Not seeing Sentry Mode recordings

[MichaelB1969]

Hi all, new member here. I setup a Samsung SSD for DashCam, and it works fine. I am able to manually initiate recordings while underway and successfully review them on my laptop.

However, I am not seeing any recordings for Sentry Mode. I enable it, walk to the car without the key or smartphone, see the Sentry Mode warnings on the display, etc.

When I go back to the car with my key, I see the notification on screen that there was a Sentry Mode event. However, when I unplug the drive from the car and review it on my laptop, I don't see any of the Sentry Mode clips.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[DriveMe]

Welcome to TMC!

Do you see a folder labeled "RecentClips" inside your "TeslaCam" folder?

 

[MichaelB1969]

Thanks! Yes, I do see the "RecentClips" folder, but only the DashCam clip I initiated is in there...nothing else.

 

[DriveMe]

That's strange. Those manually saved clips are supposed to go to the "SavedClips" folder. (Or is it the other way around? Trying to remember...)

 

[DriveMe]

Keep in mind, that the event that triggered the Sentry Mode activation will be in the middle of the clip, not at the beginning.
The recording starts before the event! (It uses precognition! -jk)

 

[MichaelB1969]

That's strange. Those manually saved clips are supposed to go to the "SavedClips" folder. (Or is it the other way around? Trying to remember...)

From when I initiated the DashCam recording, the 3 full clips, which are around 36 seconds long, are in the "RecentClips" folder, and there are also 3 clips from the same recording that are each about 1 second long in the "SavedClips" folder.

 

[MichaelB1969]

Keep in mind, that the event that triggered the Sentry Mode activation will be in the middle of the clip, not at the beginning.

But the Sentry Mode event happened in my driveway, whereas the DashCam clips were recorded on the highway. I don't see any clips from my driveway at all.

 

[Saghost]

Sentry events and manually saved dashcam events (and automatic dashcam events if they ever happen) should all be in the saved clips folder. They're labelled by date, and Sentry events look exactly like saved dashcam events - just a folder with a date/time and 30 one minute long clips (ten minutes from three cameras.)

 

[DriveMe]

From when I initiated the DashCam recording, the 3 full clips, which are around 36 seconds long, are in the "RecentClips" folder, and there are also 3 clips from the same recording that are each about 1 second long in the "SavedClips" folder.

All clips are supposed to be 1 minute long! Sounds like a problem! Try a different flash-drive. Plug it into the USB port directly bypassing any hubs or extenders.

 

[MichaelB1969]

Sentry events and manually saved dashcam events (and automatic dashcam events if they ever happen) should all be in the saved clips folder. They're labelled by date, and Sentry events look exactly like saved dashcam events - just a folder with a date/time and 30 one minute long clips (ten minutes from three cameras.)

Yeah, the Sentry Mode clips just aren't there. I am going to erase the drive and start fresh and run some additional tests because it seems like it "should" be working. Will let you know what happens.

 

[MichaelB1969]

So I erased the SSD and started fresh with a new test. I put the drive in the car, and it was recognized. I activated Sentry Mode and came back a few minutes later without a key. The Sentry Mode was triggered and I saw the warning on the screen saying it was recording. I left and came back a few minutes later with the key. I went in and saw the event alert.

I also initiated a DashCam recording and saved it, thinking maybe that would also force save the video from the Sentry Mode event.

When I viewed on my laptop, the recording from the DashCam was there, but the Sentry Mode recording was not. Hmmm.

 

[sduck]

This sounds odd. You are creating the TeslaCam folder, but not the other ones that get created inside that folder automatically, right? And are you getting the 2 folders - Recent Clips and Saved Clips? All sentry mode recordings get saved into the Saved Clips folder. I'd suggest just waiting a few days and see what's in your Saved Clips folder - in normal use you're going to get a bunch of stuff. Maybe the way you're testing just isn't creating them somehow.

 

[MichaelB1969]

This sounds odd. You are creating the TeslaCam folder, but not the other ones that get created inside that folder automatically, right? And are you getting the 2 folders - Recent Clips and Saved Clips? All sentry mode recordings get saved into the Saved Clips folder. I'd suggest just waiting a few days and see what's in your Saved Clips folder - in normal use you're going to get a bunch of stuff. Maybe the way you're testing just isn't creating them somehow.

Yeah, I am just creating the TeslaCam folder, and the system is creating the other folders. We just went out to dinner and we got 8 Sentry Mode events. Nothing at all on the drive. I'll just leave it plugged in for a few days as you suggested and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[poppopmike]

On a related topic: Also a newby here. My T3 records everything fine and I can play back the files one at a time just fine, but it is soooo tedious.
The Sentrycam viewer
TeslaCam Video WebApp Player
supposed to help but all I get is black boxes. has anyone run into this?

 

[sduck]

That's some pretty deep system issue then - I'd contact tesla support about it. It's quite likely it'll get fixed with the next software update you get, but if there's something wrong hardware-wise that won't fix it.

 

[MichaelB1969]

Seems to be working now. I did two things different.

First, after formatting the drive, I didn't erase any hidden files.

Second, I didn't run a quick test and pull the drive to see the results. Rather, I let it go overnight and pulled it in the early evening the following day.

Not sure if it was the first thing, or second that made the difference, but in any case, it seems to be working.

Thanks to everyone who jumped in to assist. Appreciate it!

 

[ccie17319]

Seems to be working now. I did two things different.

First, after formatting the drive, I didn't erase any hidden files.

Second, I didn't run a quick test and pull the drive to see the results. Rather, I let it go overnight and pulled it in the early evening the following day.

Not sure if it was the first thing, or second that made the difference, but in any case, it seems to be working.

Thanks to everyone who jumped in to assist. Appreciate it!

I'm having this same behavior with my P3D- Dashcam works fine, Sentry not so much. I see that it creates the timestamped folders but no recordings in them. So you just reformatted? I've done that to no prevail. Grasping at straws did you format on PC or MAC? not that I think that would matter.

 

[MichaelB1969]

I'm having this same behavior with my P3D- Dashcam works fine, Sentry not so much. I see that it creates the timestamped folders but no recordings in them. So you just reformatted? I've done that to no prevail. Grasping at straws did you format on PC or MAC? not that I think that would matter.

Yeah, I just reformatted and didn't delete any of the hidden files. I reformatted on a Mac.

It's been working ever since.