That is just it, a lot of compromises to get 8MP at a reasonable price. And will result in poor night time performance after you dial it In and not run on auto settings that results in blur motion.
It is simple LOL do not chase MP - do not buy a 4MP camera that is anything other than a 1/1.8" sensor. Do not buy a 2MP camera that is anything other than a 1/2.8" sensor. Most 4k are on the same sensor as a 2MP and thus the 2MP will kick a 4k butt all night long as the 4k will need 4 times the light than the 2MP... 4k will do very poor at night unless you have stadium quality lighting (well a lot of lighting LOL).
My neighbor was bragging to me how he only needed his four 4k 2.8mm fixed lens cams to see his entire property and the street and his whole backyard. His car was sitting in the driveway practically touching the garage door and his video quality was useless to ID the perp not even 10 feet away.
When we had a thief come thru here and get into a lot of cars, the police couldn't use one video or photo from anyone's 4k 2.8mm or 3.6mm cameras - those cams sure looks nice and gives a great wide angle view, but you cannot identify anyone at 15 feet out. Especially my other neighbor that installed eight 4k 2.8mm cameras on the 2nd floor soffit. At night you cannot even ID someone from 10 feet. Meanwhile, the perp didn't come to my house but walked past on the sidewalk at 80 feet from my house and my 2MP varifocal zoomed in to a point at the sidewalk was the money shot for the police that got my neighbors all there stolen stuff back.
So my bragging neighbor ended up replacing several of his 4k cameras that he had spend $1,300 on and got a few of the 2MP cameras like I have because they kicked his 4k camera butt at night. When do we need the cameras to perform - usually at night.
His cameras were Lorex and yours is an Amcrest - both made by Dahua and essentially the same camera. Many of my cameras are Dahua...so I am not knocking the manufacturer per say, but for Amcrest to sell a 4k camera at $120 means that corners were cut, but my
IPC-T2231T-ZS that is a 2MP varifocal in the $120 price range does better at night than my neighbor's 4k Lorex. And my 2MP is about the price of the Amcrest.
The current 4MP king of the hill is the 5442 series Dahua cams, that are 4MP on a 1/1.8 sensor. Those will be $160 to $200+ depending on if you get a fixed lens or a varifocal. Personally I would spend $40 more to have a camera that performs at night than one that all I could tell the police is what time something happened.
If you really want 4k, the current king of the hill is the Hikvision DS-2CD2087G2-L, but it is double the cost of your Amcrest, but also has double the sensor size, so it absolutely rocks at night. With very little light, this camera can stay in color with a fast shutter.
Of course YMMV. But I have 2MP, 4MP, and 5MP Dahua's on the same 1/2.8" sensor and the 2MP outperforms the 4MP and 5MP because of the additional light needed for a higher MP camera.
That is great that you are asking questions. Now you need to make sure that you dial it in to actually be useful. Running it on auto settings will result in poor night time video with motion, and once you do that, you will see the limitations 4k on that sensor has.