This guide explains how to record or archive all of your video streams, which can be useful for creating TV replays or reviewing videos recorded by surveillance cameras, for example.

Manage automatic recording of live streams

To enable this option:

1. Click here to access the management of your product in the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product in question:
   
3. Enable recording of live streams using the toggle switch from the stream dashboard:
   

Once this feature is enabled and its FTP connection is configured, the stream will be automatically and continuously recorded from the moment it is sent to (or pulled by) the Infomaniak platform.

Be mindful of your FTP space, which could quickly become saturated.

If needed, you also have the option to manually schedule recordings from the scheduling tool.

How automatic recordings work

Once this option is enabled, an mp4 file will be automatically generated after each stream, which will be transferred to the FTP or VOD space you have configured.

Important notes:

• A broadcast is defined as the time between connection and disconnection to the video encoder.
• Recording quality: in the case of a multi-bitrate stream, the maximum source quality will be retained.
• File size limitation: in the case of continuous broadcasting, you have the option to define the maximum duration of each mp4 file; this option allows you to avoid generating excessively large files and ensure that your archives are saved to the FTP or VOD space of your choice (and once the duration is reached, the recording is automatically stopped and then sent via FTP, and a new recording is started).

Customization of recording names

To allow you to easily identify and categorize your archives, the recording name can be customized dynamically using parameters specified within curly braces.

Example:

template_{stream_id}_{date|format:YYYY-MM-dd_hh:mm:ss}_{fragment_id|from:1|prefix:fragment_(|suffix:)}.{extension}

• stream_id = represents the stream identifier as a string.
• date|format: ISO 8601 = date of the recording.
• time|format: ISO 8601 = time of the recording.
• datetime|format: ISO 8601 = date and time of the recording.
• fragment_id|from:number|prefix:string|suffix:string: = fragment number in the case where a recording is split, with the possibility of prefixing and/or suffixing it.
  • Each fragment will be incremented, with "from" indicating which will be the first reference fragment.
• extension = final file extension.

These parameters and their options are optional, and their order is completely free. They can be used as many times as desired. If you provide the same option multiple times, only the last one will be taken into account. Any unrecognized option will simply be ignored.

Example 1

Scenario: You have two daily schedules, the first starting at 10:00 AM and the second at 8:05 PM. By configuring the file naming in this way template_{date|format:hh:mm:ss}, you will obtain the following file names:

For December 5, 2019:

• The first recording at 10:00 AM will be named: template-10:00:00.mp4
• The second recording at 8:05 PM will be named: template-20:05:00.mp4

For December 6, 2019:

• The first recording at 10:00 AM will be named: template-10:00:00.mp4
  The recording from the previous day with the same name will be overwritten and replaced with this one.
• The second recording at 8:05 PM will be named: template-20:05:00.mp4
  The recording from the previous day with the same name will be overwritten and replaced with this one.
• etc.

This approach can be particularly useful for having a loop recording system, for example for video surveillance. The user will only retrieve the video when needed, which avoids archiving a potentially infinite number of videos and risking saturating the FTP space.

Example 2

Scenario: This time, you have a perpetual recording, 24/7, with a file duration limit set to 360 minutes. By configuring the file naming in this way template_{date|format:YYYY-MM-dd}_{fragment_id|from:1|prefix:fragment_(|suffix:)}.{extension}, you will obtain the following file names:

• The first file of the day at 12:00 AM will be named: template_2019-02-05.mp4
• The second file of the day at 6:00 AM will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(1).mp4
• The third file of the day at 12:00 PM will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(2).mp4
• The fourth file of the day at 6:00 PM will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(3).mp4

By configuring the file naming in this way template_{date|format:YYYY-MM-dd}_{fragment_id|from:0|prefix:fragment_(|suffix:)}.{extension}, you will obtain the following file names:

• The first file of the day at 0:00 will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(0).mp4
• The second file of the day at 6:00 will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(1).mp4
• The third file of the day at 12:00 will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(2).mp4
• The fourth file of the day at 18:00 will be named: template_2019-02-05_fragment(3).mp4