Timelapse problems

I’ve been using NetCam Studio for some weeks now and it works quite well.

One of the problem I have is with timelapse. I use it instead of continuously recording full days as it takes too much space.

The first problem is that they don’t appear in my library. Support said that this was supposed to be fixed with 1.0.6 (if I remember well) but it never worked for me, even if I did a clean reinstall since then. Either on mobile or using the client.

The other problem is that NetCam Studio seems to store all the timelapse images inside ONE single folder instead of doing a folder per day as the motion recording does. Also, it seems that the retention period for the library doesn’t apply to the timelapse images. Last time I checked, I had like 3 weeks of image (since I started it instead of the last 7 days as configured) for a total of ±118 000 file in one single folder. As you can guess, it takes windows forever and a half to open a folder containing that much files.

Is there anything that needs to be setup on my part to fix this or is just the timelapse function broken?

Thank you!

Netcam Studio stores them in 1 folder per timelapse.

Once a timelapse is finished, it is converted to a movie based on all the pictures that were collected and appear in the library so no the function is not broken, it’s just not intended for replacing DVR or constant recording.

It’s also not subject to the same cleanup rules. Once a timelapse is stopped, it will have the timestamp of its ending time. and be cleaned from library and HDD when its retention period is over so actually everything that you are reported is true but also conform to how it was designed to behave.

Hope this helps…

Well, something is definitely broken in my setup.

Timelapse where never transformed into a video. All the image stayed in one single folder (120 000+ files).

Also, you’re talking about “when the timelapse is stopped”. I’m using the scheduler to have the timelapse running all the time. Could it be that this way the timelapse is actually never stopped and therefore it doesn’t get converted in a video?

I’ll just stop the timelapse for an hour during the night to see how it react.

Might not be a bad idea to add an option to have the system create a movie every X minutes/hours/days and just keep the timelapse running.

Thank you!

Yes, I suppose that’s why your timelapse is never stopped when used 24/7 using the scheduler.

You can try to manually interrupt it using right->click menu on the source and click the timelapse. This will force stopping it (therefore converting all images into a movie + writing an entry in the library).

Here is an example of a timelapse video created using my GenerateTimelapse PowerShell script:

The script requires you to change your Timelapse settings to create a single image file at the duration you require. My settings are for 1 image every 30 seconds.

1 Like

Hi Dean,
Excellent work and thank you very much for sharing this. The solution is here

Thanks,
Henrik