Samsara dash cams are HD cameras designed to improve fleet safety, exonerate drivers, and lower accident-related costs. The Samsara dashboard supports the remote retrieval of video clips from all generations of dash cams and multi-cams. You can also request a video to manually create a crash event to enable you to track and coach the event as a safety event.
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The Video Library (Safety ( ) > Video Library) displays video requests in order of most recent requests. Each new video request displays information about the status of the request, either that the video is in process or that the vehicle is offline and must connect to cellular or Wi-Fi before the request can complete.
After you Request a Video, Samsara displays it in the Saved Video Library as a card with a trip photo still, the vehicle ID, driver name (if known), the name of the person who requested the video, and the location where the segment begins. If you star a video for later review, it displays under the Starred Video Library.
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After a driver completes a trip, by default, Samsara AI dash cameras continue to record for an additional 10 minutes after a trip ends. To configure your dash cam settings or enable Parking Mode to record longer durations, see Dash Camera Settings.
All trip video is stored locally on the cameras and must be retrieved over cellular or Wi-Fi.
Observe the following considerations and limitations when requesting a video:
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Video retrieval is not available for in-progress trips.
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Samsara does not support the ability to extract license plate information from dash cam video retrievals and does not have any tools to enhance images.
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The dash cam and the Vehicle Gateway (VG) must both be online and connected for video retrieval to complete.
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When video storage capacity is reached, older videos are purged to make room for newer videos. The older videos will not be available for retrieval after being purged.
Note
Camera model and selected optional settings can impact video storage capacity. To view or modify your settings, see Dash Camera Settings).
Use the following workflow to remotely retrieve footage from a specific vehicle:
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Select Request Video to access your camera footage from any of the following locations:
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Video Library: In your Samsara dashboard, navigate to Safety > Video Library
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Proximity Search: In your Samsara dashboard, navigate to Overview > Proximity
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For videos by trip, Review Trip Images.
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Select the vehicle from the menu and the date of the retrieval.
Video availability is dependent on the camera configuration and Camera Storage Capacity. If the video is available, the date displays as white and the calendar displays the
Earliest Footage
retrieval date. -
Highlight the time range for the video request.
A solid bar indicates that high resolution, hyperlapse, and SEV format videos are all available.
A striped bar indicates that only SEV format footage is available.
No bar indicates that the footage is not available. This can either mean that the footage is no longer available or was not recorded at that time.
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To allow for longer video retrievals, select a hyperlapse (sped-up) video format or request the video from the secondary video stream.
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To switch between formats, select from the format from the menu.
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Select Retrieve Video.
Select a 1 minute segment to display more information about that segment, including a map of where the vehicle was traveling, the addresses, and the assigned driver (if available).
Samsara sends the request to the camera, which returns the video when online. The time it takes for a video retrieval can vary. For example, if both the camera and the vehicle gateway are connected, you may be able to retrieve video immediately.
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To view the status of your video retrieval request, navigate to Video Library Requests. Locate the Progress for the video retrieval request:
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Connecting: Request is in retreival queue on the device
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Uploading: The CM has created the video and is uploading the file to the cloud
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Processing : The cloud has received the video and is processing the file
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Video Ready: Retrieval is ready for viewing
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Vehicle Offline: Device is offline and will retry when the device is next online
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Upload Failed: Processing has failed due to corrupt files
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After the video request displays Video Ready , select Play Video.
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To manually create a crash event from a video retrieval, see Create a Crash Event.
If video is available, the video format available for the time range displays as either a solid bar or a striped bar on the timeline. For Third-Party Camera installations, you can request footage up to 1 minute in length; however, Secondary Extended Video (SEV) is not available for this installation type.
Hyperlapse Videos can help you to quickly review the footage to identify important events. This format type is dependent on the availability of high resolution video. The solid bar indicates that both hyperlapse and high resolution video are available for retrieval. A striped bar indicates that the video is only available as secondary stream video.
Longer segments require more time to process and download. Default resolution settings are applied based on the length of your video retrieval. Alternatively, you can choose the resolution option to apply to your video retrieval using the table below:
Video Length |
Video Type (Default) |
Audio Available |
Video Type (Alternative) |
---|---|---|---|
<1m |
High Resolution |
Yes |
Secondary Stream |
1m-10m |
Secondary Stream (Secondary Extended) |
No |
Hyperlapse |
> 10m |
Hyperlapse |
No |
N/A |
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