Nx Witness User Manual

Nx Witness provides the ability to set a maximum and minimum storage duration for the archive of any given camera, from the current time going backwards.

Before you use a Keep Archive For setting, it is important to understand the impact it will have. The default Auto setting means that archived footage for a given camera is treated according to the standard algorithm – the oldest data is deleted first. No controls are placed on when or which archived footage is deleted.

The Min and Max fields assign priority to a given camera – high priority for Min, low priority for Max. If more than one camera is assigned high or low priority, storage results may not be predictable. Typically the Min setting is used for environments with limited storage capacity and a few high-importance cameras, or when a regulation requires that certain footage be stored for a minimum amount of time. Max is typically used for environments where storage is limited and there is no need to store records beyond a certain age from certain cameras.

It is not possible to enter a Max value less than the Min value, and vice versa.

Minimum (Days. Hours, Minutes)

Min sets a minimum archive length, in number of days. hours or minutes from the current date, for which Nx Witness gives highest priority to retention of records from a given camera over retention of records from any camera that has the default (Auto) archive setting.

For example, a Min. Days value of 120 for a given camera means Nx Witness will attempt to preserve the past 120 days of records from that camera.

IMPORTANT: Be careful when setting a minimum days value. If more than one camera is assigned a Min. Days value, those cameras will have the same priority level – in which case storage results cannot be entirely guaranteed for any of them. If there is insufficient storage space, in order to retain footage as specified with Min, Nx Witness will first delete records from cameras that do not have a minimum archive length set, and then the system may stop recording incoming signals from low and average priority Cameras. If storage space is at capacity, no other camera streams will be recorded.

Maximum (Days. Hours, Minutes)

Max sets an archive duration after which records will not be saved for a given camera.

To Configure Minimum and Maximum Storage Duration

1.Go to the camera's context menu from the Resource Panel or layout and open Camera Settings > Recording tab (or the General tab for Virtual Cameras).

2.In the Fixed Archive Length section, uncheck the Auto checkbox.

3.In Min, enter the amount of time for which archive should be retained.

4.In Max, enter the amount of time after which archive will be automatically deleted from storage.

5.Click Apply to accept, OK to save and close the dialog, or Cancel to discard changes.