Posts Tagged ‘exports’

Video Exports, Better Together

Unfortunately, bad things happen – whether it’s theft, vandalism, a workplace accident, or something else. In these cases, security cameras can help create a timeline of events and provide evidence. MV smart cameras make it easy to isolate footage and export video, but the more cameras you have and the more video you need to export, the more challenging managing those exports can become. 

All your exports, in one place

Previously, a user would need to go to each individual camera to view and manage exported video from that camera. With the new Exports page, MV smart camera customers can see recent exports from all cameras in a network in one centralized place. This means users no longer have to remember if they exported video from Entrance Camera 1 or Entrance Camera 2. Simply navigate to the Exports page to see the status of all recent exports, download video footage, or share download links. 

Video exports table showing all exports from your network

The Exports page on the dashboard shows you all video exports in one place

All your exports, in one file

And if, by chance, you exported video from both Entrance Camera 1 and 2, video files can be merged into one using the new combine export tool. This can be very helpful in a retail environment, as you may need to capture footage of a suspect taking merchandise, as well as showing them leaving the store without paying. To combine files, simply select the clips that you would like to combine. The files can be arranged in the desired order, and you can specify a name for the new file. Once completed, the merged file will appear in the Video exports table. A title card will appear before the individual clips — indicating the name of the camera and the date and the time of the video — for seamless playback of the entire event without losing important context. Like all MV export files, it can be easily downloaded to an .MP4 file, or shared via a link. 

Combine exports gif

Combining exports from multiple cameras into a single file

Let us know what you think

The new Exports page is available now. For more information on how it works, check out the documentation. Or, head on over to the Meraki Community to join the discussion. We’d love to hear what you think!

Is Your Video the Real Life, or Just a Fantasy?

With the rise of more advanced video editing software, it can be hard to separate fantasy from reality. As realistic as they may look on the big screen, dinosaurs and heroes with superhuman strength don’t really exist (yet). While these special effects belong in movies and TV shows, they have no place in video surveillance. With the new calculate checksum feature on MV video exports, you can rest easy knowing that no changes have been made to downloaded footage. When you rely on video for evidence, it is imperative to be able to ensure its authenticity.

Real or Fake? Pineapple gets eaten by dinosaurs in Meraki San Francisco office

 

How does it work?

A SHA-256 checksum is a 256-bit hash that uses an algorithm to create a file’s “signature.” This checksum can be calculated over and over again to the same result. However, once the file is changed in any way, this value changes. Read more about SHA-256 and other similar algorithms here.

For every generated MV export, Cisco Meraki provides you with the original file’s checksum for as long as the export is viewable on the dashboard. Every time you need to verify that any copy of the exported video is legitimate, you can use any terminal to calculate this copy’s checksum and compare it to the one provided on the dashboard. If they match, the video is identical. Otherwise, it has been corrupted or tampered with.

 

When do I need this?

While all Meraki MV exports contain a date and time stamp burnt into the video, there are a variety of circumstances in which additional verification provided by checksum may be desirable. A few examples include:

  • Chain of Custody: If you need to present a video clip as evidence and want to prove that it was not tampered with in any way.
  • Export Download: If you want to verify that your export download went smoothly and did not suffer any transmission errors, especially if it’s a large file that took several minutes to download.
  • File Transfer: If you want to verify that the stored video export has not been corrupted, especially if transferring the file between different locations.

For more information, check out our article on Sharing Video on the Documentation Portal.

Let us know how you plan on using this feature in the Meraki Community.