An Open Letter to Exacq

[hardwired 0]

Okay, here's an out-there idea: set up your own NTP server, set it to GMT+x (whatever your offset is), then point the cameras' NTP sync to that. Like if you're PST (GMT-, set your NTP server's time to NTP+8, then when the cameras sync to that, they'll be setting as GMT0, which will be 8 hours behind the fake NTP.

 

That could work. The Exacq software, by default, sets the camera NTP to point at the server itself, but there is a setting in there to point the cameras to an alternate NTP source.

 

I've used Mikrotik Routerboards (really powerful... and user UNfriendly), with a serial GPS connected to it, for a NTP server to time sync DVR's at a site that didn't have Internet access.

[DarrenD 0]

I know this is hella late but here's what I did to work around that annoying as hell Exacq issue. I created a Windows task triggered by the ExacqVision service. So every time the service starts, it triggers the bat file. The bat file is a collection of URL commands (one per camera IP address) that sets the date, time zone and daylight savings information. This is for ACTi cameras but I would imagine most cameras have the same URL command capabilities. I set a 30 second delay at the start of the script because when the computer restarts (as opposed to just the service) it can take a bit for the ExacqVision service to fully load.

 

If I add or remove cameras to Exacq, I'll need to update the bat file. But it seems to work okay. I will provide more details if anyone revives this thread.