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XProtect Smart Client

The main timeline

Last Updated: 4 minute read
Version2026r1
LanguageEnglish
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 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 Color codes legend SC_TimelineControl_ColorCodeLegend_icon.png 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 SC_Timeline_WithBookmarks_icon.png. 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’re 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.

The timeline controls

Controls

Description

SC_TimelineControl_PLAYBACKLIVE.png

Switch between playback or live mode.

SC_TimelineControl_ScrubVideo_slider.png

Go back and forth in the video in different speeds. The further you drag the control to the sides, the faster the playback speed.

SC_TimelineControl_PlayBackward_icon.png
SC_TimelineControl_PlayForward_icon.png
SC_TimelineControl_Pause_icon.png

Play backward SC_TimelineControl_PlayBackward_icon.png or forward SC_TimelineControl_PlayForward_icon.png in time. When you select one of the play buttons, the button turns into a pause button SC_TimelineControl_Pause_icon.png.

SC_TimelineControl_FramePrev_icon.png
SC_TimelineControl_FrameNext_icon.png

Move to the frame just before SC_TimelineControl_FramePrev_icon.png or after SC_TimelineControl_FrameNext_icon.png the one currently viewed.

SC_TimelineControl_PrevSequence_icon.png
SC_TimelineControl_NextSequence_icon.png

Move to the start of the previous sequence SC_TimelineControl_PrevSequence_icon.png or the next sequence SC_TimelineControl_NextSequence_icon.png.

SC_TimelineControl_FirstSequence_icon.png
SC_TimelineControl_LastSequence_icon.png

Move to the first sequence SC_TimelineControl_FirstSequence_icon.png or last sequence SC_TimelineControl_LastSequence_icon.png in the database.

SC_TimelineControl_TimeSelectionMode_icon.png
SC_TimelineControl_SetStartEndTime_icon.png

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 SC_TimelineControl_TimeSelectionMode_icon.png: 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 SC_TimelineControl_SetStartEndTime_icon.png: 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.

SC_TimelineControl_PlaybackSpeed_slider.png

Change the playback speed.

SC_TimelineControl_TimeSpan_slider.jpg

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

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QR_SC_InvestigateRecordedVideoUsingPlayback_125x125pixels.png