Recording Times
There are many variables that will adjust the recording times of any Digital Video Recorder, this is why any ‘recording time tables’ on this website, or anywhere else for that matter, are only an approximate guide. Some of these variables are listed here:
- Hard Drive Size
- Frame rate
- Compression format
- Motion detection settings
- Actual scene (image recorded)
Recording times can vary dependent on settings chosen by you. For example you may set a dvr to record only when there is motion detected, which obviously we could not estimate what kind of recording time you would get if you activate this feature. But to give you an idea see below recording times guide for 24/7 recording.
Recording times (in Days) with 500GB HDD
| Cameras Connected | D1 (4CIF) resolution / 6fps | 2CIF resolution / 6fps | CIF resolution / 6fps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 cameras | 41 | 82 | 164 |
| 4 cameras | 20 | 41 | 82 |
| 8 cameras | 10 | 20 | 41 |
| 16 cameras | 5 | 10 |
The above is based on a 500Gb HDD, other hard drives will record for different periods of time for example a 1000Gb would record for double the above times and a 250Gb would record for half the above times. Likewise, if you were to double the frame rate to 12fps, then you would half the recording time. Recording times are only a guide and will vary dependent on the actually scene being recorded.