I think you are on to something here. Running with that, I think you BI tinkerers enjoy the tinkering, and it doesn't feel like work at all. In general, I'm a big time tinkerer, it's just that I'm maxed out with other things that need attention and want the camera system to just work without me having to do a lot of setup or troubleshooting.
I totally agree if you're OK with the extra time and effort it takes to get the positives set up and running the way you want. BI has a lot more capabilities than an NVR, but they don't just automatically configure themselves the way you want them.
I had set out to replace the NVR with BI, but now I'm reluctantly accepting I might keep both of them running in parallel. Bad me, more carbon in the atmosphere. The only reason I have to keep BI is its so much more capable and easy to use method of viewing clips. This is huge, although occasionally I have better luck finding a clip with smartPSS via the NVR. The big reason to keep the NVR is that it just quietly runs on its own with 100% reliability, which is not true for my BI+CPAI setup that needs some sort of attention once or twice a week. Another factor, specific to me because of not using human/vehicle detection in the cameras, happens on high wind days. The moving shadows and tree limbs cause flurries of almost continuous false IVS triggers. When this happens, the nice clip viewing setup of BI becomes a burden when trying to skip over a hundred or so clips at a time, plus a clip I really want to find might very well be gone from the clips folder, overwritten by all of the false triggers. With smartPSS on the NVR, nothing gets lost. It can take a lot of time to find what I'm after, but at least it's there.
I acknowledge that a basic BI system that uses on camera AI or isn't plagued by things that cause a lot of false triggers can run without attention and be reasonably easy to set up after you've done it once. I'm just taking issue with the blanket assertions that BI isn't more difficult to set up or keep running than an NVR. Those who have bricked their NVR doing a firmware upgrade would disagree with me I expect. I've been lucky with then NVR, other have been lucky with BI. One size doesn't fit all.