NVR, cloud or hybrid
- NVR (network video recorder). Cameras record to a box on site with hard drives inside. No monthly fee for storage, and footage stays on your premises. The risks: a thief can take the recorder, and a failed drive can lose weeks of video. Put it in a locked closet, on a UPS.
- Cloud. Cameras send footage to the provider. Easy to reach from anywhere and managed across sites, with a subscription per camera. It needs upload bandwidth, and continuous high-resolution recording from many cameras can outrun a small office connection.
- Hybrid. Cameras or a local recorder store footage on site and send clips, thumbnails or events to the cloud. The common choice for multi-site businesses.
Consumer Wi-Fi cameras with a phone app work for a tiny shop. For more than a few cameras, wired PoE cameras on a recorder or managed platform are more reliable and easier to keep secure.
PoE and the network
PoE cameras take power and data over one cable, so a camera can go anywhere a cable reaches. Most fixed cameras need 802.3af power; PTZ cameras and outdoor cameras with heaters often need 802.3at or more. Add them up with the calculator in the network switch guide, and keep cameras on their own VLAN, away from the computers that hold your files. Cameras are a common way into small business networks. Change default passwords, update firmware, and do not open the recorder to the internet with port forwarding.
Resolution, lenses and light
- 4 MP is a common business baseline. 8 MP (4K) helps for wide areas such as parking lots, but only if the lens and lighting keep up, and it doubles the storage.
- Pixels on target matter more than total pixels. A camera that covers a doorway closely will identify a face; the same camera covering a whole lot will not. Use more cameras with narrower views at entrances, registers and loading doors.
- Low light and backlight. Look for infrared range that covers the scene and wide dynamic range for doors that face bright daylight.
- Weather and vandal ratings (IP66 or IP67 for water, IK10 for impact) for outdoor cameras.
Retention and storage
Decide how many days of footage to keep before choosing drives. Thirty days is a common business choice, long enough to notice an incident after a weekend or a holiday. Some industries, insurers or local rules set their own periods; check yours.
The math is simple. A 4 MP camera recording around the clock at 4 Mb/s writes about 43 GB a day, or about 1.3 TB over 30 days. Ten such cameras need about 13 TB. H.265 compression and recording on motion only can cut this by half or more, depending on the scene. Use surveillance-rated drives, built for constant writing, and give the recorder RAID if losing footage matters.
Recording audio: be careful
Video recording in areas open to the public is generally lawful. Audio is different. Federal and state wiretap laws restrict recording conversations without consent, and a camera that records people talking when nobody in the conversation has agreed can break them. Some states require every party's consent to record a conversation. Many businesses turn audio off on every camera for this reason. If you want audio, get legal advice for each state you operate in first.
Face recognition and biometrics
Cameras and software that identify people by face geometry are collecting biometric data, and several states regulate that. The strictest is the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). It requires written notice and a written release before collecting biometric identifiers, a public retention and destruction policy, and it lets individuals sue. Texas and Washington have their own biometric laws, and some cities restrict face recognition by private businesses. Ordinary recording is not the issue; turning on face search, watchlists or face-based analytics is. Get legal advice before enabling those features. The AI video analytics guide covers the other analytics.
Federal contractors
Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act bars federal agencies from buying, and from contracting with companies that use, video surveillance equipment from certain named Chinese makers, including Hikvision and Dahua, and their affiliates. Many cameras sold under other brands are made by them. If you hold or bid for federal contracts, ask the installer for the maker behind every camera and recorder.
The costs people miss
- Installation labor and cabling; often more than the cameras.
- Per-camera cloud or software licenses, and license fees for analytics.
- Drive replacement on a recorder that writes around the clock.
- A UPS for the recorder and PoE switch; see UPS sizing.
- Upload bandwidth for cloud recording and remote viewing.
Cameras are often bought with door access; see access control. For patrols, see security robots.
Before you buy
- Walk the site and list what each camera must identify, not only what it must see.
- Choose NVR, cloud or hybrid, and put any recorder somewhere locked, on a UPS.
- Set a retention period and size storage for it.
- Check PoE budget and put cameras on their own VLAN.
- Turn audio off unless a lawyer has cleared it.
- Keep face recognition off unless you have met BIPA and similar laws.
- Post signs, and keep cameras out of private spaces.
- Federal contractors: confirm no covered makers under Section 889.
PoE camera and NVR kits
Affiliate linksWired PoE camera kits with a network video recorder. Check the maker against Section 889 if you hold federal contracts.
Swann
Swann AdvancedX Wired NVR 4K Security Camera System, 8 Channels, 8 PoE Cameras Outdoor, 1TB HDD Storage, Color Night Vision, Smart AI Video Analytics/Alerts, Motion Detection, 24/7 Recording
REOLINK
REOLINK RLN8-410 8CH NVR Network Video Recorder PoE Security Camera System
ONWOTE
ONWOTE 16 Channel Security Camera System, 6K NVR,16x 4K 8MP PoE IP Cameras
Prices retrieved from Amazon on 2026-09-29 and may since have changed; the price on Amazon at the time of purchase is the one that applies. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. No manufacturer pays for a place in this list.
Surveillance hard drives
Affiliate linksHard drives built for the constant writing of a video recorder.
Western Digital
Western Digital 4TB WD Purple Surveillance Internal Hard Drive HDD - SATA 6 Gb/s, 128 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD44PURZ
Western Digital
Western Digital 2TB WD Purple Surveillance Internal Hard Drive HDD - SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD23PURZ
Western Digital
Western Digital 10TB WD Purple Pro Surveillance Internal Hard Drive HDD - SATA 6 Gb/s, 512 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD102PURP
Prices retrieved from Amazon on 2026-09-29 and may since have changed; the price on Amazon at the time of purchase is the one that applies. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. No manufacturer pays for a place in this list.