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Date and Time Stamp

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AmandaJ
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Star

I notice this has been raised before but I see Netgear hasn't listened.

I have the same issue - I have video of an intruder which our police department needs but it's useless in court without the date and time on the video.  Defence lawyers will argue against admisability if it is anything other than in the video.

 

Please - is Netgear going to change it.

We have just installed a Pro system in at my work and another one going to our sister company & I have it at home.

Amanda

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steve_t
Master Master
Master

Since you've seen it's been raised before, you also should have seen that the downloaded video file name is the date and time stamp. It's in Unix time format. There are online converters. And as easy as it is to change the file name, you could easily fake a time/date stamp anywhere if you really wanted to. You can also see as part of the metadata when the file was created (downloaded) and when it was last modified. If the two dates don't align, the video has been tampered with

 

brh
Master
Master

Steve, would you please step me through the process to get the name of the video. I logged into my account in Windows 10 Edge. Selected the video and downloaded it. It named it Motion4.mp4. I don't get any file name out of that.

I also downloaded the file through the app on my iPhone 6 and it downloaded to my photo albums but again I saw no file name. 

It seems to me that Arlo should somehow imbed the date and time stamp into the video itself and use the format of the language you used to set up your account.

Thanks,

 

Brian

brh
Master
Master

Solved!

 

I opened my account in Google Chrome and it worked perfectly and gave the correct filename.

I never liked Edge anyway! LOL.

 

Brian

AmandaJ
Star
Star

Unfortunately Steve since the file name and the epoch string are one in the same, and files names can be changed, this is not an acceptable "fix" for court action.

While using MediaInfo is a "better fix" it has been suggested - for court action - that the details be in the file.

brh
Master
Master

I am rolling on floor laughing. I finally solved one of my own problems instead of other people's problems.

Darn, it won't let me kudo myself.

Too funny

 

Brian

steve_t
Master Master
Master

This is in the Ideas Exchange section. Add Kudos to it to help convince the engineers it's something you really really want/need. I'm pretty sure someone else said the epoch time has been fine for court action previously. And others have noted that time and date overlays are equally iffy in court due to the ease of manipulation. The Ideas Exchange section is where you should go if you want change

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

The metadata embedded in the file also lists the exact time/date.

AHMNJ
Initiate
Initiate

I'm confused by this - the file name, and the file metadata, shows the date and time the FILE was created.  NOT when the video was shot? 

 

How does this help prove when the events actually occurred? 

 

Thanks for any guidance - this is important for many of us, I'm sure.

AHMNJ
Initiate
Initiate

GOOD NEWS - at least for me, and probably others.

 

I think I may have answered the question - saw the reference to the Epoch Unix time encoding.  And found a web site that converts those Epoch strings to a readable date. 

 

The web site:  https://www.epochconverter.com/

 

I entered the file name that was generated by the Arlo progam when I downloaded the video, and it does in fact yield the actual time that the video was taken!!! 

So there's the documentation needed, unless the file name (or metadata showing the original file name) gets lost. 

 

Still cumbersome, but finally an authoritative date for the video that is with the file.

steve_t
Master Master
Master

@AHMNJ wrote:

 

 

Still cumbersome, but finally an authoritative date for the video that is with the file.


This has been the way it's been since day one