How Many Days of Recordings Your Recorder Can Save
DVR4-4480G, DVR4-4480RN, DVR4-4480V, DVR4-4580G, DVR4-4580RN, DVR4-4580V, DVR4-4680, DVR4-4680RN, DVR4-4685, DVR4-4685RN, DVR4-4780V, DVR4-4980V, DVR4-5580, DVR4-5580G, DVR4-5580RN, DVR4-5680, DVR4-5680RN, DVR8-4480G, DVR8-4480RN, DVR8-4480V, DVR8-4580G, DVR8-4580RN, DVR8-4580V, DVR8-4680, DVR8-4680A, DVR8-4680RN, DVR8-4685, DVR8-4685RN, DVR8-4780V, DVR8-4880RN, DVR8-4980, DVR8-5580, DVR8-5580A, DVR8-5580G, DVR8-5580RN, DVR8-5580RU, DVR8-5680, DVR8-5680A, DVR8-5680RN, DVR16-4580G, DVR16-4580RN, DVR16-4580V, DVR16-4680, DVR16-4680A, DVR16-4680RN, DVR16-4680RU, DVR16-4880RU, DVR16-4980, DVR16-5580, DVR16-5580G, DVR16-5580G2, DVR16-5580RU, NVR8-8580, NVR8-8580RN, NVR8-8780, NVR8-8780RN, NVR16-8580, NVR16-8580RN, NVR16-8780, NVR16-8780RN, NVW-650, NVW-800, NVW-MR4K, DVR4-4680XN, DVR4-4680XU, DVR4-5680XN, DVR8-4680X, DVR8-4680XN, DVR8-4680XU, DVR8-5680X, DVR8-5680XU
If your recorder has been on for at least a month, the fastest way to gauge the number of days is to login to the DVR/NVR/NVW:
- Via TV/Monitor: Go to Menu > Search > General > Date > dates underlined in red have recordings
|
In this example for 1 camera, there are 15 days of recordings stored. The number of days will depend on how many cameras you have along with other settings. |
Calculate days
In order to calculate the number of days accurately, do the following:
- Login to the recorder's Main Menu via TV/monitor.
- Take note of the Video Standard or Video Format used. Go to System > General (tab).
- Take note of the total hard drive capacity. Go to Device > HDD (tab). E.g. Total capacity is 931G.
- Take note of the Recorder Schedule per channel/camera. Go to Record > Record Schedule. Is it Normal (continuous 24/7) or Detection?
- Take note of the number of channels with cameras where Record is enabled. Go to Record > Record (tab). E.g. There are 8 cameras.
- Take note of the resolution, frame rate (fps), and bitrate (Kbps) per camera. Go to Record > Mainstream (tab). E.g. All 8 cameras have the same 1920x1080 resolution, 15 FPS, and bitrate of 4096 Kbps.
- Once you have all of the information above, go to this third-party website: HiTools Designer: Storage and Bandwidth Calculator for the online calculator.
NOTE: The number of days you get after considering given factors is 'estimation'. This gives you a rough idea of how long a recording can be stored.
Example 1 of Calculation:
Using HiTools Designer: Storage and Bandwidth Calculator, click on Add. The 8 cameras and information from above were entered once as follows:
- No. of Channels: 8
- Video Standard: PAL
- Encoding Mode: H264 is the default.
- Resolution: 1920x1080
- Frame Rate: 15
- Bitrate: 4096
- Disk Space: 931 GB
- Recordings per Day: 4 hrs (since the Recorder Schedule is set to PIR+Motion by default for ALL channels)
Result: 15 days or 2 weeks.
Example 2 of Calculation:
Using the same calculator but different camera settings, the result is different. For instance,
- Only 4 cameras have the same settings as in Example 1.
- 4 cameras have different bitrate.
Result: 20 days. Lowering the bitrate per camera extends days of storage without reducing the video resolution of the cameras.