How to Change a Camera's Recording Mode

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 Administrator Guide in the chapter "Adding and Managing Cameras: Editing Camera Stream Settings".

Orchid allows you to choose between three continuous recording styles. This feature is updated through the stream settings for each camera, within Orchid’s configuration. To view the currently selected recording style, open Orchid’s configuration, select the camera under Camera Configuration and scroll down to the currently enabled stream.

The current recording style will appear below the stream’s resolution, encoder type, and frame rate, as shown below.

To change the recording style, click the edit stream button and scroll down to the stream settings. There will be a drop down menu labeled “Recording Style” which can be used to update the current recording style for that camera.

You can read about how to access and update a camera’s stream settings in our knowledge base here.

The three recording styles available in Orchid are:

• Continuous recording with motion detection:
• Records continuously 24/7 while also performing motion detection on captured video
• This is the default recording style in Orchid
• Continuous recording without motion detection:
• Records continuously but does not perform any motion detection
• This recording style disables low-bandwidth mode for every camera set to it
• Continuous recording with motion adaptive frame rate:
• Records continuously at a lower frame rate and then records at a higher frame rate when motion is detected
• The frame rate during motion and non-motion can both be specified
• Requires an H264 encoded stream. Cameras using a JPEG encoded stream will need to be updated to H264 to utilize this recording style
• Proxy-only mode:
• No video is recorded.
• Live video is available only using the FBGST browser plugin.
• RTSP video is available externally using the URI: rtsp://ip.addr/orchid/live?id={camera_stream_id}.  See the Orchid RESTful Web API for information on retrieving the correct {camera_stream_id}.

The recording style is set on each stream, on each camera. You will need to update it for each camera if you want all cameras to use a recording style other than the default of continuous recording with motion detection. Additionally, if you change a camera to a different stream, you will need to change the recording style on the new stream as well.

If you experience any trouble updating the recording style for your cameras in Orchid, feel free to submit an Orchid Technical Support Ticket.