored in the cloud. This option can not be changed as it is a feature of the Arlo system. But you can download any content that was recorded and stored in the cloud to any local device such as a hard drive , flash drive etc... 

[pudeshi]

There are three problems with the current solution:

1.  You do not add additional cloud storage as camera increase.  So a 1 camera system has 1 GB of free storage, but a 5 camera system also only has 1 GB storage, but uses it much faster.  When adding cameras, the amount of free storage should be increased accordingly.

2.  What happens when your Internet connection is out or the cloud service is having issues?  Nothing gets recorded.  Having local storage allows for increased reliability in the case of Internet and Cloud Service outages.

3.  Local storage is cheap.  Adding a flash drive with tons of storage into the included USB port is exteremly cheap, and allows for a hybrid local/cloud solution that is more resilient.  It seems like an obvious solution.  Cloud storage for recent video with the option of long term local storage without user intervention.

[TomMac]

---

pudeshi wrote:

There are three problems with the current solution:

1.  You do not add additional cloud storage as camera increase.  So a 1 camera system has 1 GB of free storage, but a 5 camera system also only has 1 GB storage, but uses it much faster.  When adding cameras, the amount of free storage should be increased accordingly.

2.  What happens when your Internet connection is out or the cloud service is having issues?  Nothing gets recorded.  Having local storage allows for increased reliability in the case of Internet and Cloud Service outages.

3.  Local storage is cheap.  Adding a flash drive with tons of storage into the included USB port is exteremly cheap, and allows for a hybrid local/cloud solution that is more resilient.  It seems like an obvious solution.  Cloud storage for recent video with the option of long term local storage without user intervention.

---

Re #1  In my testings, 1 GB is a fairly good amount of storage for even 5 cameras on the free plan...recording is about a meg per 10+ seconds...divide that up by 5 and  its 200-10 sec record clips per camera.

Also your cameras aren't meant to be recording all the time and you have a choice to over write files if you ever get to 1gb or stop recording... you can d/l them at any time and also clear up yr storage. After 1 week the files are deleted if you don't d/l anyway again keeping your storage open.

Re #2  If the internet goes down ... your out of luck yes.  But on the other side I cant remember my service going down in the last month or so... YMMV

Re #3  The camera and system was ment to work as it is... Netgear may choose to have local down the road. maybe you should put in a request here;

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/idb-p/arlo-idea-exchange

If you must have full time recording locally, maybe the system isn't for you.

[Don_U]

No video survelience system is foolproof. Every feature has a potential flaw and every solution to a flaw has flaws as well.

For example. If a system is wall-powered, if the power goes out or is cut by a criminal, then... no recording. (Unless you have an elaborate system of backup power.)

When a system is wireless like Arlo, a criminal only has to cut your power OR simply cut the cable line... no recording or cloud upload.

When a system only has local video storage, a criminal only has to take the storage medium as part of their haul and... no video evidence for law enforcement.

For SERIOUS survelience, Arlo might not be the best solution. It could be a combination of tools are necessary for those who need more robust coverage.

[TomMac]

---

Don_U wrote:

No video survelience system is foolproof. Every feature has a potential flaw and every solution to a flaw has flaws as well.

 snip...

For SERIOUS survelience, Arlo might not be the best solution. It could be a combination of tools are necessary for those who need more robust coverage.

---

100% agree.

I've tried a couple other systems and can say Arlo shines in the format as it was designed to be use. It's not a full security system and not ment to be.

But used in conjuction with other systems it can fill in voids/flaws. People try to hard to make it what it isn't and then complain when it doesn't work like they want.

[Jonwat70]

So after paying for the system, I must now pay for ongoing storage as well?
Can I ask what the 2 USB ports are for please?

[TomMac]

---

Jonwat70 wrote:
So after paying for the system, I must now pay for ongoing storage as well?
Can I ask what the 2 USB ports are for please?

