Is API timelapse export supposed to work?

[0x464e]

I'm trying to export a timelapse via the API with all default settings. I'm expecting the result to be sped up timelapse video, however the resulting export video I get plays back in realtime, just as if I didn't even specify the timelapse option.

This should create a timelapse of 1hr of video footage from earlier today(?)

curl -L 'https://frigate.my.domain/api/export/terrarium/start/1775379600/end/1775383200' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "playback": "timelapse_25x",
  "source": "recordings",
  "name": "timelapse_test"
}'

But the resulting video I get is just a normal 1hr video playing back in realtime:

My config (click to expand)

ui:
  timezone: Europe/Helsinki

tls:
  enabled: false

auth:
  enabled: false

proxy:
  auth_secret: secret
  default_role: viewer
  separator: '|'
  header_map:
    user: X-Authentik-Username
    role: X-Authentik-Groups
    role_map:
      admin:
        - frigate-admins

logger:
  default: info

mqtt:
  enabled: false

detectors:
  onnx:
    type: onnx

model:
  model_type: yolo-generic
  width: 320
  height: 320
  input_tensor: nchw
  input_dtype: float
  path: /config/model_cache/yolov9-t-320.onnx
  labelmap_path: /labelmap/coco-80.txt

ffmpeg:
  hwaccel_args: preset-nvidia
  path: /config/custom-ffmpeg
  output_args:
    record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy

go2rtc:
  streams:
    terrarium:
      - ffmpeg:https://{FRIGATE_TERRARIUM_CAM_IP}/flv?port=1935&app=bcs&stream=channel0_main.bcs&user={FRIGATE_HTTP_USERNAME}&password={FRIGATE_HTTP_PASSWORD} #video=copy#audio=copy#audio=opus
      #- rtsp://{FRIGATE_HTTP_USERNAME}:{FRIGATE_HTTP_PASSWORD}@{FRIGATE_TERRARIUM_CAM_IP}/Preview_01_sub
    terrarium_sub:
      - ffmpeg:https://{FRIGATE_TERRARIUM_CAM_IP}/flv?port=1935&app=bcs&stream=channel0_sub.bcs&user={FRIGATE_HTTP_USERNAME}&password={FRIGATE_HTTP_PASSWORD}
  #webrtc:
  #  candidates:
  #    - 192.168.10.6:8555
  #    - stun:8555
  ffmpeg:
    bin: /config/custom-ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg

cameras:
  terrarium:
    enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/terrarium
          input_args: preset-rtsp-restream
          roles:
            - record
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/terrarium_sub
          input_args: preset-rtsp-restream
          roles:
            - detect
    onvif:
      host: 192.168.20.69
      port: 8000
      user: '{FRIGATE_HTTP_USERNAME}'
      password: '{FRIGATE_HTTP_PASSWORD}'
    detect:
      enabled: false
      width: 640
      height: 360
    motion:
      mask:
        motion_mask_1:
          friendly_name: Motion Mask 1
          enabled: true
          coordinates: 0.594,0.016,0.994,0.021,0.995,0.1,0.594,0.095
    record:
      enabled: true
      continuous:
        days: 3
version: 0.18-0
camera_groups: {}

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

Yes, API timelapse export is supposed to work. Your API call syntax looks correct - using "playback": "timelapse_25x" is the documented approach for creating timelapse exports.(1)(2)

However, there's a known issue that may be affecting you. When using hardware acceleration, users have encountered an IndexError: Replacement index 2 out of range for positional args tuple error with timelapse exports.(3) This error occurs in the ffmpeg preset handling code and can cause the timelapse to fail silently, resulting in a realtime export instead.

A workaround that has helped some users is to explicitly set timelapse_args in your config under the record.export section:(4)(3)

record:
  export:
    timelapse_args: "-vf setpts=0.04*PTS -r 30"

(4)

The default timelapse args are designed to fit 24 hours of recording into 1 hour of playback (25x speed). You can adjust the setpts value for different speeds - for example, setpts=0.02*PTS would give you 50x speed.(4)

If you're using hardware acceleration (which you are with preset-nvidia), this may be contributing to the issue. The timelapse export feature has had some compatibility problems with certain hardware acceleration configurations.(3)

Check your Frigate logs for any errors during the export process - the error may be occurring silently without preventing the export from completing (just falling back to realtime).

📚 Sources:

1. ExportRecordingsBody
2. PlaybackFactorEnum
3. [Support]: API timelapse: indexError: Replacement index 2 out of range for positional args tuple
4. Full Reference Config

---

Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[NickM-27]

what version of Frigate are you using?

[0x464e]

Uhh, I've been running a custom build built from dev while testing the share review timestamp feature I have a PR of.
The version's latest commit is 4b42039

Have there been some WIP changes and my version is in some awkward in-between state?

[hawkeye217]

That has all been refactored in dev and timelapse_args is no longer even a config option.

[0x464e]

Yeah lol I see, I was just about to try setting timelapse_args in the config but the YAML language server told me it's not a thing haha. Should I just wait for the next release to see what happens to timelapse, or is there some sneak peek advice you can give me? I don't want to rollback. But I'll update my custom build to reflect the current latest dev state.

[hawkeye217]

Docs still need to be written, but the new method will be with a custom export API. #21668

[0x464e]

Nice, that PR's description sounds good. Seems to add a lot of things which were making me wonder if I should just write a custom script to handle files on disk instead of using Frigate for this. But after those new changes are finished, it sounds like the timelapse export feature should be really good.