I provide IT services for a customer that is already working with a camera installer. The security system is Uniview. My customer states that the NVR's only store 30 days of footage and then gets overwritten. They asked me to research if the recordings can stored for a longer time. They already reached out to the installer but they did not give a concrete solution and they asked me for help. I did some research online and see Uniview offers an online account but from what I read its really only used to make it easier to access the cameras. Does Uniview offer a cloud storage solution? I did see a youtube video showing a that a Uniview can be linked up to a NAS. I work with Synology NAS units and this might be a potential option. Anyone have any recommendations on saving footage for an extended period of time?
Extended Camera Footage Storage
- Thread starter mannymendez25
- Start date
IReallyLikePizza2
Known around here
IReallyLikePizza2
Known around here
1) I don't know the size of the current NVR, I didn't install it.
2) The customer called me over the phone and asked me for help, I wasn't onsite
3) And if I were onsite, I don't have the NVR admin credentials to login and check
4) Does knowing how many days of storage they are seeking alter the different options available?
I am looking for preliminary information such as yes, you can connect a Uniview NVR to a NAS, the bigger the hard drives the longer the storage or no, Uniview does not offer this capability. Or maybe, Uniview offers a cloud storage subscription. The longer they keep the videos, the more they charge per month. Thats it. If you need an exact number of days for storage lets say........ 420 days. Does that help or do you need to know how many cameras, the camera resolution, the model of the cameras, the internet upload speeds, who is the ISP, what brand of switches they have, etc, etc?
2) The customer called me over the phone and asked me for help, I wasn't onsite
3) And if I were onsite, I don't have the NVR admin credentials to login and check
4) Does knowing how many days of storage they are seeking alter the different options available?
I am looking for preliminary information such as yes, you can connect a Uniview NVR to a NAS, the bigger the hard drives the longer the storage or no, Uniview does not offer this capability. Or maybe, Uniview offers a cloud storage subscription. The longer they keep the videos, the more they charge per month. Thats it. If you need an exact number of days for storage lets say........ 420 days. Does that help or do you need to know how many cameras, the camera resolution, the model of the cameras, the internet upload speeds, who is the ISP, what brand of switches they have, etc, etc?
fenderman
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- Mar 9, 2014
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No you are wasting our time. Find out what you need then come back. You can check the hard drive by simply opening the nvr. We need basic info like model and hd size. Some NVR's take multiple hard drives. You may simply need to replace the current drive with a few larger drives. Forget about cloud storage for 420 days of retention. There are nas options as well as the option to add additional nvr's and split the load.
Flintstone61
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--How much longer? You can get a bigger drive, or possibly add a drive.
60 days is more than enough.
If you had to ever sit at a fucking NVR and try and look back 420 days you'd be cursing and abusing unsuspecting motorists in daily road rage fits.
60 days is more than enough.
If you had to ever sit at a fucking NVR and try and look back 420 days you'd be cursing and abusing unsuspecting motorists in daily road rage fits.
IReallyLikePizza2
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Well, it depends. If you have LPR, it can be a HUGE help
Sometimes I'll see a car that's acting a little weird, and then I can go back and look what they have done in the past. Did they just drive past or were they scoping something out?
My customer owns a strip mall. From my understanding, they get requests from lawyers (slip and fall), police investigations, etc, that request footage for a certain day and time. Many times these requests are over the current 30 day capacity.
IReallyLikePizza2
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Are they legally required to keep footage over 30 days? They can get requested all they want, but its highly likely they are not required to even have cameras in the first place
I've worked for companies that "require" a year of footage to be retained, and then when we give them the cost for storage + support contracts, suddenly its not required anymore. Storage is expensive
I've worked for companies that "require" a year of footage to be retained, and then when we give them the cost for storage + support contracts, suddenly its not required anymore. Storage is expensive
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,891
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Pretty sure they are using the footage to protect themselves in the event of a slip and fall or similar. It can be well worth the cost of a few drives.
IReallyLikePizza2
Known around here
That is exactly why they want to have access to older footage, to protect themselves from lawsuits. I did some research and found a company called Videoloft that can store footage online however I'm thinking saving footage to a NAS is a more affordable option.
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,891
- 21,407
Did you look at the insane pricing? You could buy a new large drive monthly and then some.
Those questions would be better answered by Uniview. Check out their website.
As far as how much storage do they need, take what they currently have and how many days it holds, then figure it out. If they have 10TB and it holds 30 days, then 20TB will hold 60 days, etc.
Going to a cloud solution will mean internet bandwidth issues. Dumping to a NAS from the NVR would be the way to go if the NVR is already maxed out on space.
Did a quick view on all replies. As a business you can keep cam footage for as long as you want. Now for storing on an NVR or whatever, many companies have the ability to transfer it to MASS storage units withinn their IT dept. Worked for one that has over 400 stores and they have resources to store for over a year on each store. Some do, some don't. My reference is to a company cloud.