Surveillance video showing the wrong time?

The usual causes

• The clock was never set correctly when the DVR or camera was installed.
• Clock drift. Recorders without network time can drift by minutes a month.
• Daylight saving. Many recorders don’t change automatically, so footage is an hour off for half the year.
• UTC. Phones, action cameras and some exports store time in UTC, which looks hours off until it is converted.
• Copying or trimming. Exporting or editing a clip can replace its stored time with the time of the copy.

Measure and document the offset

1. Compare the recorder’s clock with an accurate time source (a phone set to network time) when you collect the footage, and write down both, or photograph the recorder screen next to the phone.
2. Note the difference (for example, “DVR is 7 minutes 40 seconds fast”) and whether daylight saving applies.
3. Keep the original export untouched and record its SHA-256 fingerprint.

Correct it on a copy

In Video Stamp, choose Custom date & time and enter the corrected start time. Video Stamp writes a new copy with a running, corrected date and time and leaves the original as it was. Its optional report records both SHA-256 fingerprints and where the start time came from, so your correction can be checked.

For files that do carry a reliable time (phones, GoPro, DJI, camcorders and many .dav/.264 DVR exports), Video Stamp reads it automatically and handles UTC, daylight saving and midnight for you.