Preparation for Daylight Saving Time
A friendly reminder that it's time to change the clocks, which means a little work for many in the security business leading up to that date.
On Suday morning, March 12 at 2am, clocks will spring forward and could cause a variety of issues with video recordings across the industry. The type of problem - whether it's dual recordings, no recordings, or the inability to retrieve live or playback video from different viewing platforms - will vary depending on the system manufacturer. In some cases, if time issues are not corrected, the admissibility of video for evidentiary purposes can be affected.
So, before March 12, we recommend you check the following settings for each of these recording platforms:
- DVRs - Ensure the DVR is set to change to Daylight Saving Time in its DST settings and that changes will occur on the correct date and time. Check with the manufacturer to determine if any bug fixes should be installed prior to the change.
- Intelligent Edge Devices - Check that they are configured to communicate with a valid time server and that their internal DST table is properly set.
- Older Enterprise Systems - Ensure all devices - including Video Recording Managers, Archivers, NVRs, cameras, encoders, decoders and matrix systems - are all pointed to the same valid system time server. And, don't forget your viewing stations! If they are off by an hour, it could affect live and playback video, even if the rest of the system is correct. Note: For newer systems using Bosch Video Management System 5.5 or higher, IP cameras, Video Recording Managers and decoders are all automatically synced to the VMS' central server time.
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