Dahua 8MP 4K Cameras

Dahua 8 MP / 4K Cameras

8 MP, commercially known as 4K, quadruples the definition of Full HD. Its real benefit is not the beauty of the live image, but the ability to zoom into the recording afterwards without the image pixelating.

When 8 MP is justified

As soon as the scene is wide: parking lot, full facade, loading dock, warehouse, company yard. A single well-placed 8 MP camera covers what would require two or three 4 MP cameras, and allows for reconstructing an event by reframing within the recorded image.

When it's not justified

For a hallway, an entrance door or a cash register, 8 MP offers no more identification than 4 MP, but doubles the archiving volume and the load on the recorder. This is money spent on hard drives, not on security.

Check your NVR's capacity

This is a classic mistake: eight 8 MP cameras can exceed the maximum input bit rate of an entry-level 8-channel NVR, even if the number of ports is sufficient. Always check the total Mbps bit rate supported by the recorder, not just its number of channels.

Storage to plan for

As a rough estimate, allow 2 to 4 TB per 8 MP camera for thirty days of motion-detection recording. Four 8 MP cameras will require an 8 to 12 TB drive, or two bays.

Compare with 4 MP · NVR Recorders · Surveillance Hard Drives