Configuring recording to an archive

Video and audio streams are recorded synchronously. 

You can configure recording to the archive both for one video camera, and for several, using the same parameters.

To configure recording to the archive of one video camera, do the following:

1. Select the new archive.
2. Select the check box that corresponds to the camera for which you want to configure archive recording (1).
   
3. Configure settings for archive recording:
   1. In the Constant recording list, select the archive recording mode (2).
      1. If No is selected, the video stream will be recorded to the archive only when an operator manually initiates an alarm or an automatic rule is initiated.
      2. If Always is selected, video will be recorded to the archive non-stop.
      3. If a time schedule is selected (see Configuring schedules), video will be recorded non-stop to the archive during the selected time period. Recording to the archive can also be initiated by the operator or an automatic rule.

   2. In the Depth, days field, specify a video footage retention time value for the given camera (in days). Zero value means unlimited retention. 

      Attention!

      If your footage archive includes videos from one or more cameras with unlimited retention, the archive will run out of free space at some point, and FIFO based re-recording will be automatically started regardless of retention time settings. In this case, we cannot guarantee that the actual retention time settings will be preserved for other cameras.

      Therefore, if you set unlimited retention time for at least one camera, you may find it pointless to limit retention time for other cameras.

      To avoid retention time collisions between cameras, please make sure to provide enough storage capacity for your footage archive (see Disk storage subsystem requirements). 

      Attention!

      Further, if you are increasing the available archive retention time, or setting the parameter to 0, please note that this setting may be not applied to earlier records. Older footage falling outside the initial retention time may become inaccessible.

      Note

      When setting a retention time parameter for a particular camera archive, please note that global retention time limits have higher priority (see Configuring access restrictions to older footage). 

      If your entire archive is set to, say, 10 days, and the camera retention time is set to 20 days, camera footage will be actually retained for 10 days only.

   3. In the Prerecord, sec field (4), enter the buffering time of the video stream from the camera in seconds. This value should be in the range [0; 30].

      Note

      Pre-alarm recording is the period of pre-event recording that will be added to the beginning of an alarm event recording.

      Attention!

      If a macro starts recording, the pre-alarm recording time may be longer, according to your settings (see Record to archive).

   4. If it is necessary to use decimation when recording to the archive, select the required value from the By keyframes from Recording frame key only (5, for all video streams except MJPEG) or 1/0,5/0,25 FPM (frames per minute). Decimation reduces the size of the archive, but the video will be less "smooth".

   5. Select a stream for archive recording (6).

      Note

      This setting is relevant for cameras that support multistreaming.

4. Click the Apply button.

To configure recording to the archive of several cameras, do the following:

1. Select the check boxes next to the cameras for which you want to configure archive recording. To select all cameras, select the Select all check box.
   
2. Configure archive recording settings for the group of cameras (marked with yellow). The indicated settings for archive recording are applied to the selected cameras.
3. Perform custom configuration of camera recording settings, if necessary.
4. Click the Apply button.

The camera is now bound to the archive.