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Having Trouble with GMT, E-mail Time Stamp, etc.

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by Alex Ethridge, 2013/10/03.

  1. 2013/10/03
    Alex Ethridge

    Alex Ethridge Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have a new surveillance system at a home I bought to fix up and flip and I have been having all sorts of problems understanding its setup. I have called Samsung's tech support many times for various problems and their universal solution for every problem is to reset the unit to factory defaults before working on any problem. I've been through that so many times that my frustration with their tech support has now turned to anger. The re-setup of all my users and other customizations after their lame tech support has cost me hours of work.

    So, here's my problem: I want to use the DVR's synchronization with an internet time server; but I can't find the correct settings. When the DVR's console displays the correct time, the time stamp on alert e-mails is several hours off. If I adjust the GMT, so that e-mail alerts have the correct time stamp, the time displayed on the DVR's displayed time is several hours off.

    I'm in the CDT zone (USA) and I use a futurequest.net mail server ( Me@MyName.com )

    Can anyone help me with this?
     
    Alex Ethridge,
    #1
  2. 2013/10/04
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Your DVR has nothing to do with the timestamp of email sent by futurequest. The DVR's time, sync'd or not, is not used at all for email alerts.

    The email timestamp will ALWAYS be the mail server's time. To have your time zone in the email you would have to set the mail server's time to that of yours, which is not under your control.

    The server's time should be converted to your time zone by your email client. If not, then your mail client is mis-configured.

    Just set the DVR time zone to yours and be done with it.

    Example from Futurequest site:
    Time is incorrect when receiving email

    You could also use your ISP's mail server to send the alerts.
     
    TonyT,
    #2


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  4. 2013/10/04
    Alex Ethridge

    Alex Ethridge Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I apologize if I misunderstand what you wrote; but, there is no time zone setting on the DVR. There is only GMT (essentially the same as time zone), which I can choose to activate or not activate.

    Then there is the time of day, itself. If I deactivate GMT and use only the time of day which I set, myself, and which works totally independently without regard to GMT and never synchronizes with a time server, then time stamped on e-mails and on the recorded images is all correct.

    If I choose to activate GMT and clock synchronization, depending on the GMT setting, either the time displayed on the DVR's recordings is several hours off or the time stamp on the e-mail alerts is several hours off. I can't have both correct.

    I can solve the problem of time differential between e-mail alert time stamp and recorded picture time stamp by disabling GMT and clock synchronization; but, then there is the problem of time drift on the DVR's clock.

    So, with time synchronization disabled on the DVR, if what you wrote about the mail server being totally in control of the time stamp, why can I enter a time that is fifteen minutes off on the DVR and have that same fifteen-minute-off time stamp displayed on all the e-mail alerts?
     
    Alex Ethridge,
    #3
  5. 2013/10/04
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Where are you seeing the email timestamp? In the body of the email message or in the email headers?

    If you see the time written in the message then that time is auto generated by the DVR as part of the message body. For example:

    ---------------------------------------
    To: johndoe at domain dot com
    Subject: alert
    From: xyz dvr
    Date: 4:45 PM (this is server time converted to your time by your email client)
    Message: This is an alert. A deer walked across the yard at 1:45 PM.
    ---------------------------------------

    In the "Message ", the 1:45 PM is generated by the DVR automatically based on its time settings.

    What time server are you using, it could be a incorrect or funky?

    And how do you know the DVR has time drift?

    AFAIK, all the samsung dvr manuals say this:

    Time Sync. : You can set the DVR’s current time synchronized to a selected <Time Server> regularly if you select to use <Time Server> In this case, <Date/Time/Language> setup does not allow time adjustment.
     
    TonyT,
    #4
  6. 2013/10/04
    Alex Ethridge

    Alex Ethridge Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks for the reply.

    Scenario 2 applies to the attached screen shot.
    In the screen shot, the Body time is correct.
    In the screen shot, the Subject time is correct.
    In the screen shot, the Date time is five hours fast.

    Scenario 1 (GMT and time sync disabled):
    • GMT and time synchronization for the DVR is disabled.
    • GMT is not a factor as time sync is not used.
    • I set the correct local time on the DVR.
    • E-mail alerts (motion detected) are sent with correct time stamp
    • Videos are recorded with correct time stamp.
    Scenario 2 (GMT and time sync enabled):
    • GMT and time synchronization for the DVR is enabled.
    • GMT set to -6.00
    • I set the correct local time on the DVR.
    • E-mail alerts (motion detected) are sent with five-hours-fast time stamp
    • Videos are recorded with correct time stamp.

    I accepted the default time server already listed in the DVR's default settings. Glad you suggested; I'll try another.

    Time drift: I assume all clocks eventually drift off the a little from day to day and after a month or so could be anywhere from a few seconds off to a few minutes off.

    Yes, I realized this afternoon I was ignoring that (unintentionally).
     

    Attached Files:

    Alex Ethridge,
    #5
  7. 2013/10/05
    Alex Ethridge

    Alex Ethridge Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I tried a different time server, time.windows.com, no change.
     
    Alex Ethridge,
    #6
  8. 2013/10/06
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    It looks like you are using Thunderbird email client?
    Select an email alert in the top pane.
    Go to View (File-Edit-View-Go, etc.)> Message Source.
    Post the header of the message from the top of the source:

    From - Day Month # time:date
    to here:
    Content-Type:

    Replace actual email addresses with fake ones else spammer email harvesters will grab them from this post.

    The time:date shown in the Date column is put there by the SMTP server, not the DVR software. Try using a different SMTP server than futurequest.net. Your ISP likely provides up to x # of free email accounts. Create a new account and use that. No need to setup that account in your mail client, you can use the ISP Web mail to access the test messages.
     
    TonyT,
    #7

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