Uniview 16CH 8TB NVR w/synched video output UNV
16 channel NVR with 16 built in PoE ports, 160Mbps incoming, shipped with 8TB fitted. Trade only.
Quote onlyTrade pricing on request.
Recorders and storage
Network video recorders and surveillance rated storage for commercial installs. Channel counts, PoE budgets and retention math, sold trade only.
1 product
Choosing a network video recorder
A network video recorder records IP cameras over the network, which is what separates it from a DVR recording analogue cameras over coax. If you are replacing analogue on existing coax, you want a hybrid XVR instead, and we list those here too.
Three numbers decide which NVR fits: channel count, incoming bandwidth and PoE budget. Channel count is the obvious one and the one people over buy. Bandwidth is the one that bites. Sixteen 4MP cameras at 30fps on H.265 can exceed 100Mbps, and an NVR rated at 80Mbps incoming will drop frames without telling you clearly.
PoE ports on the recorder are not the same as a switch
An NVR with sixteen built in PoE ports gives you a self contained network video recorder system, and for a small site that is the simplest thing to install. The tradeoff is that those ports sit on an isolated subnet, so a camera plugged into the NVR is not reachable from the customer's LAN without extra configuration. On anything multi site, or anywhere the customer's IT department wants visibility, a separate PoE switch is usually the better build.
Storage, and why the drive matters
A surveillance hard drive is not a marketing tier. Desktop drives are built for short bursts of activity and park their heads when idle. A surveillance rated drive is specified for continuous sequential writes from multiple streams, tolerates higher operating temperatures, and reports errors in a way a recorder can act on rather than retrying until the write times out.
Retention math is straightforward: total bitrate multiplied by time. Sixteen cameras averaging 4Mbps is 64Mbps, which is roughly 28GB an hour and about 675GB a day, so 30 days needs about 20TB before overhead. Motion only recording cuts that substantially but makes it unpredictable, which matters if your customer has a contractual retention period.
What ships from stock
Recorders are commonly sold as a kit: the chassis plus fitted drives. Where we list a capacity, that is the drives we install before it ships, not something the manufacturer publishes. Availability is shown separately for our own on hand stock and for supplier lead times, and we do not present a supplier figure as in stock.
Common questions
- How many channels should I spec?
- Count the cameras, then check the recorder's incoming bandwidth against the sum of their maximum bitrates. Channel count runs out later than bandwidth does on modern high resolution cameras.
- Can I use a normal desktop hard drive in an NVR?
- It will work until it does not. Desktop drives are not rated for continuous multi stream writes and typically fail earlier in this duty cycle. Surveillance rated drives also handle error recovery in a way that suits a recorder rather than a PC.
- What is the difference between an NVR and a DVR?
- An NVR records IP cameras over Ethernet. A DVR records analogue cameras over coax. A hybrid XVR does both, which is what you want when you are reusing existing coax and adding IP cameras over time.
- Do the drives come fitted?
- Yes, where a capacity is listed in the part number. We fit and test the drives before the unit ships, so it arrives ready to configure.
- How much storage do I need for 30 days?
- Multiply total bitrate by time. As a rough guide, 16 cameras at 4Mbps continuous is about 20TB for 30 days. Send us the camera list and we will size it with you.