Record indicator 'ON' yet not recording

[chewingyu 0]

Recently, I discovered that one of my Netsafe DVRs had not been recording for a couple of weeks even though there was 'live' image (means the camera is working) and the red dot indicator was lit (meaning it is in record mode). How can this be?

 

This problem is confined to only 2 cameras in the same DVR.

 

Has anyone experienced this?

[kalpesh_nikumbh 0]

If it occured only for 2 cams... and rest cameras are recording fine !

 

And have live Ok for all

 

 

Option 1 :

 

No recording schedule assigned to them.

 

Option 2 :

 

Conditional Recording aka motion based / trigger based is sheduled for them and no grid for moton / no trigger ip associated!!!

 

Based option is to make them Continuous recording and observe.

 

Option 3:

 

Your dvr will have limited fps for allocation and all fps values are already utilised by other cam.s

 

Reduse the fps. to some 2-3 fps with normal resolution quality and check!!!

 

 

These are my past experiances with some DVRs ......

[chewingyu 0]

My DVRs are all set to recording 24/7 without motion sensor and continuous recording (FIFO)

 

Someone suggested that it could be a faulty transmitter (I am using twisted pair cabling) resulting in weak signal to the DVR. But I have my doubts as there were no problems with the 'live' images.

 

So, what other causes?

[kalpesh_nikumbh 0]

I Don't think it's due to weak signal...any way then just swip / interchange the camera which r recording!! If it is so...truth will come out definitly...

 

Have you tried Option no 3??

 

or just don't pulg the cameras which recording...& let only those idiot cameras give oportunity to record!!!

 

[Soundy 1]

Not being familiar with that particular system, I'll offer something based on a couple other systems I've used.

 

On both VideoInsight and Vigil systems that I'm familiar with, searches are done via a database maintained by the software. If the database isn't being updated or the updates aren't being read, search won't show any recorded footage, even though it IS being recorded.

 

I saw this several times with older versions of the VideoInsight software, where the database simply wasn't being read so the available clips weren't being displayed. Restarting the software forced it to re-read the database and the missing clips would then appear in the tree view.

 

On a Vigil I'm fixing right now, the database wasn't being written to with new video for about the past month, even though it was recording the whole time. Running the database rebuild utility re-scans all the video footage and recreates the database (it's underway as I type this).

 

So something to try is to look in the actual video folder(s) and see if the cameras in question have video clips there (and again, this is just a guess, as I have no first-hand knowledge of Netsafe systems - I know some others, like Capture, pre-generate "bank" files and then put the video within those).

[chewingyu 0]

...search won't show any recorded footage, even though it IS being recorded.

 

I don't really understand how this is possible. Not sure if I will understand it but could you care to explain it technically?

 

Thanks

[Soundy 1]

Well to oversimplify somewhat, with the aforementioned systems, two processes are happening during recording: one, the video itself is being written to the hard drive in files; two, a database is updated with searchable information on the video - when motion was triggered, what timeframe is covered in what files, etc.

 

When you want to look at recorded video, the system looks at the database for the time(s) you want, and then calls up the appropriate file(s). Now in some instances, the video is being written to its files, but the database isn't being updated to tell the software which files are which, so that when you go into Search, the software finds no entries in the database, and so doesn't know that there's video to match.

 

In the case of this particular Vigil, a corruption in the database (caused by a failing hard drive) meant that it wasn't being updated, but since the video was recorded to a separate drive, the video files were still being written... the Search function just didn't know they were there.

[chewingyu 0]

Thanks. Pretty clear your explanation. In layman's terms, I know my bag of golf clubs in in the house somewhere but I just cannot remember where I have put it. So, while I do have the clubs to play, I cannot join my friends for a golf game.

 

How's that??

[chewingyu 0]

Okay, back the issue at hand. So, if what you say is happening to my DVR, then why does it happen only to 2 cameras instead of all 16?

[Soundy 1]

So yeah, you've paraphrased it pretty closely. To be more precise, someone is bringing you new golf clubs and stashing them in various places around your house, but not telling you where they are

 

Now as I said off the top, I know nothing about the Netsafe system or whether it works this way; however, problem sounds similar to database-related problems I've had on other systems, so I'm taking a wild yet educated guess that it might be something similar.

 

So why only two cameras? Well, let's assume for a moment that it is a problem like this - it could be because of the way the software uses the database. For example, if it's using a separate table for each camera, and the tables for those two cameras are corrupted, it could affect ONLY those two.

 

The first thing I'd suggest checking (I think I mentioned it already, not sure) is the data drive, where the system places its video files, and see if there's actually recorded footage for the "missing" cameras.

 

On the VideoInsight system, for example, you define a folder for the video storage (d:\video, perhaps), and the software creates a folder for each camera inside that (d:\video\cam1, etc.). In each camera folder, it creates a folder named for the date (d:\video\cam1\19aug08 or something along those lines). Then it starts a new video file, named for the time it was created (d:\video\cam1\19aug08\102352p.avi), and keep recording to that file until it hits the maximum size you designate (I usually tell it to max out files at 50MB), at which time it will start a new file.

 

The Vigil system creates a Data folder on the drive or drives you configure (d:\Data), then creates a folder for the date (d:\Data\20080819), and inside there creates a folder as each hour of the day progresses (d:\Data\20080819\00 for the hour between midnight and 1am, \01 for 1am to 2am, and so on up to \23). Inside each hour folder it creates its files, a new one every minute, named xxyyzz.mjp, where xx is the camera number, yy is the minute, and zz is the second. So to see what camera 3 recorded between 11:05am and 11:06am on the 15th of July, you'd look at d:\Data\20080715\11\030500.mjp (most of them, the seconds are 00, but some vary - I have no idea what the criteria is).

 

Anyway, this long-winded diatribe gives you an example or two of what to look for: find the folder where your system stores its data (should be in the settings/options somewhere), and look for folders and/or files with names indicating dates, times, and/or camera names/numbers, to see if those cameras are in fact recording video. This will, of course, depend on the Netsafe storing video in discrete files in a manner like this - not all systems use this method, so again, this is just a suggestion.

[chewingyu 0]

Is this a software problem? Would it help to reinstall the software?

 

 

The software used in the NetSafe DVR is called Win4net. It has its own website.

[Soundy 1]

Software problem? Difficult to say. Once again, I'm just guessing based on experience with different software. A corrupted database table is just one possible reason, IF your software works this way, and IF it is still in fact recording video. IF that is the case, it would be a matter of running a repair script on the database, or possibly a utility that rebuilds the database from the video data (this is what the Vigil does).

 

But these are all VERY BIG "IFs". I'm just trying to give you an idea of somewhere to look as a starting point - IF you discover that there is no recorded video files for those cameras, then everything I've suggested so far goes out the window.

 

Without the ability to sit down in front of your system, troubleshooting this way becomes a very precise process that has to be done one step at a time.