Plan camera streams before installing site cabling. Add overhead, viewers, and safety margin instantly today. Choose smarter switches and links with clear bandwidth totals.
| Scenario | Cameras | Resolution | FPS | Codec | Scene | Overhead | Safety | Total ingest | Retention storage (30 days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gate + perimeter | 12 | 1080p | 15 | H.265 | Medium | 15% | 20% | ~43 Mbps | ~3.1 TB |
| Crane + staging area | 24 | 4MP | 20 | H.264 | High | 20% | 25% | ~356 Mbps | ~29 TB |
| Office trailer | 6 | 720p | 10 | H.265 | Low | 10% | 15% | ~5 Mbps | ~0.3 TB |
Higher pixel counts and frame rates raise the baseline stream. Busy construction scenes add motion, dust, and changing light, which increases encoder effort and pushes bitrates upward. Start with conservative settings for entrances, material yards, and crane zones.
Modern compression can reduce network and storage demand while maintaining usable evidence quality. Compare options using the same resolution and FPS, then confirm real results with short on-site recordings. Keep a consistent profile across cameras to simplify switching and recorder tuning.
Real networks carry protocol headers, retransmits, encryption, and multicast control traffic. Add overhead to cover those effects, then apply a safety margin for future cameras, temporary event spikes, and layout changes. This approach helps avoid uplink saturation and dropped frames.
Ingest bandwidth is driven by camera count, while viewing bandwidth depends on how many users watch simultaneously. Guard rooms, supervisors, and remote stakeholders can create a second peak. Sub-stream viewing reduces WAN load, keeps client devices responsive, and preserves recorder resources.
Retention is easiest to manage when you translate bitrate into daily data, then multiply by effective recording hours and days. Motion recording lowers stored data but does not reduce peak camera bandwidth. Validate retention assumptions using event logs and adjust schedules for critical zones.
For final commissioning, measure average and peak bitrates per camera during day and night cycles, then update the calculator using the known bitrate mode. Document VLANs, PoE budgets, and switch port utilization so subcontractors can verify capacity. If wireless backhaul is used, plan for weather fade and interference, and keep camera traffic separated from office internet to maintain stable security coverage.
When budgets are tight, prioritize higher quality on choke points, use lower FPS on low-risk areas, and standardize sub-stream profiles for mobile viewing. This balances evidence value, network stability, and recorder costs across all phases.
Bitrate changes with motion, lighting, noise, and encoder settings. Busy gates or night scenes typically raise bitrate. Use the known bitrate mode after field testing for the most accurate planning.
It reduces stored data, not peak camera bandwidth. Cameras still transmit streams for analysis and preview. Size uplinks for peak ingest, then use motion percentage mainly for storage estimates.
A common starting point is 10–20%. Use higher values if you expect encryption, unreliable links, or heavy VLAN and routing. Measure real traffic counters during commissioning to refine.
Prefer sub-stream viewing and cap concurrent sessions. Separate camera traffic from office internet, and consider a dedicated uplink for security. The viewing section helps estimate this second peak.
Record a representative sample day, export the measured bitrate, and compare daily data in the calculator. Validate motion activity using event logs. Adjust FPS, scene settings, or schedules until retention aligns.
Switch after installing a pilot set of cameras or once the recorder is online. Use observed average and peak values for each camera class, then rerun sizing before purchasing switches and backhaul.
Important Note: All the Calculators listed in this site are for educational purpose only and we do not guarentee the accuracy of results. Please do consult with other sources as well.