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Please help me understand alarm clip length

Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 2:30 pm
by LyndMc
There seems to be (2) parameters involved, and I'm thinking that I don't understand them completely. Here's my issue... I get a trigger in my driveway and it creates a clip. There is still activity going on in the driveway when the clip cuts off. To me it seems like if there is still activity going on, it should not stop recording up until a maximum clip length parameter setpoint. I have people come into my trip zone and walk right up to the camera and stand there, and the recording just ends after 30 seconds or so. There's a parameter regarding retrigger, its my assumption that if I get a trigger, and then get another one within that parameter time, that it would continue to record. There's also another parameter under alarm that seems to me would determine the length of the clip that gets emailed. Apparently not since I have that parameter set for 60 seconds and my clip seems to be an average of 25 -35 seconds.

So here is what I'm looking to accomplish.... when I get a trigger, I want the clip sent to me for as long as the trigger is happening, or at least up to the maximum length of the clip parameter. Obviously I don't want a 1 hour clip send because the grass is being cut. So if the UPS guy walks up my sidewalk creating a trigger, I want it to continue recording while he's in the zone for a defined time before it cuts off. If someone triggers an alarm walking in my driveway, then goes out of the trigger zone, I want another trip immediately when he walks back into the trigger zone. Sometimes I get a trigger with someone walking up to my door, which is in the trip zone, the door itself is out of the trip zone, but I never get to see that person leave because it doesn't retrip.

As I think about it, I'm viewing the alarm clips remotely on my Iphone. I wonder if the triggered clip is longer if I view it on my server?

Re: Please help me understand alarm clip length

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2021 3:19 pm
by MikeBwca
A few screen captures of the Trigger Tab would help a lot.

When the clip cuts off, do you immediately get another clip?

Re: Please help me understand alarm clip length

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2021 3:56 pm
by YrbkMgr
Check your break time - the amount of time to record after no more motion is detected. And your make time - the amount of time to qualify as "motion".

Re: Please help me understand alarm clip length

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 1:36 pm
by LyndMc
MikeBwca, no and that's where the problem comes in. Recently I was walking around in front of my camera and it created a clip. When the clip cut off, I was standing in front of the camera working, so there was obviously a trigger happening, it didn't retrigger. I can have a UPS guy come down my sidewalk and I get a clip. He walks out of view of the camera and when he walks back in view, I never see him. I get a lot of clips that show people coming but not going.

YrbkMgr, I have my make time set for 2 seconds, that I know. I'll have to check my wait time.

Re: Please help me understand alarm clip length

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:11 am
by YrbkMgr
LyndMc wrote: Mon Aug 02, 2021 1:36 pm YrbkMgr, I have my make time set for 2 seconds, that I know. I'll have to check my wait time.
So, my make time is 0.2 seconds, Pre-Trigger video buffer is 5.0 seconds, and break time is 10 seconds. So when there is motion for 0.2 seconds, the camera triggers and records 5 seconds before the event and 10 seconds after the event. Those are the things that I would focus on first.

This HomeTech Video Tutorial on YouTube gives an excellent demonstration of this point - if you haven't seen it, it's worth looking at.

Re: Please help me understand alarm clip length

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 5:28 am
by MikeBwca
Please post screen captures...
- Trigger Tab
- 'Motion Sensor' Configure
- Record Tab

These should answer a lot of questions.