Video files could not be found

[pmienes]

Hi, in Sighthoud (running on a Mac Mini that is usually on all the time), I've specified that it should record the clips in a shared folder on my Synology NAS, so that the clips are easily accessible from another Mac.
After the Mac Mini has rebooted, it always comes with the error message 'Video files could not be found', and I have to reselect the same folder on the NAS. This even happens when I terminated Sighthound nicely (turn off camera's) before restarting the Mac.
Quite annoying.

[ryan]

I'm not sure exactly how your external drive is being connected to by the OS. My guess is that it is mounting to a different path each time (/Volumes/MyDrive, then /Volumes/MyDrive-1, etc...). Unless the drive is unavailable or the logical path has changed Sighthound Video would not have trouble locating the files.

[pmienes]

I suppose you're right: it's a mounting/timing issue. When Sighthound starts before the NAS (wired Gigabit connected) has been mounted, there's no way for Sighthoud to find the archive folder. I've added the archive folder to the login options (the screen where you can specify which programs to start at login and which folders to open with Finder (which implicitly mounts the drive)), but one can not specify the order in which these programs are started or folders are opened/presented, so it may lead to a timing issue.
I've circumvented this by putting my archive folder on a USB drive and make it accessible to other users in the network.

[pmienes]

I think I found a solution for the mounting/timing problem. I installed DelayedLauncher.app. The name speaks for itself. In my Mac Login Startup items, I open the Archive folder in a Finder window (which implicitly mounts this shared folder), and I start DelayedLauncher. In DelayedLauncher I start SightHound after 30 seconds. This way, SightHound will find the Archive folder successfully.
For troubleshooting: the df command (to be issued in the terminal window) will show the mounted filesystems/shares.

[ryan]

Glad you got things figured out. One item that might be useful in your situation if you're trying to share videos for access to others would be to use the local export response on selected rules, rather than putting the app data on the shared drive. The local export response will have the benefit of creating clips that match given rules rather than larger files which also include temporary/cache data, and these files are outside of Sighthound's management, which is better for archive and prevents users from locking or removing data from the app without it's knowledge.

http://www.sighthound.com/support/export-local-folder

[habari]

I am having the same problem. I am trying to direct the file storage to the Synology NAS for its larger capacity -- trying to store about 1 TB of video. I've set up the account login items for both the main folder, named "timemachinevideooffice" and also the "archive" folder. I've turned off "reopen windows on login" so that Sighthound does not automatically reopen. I've enabled DelayedLauncher so that Sighthound opens about 45 secs following login, and the finder windows do open with the correct folders mounted well before Sighthound opens. Nonetheless, I'm still getting "video files could not be found." When I click on the "browse" button and go to the proper folder, e.g. "timemachinevideooffice", the "archive" folder is not seen. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[habari]

OK, I think I have it figured out. The Sighthound app would keep launching despite unchecking everything, until I unchecked the system preferences ->general ->recents, so that there are no recent documents which would open. This is in addition to having no "open at login" either on the dock or in system preferences or at the dialog box that comes up on apple ->restart. This, and Delayed Launcher, seem to have allowed everything to log in at the proper sequence. Hopefully....

[williamjames07]

yes..what have u said it will definitely work.