This chapter shows you how to use the Timeline for live and recorded viewing as well as view and search events.

Timeline Overview

On the Viewing Screen, a timeline of past events associated with displayed cameras is shown in the Timeline Area at the bottom of the Viewer as colored bars. Selecting a colored bar moves the playhead to the event and the associated Video Window is switched to playback mode.

Use the Timeline to play and extract video

You can view recorded video by moving the playhead control in the Timeline or entering a timecode and jumping to it. Methods include:

Use the Playback Controls

You can control to play, rewind, fast forward or jump to previous and next events.

The fast forward and rewind speeds change by 1x, 2x, 5x and 10x each time you click the buttons.

Note

• Rewind and nudge back cannot be performed on video recorded in MPEG-4 format.
• The fast forward speed of video recorded in MPEG-4 format is fixed at 2 times.
• If a schedule that had previously been recording in MPEG-4 format is switched to recording in JPEG format, when rewind playback from the JPEG format time range enters the MPEG-4 time range, although the rewind playback continues, the video is not displayed and an error stating "No Recorded Video." is displayed.

Tip

• You can simultaneously play videos from multiple camera servers at the same time.
• You can simultaneously play multiple videos from one camera server, which were captured at different times

Drag the Playhead to a new time

Click and drag the Playhead shaft to another location. When you move the Playhead, you are effectively controlling all Video Windows that have been selected.

Click in the Event Display Area of the Timeline

Click in the Event Display Area of the Timeline. The Playhead will move to that location and playback of recorded video commences from that time.

Note

• When you choose to play back video, the video is played. The response and smoothness of the play back may depend on network traffic and other properties of the network.
• The time displayed on the Timeline is the time of PC where the Viewer is running.

Click and drag the time bar to move through the Timeline

Move your mouse pointer over the time bar and it becomes a hand. Click and drag to the left or right to move back or forward in time. You can only scroll right to the current time, or live time

.Jump to time entered

1. Select a Video Window and click [Jump to Time].

2. The [Jump To Time] dialog opens. Select a day and/or time.

3. Click [OK].

The Playhead and Timeline will move to the time selected. If no Video Windows are selected, only the timeline is moved.

Using the calendar is shown below.

Note

If you use the VB-C500 on-screen display window ("On-screen Display" in Operation Guide), the date & time shown in the bottom-right may be different to the recording time.

One-minute manual recording (Record Now)

A manual recording with duration of one minute can be initiated at the maximum frame rate. The manual recording is displayed on the Timeline and [Live Events Log] as [Manual recording (<username>)]. This is handy for capturing random events not associated with sensor recording or outside preset recording times.

To initiate manual recording:

1. Select a Video Window for manual recording. 2. Click [Record Now].

Note

• The [Record Now] function records at the maximum frame rate. Extended recording time will use additional disk space on the Storage Server. It is limited to 5 fps for VK-Lite.
• The [Record Now] function is only enabled if a Storage Server is configured for the camera.
• Recording will be for approximately one minute. The actual duration of recorded video may vary depending on settings and network delays.
• The priority of an event created by a manual recording using [Record Now] will always be Priority 1.
• The [Record Now] function allows recording video in JPEG format. However, video will be recorded in the MPEG-4 format if and only if recording in MPEG-4 is scheduled (VB-C500VD, VB-C500D, VB-C60). If audio transmission is enabled on the camera, audio recording is also performed.

Shoot a Snapshot

Click Capture Still Frame to keep the current image on a Video Window.

1. Select a Video Window to capture a still image. 2. Click [Capture Still Frame].

Note

• On Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008, don't specify the Windows folder or the Program Files folder on the system drive to store snapshots and video files, as image and video files can't be saved in those folders.
• If [Superimpose the date and time on the still frame] is selected in the Viewer settings, the date and time are displayed in the lower right corner of the still frames (the position, font, size, and color are fixed). If you use the VB-C500 on-screen display window ("On-screen Display" in Operation Guide), it is recommended that you position the window either in the top-right or top-left of the screen

• The VB-C500 on-screen display window time & date ("On-screen Display" in Operation Guide) and the Capture Still Frame time & date may differ.
• Capture Still Frame images are saved in bitmap format.

Zoom In and Out of the Timeline

Click [Zoom In] to zoom into a time period in the Event Display Area. Click [Zoom Out] to zoom out a time period in the Event Display Area.

Click event to select it

When you click an event to select it, the associated Video Window will display the event(s).

Daylight Savings Indicator

The Storage Server will adjust for [Automatically adjust clock for Daylight Saving Time] if configured in [Date and Time] property of the control panel as follows:

• When normal time has changed to Daylight Savings time, time that is skipped is displayed in the Timeline as missing.
• When gaining time (rewinding the clock back from 02:00 to 01:00), the extra time is duplicated.

Note

Where [Daylight Saving] changes have occurred, the Timeline display is still continuous. Only the labels are affected.

Extract video to save to a file

A portion of video can be saved to another location. Files are automatically saved as QuickTime .mov format and can be viewed in a QuickTime player or any other player that supports .mov files. A maximum of one hour of video can be extracted at a time. If you do not have a QuickTime player installed, visit http://www.quicktime.com for a free download.

Select a Video Window and time period then click [Extract Video].

1. Click a Video Window to highlight it, then click and drag a time period for it in the Timeline.

2. Click [Extract Video]. The [Extract Video] dialog opens.

3. [Date] : Click the down arrow to select the date, or click on the date to directly input the date.

4. Click up/down arrows to select a time or click each time segment and overwrite existing value.

5. Click [OK] to display the [Save As] dialog. The [Save As] dialog opens. Browse to a suitable folder in which to save the extracted video, and click [Save].

Note

• You must select only one Video Window to extract video.
• QuickTime player version 6.5.1 or later is recommended.
• On Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008, don't specify the Windows folder or the Program Files folder on the system drive to store snapshots and video files, as image and video files can't be saved in those folders.
• When recording video and audio together, you cannot save only the video data or only the audio data. The video + audio are saved in a single MOV file.
• If you specify two or more MPEG-4 recorded footages for writing, only the older/oldest footage will be saved.
• If you specify JPEG and MPEG-4 recorded footages together for writing, only the older footage will be saved.

Return to Live Video

To return to the live video, click [Return to Live]. The Playhead returns to the live position in the Timeline.