The Verkada Command History player allows you to review recorded video footage from your cameras. By default, Command selects the highest quality footage available to play. While this is ideal in most situations, there are instances where viewing in standard quality makes sense (when bandwidth utilization is a concern). It is possible to configure the history player to only display SQ video.
View historical footage
To view historical footage, the camera streams footage to Command, then it is delivered to your viewing device. Playback covering motion is in HQ, while times with no motion are in SQ.
Viewing history in SQ instead of HQ reduces the amount of bandwidth utilized on the network. How much the bandwidth utilization will vary is dependent on camera model. When watching multiple cameras at the same time or playing back footage at 2x or 3x speeds, lower bandwidth networks can be saturated by the high data rate of HQ footage. In this instance, playing footage in SQ will result in less buffering and a better user experience.
View only SQ footage
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras
.Select a camera site.
Click History.
Click Motion Events to access the history player. The history player offers various buttons and functions that are meant to streamline investigations and make it easy for you to find and jump to relevant events.
In the history player, click
and check the Play only in SQ box. To resume HQ playback, uncheck the box.
Use the same process in multi-camera playback to view only SQ footage.
Determine required bandwidth
You can determine the amount of bandwidth required for playback with this formula:
HQ or SQ bitrate * playback speed * number of cameras being viewed = Total bandwidth requirement
Learn more about bandwidth requirements by camera model. When you view multiple cameras, at once, it increases bandwidth requirements on the network linearly.
View history in Command
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras
.Select a camera site.
Click History.
Scroll down to see the available footage.
(Optional) Click Calendar
(just above the footage) to change the date and time you want to view.Select the segment of footage you want to view.
Hover over the playback screen to see footage (example as shown below):
Find specific footage
To search your footage, you have 2 options:
Hover over a video and use your scroll wheel (or trackpad) to scroll and move the footage forward or backward.
Hover over a timeline and click and drag to move the footage forward or backward.
Note: Blue segments on the timeline indicate that the camera detected people motion events at those times.
Jump to a specific date and time
Use the date and time bar at the bottom of the video. Click the timestamp dropdown to display the option to change the day and time.
Left menu controls (from left to right) | Right menu controls (from left to right) |
 |  |
|
|
Note: While local streaming you will also have the option to change the playback speed to 8x and 16x.
Review people motion events
To quickly fast forward or backward through all of your available footage:
Hover over the timeline beneath the main video player and scroll left or right.
Click and drag to skip through multiple days quickly. You can use this to search through the camera's entire retention.
If you want to quickly jump to the next or previous people motion event (marked by blue bars), you can click the blue arrows at the edges of the timeline.
Manage events in timeline
Events related to the camera in the Command interface are marked on the player timeline with red dots.
Supported event types
The following event types are currently supported within the History player:
Person of Interest
License Plate of Interest
Door Forced Open
Door Held Open
Keycard Denied
Vape Index
Archive Clips
Expand a preview of an event
When the playhead comes close to a red dot, a preview of the event appears at the bottom right of the video feed.
To expand this preview, simply click the preview once. Once expanded, click the event's title to go to the dedicated event page, where you can search for additional results.
View sections of archived footage
You can also view sections of previously archived footage on the timeline. These archived segments are highlighted with a yellow line on the player timeline.
Click the archive preview to go to the beginning or end of the archive.
Download or share an archive
Open the archive page to share or download an archive.
Hide event markers and previews
If necessary, you can choose to hide event markers and previews:
Click the Settings icon to de-select the corresponding events in the player.
Note: A camera only displays events that are specifically linked to that specific camera. This linkage can occur because the camera has been configured to identify those specific events (such as Person of Interest or License Plates of Interest), or because the camera serves as a contextual camera for a sensor or a door (in the case of events like Vape Index or Door/Keycard events).
Search a live feed in mobile app
In the mobile app, you initiate a search from a live feed and scrub back in time which is slightly different than the browser experience. The smooth and simple scrubbing method elegantly complements the touchscreen capabilities of the mobile device while permitting easy navigation between real-time and historical viewing.
Scrub history
From any camera, tap the feed to expand to the scrub menu at the bottom of the live stream.
Swipe right to scrub back in time. You can swipe left or right when you are back in time to find the exact point
Stop scrubbing once you find the desired point in time and wait for the progress indicator on the date and time to load the footage.
Let the history play.
Click Live once you are done to go back to real-time.
Keyboard shortcuts
Shortcut key | Key Reference | Action |
⟶ | Right arrow key | Move forward, one frame at a time. |
⟵ | Left arrow key | Move backward, one frame at a time. |
↑ | Up arrow key | Move forward, 10 seconds at a time. |
↓ | Down arrow key | Move backward, 10 seconds at a time. |
(spacebar) | [spacebar] | Pauses/plays the video (see below).  |
Related resources
Need more help? Contact Verkada Support