How to find a person in CCTV footage
Scrubbing through hours of video by hand is slow and easy to get wrong. These are the methods that save the most time, from what any recorder can do to AI search.
1. Narrow the time and cameras first
Start with what you know: roughly when it happened and which entrance or area. Watching one camera for one hour at high speed is far faster than searching a whole day across every camera. If the person passed several cameras, find them on the camera closest to the event first, then use that time to check the cameras next to it.
2. Jump between motion events
Most recorders mark the moments when something moved, and jumping from event to event skips the empty footage. The catch is that shadows, rain, headlights and leaves also trigger motion, so a busy scene can still leave hundreds of events to check.
3. Filter by person detection
An AI NVR runs object detection on the video and keeps only the moments when a person or a vehicle was actually in view. This removes most false motion events, but you still look through every person, not just the one you want.
4. Search for the person
- By appearance. Pick a person and find others with similar clothing and build. It works from behind or at a distance, when the face is not visible.
- By face. Pick a face and find the other times it appeared.
- By description. Type what you remember, such as “a person in a yellow shirt”, and get the closest matches.
- By attributes. Combine what you know, such as clothing color, a bag or a hat.
Doing it in Grablo Spot
- Open History. Every person and vehicle your cameras recorded is already a card.
- Choose the day, then search By text (for example “a person in a yellow shirt”) or By attributes.
- Open the card of the person you are looking for. Their scenes from every camera play in time order.
- From that card, use Find by appearance or Find by face to find the other times they appeared.
Footage that is easier to search
- Mount a camera near each entrance at a height where faces are visible, not only high in a corner.
- Keep entrances lit at night. Infrared footage loses clothing color, which makes appearance and color search harder.
- Record at 1080p or higher on cameras that need to show faces or plates.
Questions
Can I find someone if their face is not visible?
Yes. Appearance search compares clothing and build, so it works from behind or at a distance. Results are ranked by similarity, so check the top matches.
Do I need to register faces first?
Not in Grablo Spot. Pick any face in your footage and search. Register a face only when you want an alert when that person appears.
Is Grablo Spot really free?
Yes. Every feature is free with no camera limit. Live View over a direct connection is unlimited on every plan. Paid plans only add relay server bandwidth for networks that block direct connections.