Recording on NAS volumes

2017-06-07Last updated

If you have limited network bandwidth, or you want to expand your file sharing capabilities, or you want to reduce the risk of missing video recordings, you can record and store your video directly on your NAS volume, and then stream the playback video directly from Stratocast™.

Before you begin

  • Decide which camera you want recording on your NAS volume, and make sure that the camera is online.
  • Add your NAS volume and make sure that it is online.

What you should know

When recording video with an edge recording video unit or NAS volume, extensive bandwidth is not required in the Camera continuous or NAS continuous recording type, because video recordings are not sent over a WAN (Wide Area Network) or Internet connection—they are stored on the video unit (SD card) or NAS volume.
Note: A secure internet connection with the appropriate bandwidth is required to view live video and stream playback video on demand.

If your camera is currently recording to the cloud, or recordings are being stored on the camera's SD card (Camera continuous), and you want to change recording types and begin recording on a NAS volume, you can continue to watch your existing video recordings from your Stratocast™ portal.

Procedure

  1. Click Clients and then, from the Number of devices column, click the client account that the device is added to.
  2. On the client's Devices page, click the camera that you want recording on your NAS volume.
  3. From the Recording type drop-down list, select the following:
    NAS continuous
    Video is recorded continuously and is stored on the NAS volume that the camera is assigned to. This recording type is only available for cameras that support edge recording on a NAS volume.
  4. From the Network attached storage volume (NAS volume) drop-down list, select the NAS volume that you want to use. Only NAS volumes that are currently not assigned to a camera appear in this list.
    To switch from one NAS volume to another and have all of the video files transferred accordingly, you can replace the existing NAS volume with another one.
  5. Set the following, as required:
    Configuration
    A fixed arrangement of video recording settings that might include any combination of the following: resolution, retention period, recording mode, frame rate, and video file size. The recording presets vary depending on the chosen subscription.
    Important: The actual frame rate used for your video recordings might not reach the maximum specified in your chosen configuration. Your recordings can attain a frame rate up to the chosen maximum, as required, to preserve image quality.
    Resolution
    The image resolution of your video recordings. The available choices depend on your camera model and your plan.
    Average bit rate
    The average amount of data that is transferred per unit of time (Kilobits per second). Higher configuration presets (resolution, frame rate, and so on) require a higher bitrate to stream video, so it requires more bandwidth. You can refer to this field when planning the Internet connection speed and bandwidth requirements of your recordings.
    Frame rate
    The number of frames per second (fps) that you can obtain when recording video. A high frame rate (10 fps or more) produces fluid video and is essential for accurate motion detection.
    Retention period
    The number of days that the video recordings are stored on the NAS volume. Once the retention period expires or the NAS volume runs out of storage space (whichever comes first), the oldest recordings are overwritten so that you can continue to record on the NAS volume. It is recommended to set a retention period that can be supported by the storage available on the NAS volume.
    As you set the retention period, the Estimated storage usage field automatically estimates the hard disk space that is required to store the camera's recordings. The estimated usage is based on the values that you enter for the camera's configuration and resolution, as well as the retention period of the video recordings.
  6. Click Save.
Video is recorded and stored on the NAS volume that you selected.

Example

Watch this video to learn more. Click the Captions icon (CC) to turn on video captions in one of the available languages.