NETWORK / CAMERA TRAFFIC
Know what crosses the uplink.
Add camera streams, allow for extra traffic and check the capacity available between your cameras and recorder.
Built for installers.
Useful before the first cable.
Installation planner
The network & power plan
Use maximum power ratings and capacity available to this project.
Use the rated maximum, including IR, heaters or PTZ movement.
Combined maximum power of access points and other PoE devices.
One powered port per additional device; uplinks are separate.
Extra power budget above the total device maximum.
Total usable PoE output budget, not the switch AC rating.
Powered ports available to this project, excluding reserved ports.
Allowance for bursts, protocol overhead and extra traffic.
Usable link capacity shared by these camera streams.
Check per-port PoE standards and recorder throughput separately. A capacity PASS does not certify equipment compatibility.
Your system, sized.
- Storage with margin
- 12.442 TB
10.368 TB footage + 20% allowance
- Camera traffic
- 32 Mbps
40 Mbps with 25% headroom
- Recommended PoE
- 145 W
116 W devices + 25% headroom
- Estimated UPS runtime
- 73 min
151 W estimated load
Recording capacity
WARNING345.6 GB/day · 2 TB usable. Estimated retention with margin: 4.8 days (4 complete days); target 30.
Network uplink
PASS40 Mbps minimum planned capacity. 100 Mbps nominal link suggested. 1,000 Mbps available.
PoE power budget
PASS96 W cameras + 20 W other devices. 145 W recommended / 150 W available. 34 W above device load.
Powered switch ports
PASS10 required / 16 available. 6 spare powered ports. Uplinks are separate.
Recorder channels
PASS8 channels required / 16 available. 8 spare channels. Verify recorder incoming bandwidth separately.
UPS output capacity
PASS151 W estimated load / 600 W output capacity. Includes 35 W for recorder, switch and losses.
UPS battery energy
PASS183.6 Wh usable gives approximately 73 minutes; target 30 minutes. Required: 75.5 Wh usable / 88.8 Wh nominal at 85% usable. Validate against the UPS runtime curve.
Decimal GB/TB · Unrounded calculations, rounded display · All results are planning estimates
View plain-text project summary
CCTVPlan — CCTV project estimate 8 cameras · 4 Mbps/camera · 24 recording hours/day · 30 days target retention Storage: 345.6 GB/day; 10.368 TB footage; 12.442 TB including 20% margin. WARNING Available: 2 TB usable; estimated retention with margin: 4.8 days. Network: 32 Mbps streams; 40 Mbps minimum with 25% headroom; 100 Mbps nominal uplink suggested; 1000 Mbps available. PASS PoE: 96 W cameras + 20 W other devices; 145 W recommended with 25% headroom; 150 W available. PASS Ports: 10 powered ports required; 16 available. PASS NVR: 8 channels required; 16 available; 8 spare (negative = shortfall). PASS UPS: 151 W estimated load, including 35 W recorder/switch/loss allowance; 600 W capacity. PASS Battery: 216 Wh nominal at 85% estimated usable fraction; 73 min estimated runtime vs 30 min target. PASS Required battery: 75.5 Wh usable AC energy / 88.8 Wh nominal at 85%. Decimal units: 1 GB = 10^9 bytes; 1 TB = 1,000 GB. Estimates use a constant average bitrate and maximum device power. Verify VBR peaks, recorder throughput, per-port PoE standards and UPS manufacturer runtime curves. No equipment compatibility guarantee.
CCTVPlan · Project summary
CCTVPlan — CCTV project estimate 8 cameras · 4 Mbps/camera · 24 recording hours/day · 30 days target retention Storage: 345.6 GB/day; 10.368 TB footage; 12.442 TB including 20% margin. WARNING Available: 2 TB usable; estimated retention with margin: 4.8 days. Network: 32 Mbps streams; 40 Mbps minimum with 25% headroom; 100 Mbps nominal uplink suggested; 1000 Mbps available. PASS PoE: 96 W cameras + 20 W other devices; 145 W recommended with 25% headroom; 150 W available. PASS Ports: 10 powered ports required; 16 available. PASS NVR: 8 channels required; 16 available; 8 spare (negative = shortfall). PASS UPS: 151 W estimated load, including 35 W recorder/switch/loss allowance; 600 W capacity. PASS Battery: 216 Wh nominal at 85% estimated usable fraction; 73 min estimated runtime vs 30 min target. PASS Required battery: 75.5 Wh usable AC energy / 88.8 Wh nominal at 85%. Decimal units: 1 GB = 10^9 bytes; 1 TB = 1,000 GB. Estimates use a constant average bitrate and maximum device power. Verify VBR peaks, recorder throughput, per-port PoE standards and UPS manufacturer runtime curves. No equipment compatibility guarantee.
Transparent assumptions.
Practical estimates.
Plan for the traffic on each link
Aggregate bandwidth is the sum of camera streams traversing the link you are sizing. Enter the main recorded stream's representative bitrate. Recording fewer hours reduces disk usage but does not reduce the instantaneous camera traffic while streams are active. The selected headroom is an allowance for overhead, bursts and additional traffic; it is not a guarantee against variable-bitrate peaks. Remote viewing, duplicate streams and other users can require more capacity. The suggested nominal link is the next generic link speed above your target, not a product recommendation.
Formula / method
Aggregate Mbps = camera count × Mbps per camera
Minimum planned capacity Mbps = aggregate Mbps × (1 + headroom % ÷ 100)
Suggested nominal link = next listed link speed at or above planned capacity
Units: Mbps = 1,000,000 bits/second; 8 bits = 1 byte. 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes; 1 TB = 1,000 GB. W measures power; Wh measures energy. Values are calculated without intermediate rounding. A displayed estimate is not a guarantee.
Twenty-four cameras at 6 Mbps produce 144 Mbps of camera traffic. Adding 25% headroom gives a 180 Mbps planning target. A 100 Mbps uplink is short; the next listed nominal speed is 1,000 Mbps. Compare actual usable throughput and all traffic sharing that link.
Before you specify.
Is Mbps the same as MB/s?
No. Mbps means megabits per second. MB/s means megabytes per second. Divide decimal Mbps by 8 to get MB/s; 32 Mbps equals 4 MB/s before protocol overhead.
Does internet upload speed matter for local recording?
Local camera-to-NVR recording uses the local network. Internet upload matters when streams leave the site, such as remote viewing or cloud recording. Size those paths separately for the streams that actually traverse them.
Why is bitrate entered on the Recording tab?
One bitrate powers the whole project. Change bitrate under Recording and both bandwidth and disk estimates update. Network & PoE contains the uplink capacity and headroom checks for those same streams.