ONVIF’s media-signing draft puts the exported clip in the demo
ONVIF’s October 2026 bulletin describes the Media Signing Add-on at release-candidate stage. The design lets a camera or encoder sign video at creation, and a compatible player or verifier can check the recording and trace its source even after the file has moved between systems. Treat it as a draft standard in that bulletin. A vendor bidding on an evidence workflow still has to name the equipment and software it proposes to supply. N03 · ONVIF October bulletin
Hand the file to the other department
A demonstration usually ends when a guard presses Export. For the person who receives the file next Tuesday, that is where the work begins. Ask the bidder to provide a sample, the verifier and whatever information a recipient needs to use it on a different machine — then watch a recipient open it with their own permissions. Can they identify the source and interpret the verification result without borrowing the guard’s login?
Try a second version prepared through the buyer’s usual sharing process. If a redaction, re-encoding or clipped extract changes what can be verified, the recipient needs a way to tell the original from the derivative, so ask the supplier to document both outcomes. This is a test request for the proposed installation. The October bulletin supplies the design intent and the maturity of the specification; each implementer must explain its own file handling. N03 · ONVIF October bulletin
A signature also leaves the investigator with an ordinary evidentiary job. Establish what the camera could see, when its clock was checked, who exported the file and what happened outside the frame. A viewer who verifies the source of a clip may still need another camera to say which door someone used. Put both questions on the acceptance form and give each an owner.