*How to create a video export

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How To Article | HTA-20201130-TP-05 VDG Sense | Operator | Data export & securing Open

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Recorded video can be exported to different locations, like a hard drive, USB stick or network location and in two different formats.

Native Format
In native format, video will be exported in data files that can only be read by using the VDG Sense Player. The player is a light-weight client with the sole purpose of replaying exported video. The advantage of this is that with the VDG Sense Player, you can export multiple cameras, and operate it as if using the VDG Sense client. When exporting in native client, the operator has the choice to include a VDG Sense Player. The Sense Player can also be downloaded separately from our download section. Native format cannot be played in universal mediaplayers like Windows Media Player, VLC or Media Player Classic.

Video Clip
A video clip is an export in a universal format (.mp4) that can be read by most common mediaplayers like Windows Media Player, VLC media player or Media Player Classic. This also means that it’s easier to share clips via mail or phone. Video clips can also be started and retrieved using the API. Video Clips have a maximum length of 20 minutes per clip. When creating a clip, it will temporarily be stored in a folder on the server machine, which can be set during installation of Sense. If this folder is configured on the same drive as the regular video storage it will affect storage retention. It is recommended to configure this folder on a separate drive.

The operator can set the export range with the playback trackbars in the Playback Control Panel or by marking the time in the Timeline panel. The operator can always manually adjust the timerange in the Video Export dialog. The date time range selection in the dialog is useful if the operator already knows the range.

To start an export, a layout with at least one Playback Video panel and a playback controls panel or Timeline panel is needed.

Export via Playback Control panel

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In the Playback Control panel, click on the ’E’ (Export) button. Three buttons appear: ’Start’, ’Clear’ and ’Stop’. Place the trackbar on the starting point of the video you want to export and click on ’Start’ to mark the start of the export timerange. Next, place trackbar on the the end point of the video you want to export and click on ’Stop’ to mark the end of the export timerange. The tackbar displays the export range in green. Click ’Clear’ to reset the range and start over.

To open the Video Export dialog, press the “Clapperboard” button.

Export via Timeline panel

To export a video using the Timeline panel, select a range by clicking and dragging the mouse in the Timeribbon. The selected range will be highlighted. To deselect the highlight, click anywhere outside of the selected range. Click the ‘Clapperboard’-button to pop up the Export video dialog. If no timerange is selected, only an image export can be produced.

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Export Video dialog

Once an export range has been selected in either the Playback control or the Timeline panel, click the “Clapperboard”-button to open the Export Video dialog:

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Device selection
List of cameras of the selected server. Select cameras to export video from.

Export Format (2.5.4+)
Export in either native or .mp4 format

Include VCA metadata (2.5.8+)
If .mp4 is selected as export format, select if VCA metadata should be included in the export.

• All VCA – Include all VCA metadata

• VCA alarms – Only include metadata alarms and the object that triggered it

• VCA objects – Only include metadata of objects

• No VCA – Do not include the VCA metadata

Include Sense Player
Includes the Sense Player into the export files. The Sense Player is needed to read native videodata exported from the Sense client.

Start and end time
Start and end time of the export. Can be modified regardless if the range of the trackbar is used. For video clips, a maximum of 20 minutes is required.

Use trackbar start/end time
Use the highlighted area as the start and end time of the export

Reset date and time
Resets the export range to the begin and end time of all recorded video.

Full date and time range
Use full date and time range available on server

Export location
The location of the exported video. Click ’…’- button to select the location. The size of the location should be big enough to store the video. Below the field you can find information about the chosen location.

Create compressed folder  (2.4.12+)
Compress the video data in to a .zip file. A maximum of 2GB of data can be compressed.

Password
If compression is enabled, the user is able to encrypt the data with a password. Leave empty to set no password.

Export progresss

Once an export has been started, the progress can be seen in the top bar of the VDG Sense client. Click on the progress bar for some additional information:

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If a video clip export has been started, each device will have it’s own progress bar or status label. To cancel a video clip of a single device, click the “x“–button next to device to cancel the export of that clip.

Video Clip API commands

It’s also possible to start an event clip export through the API. For this, use the following commands:

• addClip – Create a new clip

• deleteClip – Delete a clip from the temporary folder on the server

• getClips – Get a list of created clips currently on the server

• downloadClip – Download the created clip from the configured folder on the server

• updateClip – Update the description of a clip