Recording (NVR)
camera.ui records your cameras so you can go back and watch what happened. Recording and everything in this section need an active camera.ui subscription.[1]
Trying recording during the beta
Subscriptions aren't open for purchase yet. To test recording, create your camera.ui account at cloud.cameraui.com, then ask for a trial on our Discord.
Turning on recording
Recording comes from the camera.ui NVR plugin, which is installed by default, and runs on a subscription tied to your camera.ui account. To turn it on:
- In Settings → Remote Access, choose Register server and sign in with your camera.ui account. This links the server to your account; you don't need to enable remote cloud access for it.
- Open Settings → Recordings and, in the License & Cloud card, click the cloud icon and sign in.
- Your license then activates automatically. If the status doesn't update, use the Refetch License button.
Once the license is active, cameras you add start recording on their own, as long as your subscription still has a free camera slot. A new camera records continuously in every stream quality. You can change the mode, pick which qualities to record, or turn recording off in the camera's recording settings.
Camera slots
The License card in Settings → Recordings shows how many recording slots your plan includes, how many cameras are active, and how many currently use a slot.
Slots go to your enabled cameras in order. A camera past the limit keeps detecting, keeps its events and its live view, and simply does not record, without a warning of its own, so check the numbers on that card if footage is missing from one camera. Turning off recording on a camera you care less about frees its slot for another.
If your subscription lapses, recording stops and playback, export, face recognition and search ask for a valid license. Nothing on disk is deleted, it all comes back when the license is valid again. A failed cloud check is not the same thing: recording carries on while camera.ui retries.
Recording modes
Each camera records in one of three modes, set in its recording settings:
- Continuous. Records around the clock. You always have footage, at the cost of the most storage.
- Event. Records only when something happens (motion, an object, a sensor). A pre-buffer keeps a few seconds before each trigger, so you don't miss the lead-up.
- Ad-hoc. Connects to the camera only when an event fires. Useful for cameras that stop sending events while a stream is open, such as some battery cameras.
Quality
You choose which stream qualities to record, high, mid, or low, and can keep more than one. Recording a low-resolution stream as well makes scrubbing the timeline fast and smooth.
Next
- Storage & retention — where recordings live and how long they're kept.
- Timeline & playback — review footage.
- Export & download — save a clip.
- Browsing & filters — find past events.
Recording (NVR) requires an active camera.ui subscription. ↩︎