Video timeline thumbnails in Security Center SaaS

2026-08-03Last updated

Video thumbnails on the timeline provide a visual preview of recorded footage at different points in time, helping operators locate specific moments without playing back entire recordings.

When you activate Video thumbnails on timeline in a camera's recording profile, users can interact with the timeline in the following ways:
  • Viewing thumbnails while hovering.

    Hovering the mouse pointer over the timeline displays a thumbnail preview above it. The available thumbnails depend on the visible time range. A shorter time range shows thumbnails at shorter intervals than a longer time range. Operators can adjust this time range while hovering over the timeline by pressing Shift and scrolling the mouse wheel. The timeline displays a range from 30 seconds to 24 hours.

    Investigation task showing the experience when using video scrubbing to quickly navigate and find a person or object of interest on the video timeline.
  • Quickly reviewing video by scrubbing.

    Dragging along the timeline displays a full-frame thumbnail preview over the current video. A white cursor indicates the position on the timeline. Releasing the mouse moves playback to that point.

Note:
Video thumbnails on the timeline are only visible when using the Investigation task or intelligent search functions to review video.

Usage considerations

Activating video thumbnails on the timeline consumes approximately 60 Kbps per camera because the system sends a continuous low-resolution stream to the cloud. The amount varies by camera manufacturer.

Activation settings for video timeline thumbnails

The Activate video thumbnails on timeline setting is activated in the camera's recording profile. You can change the setting on individual cameras if their recording profile is set to Custom settings.
Note:
The Activate video thumbnails on timeline setting is unavailable on cameras that don’t support video thumbnails.