---

No, not quite... the 1gb and 7days is free, no costs. For many it will be enough as you can d/l as needed.

The USb ports are for future uses, not on market yet, just hinted at online ( hooking into other home devices )

[Jonwat70]

Thanks for that.
When I bought it, it only sounded like it was free for 7 days, then I needed to pay for it!!
Appreciate the follow up.

[netcam]

unless Netgear allows recording to local stoarge i am not buying this, I have very bad experience with cloud only storage approach from other vendors of security cameras. When recording fails support tends to blame my ISP, ISP blames camera vendor and nobody bothers to fix problem.

[Target_Acquired]

I have a 10 camera Arlo system.  It is very nice because I don't need to run any wires to hang cameras.  

But I know that its strengths (wireless) are also its flaws (battery life, possible theft of cameras, internet out).  So I've set up my network (router, modem, etc) on a big battery backup system, so power outages won't hurt me.  My computer will go to sleep during an extended power outage, leaving the battery backup system to run the network and base unit for hours if need be.

And I further protect the system by having cameras trained on the electrical meter and internet junctions outside my home.  Somebody could cut the power yes, but probably not before one of my Arlos captures him walking up to the box, and activating 2 or 3 other Arlos to get full triangulation on him.  Dirty rat!

But for best protection, I will need to add another system.  Right now I favor a hard drive DVR system, but wireless because I don't want to have to run cat5 or coax throughout my house.  Those DVR-based camera systems (Lorax, etc) will require electric to each camera, but that's acceptable to me for a local-storage environment.  I'll just have to budget the cost of an electrician.  With a long ladder.

I want a system with about 10 TB storage and 20 cameras that can snap the Google satellites overhead and read the numbers off of license plates of moving cars.  All from my rooftop!  But I don't think they make anything like that.  Yet.  

[Scorpuk]

Was thinking on using this system for the hard to reach areas outside my house, but after reading this thread I wont be. 

I do not like the idea of a third party having access to cameras around my home. 😐

My current camera's are Foscam POE's and are located in easy to reach area's for short run cat 5e cables, i.e. no drilling of holes in walls etc. They run on their own motion detection and e-mail pictures directly to a dedicated mail account and upload to a server I run.

Oh well keep on looking.

[aldousari]

i would like to give my input 

1-I don't like to store my video with anyone at all , this my system i bought and my in this video .

2-Arlo is good system but the main problem is recording , it is point that make system fails in sales , if there anyone who know marketing he should stop and forget about the money they want to make from cloud services , i hate and everyone such demand , and all people do this why once they see it is cloud they skip to something else .

3-finally i and other will never buy this or any system that keep our video with anyone else , when this not for business this for home so be smart and add local software where people can record  at home .

Thank you .  

[TheCodingArt]

The thing that bother's me the most is that your hardware usefullness is 100% dependent on their cloud system. This is horrible for something that costs the price that this does. It should be a standard to enable self hosting HDDs and record to those. 

[Luddy]

Yeah and the VueZone system recently had a few week outage which made the system worthless and no compensation from Netgear by extending our service an extra month as a way of saying thank you for being a loyal customer and we are sorry.

[devsk]

I am appalled after receiving this system. I spent a large sum of money on a system which is deliberately crippled. Local storage is a must for any sane monitoring system:

1. An SD card slot costs pennies (when I am getting something for $500+). And SD cards go upto 1TB these days. Endless storage for recording.

2. It has network and is on my LAN. It can record to terabytes of storage available on the LAN.

3. It has 2 USB ports. So, it can easily take the USB drive.

I understand the urge to lock people down and have them pay for cloud storage for life but this is a very anti-customer and very crippled system in my opinion. The choice to use the cloud should be upto customers. There are several reasons I don't want cloud:

1. Internet service does go down. Remember murphy? It goes down when you need it most.

2. I would be installing these cameras throughout my house. I don't want these videos to be uploaded to a cloud, potentially exposing my family and children to abuse. I don't trust anyone on the cloud. They talk of security but big guys get breached all the time. I don't care about cloud storage for personal things like this.

