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?

[TheCodingArt]

---

jguerdat wrote:

---

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.

---

When you pay a certain price for things, you expect a certain amount of quality. All because you can do as you note, doesn't mean that's the way it should be. 

[TheCodingArt]

---

tkc wrote:
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?

---

No, this is the biggest downfall to this camera system... and it's a dumb one at that. 

[jguerdat]

---

TheCodingArt wrote:

---

jguerdat wrote:

---

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.

---

When you pay a certain price for things, you expect a certain amount of quality. All because you can do as you note, doesn't mean that's the way it should be. 

---

Maybe we're talking about different things. Needing to check videos is not a quality issue. If one week isn't enough time for some reason, there are ways around it. A user here posted a quick script to use to download the videos for you. It's not for a newbie but many here seem to be capable of easily doing so. I did it with a minimum of problems. 

Obviously, there are many points of view. Netgear's isn't necessarily yours or mine.

[creepercast888]

I can't put up with this! We only get 50GB of internet each month. We will run out if the camera constantly uploads it. Please add a optional save straight to usb option. Or i will code my own reciever client my self! Can't believe i bought this expensive camera and it can't even save locally!

[creepercast888]

I can't put up with this! We only get 50GB of internet each month. We will run out if the camera constantly uploads it. Please add a optional save straight to usb option. Or i will code my own reciever client my self! Can't believe i bought this expensive camera and it can't even save locally! And i would seggest a option to select the recording resolution and compression ratio! And a offline LAN direct client that does not require the internet!

[TomMac]

Maybe you ideas would be better suited here; https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/idb-p/arlo-idea-exchange

And then the more 'kudos' it gets , the better chance of it happening.

As a side note , the video system is really opted for motion only recording. If not recording there is no uploading....  a 10 second record at high quality is 1Mb+/-. Which is 1k  vids clips per gb.

I've tried to fill 5 gb by constant streaming  cameras for days and it was almost impossible due to the 1) battery constraints 2) camera auto shuts down after 30 mins of live streaming ( for battery protection, if forgotten on ).  I would say from my past trials that to exceed your limits ( or even come close ) is almost impossible.

[TheCodingArt]

---

TomMac wrote:

Maybe you ideas would be better suited here; https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Idea-Exchange/idb-p/arlo-idea-exchange

And then the more 'kudos' it gets , the better chance of it happening.

As a side note , the video system is really opted for motion only recording. If not recording there is no uploading....  a 10 second record at high quality is 1Mb+/-. Which is 1k  vids clips per gb.

I've tried to fill 5 gb by constant streaming  cameras for days and it was almost impossible due to the 1) battery constraints 2) camera auto shuts down after 30 mins of live streaming ( for battery protection, if forgotten on ).  I would say from my past trials that to exceed your limits ( or even come close ) is almost impossible.

---

If only, I haven't seen a single notice of any progress on anything noted in that community (which is more dissapointing than anything else). 

[KristynM]

TheCodingArt

I encourage you to "Kudos" this post Support more storage options and/or Local Storage. Our developers are working diligently to improve and enhance the features of our Arlo Systems. We appreciate all your feedback.

[netcam]

Developers ignore these threads.

One thread you mentioned is over 6 months old, plenty of time to add local storage

[TheCodingArt]

---

netcam wrote:

Developers ignore these threads.

One thread you mentioned is over 6 months old, plenty of time to add local storage

---

Agreed, either the PR or social department of this company is aweful, or eveything is truly ignored. The status report/announcements/updates over the long period of time I've owned this product is lackluster if existent at all. Insanely dissapointing. I get far more updates on my Kevo lock then I do this far more expensive camera system. It's a pretty bad joke which makes me stern on not recommending this product to anyone I know. 

[JamesC]

netcam, TheCodingArt

I am sorry you feel our developers ignore the ideas board but I assure you they do not. We truly do appreciate all the feedback provided by the community both positive and negative. The Arlo team is working hard to meet the expectations set by our customers and the best way to establish traction for a new idea or feature is to post in the idea exchange or kudo an existing idea. Thank you for your contributions and I encourage you to continue!

JamesC

[constantine]

you guys are right about other forum. 6 months is enough for any developer to add local storage in arlo but the developement team will not do that as cloud storage is their cash cow. So i will recommend to wait till any one comes with good surveillance camera system with online cloud storage. Arlo team will keep playing with posts and just waste our time. My company friends will stay away from arlo till they fix their attitude.

[thangtn3]

I internet goes down intemittenly every month!  during the winter my power goes out at least 3 or 4 times.  My system is on a power backup but just 30 minutes.  Not be able to record locally is a marketing strategy to sell cloud subscription and makes the system less attractive.  That's why I'm keeping my Samsung system and be returning to arlo. 

I can create a motion triggered zone with the samsung, you can't do it with arlo so if a tree branch or vegetation is in view the system will be trigger by its movement.

[thangtn3]

My samsung system can record locally and to the cloud or my phone, I get to choose.

[thangtn3]

It's kinda like buying a security system from those "well known" brand, "we'll give you the system but you have to buy our monitoring for $30/month".  and you have to pay extra for those extra windows and doors you have because we only give you 4 as part of the system...  

The system is not a huge profit maker, it's the cloud service.

