Media Capture Wizard

The Media Capture Wizard is used to set up the Blackbox and Media Capture folders to store Channel Input video recordings, framegrabs and still photo files. The differences between Blackbox and Media Capture are:

• Blackbox is similar to an airplane flight data recorder in that it continuously records the Channel Input video (as .mp4 files) in the selected Blackbox folder.

• Media Capture also records the Channel Input video but only for the duration between when you click the Start and Stop Recording button (as .mp4 files). When you click on the Camera icon to take framegrabs or stills, those are also saved (as .jpg files) in the selected Media Capture folder.

The Show Media Capture Wizard checkbox appears at the bottom-right on each of the Input Source (Capture Card, IP Camera, Presentations, Screen Capture) screens.

Media Capture Wizard → (1) Black Box

The Black Box configuration wizard panel appears first.

1. Click the Browse button to select a Directory where you want to save the Blackbox recording files.

2. Click the Folder Limit button and drag or use the left/right arrow keys to decrease/increase to the desired Blackbox folder size.

3. Click the Open button to open a File Explorer window to the Blackbox Directory (The Open button appears under the Browse button after the Directory is selected)

4. Click Cancel Wizard button if you wish to close the Media Capture Wizard.

5. Click Next button to proceed to the Media Capture to configure your Recording & image files location and preferences.

Media Capture Wizard → (2) Recordings & Images

When you click Next, the Media Capture configuration panel to configure your Recording & image files location and preferences appears.

• Click the Browse button to select a Directory where you want to save Recording & image files.

• The Directory Template populates with a default format: ${channelname}\${yyyy}\${MM}\${dd}

  1. You can edit this format manually as you wish or use the convenient Tags & Insert method described in more detail below.

• The Filename Template populates with the default format: ${hh}${mm}${ss}_${fff}
  You can change the file name format; however, this default format ensures that each time you stop and start recording you will be starting on a unique filename and not overwriting the previous recording file.

  1. You can edit this format manually as you wish or use the convenient Tags & Insert method described in more detail below.
     

• Tags & Insert - Place the cursor in the Directory Template path or the File Template path in a position where you want to add format Tags. Select the desired tag from the Tags dropdown list and click the Insert button to place that tag in the path.
  Example: If we insert the Tag YYYY to the end of both our Directory Template and File Template paths…
  

  

• The Directory name will have YYYY appended to the end like this:

  • D:\Media-DVR+O\SUBC-NC-SUPORT2 Channel 2\2024\09\172024
    ${channelname}\${yyyy}\${MM}\${dd}${YYYY}

• The Filename will have YYYY appended to the end like this:

  • 150402_6672024.mp4
    

Tag Definitions

• ${channelname} - displays what you have named your Channel (See Menu → Info → Channel Name)

• ${channelnumber} - displays the Channel number, i.e. 2

• ${yyyy} - displays all 4 digits of the current year, i.e. 2024

• ${MM} - displays the current month, numerically, i.e. 09

• ${dd} - displays the current day, numerically, i.e. 17

• ${YYYY} - displays all 4 digits of the current year, i.e. 2024

• ${YY} - displays only the last two digits of the current year, i.e. 24

• ${DD} - displays the current day, numerically, i.e. 17

• ${HOUR} - display the current hour in 24-hours clock format, i.e. 15

• ${MINUTE} - display the current minute, numerically, i.e. 47

• ${SECOND} - display the current second, numerically, i.e. 34

• ${type} - displays the type of file, i.e. will be “Videos” for .mp4 files

  • (“Data” for .csv and “Stills” for .jpeg)
    

5. Click the Back button if you want to revert back to the previous Media Capture → Black Box configuration panel.

6. Click the Finish button to complete the Media Wizard configuration.