Your monthly video clips explained

You can upload a maximum of 3,000 clips a month of manual and scheduled recordings. If you exceed this threshold, you will need to wait until next month for your limit to reset.

Note: If you own a monthly plan with a Slimline or Round Doorbell Camera only, your video clip upload limit is 1,200 clips per month. If you have either an Indoor or Outdoor Camera, your plan will come with 3,000 clips per month.

If your account reaches its monthly upload limit, the recording rules are paused with the exception of alarm-triggered rules. This means during alarm situations only, your cameras will record your videos and upload them to your account, regardless of whether you have exceeded your monthly limit or not. Recording rules can be resumed manually on the first day of the following month.

To check how many uploads are included in your service plan and how many remain, follow these instructions here:

1. Log in to the web portal
2. Select Video from the navigation pane on the left-side of the page
3. Select Saved Video Clips from the top of the screen
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to review your clip limit and usage for the current month

Your account can store a maximum of 3,000 clips depending on your service package. If you record more than the maximum amount, your oldest clips will be overwritten with the new.

Your storage capacity is different from your monthly upload limit. If you exceeded your monthly upload limits, deleting a clip will not allow you to upload a new clip to your account.

You can save important clips so that they are not overwritten, by going to your TELUS SmartHome account and protecting your video clips.

Protecting my video clips from the mobile app

1. Log in to the TELUS SmartHome mobile app
2. Open the menu at the top left corner of the app
3. Scroll down and select Video
4. From the top navigation bar, select Saved
5. Select the video clip(s) you want to protect
6. At the top, select the lock icon to protect your clip(s)

Protecting my video clips from the web portal

1. Log in to the web portal
2. Select Video
3. Select Saved Video Clips
4. Hover over the clip(s) you would like to save and select the three dots
5. Next, select the Protect clip option

You can set the duration of the clips by going to your TELUS SmartHome account. Select Video > Settings > Saved Video.

• Video Analytics clips are approximately 30 seconds long. These clips are not affected by the Camera-triggered clip length setting
• You can record up to 15 minutes of continuous clips when an alarm is triggered (can be customized or changed at any time). These clips will record even if you have exceeded your monthly limit
• You can enable pre-trigger recording which will record 2 to 4 seconds prior to the motion event

When an account's video clip upload limit is reached the recording rules are paused with the exception of the alarm-triggered rules.

Using Video Analytics to capture footage that matters most

Careful camera placement and recording rule configuration reduces unwanted recordings. With Video Analytics, you can customize recording rules to define what will and will not trigger a clip upload. The best practices to ensure accurate recordings include:

• Ensuring the horizon line is level and closer to the middle of the frame horizontally

• Avoiding intersecting tripwires or overlapping ground zones with objects that are prone to movements, such as trees, bushes or other objects that move in the wind

• Only drawing rules where the feet or wheels of an object should cross

  • Do not increase the size of the loiter zone or tripwire to cover the whole of the target
  • Do not include furniture, walls, trees or other structures in the rule or selection
  • Tripwires should be set for less than eight meters (25 feet) to improve accuracy of triggers during daytime and five meters (15 feet) for nighttime. Cameras supporting Video Analytics can support up to three rules, which can be customized to run between set times of day

• Increasing the Minimum Delay Between Clips to reduce repeated or unwanted triggers

• After observing what the rule detects over a few days, consider adjusting either the Minimum Object Detection Size slider or recalibrating the camera depending on your model

  • When adjusting the Minimum Object Detection Size slider, increasing the minimum object size can reduce false detection
  • Depending on the season, Video Analytics may need to be slightly altered to account for changes in the environment such as leaves falling, snowfall or increased traffic

For more information about the ideal Video Analytics configuration, please see the Setting up Smart Video Alerts page.

How air temperature affects doorbell motion detection

Due to the nature of infrared motion sensors, it's common to see a change in clip quantity during different times of the year. This variability is due to the difference in temperature between the person or vehicle being detected and the ambient air.

• During warm months, clips tend to trigger less often
• During cold months, clips tend to trigger more often

To prevent these changes, it may be necessary to tweak the sensitivity slider to account for changes in weather.

Adjusting the Doorbell Sensitivity slider to improve accuracy

Your doorbell camera uses a fixed lower portion of the camera view for motion triggers to avoid recordings from non-human activity. By adjusting the sensitivity slider, your camera will:

• Increase or decrease the size of the fixed area
• Increase or decrease the minimum object size necessary to prompt a recording
• Disable the passive infrared sensor (when set to Extremely High)

To change the sensitivity setting using the SmartHome app:

1. Log into the Customer app
2. Select Doorbell Camera from the menu
3. Select the gear icon
4. Select and select the desired camera
5. Use the Motion Sensitivity slider to adjust to the desired sensitivity
6. Select the checkmark icon to save your changes

To change the sensitivity setting using the web portal:

1. Log into the web portal
2. Select Video
3. Select Settings in the upper menu
4. Select your doorbell camera from the Video Device dropdown
5. Select Video Device Info
6. Adjust the sensitivity slider near the bottom of the page
7. Select Save to ensure your changes are retained