# About recording

*Applies to: Pearl-2, Pearl Mini*

You can record a channel as AVI, MOV, MPEG-TS, MP4, or MP4-Fragmented. Easily stop and start recording using any of the following:

| **Admin panel** | **Device screen** | **Epiphan Edge** | **Epiphan Live** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Yes | Yes (Including single touch feature) | Yes | Yes |

If an accidental system shutdown occurs while recording is in progress, your recordings are closed off so they are still playable. Physically unplugging a video source from the input port or otherwise interrupting the signal does not stop recording. A No Signal image is inserted.

The device also comes with APIs so you can set up third-party tools to control recording. See the [Pearl API documentation](https://www.epiphan.com/userguides/pearl-api/Content/Home-Pearl-api.htm).

You can set the maximum recording time or file size limit using the Admin panel. The default recording limits are set to 30 minutes or 500 MB, whichever comes first. When the time or file size limit is reached, the current recording is saved and a new recording file starts automatically without losing any content. When the local drive is full, newer recordings overwrite oldest recordings.

**Important considerations**

- If recordings are selected for Automatic File Upload (AFU) while AFU is at maximum upload capacity or when AFU is unavailable, the recordings are added to an upload queue.
- If the channel that is recording is an auto channel, a new recording is started if the video input source automatically switches from one video source to another due to signal loss.
- You can also set up multi-track recorders.
- While actively recording a multi-track recorder, a new file is created if an additional video input source is added to the multi-track recorder.

**Tested media players**

Epiphan has tested recordings with the following players.

**Table — Tested Media Players**

| **Operating System** | **Tested Players** |
| --- | --- |
| Mac OS | QuickTime 10.3 QuickTime 7.6.6+ VLC 2.2.4 Playback Pro 2.3.2 Final Cut Pro 10.3.2 Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 |
| Windows | QuickTime 7.6.6+ VLC 2.2.6 Windows Media player 12+ Movies & TV (Windows 10) Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015 |
| Linux | MPlayer VLC 2.2.2 |
| HTML 5 Browsers (Windows) | Google Chrome 37+ (works with MOV and MP4 files using H.264 codec) |

Not all media players and editors support all recording formats, such as the more modern MP4-fragmented format. To playback MOV files created by the device, we recommend using a newer media player.

> product: pearl-family · topic: recording · source: pearl-family-common.md · updated: Oct 13, 2026