Time and Date Display on video (Timestamp)

[J_Benson]

Preface: The property management company I work for purchased 8 Arlo cameras to set up around the apartment complex I manage. 

The current system does not provide an easy way to tell the exact time a specific time that an image within a video clip was captured, nor does it provice an easy way to navigate to a specific time within a video. The only mention of an exact time is the time listed when the camera began recording each clip. To find out when a still image within the video was captured, you must mentally add up the amount of time you are into a video and the start time of the clip. Example: I want to find the time 6:32 within a video clip. The video clip states that it starts at 6:30, so I navigate two minutes into the video.

My suggestion is to either add a time and date stamp to the video recording, in an unobtrusive area of the video, perhaps customizeable to which corner it appears in. Alternatively, rather than the time slider at the bottom of the clip playback stating the time into the video clip, it displays the real time the video was taken. Current setup for video playback begins at 00:00:00 and advances to 00:02:00, if video length is set to 120 seconds. Instead, it could start at the real time the video capture was taken and continue along at real time. Example: Video starts at 06:30:27 and the slider at the bottom of the playback advances to 06:32:27.

This would aid in finding a specific time in which an event reportedly occurred, as well as serve for better evidence when assessing a charge against a tenant for littering, as you could print out a screenshot of the video with a timestamp and attach it to a document for issuing a charge. It would also aid in police investigations or as evidence when in litigation. Police often come to my office to request video footage of a certain time and date, and this would assist them. We also have a problem with illegal dumping of mattresses and furniture, in which case we would need a timestamped image to present to police.

Thank you for reading this suggestion, and I hope that a timestamp could be implemented as an optional feature for the Arlo camera system in the future. 

J. Benson,
Ullrich Real Estate

[justinlposner]

Please consider adding in an option for a time stamp. Many people (myself included) have cameras to prevent against illegal activities and a time stamp on the video would be helpful in court. A file name that has the time stamp in epoch format isn’t good enough and is not admissible in court since a file name can be changed. I recently had a legal issue (trespassing and property damage) and the time stamped video would have been useful in court.

[billkex]

Not sure if there is a way, but it would be very helpful if there was a way to add a running time clock to the screen (bottom corner) of both live feed and recorded video.  That shows the actual time of day in hrs. min. and seconds.

Thoughts?

[divinebug]

Guys come on this feature was requested in 2015 and even after 5 yrs this is still under consideration?

[Retired_Member]

its kinda sad we have to use an epoch converter once the video clip is downloaded.  

[DanB-AUS]

I trashed my Arlo system.. wasted time and money for this junk.

If anyone interested both Swann and Uniden wireless systems have time and date stamped video.

[WatchingYou]

That's the problem, right there. 

They get your money and a request that has been in circulation since 2015.

I'm with you mate.  Trash the Arlo and go with someone else because this company has no intention of adding date and time stamping to their camera systems.

It is a disgrace and they should be held accountable for false advertising.  These cameras are not security devices, they are monitoring devices.  Baby monitoring at best.

[b00573d]

I moved from Arlo to Eufy which is also wire free, but does have time stamp!

[skelly1234]

This appears to be an old subject that still is unresolved.  As someone with a large Arlo system I need date and time stamps sorted to show progressive security situations with clips in order.  The Epoch date designation doesn't allow this to happen.  I understand the phone or ipad app can show the proper date or time, but neither I, nor anyone else, hangs out screening video clips.  The whole purpose of a security system is peace of mind, and legal proof.

Therefore, please develop an app for laptops and computers that can accomplish an actual date and time that is sortable or some derivative thereof, preferably with the ability to tag a clip to note a particular security infraction.  I am sifting through thousands of video clips to record dangerous dogs on my property and can't get context of timing or what happened first, next, or last, without a date and time stamp embedded in the file.  I have to go into the properties and details to see the creation date, because when the file downloads it doesn't show the proper creation date.  This information is available at my arlo, so I am not understanding why the download can't tag it.

[Kram19931]

It would be great to have the Date and time stamp on the video. This will help with sending videos out.

[jguerdat]

It depends on the method of downloading the video. I've found that downloading via the app gives me that while the web client doesn't. The name always includes the epoch time which can be converted using a web converter such as epochconverter.com. The metadata also includes the recording date and time as I recall.