Nightmare Exacq Edge W/ Axis P1355 Time Server Issue - What Is Osixrules?

I have an Axis P1355 camera running Exacq Edge 6.6. The time stamp on the Exacq Live view is out by 8 hours and no matter what I try, I cannot fix it. Been on hold with Exacq Tier 2 for over an hour, thought I'd see if any IPVM members have seen issues like this.

The Axis P1355 time is manually set to the correct time 5:36pm and my timezone is the correct GMT-8 (Vancouver, Las Vegas etc). Time is manually set and not set using a time server (like etc)

The Exacq Edge time is also manually set by myself using the Exacq client (v6.6). On the Date/Time screen however I do not have a selected TimeZone - it is empty. The only choice using the TimeZone dropdown box is "(GMT-05:00) osixrules" - (This is the same if use an old or current version of Exacq client or if I use Mac or PC client). What on earth is "osixrules" - is this a bug or some kind of Exacq Easter Egg from an Exacq programmer who is a Mac enthusiast? To make things more annoying, when I select "GMT-5 osixrules", the Exacq time changes to 12:36pm which is out by 5 hours. (Correct time should be 5:36pm)

Despite the fact that both Axis and Exacq times are manually set to the correct time/date - the Live View on Exacq client (ie what the end user would see) says the incorrect time by 8 hours (9:36am) no matter how often I force feed it the correct time. Been trying to get it resolved for a few hours now with no success.

I would love to ask Exacq about the osixrules time server thing, but again, been on hold forever. I will post an update if I find a solution, but in the meantime - any ideas?

Is it Osixrules like the topic title or osixrules?

If it is the latter, it is most likely a reference to posix time, which is typical for Unix/Linux systems.

How much this helps you I don't know, I just wanted to send it right away. I will let you know if I see anything else directly relating to your issue...

It sounds like Exacq needs or needs to know where on the camera the zoneinfo file for your timezone is. It sounds like you only have the one file (that Exacq is finding), for GMT-5:00.

Here is a link for the standard one for your zone, though if you are not familiar with Unix shell programming, I wouldn't do anything with it. Even if you are it's safer to exhaust tech support first.

Question, is the one client screen the only one you 'care' about? If so, can you work around the problem for now just by setting the time with whatever incorrect hours offset that works, like localtime + 8?

Yes I had considered setting the server time incorrectly on purpose to make the Live Camera screen correct, but I'd prefer to get this thing working properly rather than fudging it with some hack. I don't know how that would affect searching video as well.

Also this isn't connected to any server. The entire setup is just an Axis IP camera running Exacq Edge - so the Exacq server is just an application installed on the Axis camera. Exacq Edge is a cool idea in theory but so far it's been very problematic. Also at $250 per license for Edge compared to $36 for Exacq Start (which I know is rock solid) it's not that great of a deal. We only used Edge because it was a remote location with no room for a DVR. The money might have been better spent on an ultra compact Gigabyte BRIX with Exacq Start than an SD card and Exacq Edge. In any case, will post my findings on here.

...but I'd prefer to get this thing working properly rather than fudging it with some hack.

Agreed, but you sounded like you wanted off the phone in the worst way. ;)

Also this isn't connected to any server...Exacq server is just an application installed on the Axis camera...

Also agreed, that's why it is kinda of strange that they wouldn't be getting the same timezone information. A distinct possibillity is that that Exacq is using the posix_time system calls and Axis some other lower-level system calls, for whatever reason. In addition it would appear that the posix zoneinfo files for every other region besides GMT-5:00 are not in the Exacq distribution or not being found by Exacq. FWIW, Exacq corporate headquarters is also GMT-5:00.

One thing is weird, you would think that when using the (eastern) GMT-5 timezone file, Exacq would be ahead 3 hours, not 5... It will be interesting to find out what caused the problem for just you, or maybe just no one complained yet...

Finally, I cut and pasted the wrong link for your zone before, it should have read:

I represent ExacqVision in the NJ/NYC area and I just searched the knowledge base on ExacqVision's website and found the following article which I think will help you answer your question.

All exacqVision Edge cameras must be to be set to GMT+0 time and time zone (London and Lisbon). Because exacqVision Server runs directly on exacqVision Edge-compatible cameras, the time zone of the camera cannot be configured from exacqVision Client. Instead, the time zone should be configured in the camera's web interface.

I hope this helps.


Following on from Michael's answer... Yes, you should set the camera to GMT+0 time.

And a bit more background on the mysterious osixrules GMT+5...

The list of timezones displayed comes from the operating system. exacqVision on Windows displays a nice orderly list of timezones. exacqVision on Linux displays a messier list of timezones (more than one entry for many of the same timezone, just with different names) because that's what the OS provides. For Edge, the various camera manufactuers don't handle this very consistently. Because the Edge exacqVision server only has to talk to that ONE camera, we decided to *not set* the timezone of the exacqVision server. Instead, correct date/time epends solely on the camera being set to GMT+0 and the client where you are searching from being correct.

I talked to Engineering and we agreed that if the intent is to have the timezone blank, we should be doing a better job of ensuring the drop down doesn't display *anything*.

OK this now makes more sense. I'll set the Axis camera timezone to GMT+0 and ensure my client computer's timezone is correct.

The original problem has been the whole system (which consists of the camera and the exacq edge app) crashing every few days with the only resolution being a power cycle. The Axis engineer told me time sync problems can cause this - so I'll adjust the timezone on Axis camera to GMT+0 and see how long this thing stays up and running.

While I have you here - what is the official Exacq policy on setting date/time/timezone when using a traditional Exacq VMS (Start or Pro) with Axis cameras? Is the time/date/timezone set on the VMS, the camera or both? Is it best to use an NTP server like,, etc?

Thanks for the assistance. Will post results on this thread.

@Scott, I wanted to point out that in addition to setting the time to GMT+0 (or local + 8), the timezone checkbox apparently needs to be unchecked, if not already, as shown at the end of the document provided by Michael:

The checkbox shown is the On Screen Display that can be used in exacqVision. It will display as GMT+0, which is not correct, so recommended to uncheck that. recommends that all cameras with exacqVision be set to GMT+0. The only difference from Edge is that with normal servers you should set the timezone for the server (and osixrules won't be a choice).

Connecting an Axis camera to exacqVision should result in exacqVision setting the timezone of the camera to GMT+0 automatically, but in case you have cameras that aren't set, I'd recommend setting to GMT+0.

...all cameras with exacqVision be set to GMT+0.

Is this just a workaround until you can reliably obtain timezone information from the host cameras OS? If one is required to set an incorrect local time, wouldn't that time be stamped on all files and log entries?

Wouldn't it complicate any legal/evidentiary use of the recordings for instance? Besides the general nuisance factor when setting things like day/night switchover times.

...and osixrules won't be a choice

On a lighter note, just out of curiosity, is osixrules really some internal Exacq specific term, and not a 'one-off' of the similar well known term for Unix/Linux posixrules timezone libraries? :)