A recorder outage drill for two people and one camera
A local recorder can keep footage on the premises — that tells the buyer where video lives. The separate question is what the duty desk can see and recover when the internet path goes down. Spot AI documents a local Intelligent Video Recorder, and Coram documents an on-site Point with remote interfaces. Ask the installer of either system to demonstrate the promised behavior on the proposed configuration. V01 · Spot AI recorder V03 · Coram Point FAQ
Before the interruption
Use a designated test feed and an authorized maintenance window, with one person beside the local system and another at the remote desk. Choose an ordinary, observable action — someone walking past a fixed doorway carrying a card marked with the time, say. Record the camera time and a shared reference clock, and write down the exact path the installer intends to interrupt and the expected recovery procedure.
| Moment | Local observer records | Remote observer records |
|---|---|---|
| Before | Recording and playback of a marked passage | Live view, visible timestamp and retrieval of the same passage |
| During | A second marked passage and whether local playback works | Time the view changes, stale-image indicator and any alert actually received |
| After | First recovered view, retrievable interval and any sequence gaps | Time of reconnection, first searchable time and availability of the second passage |
What would count as a pass?
Agree on criteria before touching a connection. One owner might require the local recorder to keep the entire marked passage while allowing the remote desk to lose its live view until connectivity returns. Another may need a second route for urgent alerts — and a buyer with that requirement should ask the bidder to specify the route and include its cost. A successful local recording can coexist with a remote alert that never arrived.
After the test, have both people export whatever they can and compare timestamps. If the remote desk sees only the first and third passages, find out whether the second is still on the local recorder, delayed in synchronization or irretrievable. Record what was observed and what the vendor still has to explain. Sign off separately on local recording, remote visibility and recovery — three answers are far easier to use later than an acceptance form with a single tick beside “works offline.”