Recording Streams
Cordatus records camera streams on the device, not in the cloud. The device pulls the stream, writes it to its own disk and keeps recording even if the internet connection drops. The Web App is only the remote control: you start, pause, stop and review recordings from Video Management → Record List, wherever you are.
- 100% uptime — recording survives internet outages
- Low latency — playback starts from local storage
- Bandwidth friendly — video is only transferred when you actually watch it
- Data sovereignty — footage stays in your own infrastructure
Starting a Recording
From the camera list
- Go to Video Management → Cameras.
- Click the ⋯ button on the camera's row and choose Record → Start Now.
- Choose the target device that should record the camera and click Select. Only devices that are online and connected can record.
- Give the recording a Recording Name and click Create Recording.
A confirmation appears and the camera shows a red recording dot in the list.
You do not need to open the live stream first — a camera can be recorded without being displayed on the video wall.
Name recordings in a date – place – purpose pattern, for example 2026-09-11 Main Gate Day Shift. The Record List and the Watch Records timeline both show this name, so a descriptive name saves time later.
While watching a stream
Open a camera on the video wall, click the open in new icon on its tile and use Start Recording on the Raw Stream Detail page.
For several cameras at once
Tick the cameras you want in the camera list, open the ⋯ menu in the list header and choose Start Recording.
The Record List
Video Management → Record List shows every recording of the organization.
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| Status | Recording while footage is being written, Stopped when it is finished. |
| Record Name | The name you gave the recording. |
| Device | The device that stores the footage. |
| Cameras | How many cameras the recording covers — expand it to see them. |
| Initialized At | When the recording was created. |
| Actions | Watch, stop/resume and delete. |
The search box filters by name, and the checkbox column lets you act on several recordings at once.
Stopping and resuming
Use the stop icon on a running recording to end it. A stopped recording can be started again with the play icon — Cordatus continues it as a new segment on the same camera, so the timeline stays continuous.
Deleting a recording
- Click the trash icon on the recording's row.
- Confirm in the dialog.
Both the database entry and the video files on the device are removed.
Deleting is permanent, and it requires the device to be online — Cordatus has to reach the disk that holds the files. Recordings cannot be deleted while their device is unreachable.
Where Recordings Are Stored
By default recordings are written to the device's own disk:
/home/<user_name>/.cordatus/Records
Inside that folder, every camera has its own tree so a specific moment is easy to find by hand:
Camera_ID/
┣━ Year/
┃ ┣━ Month/
┃ ┃ ┣━ Day/
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗━ Hour/
Changing the location and the storage policy
Open Devices, click the ⋯ icon of the device and choose Storage Info (see Runtime & Resources). The System Storage Paths section holds the Video Records path, which is where recordings are written, and the storage policy decides what happens when the disk fills up:
- Delete old files — the oldest recordings are removed automatically so recording never stops.
- Stop recording — recording stops when the threshold is reached, and nothing is deleted.
The threshold is the amount of free disk space (in GB) that triggers the selected action.
For 24/7 surveillance choose Delete old files and give the device a dedicated disk. See Adding a New Drive for mounting extra storage.
Automating Recordings
Instead of starting recordings by hand, assign a calendar to them: the recording then starts and stops on its own. Use Record → Schedule on a camera, or see Record Scheduling.
Watching What You Recorded
Recordings are played back on the Watch Records page, where several cameras share one timeline. See Watching Recordings.
If Something Goes Wrong
The Stream Engine on the device handles every camera connection, recording and playback. If recordings do not start, cameras do not appear or streams freeze:
- Open the Cordatus Client on the device and go to the Stream Engine panel.
- Update it if an update is offered.
- Click Restart.
- Return to the Cameras page and check that the cameras reconnect.
Restarting the Stream Engine does not interrupt active recordings, so it is safe to do at any time.