@Solla-topee thanks for the reply!

I actually found that out yesterday and reported my findings to the other person experiencing the same issue as me.

I believe this is an issue with the firmware, even without correct time, detection recording doesn't record motion correctly. You would expect with incorrect time the camera would simply report the incorrect time of the recording in the timeline and still record the motion correctly, this is not the case and instead it fails to record the motion correctly and starts the recording too late after motion has happened.

Ideally this would be investigated and resolved so that detection recording still functions, albeit with incorrect recording time reported. Nonetheless having an option to set a custom NTP server would also be great for extended offline use as a local NTP server could be used.

I managed to resolve the issue myself by setting up a custom DNS server and rewriting the cameras NTP DNS lookups with a custom NTP server I hosted locally, allowing the cameras to get the current time all while being restricted from the internet.

My cameras updated today. I noticed a feature added which allows setting a static IP address and even a custom DNS server. Unfortunately it seems the cameras no longer do NTP DNS lookups. Have TP-Link made the NTP IPs hard coded now or do they no longer use NTP and instead use a propriety way of determining the time via the TP-Link API?

The addition of static a IP and DNS option was appreciated, however it is useless to me unless I can rewrite the NTP server using my own DNS.

Please may another update be made to add an additional option to the static IP options which allows providing a custom NTP server by either domain or IP address?

My cameras no longer have accurate time as I am unable to connect them to the wider internet post setup.

@Solla-topee I was wrong. After the update the devices still use NTP but the NTP domain lookups don't respect the DNS set in the Advanced > Network Settings. The cameras don't even seem to respect the DHCP broadcasted DNS anymore, they are using the router gateway as a DNS, which fortunately I have a DNS server running on my router however it is not broadcast in any way so it is very strange that the cameras would decide to use it.