Insight · Field Engineering

Sizing NVR storage to retention, not to guesswork

April 01, 2026 · Field Engineering

Camera count tells you almost nothing about storage. Retention window, codec, bitrate and motion profile do. A short method for getting it right the first time.

We share the working numbers we use to size recording storage: effective bitrate per stream, H.265+ savings, motion-only versus continuous, and the headroom we leave for retention policy changes.

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