Smart Retention
Introduction
Smart Retention simplifies how Meraki MV cameras record and store footage, giving users confidence in how many days of retention they will receive. This feature ensures that key events, such as people and vehicles in motion, are captured in high fidelity, while also dedicating storage to meet users’ storage requirements. This document covers how Smart Retention works, what customization options are available to the user, and how to choose the right camera model for different deployment types.
Benefits of Smart Retention
Smart Retention provides the following benefits to Meraki MV smart camera users:
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Longer and more predictable video retention duration
-
Simplified video quality settings
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Reduced bandwidth requirements for local and cloud streaming
Predictable retention days
Smart Retention allows Meraki MV smart cameras to provide predictable days of retention, allowing users to more easily decide which camera models fit their retention needs best. Users can also more easily predict how long footage will be retained and when older footage will be overwritten by newer footage. The table below summarizes the expected days of retention for different camera models and quality settings.
How Smart Retention works: two recording streams
To provide the retention day durations listed above, Meraki MV cameras simultaneously record two video streams: the event stream and the continuous stream.
Event stream
The event stream continuously records footage at either Standard (1080p/24fps), Enhanced (4MP/24fps), or Ultra (4K/15fps) quality and continues to use Smart Codec. Live footage from the event stream is always available for live streaming. Once footage is recorded in the event stream, the camera retains the footage if any motion is detected. Otherwise, the footage may be discarded after 30 minutes to make room for other motion events.
Continuous stream
The continuous stream provides coverage for spans of time when no motion is detected. The continuous stream continuously records footage at 540p/24 fps for MV13, MV13M, MV23, MV23X, MV63, MV63X, MV73, and MV73X. It records at 720p/24 fps for MV33, MV33M, MV93, MV93M, and MV93X. Footage is only discarded after it becomes older than the expected days of retention in the table above.
Historical playback
With Smart Retention, historical playback is always played from the best available source.
Determining retention duration for motion events
Smart Retention assumes that most cameras see 8 hours of motion per day or less. If a camera sees 8 hours or less of motion per day, all motion events are retained in high resolution for the expected days in the table above. If a camera sees more than 8 hours of motion per day, all footage is still retained for the expected days but older events are retained in low resolution.
Here are some general guidelines for typical amounts of observed motion that can be expected for various deployment types.
|
Deployment type |
Typical motion (hours per day) |
|
Busy retail locations |
16-24 |
|
Busy roads, intersections |
16-24 |
|
Building entrances, lobby areas |
8-16 |
|
Office spaces and hallways |
8-16 |
|
Elementary school, high school, and college/university spaces |
0-8 |
|
Parking lots |
0-8 |
|
Warehouses, manufacturing spaces |
0-8 |
|
IT closets, storage closets |
0-8 |
The tables below display the expected days of retention for cameras that see more than 8 hours of motion per day.
Standard quality retention
| Event stream retention based on motion | |||||
|
Camera models |
Storage size |
Continuous stream retention |
Low (0-8 hrs/day) |
Medium (8-16 hrs/day) |
High (16-24 hrs/day) |
|
MV13, MV33, MV63, MV93 |
256GB |
30 days |
30 days |
15 days |
10 days |
|
MV13M, MV23M, MV33M, MV63M, MV73M, MV93M |
512GB |
60 days |
60 days |
30 days |
20 days |
|
MV23X, MV63X, MV73X, MV93X |
1TB |
120 days |
120 days |
60 days |
40 days |
Enhanced quality retention
| Event stream retention based on motion | |||||
|
Camera models |
Storage size |
Continuous stream retention |
Low (0-8 hrs/day) |
Medium (8-16 hrs/day) |
High (16-24 hrs/day) |
|
MV13, MV33, MV63, MV93 |
256GB |
20 days |
20 days |
10 days |
6 days |
|
MV13M, MV23M, MV33M, MV63M, MV73M, MV93M |
512GB |
45 days |
45 days |
22.5 days |
15 days |
|
MV23X, MV63X, MV73X, MV93X |
1TB |
90 days |
90 days |
45 days |
30 days |
Ultra quality retention
| Event stream retention based on motion | |||||
|
Camera models |
Storage size |
Continuous stream retention |
Low (0-8 hrs/day) |
Medium (8-16 hrs/day) |
High (16-24 hrs/day) |
|
MV13, MV33, MV63, MV93 |
256GB |
15 days |
15 days |
7.5 days |
5 days |
|
MV13M, MV23M, MV33M, MV63M, MV73M, MV93M |
512GB |
30 days |
30 days |
15 days |
10 days |
|
MV23X, MV63X, MV73X, MV93X |
1TB |
60 days |
60 days |
30 days |
20 days |
Requirements to use Smart Retention
MV 6.0.2 is the minimum supported firmware version for Smart Retention. Smart Retention is available for the following camera models: MV13, MV13M, MV23M, MV23X, MV33, MV33M, MV63, MV63M, MV63X, MV73M, MV73X, MV93, MV93M, MV93X.
Enabling Smart Retention
Assuming a camera meets the above minimum requirements, Smart Retention can be enabled either manually or using profile assignment.
To enable it manually, navigate to a single camera > Settings > Quality and retention > Retention policy. Select “Smart.” Note that Motion Based Retention and traditional retention cannot be used when Smart Retention is enabled. Set the desired video quality and observe the expected retention days on the right side.
To enable it in a camera profile, navigate to Cameras in the left side panel > Configure > Camera profiles > Quality and retention profiles. Create a new profile or edit an existing one. Under Quality and Retention settings, enable "Smart Retention." Under "Per model configuration," set the desired quality settings for cameras that support Smart Retention. Assign the profile to the desired cameras.
Exports with Smart Retention
With Smart Retention, exported video uses high resolution video for motion events when available. Low resolution video is combined in when high resolution is not available. Note that long exports (greater than 4 hours in length) may be split into multiple shorter exports.
Bandwidth requirement improvements for streaming
Smart Retention also comes with optimizations to bandwidth requirements for live streaming. The below table shows the previous bandwidth requirements for live streaming at various quality settings, the new bandwidth requirements, and the percent improvement.
|
Previous bandwidth requirement |
New bandwidth requirement |
Improvement |
|
|
Standard Quality |
2800 kbps |
1800 kbps |
36% |
|
Enhanced Quality |
9000 kbps |
3100 kbps |
66% |
|
Ultra Quality |
8000 kbps |
5400 kbps |
33% |
Additional retention with Cloud Archive, Motion Based Retention, and Scheduled Recording
Additional retention beyond the number of days provided above can be gained through the use of other Meraki MV features. Click the links below for more information.
Prioritizing high resolution over low resolution retention using Maximum Retention Limit
Maximum Retention Limit is a feature designed to allow users to limit how much footage their cameras can retain. For example, some users may want to do this to meet local regulatory laws that restrict how long footage can be retained. Click here to learn more about Maximum Retention Limit.
Maximum Retention Limit can also be used to prioritize high resolution retention over low resolution when using Smart Retention. Consider an example in which 30 days of retention are required. In this example, consider an MV63X which is capable of 60 days of retention on Ultra. The 60 day retention figure assumes a scene where 8 hours of motion occurs. However, if the MV63X is monitoring a scene with 16 hours of motion per day, it might only retain 20 days of high resolution footage. In this example, if only 30 days of retention is needed, Maximum Retention Limit can be set to 30 days to reduce storage used by the continuous stream and increase the space available for the high resolution stream.
