Video Retrieval

Samsara dash cams are HD cameras designed to improve fleet safety, exonerate drivers and lower accident-related costs. The Samsara cloud supports the simple retrieval of video clips from all generations of dashcams and multi-cams. You can access these videos through the Video Retrieval tab.

Before Requesting Video Retrieval

Before requesting a video retrieval, please note the following:

• Important Note: If your Samsara devices have been damaged in a crash or other incident, please read this article before attempting to retrieve any dash cam footage.
• The camera and gateway must be connected.
• By default, CM11 and CM12 dashcam models can hold up to 24 hours of footage, CM22 and CM31 models hold 40 hours of footage, and CM32 models hold 60 hours of footage.
• Videos will not be available for retrieval after these drive times are met.
• Enabling camera audio in CM31 models will reduce available storage to a maximum of 35 hours.
• Enabling camera audio in CM32 models will reduce available storage to a maximum 55 hours.
• Note: Changing some settings of the camera will impact overall maximum storage capacity and the video quality will decrease as you increase camera storage. More information on this can be found in this Knowledge Base Article. 
• Cameras only record while the vehicle is on a trip, and for an additional 10 minutes when a trip ends.
• The trip must be completed before a retrieval can be made. Requests from an in-progress trip cannot be made.
• A video retrieval pulls 60 seconds of video starting at the time selected in the retrieval request.

Requesting video through the Video Retrieval page

Step 1: Navigate to the Video Retrieval tab under the Safety menu.

Step 2: Select Request Video Retrieval in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This will open a modal window where you can select the vehicle name either by scrolling or by searching, as well as the date of the video to be retrieved.

Note: The date picker will only allow you to select a date with footage still available for retrieval. 
In addition, the Video Retrieval modal will provide the earliest available footage. 

Step 3: Select the vehicle, date and time of the video you are requesting.

This opens a timeline that highlights every minute of recorded footage on that camera for that day. You can use the timeline like a scroll bar, and highlight any section you want to zoom in on by clicking and dragging. Use either the timeline or the "Time" box to select the 1m clip you are looking for.

Note: Selecting a 1 minute segment opens up the modal further and displays more information about that segment — including a map of where the vehicle was traveling, the addresses, and the assigned driver (if available).

Step 4: Click Request, which sends the request to the camera, which will return the video as soon as it is online (nearly-immediate if the VG is connected when the request is sent).

The message: 'Waiting on device' means that the gateway is attempting to upload the video to the cloud. Once the video is available, the status will change to Completed.

Note: the request must be contained entirely within a single trip. If the selected segment length extends beyond the end of a trip, the clip will be cut at the end of that trip.

Please note that a number of factors might slow down the video retrieval:

• Is the vehicle at a location with a good cellular connection?
• How many videos were requested at once?
• Requesting a large number of videos at once for one gateway can cause the video retrieval to slow down substantially.
  • For quicker video retrieval, do not make more than three video requests at once.

Requesting video through Proximity Search

You can also retrieve videos through the Proximity Search page, located under the Fleet Overview tab. Simply input a location and time, and easily retrieve video from any camera-equipped vehicles that were nearby.

Locating retrieved video

After requesting a video, you can find it in the Video Library page, where the most recently requested video card will appear at the top of the page. The card will display information on the status of the request — either that the video is in process or that the vehicle is offline and must be connected before the request can be completed.

Once the video is successfully retrieved, it will appear in the Saved tab as a card with a trip photo still, the vehicle ID, driver name (if known), and the location where the segment begins. 

Utilizing Tags in Video Retrieval

The Video Retrieval tags will mirror all org-level tags and permissions, so you will be able to filter videos by appropriate tag.