How to Export Video

IMPORTANT: The information in this article is specific to Orchid version 1.12.7 or earlier.  Equivalent instructions for Orchid versions 2.0.0 and above are available in the Orchid Core VMS User Guide in the chapter "Video Export".

Video recorded by Orchid can be exported easily through the stage. To export a video, the timeline bar will first need to be expanded. Double-click the timeline to expand it.

Note: You will need to be logged in with either an Administrator or Manager account. Viewer and Live Viewer accounts do not have the ability to export video.

After expanding the timeline bar, the bottom of Orchid will display the current date, a second row of timestamps, and the current timeline interval setting. All of these features will allow you to easily jump to a specific date and time in Orchid, and export video as needed.

 Going to a Specific Date and Time

Click the current date (appearing under the Play/Pause button in Orchid) to open the Date Picker. The Date Picker will open and allow you to go to a specific date and time. Click the “Go” button after selecting a new date and time to the archived video from each stream added to the stage.

The timeline bar can also be dragged back and forth to quickly change the time being shown by a few hours or minutes, depending on the currently set timeline Interval.

Changing the Timeline Interval

By default, the Timeline is set to 1 minutes intervals. However, this can be updated to as much as 1 day using the timeline interval setting. To change the current timeline interval, click the arrow next to “1 min” in the bottom right corner of Orchid. The interval will change from 1 minute, to 5 minutes, then double from there, all the way up to 1 day.

Selecting Time Period to Export

The time period for exporting video can be selected using the expanded timeline bar. Below the main timeline bar, there is a second row of times. Part of the second row is shaded, and part of it will have a white background, matching the main timeline bar.

The unshaded area specifies the the period of time that will be exported for each stream, and can be expanded by clicking and dragging the left or right edge.

Note: When changing the timeline interval setting, the amount of time to export video does not change with it. For example, if 5 minutes of video is selected for export, and the timeline interval setting is increased to 1 day, the same 5 minutes of video will still be selected for export.

Exporting Video

Click the “Export Video” button in the bottom right corner of Orchid. A new window will open within Orchid showing all of the streams added to the stage which have video recorded during the specified time. The total amount of time being exported will appear above the list of streams.

Click the “Export” button on each stream you want to export. To export multiple streams, click the “Export” button on each individual stream.

After clicking the “Export” button, a .mkv file will automatically start downloading through the browser. The file will download to the browser’s default download location. The exported file will include the stream number being exported, as well as the date and time being exported in UTC time.

Note: Orchid exports videos to a .mkv video file, which is a flexible, open standard video file format. Some standard video players, such as Windows Media Player, do not support this video container. However, it can be viewed with VLC (a free, open-source program) on any platform.

To exit search mode and go back to live mode, click the blue area of the timeline bar or the LIVE button.