How Long Can Reolink NVR Record for

The size of the recording is mainly determined by its bit rate. The higher the bit rate, the better image and audio quality, and the bigger the file size. Vice versa.

Applies to: Reolink NVRs

Note:

1. The table below shows how long the Reolink NVR can record 24/7 under different Bit-Rate and HDD capacities. The bitrates of the main and sub-streams can be freely combined, so the table below only lists the bitrates of the main stream for reference.

2. Calculating storage time, we need to consider both the bitrate of the main stream and the sub-stream.

3. If it is a camera with dual lenses, the wide-angle lens and the tracking lens, along with their respective main and sub-streams, need to be included in the calculation.

4. Compared with 24/7 recording, the maximum video length of motion detection recording will be much longer.

5. Unlike the 2-TB HDD that comes with the Reolink NVRs with less than (or equal to) 8 channels, the HDD coming with the Reolink 16-Channels NVR is 3 TB. The capacity of Reolink NVRs can be expanded to up to 12 TB. You can refer to How to Expand the Capacity of Reolink NVRs for more details.

Assuming the hard drive is 3 TB, the bitrate of the main stream is 6144 kbps and the bitrate of the sub-stream is 512 kbps, and then using a camera to simultaneously record both the main stream and the sub-stream.

1. Formula

Recording Duration (hours)=Storage Capacity (TB)×8×1,048,576Bitrate (kbps)×3600Recording Duration (hours)=Bitrate (kbps)×3600Storage Capacity (TB)×8×1024×1024×1024​

2. Variable Explanation

• Storage Capacity (TB): The hard drive capacity, in terabytes (TB).
• Bitrate (kbps): The bitrate of the video file, in kilobits per second (kbps).
• 1 TB = 1024 GB
• 1 GB = 1024 MB
• 1 MB = 1024 KB
• 1 KB = 8 kb
• 1 hour = 3600 seconds

3. Calculation Steps

1. Convert the storage capacity to bits: 3 TB=3×1024×1024×1024×8 kbit

3 TB=3×1024×1024×1024×8 kbit 3 TB=25,769,803,776 kbit

3 TB=25,769,803,776 kbit

2. Calculate the recording duration using the formula: Recording Duration=25,769,803,776(6144+512)×3600Recording Duration=(6144+512)×360025,769,803,776​

3. Simplify the calculation: Recording Duration=25,769,803,7766656×3600Recording Duration=6656×360025,769,803,776​

Recording Duration≈1014.28 hourRecording Duration ≈ 1014.28 hours ≈ 42 days

Conclusion

So, using the camera to simultaneously record both the main stream and the sub-stream, it can store recordings for approximately 42 days.

If your camera is a dual lens camera, let's take Reolink TrackMix PoE camera as an example.

To calculate the storage time for the TrackMix PoE camera, we need to consider the bitrates of both lenses' main and sub-streams. Assuming the hard drive capacity is 3TB, here are the detailed calculation steps:

1. Convert the storage capacity to bits:

3 TB=3×1024×1024×1024×8 kbit

3 TB=3×1024×1024×1024×8 kbit 3 TB=25,769,803,776 kbit

3 TB=25,769,803,776 kbit

2. Calculate the total bitrate:

Wide-angle lens main stream bitrate by default: 6144 kbps
Wide-angle lens sub-stream bitrate by default: 1024 kbps
Tracking lens main stream bitrate by default: 4096 kbps
Tracking lens sub-stream bitrate by default: 1024 kbps

Total Bitrate=6144+1024+4096+1024=12288 kbps

3. Use the formula to calculate the recording duration:

Recording Duration=25,769,803,776 kbit12288 kbps×3600 s/hRecording Duration=12288 kbps×3600 s/h25,769,803,776 kbit​

4. Simplify the calculation:

Recording Duration=25,769,803,77644,236,800Recording Duration=44,236,80025,769,803,776​

Recording Duration≈582.22 hourRecording Duration ≈ 582.22 hours ≈ 24 days

Conclusion

The TrackMix PoE camera can store approximately 24 days of video recording on a 3TB hard drive.