Why netgear, why? Why would you make a good product and then cripple it?

PS: I am sorry, this is my first post here and lot of complaining. But I am heartbroken by this product and can't keep it, and can't recommend this to anybody who cares about privacy!...:(

[squidman]

My understanding is that the free solution expires after 30 days? Or is that an EU/scandinavian thing? Either way, hope that is not true...and yes it would be better if arlo opened up the source code or allowed other (e.g. older NAS's) to record locally...they could generate many more sales that way as opposed to trying to do an 'apple' and keep it all closed....even better if they opened up the whole system to include wifi from other cams etc. Then it could become a hub for a whole home-network security system without the negatively associated subscription thing..just imagine...you could buy e.g. just a motion sensor off ebay or taobao or similar, or say a window-sensor, or remotely switching lights...or turning off/on pc's (well have teamviewer for that at the moment)...ditto turning on heat for cabins...etc etc...

Oh well keep dreaming dear!

[TomMac]

---

squidman wrote:

My understanding is that the free solution expires after 30 days? Or is that an EU/scandinavian thing? Either way, hope that is not true...snip

---

not in the US... the 7 days is always free

[junky]

I was searching for a security camera with very long runtime on battery and when I saw arlo, I thought I'll buy it but this thread shows me not to buy it.

For my needs I need a wifi security camera with

+ very long runtime on battery

+ PIR Sensor

+ good night view

+ storage on sd card and/or on my own network

+ rechargeable 16850 batteries

+ micro usb port charge the batteries or to add power bank or solar bank

- i dont need any forced clouds !

- I dont need any forced base stations!

[constantine]

Totally Agree. Forcing the users to Pay for Additional Storage on top
of buying an expensive but good surveillance camera is not the right
thing to do. Having the videos uploaded in cloud is good but in case
of major geological events/ disaster like power failure or blackouts,
this technology becomes useless and even worthless.

So in my opinion its not at all suitable for office users

For home users its not suitable for 2 major reasons:

1 GB is not at all suitable for storage for 3 or more cameras because
nobody wants to give weekly time to check and delete videos. In todays
fast world we don't have that much time in hand to check every week.
Which means the videos will pile up and recording will stop rendering
the system unusable until we pay more for storage which is not good
idea.

Second reason is that you removed Local Storage as part of plan to
force users to either use the useless 1 GB cloud or pay more from
pocket. This policy has forced many of my friends not to buy it. If
both 1Gb cloud and Local Storage options are available then this will
be a really good product in market.

Third reason is that it doesn't record sound. But thats okay for
video only surveillance.

So the Home users must think twice before purchasing this Product

[jguerdat]

---

constantine wrote:
1 GB is not at all suitable for storage for 3 or more cameras because
nobody wants to give weekly time to check and delete videos. In todays
fast world we don't have that much time in hand to check every week.
Which means the videos will pile up and recording will stop rendering
the system unusable until we pay more for storage which is not good
idea.

---

If you're only checking once in a while, what good is the system in the first place? The whole point is to be able to know when an event has happened and monitor what it was. To do so quite some time later rather defeats the purpose of surveillance cameras. Now, to be able to keep them for evidence, etc., is a different issue but since you're viewing the event in the first place the ability to download them to keep them around is virtually painless.

Also, you can set the system to delete old videos so recording continues. That causes a loss of videos but, again, you should be monitoring events in the first place and downloading them as needed. It's not a fault of the system - it's a mindset.

[tkc]

isn't it possible to have parallel recording, just incase the internet fails, the system will still able to record the videos into a local nas?

[KristynM]

Hello tkc,

The development team is always looking for new ideas to improve our Arlo system.

You should drop your idea about parallel recording inside the Arlo Idea Exchange. You may find something similar to your request. If you do, you could simply Kudos the post. 

Thank you.