When you setup your camera with Camcloud the whole goal is to get motion detection events. So you should see events in your Timeline. They can either be images or videos depending on your camera's capabilities and/or your personal preference.

How you setup motion detection events on your camera depends on the model.

  • Amcrest/Foscam/Axis/Sony/Hikvision/Vivotek we can automatically configure  your camera with "Auto Setup". This is where we write settings on your camera during the Camcloud add camera wizard to enable motion detection.
  • Other cameras (D-Link, Trendnet for example) require you to take action and setup motion detection in the camera's interface. This depends on the model but typically involves 3 steps. See section 3 of the of this guide.

After setting this up on your camera if you are still not getting motion detection events in your Timeline here are some things you can check.

1. Ensure that your cameras are ON. Click on your "Username" menu and look for your current display message. "Turn Events Off" means that Global Motion Detection is enabled, this is what you want. "Turn Events On" means that your Global Motion Detection is disabled, you don't want this. These setting affects all cameras simultaneously.

Motion Detection can be turned on/off on a per camera basis as well. Click on the arrow to the right of the camera in the Timeline and choose "Edit". Make sure that "Motion Detection" is selected in the Recording Mode (or with a business plan: Event Triggers has Motion Detection selected). 

2. Reconfigure your camera connection. From the Timeline page, click the dropdown arrow to the right of the camera, select "Edit" and click the "Reconfigure Connection" button.

3. Check your camera's connectivity. Can you go to the internal IP of the camera without problems? 

4. Update the firmware! There is a reason your camera has released new firmware. Bug fixes. So make sure you get the latest and update. 

5. If you used Auto Setup with a certain camera type, try removing your camera from Camcloud and adding it again. This resets the settings required for Camcloud.

6. Camcloud relies on motion events sent from the camera. Every camera has system logs. Does it show motion events recently?

7. Check your DNS. If you're camera is sending motion events it will do that via FTP. Your camera needs to be able to resolve the FTP domain name. Try changing your camera's DNS to the Google DNS of 8.8.8.8 for the primary and 8.8.4.4 for the secondary. Then reboot the camera.

8. Did your IP change recently? Take a look at some essential networking tips. Setting up a static IP might help with inconsistencies with motion detection.

9. Go to the FTP settings on your camera's configuration page. Press the test button. Does it succeed?
 
10. Did you setup a schedule? Remove the schedule for now. By default no schedule is needed, Camcloud will record at all times. Leave it on "Always On". Once you have sorted out the problem then you can add your schedule.
 
 
11. Did you setup or change the motion detection area? In the case of cameras where we automatically setup the motion detection area you shouldn't need to do anything. But if you changed the area of motion then double check you haven't accidentally reversed the area you want to detect.
 
If you manually setup your camera then make sure you have setup motion detection area. Warning: some cameras like D-Links won't show you the motion detection area but in fact it does exist once you install the plug-ins.
 
12. The good ole reboot. I can't tell you how many times a simple camera reboot cleared out the problem.
 
13. Factory reset. I hate recommending this but sometimes resetting the camera entirely can clear out the problem. Prepare yourself as you will have to setup the network again.
 
14. In some cases your router may be blocking outgoing ports (we use ports 21 and the range 50000-60000). Although rare we've seen cases where firewall settings may block some outgoing traffic. For example the Comcast/Xfinity router has a default firewall setting that blocks P2P traffic. In this case changing the firewall setting to "minimal" security is a good test to see if it starts working. Now you can start to narrow down the specific setting that's blocking the outgoing ports.
 
Go over to the Timeline page to see if any recordings were saved. The timeline will populate any event that happens with a blue bar.  Make sure to wait a couple of minutes after each setting you try as it can take some time to start propagating to the cloud.