[Zacht26]

Thanks

[MBabcock]

This chain is ridiculous. Several people mention requiring local storage support, but nowhere in the product's specs is that listed as a feature. If you have buyer's remorse then deal with it... and next time do your research. Been a software engineer for more than a decade and the behavior here is not the way to get features added. So disappointed as a software engineer and user. It does what it says... if you don't like it at least be respectful if you want a positive outcome to your request.

I too would like to see this functionality or at least an opportunity for community contributors to help those really supporting this product. The latter would be better (for everyone I think) but I'm happy to trust implementation to the official dev team if preferred.

Disclaimer: I am in no way related to netgear or the arlo team. Just a very horrified customer that happened upon a souless thread.

Thanks for all your hard work and the excellent product!

[TheCodingArt]

I'm a software engineer who will note when I bought this system, it was poorly detailed in how storage even worked (in general). There was nothing specifying no local storage and nothing specifying how the pricing teirs works for cloud storage. It was a horribly un detailed connundrum with meantions all across the internet that Arlo was apparently looking into adding local storage (hence the USB port on the HUB). It's rediculous to even have that unused port without the assumption that there will be local storage capabilities. All because you're a software engineer doesn't mean that you know how you should and should not go about this situation. I've worked for numerous high and low profile companies and can tell you that every once in a while this way does work. This is also the place that Arlo directs it's consumers to note the issues they have with their product. If this is the place people are directed to, why are you noting how we shouldn't do this and need to go about it in a different fashion. If this is the case, how should we do this?

Edit: FYI, at this point I wouldn't trust the dev team at all. They've made many poor implmentation and execution choices in the product in general. The fact that the site uses Flash for streaming the video alone is a horrible horrible choice not to mention the lack in attention to their application. Heck, the collectionViews don't sync themselves half the time and they hide the mode tab until a connection is established... so many bad UI/UX/responsiveness issues it's not even funny. 

[devsk]

Now that we are talking engineers around here, let me state that I am a software engineer too and I find this product a big ripoff and not functional. I mean where do I start. The system starts to record much after the motion event has happened. Most of the times its so much delayed that I am seeing the back of the person leaving my house instead of him coming and knocking on my door, waiting and leaving.

And it misses many events. e.g. Cars come and park in front of my house and get recorded but the same cars leaving 1 hour later are never recorded.

Another gripe I have is that it uses its own wifi to talk to the cameras instead of using my house wifi, which has about 2 times better signal quality around my house than Arlo. Putting Arlo base in a place where it could access all cameras was and is a pain. Give me the option to use my own wifi and disable your inferior builtin wifi.

The Android app looks like has been put together by kiddies and is a complete UI madness. It follows no standard android UI elements, is horrendously big and slow.

Coming back to local storage: I have had several instances where it did not record events in last 1 month (the batteries are full charge and connectivity is decent). Its either the device mal-functioned during those times or the Comcast internet was down temporarily. The presence of local storage, even as a cache mechanism for cloud, would have helped explain why I missed those events.

I feel like I wasted a huge pile of money on this product.

[MBabcock]

Thank you for detailing your specific issues and pointing out the circumstances leading to your disappointment. I too would be if that was still the case. Such can be common when purchasing early released products (as I'm sure you're aware of as a fellow engineer). There are still issues with the product - no question - but losing faith in their team won't get your money back or help improve the situation. Just remember that there are people sitting behind this just like you...

[MBabcock]

As stated previously, I have absolutely no relation to this product so I'm actually with you on many of your nitpicky annoyances related to tech and other IT choices. However...

I have yet to experience many of the more severe issues you describe in my setup. If I had, I would be very annoyed by them as well. Have you reported these issues to the forum for bug review? If you have, have you included enough detail for them to be followed up on effectively (while vague this should mean something to you as a fellow engineer)? I'm sure you can imagine that the environments in which this sort of system may be installed can vary greatly so repros may be hard to come across. Of course, I'm saying this without knowing anything about their dev or QA processes so I could just be talking out of my ass. Hopefully their setup is better than mine at least.

To any end, there are definitely improvements to be made to the product - no doubt - but is this really the most constructive way to address the problems? If you've found another system that works better for you, great... please quit trolling. If not, please play nice with those who are there to support you. You may not agree with the prioritization or their specific solutions, but they follow orders just like you. You aren't their only priority and there are always more "squeeky" wheels to chase. As you know, there are always bugs to be addressed and features to be added. Balancing those are only part of the "wicked" problem that is involved in building and managing a product. As a user it's easy to forget that...

[jsmithpkp]

If there are not plans to update this fearute. I will be returning my system ASAP.

[JamesC]

jsmithpkp,

Welcome to the community! I do not have any information on the implentation of local storage. I encourage you to visit the Arlo Idea Exchange and post yours or kudo the existing threads concerning this topic. Thank you for your contribution!

Regards,

JamesC

[ChloeonCamera]

What prevents Netgear from putting out a new camera system, say in 2 years, and shutting Arlo off like the Vuezone cameras? Since Arlo only records to Netgear then the owner really has no control.

Will this change in the future perhaps?

is there any protection in place for the buyer to keep their purchase operating?

[ChloeonCamera]

Its not ridiculous at all. The Community is here to ask questions. Not all of us are engineers or software designers. Not all of us read, interpret specs. 

Some of us just want a system that gets a pic of the package thief.

If you are not happy reading the thread stop reading and bash elsewhere.

any question is ok. Most are here to help.

Trying to control the questions asked speaks more to you than to the person who asked the question.

there are no bad questions. Period.

I think your comment should be removed.