Finding Recordings in the Video Archive
Scenario: You want to search the video archive for recordings made from one or more cameras.
Reference: For background information see Video Recording Archive Reference.
Workflow diagram:
Prerequisites:
- System Manager is Operating mode.
- System Browser is in Application View.
Steps:
1 - Open the Video Archive
- Select Applications > Video > Archive.
- Select the Video Archive tab.
- If necessary, click Reset to clear any previous query options and start a new one.
2 – Enter Basic Query Parameters
- In System Browser, select the Manual Navigation check box.
- From Applications > Video > Cameras > drag-and-drop the [cameras] whose recordings you want to search into the Cameras field. You need to include at least one camera.
NOTE: To remove a camera from the list, select it and click Remove.
- In the Start date and End date fields, set the time period in which to search. Leave this field blank to search for recordings made at any date/time.
- In the Free Text field, enter a Tag comment text to search for (case insensitive). Leave this field blank to search for recordings irrespective of comment text.
NOTE: The specified string will be searched for in any position of the tag comment. For example, entering “fire” will match “automatic fire alarm”. The text search is case-insensitive.
3 - (Optional) Enter Advanced Tag Filters
- Click Filter to access the additional query parameters. Refer to the Advanced Tag Filters for details about how to complete these fields.
4 - Run the Query and View the Results
- Click Search to run the query.
- The results display in the Timeline section.
- In the timeline, locate the video recording you want to play back. To help do this you can:
- Click Graphic to see the camera recordings and tags as symbols (colored bars and diamonds) on a graphical timeline. Hover the mouse pointer over the symbols to see any comment text, and other details .
- Click Textual to display a compact table with details about each recording.
- Refer to Archive Search Results for more details about the timeline.
- If you cannot find the recording in the timeline, modify the query parameters and try again.
5 - Play Back the Video Recording
- Drag-and-drop a timeline symbol or table row onto the preview monitor, or onto a monitor in the video view.
- The monitor displays the recorded video images.
- Use the controls on the monitor to play back the video:.
/
and
/
: play/pause and fast forward/rewind.
: jump to start point of the recording
- When you are done, close the playback session by clicking X on the top right of the monitor.
Information

NOTE:
Depending on the scope of your query, the number of items found may exceed the limit that the system can manage in the result display.
In such a case, you will only be able to access part of the video recordings that match the query. A message will display advising you to modify the search parameters and define a more restricted scope.
