The main timeline

The main timeline in XProtect Smart Client.

The main timeline displays an overview of time periods with recordings from cameras and other devices in your current view. The main timeline is available on the views tabs and has various controls you can use to navigate your recordings during investigations or to select recording sequences for export, protection with evidence locks, addition of bookmarks, or other.

Select a views tab and switch to playback mode to show all the timeline controls.

You can adjust how your timelines look and behave. Select which recording types and other elements to show on the timeline tracks. For example, would you like to show recorded audio and bookmarks? You can also select how to play back gaps between recordings. You can also hide the main timeline during inactivity to free as much of the display for viewing video in XProtect Smart Client. See also Configuration options for timelines.

The timeline tracks

The blue vertical line in the XProtect Smart Client timeline.

  • The upper timeline track shows the recording periods of the selected camera.

  • The lower timeline track shows the recording periods of all the cameras in the view, including the selected camera.

If you have detached windows that are synced in time with the main window, recordings from cameras and devices in these windows are also shown on the lower timeline track.

Color legend

On the timeline track, the different types of recordings have different colors. The most important colors to know are:

  • Light-red indicates recordings

  • Red indicates recordings with motion

  • Light green indicates recordings with outgoing audio

  • Green indicates recordings with incoming audio

For a legend of all the colors currently shown on the timeline tracks, select the small question mark to the right of the timeline tracks.

The colors in the XProtect Smart Client timeline indicating different types of recordings.

Bookmarks

Timeline tracks show bookmarks with a blue bookmark icon . To view the bookmarked video, place your mouse over the icon.

Additional markers

If additional data sources are available in your XProtect VMS system, incidents from these sources are shown as markers in colors other than blue. The incidents can appear as pop-ups in the timeline tracks.

Markers and colors in the timeline in XProtect Smart Client.

The vertical line

The vertical line shows the location of the playhead from where recordings are currently played back. This is called the main playback time, and the text above shows the exact date and time for the video currently played back. The main playback time applies to all the cameras in the view and any synchronized views unless you are viewing independent playback from some of the cameras. If there is no recorded video from one or more cameras in the view matching the main playback time, the last frame from the camera database before the main playback time is shown, but the frame is dimmed.

With the controls in the main timeline, you can go back and forth in your recordings in many ways. You can drag the timeline tracks to the right or left. If you press the CTRL key while dragging, the movement is slower.

You can use the timeline controls, the mouse scroll wheel, or select the date above the playhead to go to another time in your recordings.

The timeline controls

Controls Description
Switch between playback or live mode.
Go back and forth in the video in different speeds. The further you drag the control to the sides, the faster the playback speed.
Play backward or forward in time. When you select one of the play buttons, the button turns into a pause button .
Move to the frame just before or after the one currently viewed.
Move to the start of the previous sequence or the next sequence .
Move to the first sequence or last sequence in the database.

There are two ways of selecting a period of recordings for export, creation of evidence lock or other.

Select start and end time in timeline : Select to switch the timeline and the view into selection mode. Select which view items to include and drag the time selection brackets on the timeline tracks to change the start and end time for the video sequences you want to select.

Select start and end time in calendar : Select to specify the start and end date and time from a calendar. The timeline track jumps to the selected start time, and the time selection brackets surround the selected time period.

Change the playback speed.
Specify the timespan of the timeline tracks. Alternative: use CTRL + scroll wheel.