Clips, not continuous film
Most home cameras, and almost all battery ones, record in short clips rather than continuously. A clip begins when motion or a doorbell press is detected and runs for a set length, from several seconds to a minute or two depending on the maker’s settings and plan. Recording only when something happens is what lets a battery last for months, and it keeps the amount of stored video small.
Continuous recording, often labeled CVR for continuous video recording, is mostly found on plug-in cameras with constant power, writing to a memory card or a hub’s drive. Live view is a third thing again: a real-time stream opened from the app, which is not kept unless the app is set to record it.
The maker’s cloud
In a cloud arrangement each clip is uploaded to the maker’s servers as soon as it is recorded and kept there for a set period, commonly measured in weeks or months. It can be watched wherever the app runs, and it survives the theft of the camera itself, because a copy already sits off the premises.
Cloud storage is usually what a maker’s paid plan pays for. Plans are priced per camera or per home, and they often bundle other features: longer clips, person and package detection, or richer notifications. What remains without a plan varies widely, from a fully working camera minus its stored history to a camera that streams live but saves nothing. The maker profiles set out each brand’s current arrangement, and the maker’s own pricing page is the definitive reference.
Plans are bought through the maker’s app or website, or arrive bundled with a camera. A plan sold by a third party over the telephone, or paid for in gift cards, is not a maker’s plan.
A hub with its own storage
Several systems keep clips inside the house instead, on storage attached to a hub. Blink’s Sync Module 2 takes a USB drive and its Sync Module XR a microSD card; eufy’s HomeBase units have built-in storage that some models can expand; some Arlo SmartHubs accept a memory card. The hub writes each clip to its own storage as the camera sends it.
Local storage avoids a monthly fee for the storage and keeps video off the maker’s servers, with trade-offs of its own. The clips are only as safe as the hub: a hub that is stolen, unplugged or damaged takes its recordings with it. Viewing those clips away from home still runs through the maker’s app and servers, and features that rely on the maker’s cloud processing may not apply to them.
Local storage also does not mean that nothing leaves the house. Motion notifications, the thumbnails inside them and remote live viewing all travel through the maker’s systems and the phone’s notification service. Each maker’s privacy documentation states what is uploaded and when.
A card inside the camera
Plug-in cameras frequently carry a microSD slot. The camera writes clips, or a continuous recording, straight to the card and overwrites the oldest material when the card fills. It is the cheapest arrangement, and it keeps working when the internet connection drops, since the camera carries on writing to the card.
Its weakness is physical. A card inside a camera is lost with the camera, and an outdoor camera within reach can be removed along with its evidence. Capacity limits differ by model and appear in each maker’s specifications; cards rated for continuous writing, often sold as high-endurance cards, last longer in this role than ordinary ones.
| Maker’s cloud | Hub storage | Card in the camera | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watchable away from home | Yes | Yes, through the maker’s app | Usually, through the maker’s app |
| Monthly cost | Usually part of a paid plan | None for the storage itself | None |
| If the camera is taken | Uploaded clips remain | Clips on the hub remain | Clips go with the camera |
| If the hub is taken | Not affected | Clips go with the hub | Not affected |
| Capacity | A retention period | Size of the drive or card | Size of the card |
Encryption and who can see a clip
Video traveling between camera, servers and app is encrypted in transit on mainstream systems, much as a banking app’s traffic is. The more telling question is who holds the keys once a clip is stored. In a standard cloud arrangement the maker can technically decrypt stored clips, which is what allows features such as web viewing and smart detection to run on its servers.
Some makers offer end-to-end encryption as an option, under which clips can be decrypted only on the owner’s enrolled phones. Ring, for example, offers it as a setting, and turning it on disables features that depend on the company’s servers reading the video. The trade-off is deliberate: more privacy, fewer conveniences.
Access by people rather than machines is governed by account settings and company policy. Shared-user features grant others access without handing over the owner’s password, and each maker’s privacy policy states when, if ever, its staff may view customer video.
When plans and devices change
Storage arrangements do not stay the same for the life of the hardware. Makers rename and restructure their plans, change what accounts without a plan include, and eventually retire older models from their cloud services. Arlo, for one, publishes an end-of-life policy that lists older models and what continues to work for them.
The consequence is that a comparison made when a camera was bought may not hold years later, and that a second-hand camera may be near, or past, the end of its maker’s cloud service. Each maker’s pricing and end-of-life pages, reached from its own website, carry the current position.