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— CCTV Storage · 5MP

Vivotek FD9389-HM (5MP Dome) storage & retention

Problem. A fleet of Vivotek FD9389-HM 5MP dome cameras recording continuously will fill a head-end far faster than the same count in 2MP, so the storage math has to be worked out before the NVR and disks are chosen. The real decision is not the camera itself but how many days of footage the site needs to keep at that resolution, since retention is what drives the drive count.

Answer. At the calculator's default of 16 cameras on 24/7 continuous recording with 30-day retention, the FD9389-HM's H.265 stream computes to roughly 26 TB of storage, or about 54 GB per camera per day. That places the head-end in the Entry NVR architecture class at this camera count.

02 / In depth

How this preset reads — the engineering view.

The FD9389-HM's 5MP sensor at a typical 5 Mbps encode (H.265) is what sets the storage load, working out to roughly 54 GB per camera per day of continuous recording. H.265's smart-codec efficiency keeps this materially lower than an equivalent H.264 stream would need at the same resolution and frame rate, which is why codec choice matters as much as megapixel count when sizing storage.

Scaling is linear from there: 16 cameras across 30 days of continuous recording works out to roughly 26 TB. Add cameras or extend retention and the figure scales in step - double the days, double the storage, and so on. At 16 cameras this lands in the Entry NVR head-end class rather than a mid-tier or enterprise platform.

Use the calculator by dragging the camera count, retention days, and recording schedule to see the storage figure recompute live for this camera's bitrate profile. Switching from an always-on schedule to a motion-only schedule applies a duty-cycle factor that reduces the effective recording hours per day, cutting total storage accordingly.

The calculator does not decide real-world scene-activity bitrate variance (a busy entrance encodes heavier than a quiet corridor even on the same camera), RAID or redundancy overhead, failover or archive-tier duplication, network write-throughput limits, or the exact drive model and count to deploy. Those still need a proper site survey and vendor-sheet check before procurement.

What this preset deliberately does not solve

  • The 5 Mbps figure is a scene-average bitrate quoted for typical H.265 encoding; busier scenes with more motion will encode heavier and quieter scenes lighter.
  • The default state models always-on continuous recording; switching to a motion-only or scheduled profile changes the effective recording hours and lowers the storage total.
  • The output is raw storage capacity only - it does not add RAID, redundancy, or backup-tier overhead, which a real deployment plan should account for separately.

How this preset differs from its siblings

The FD9389-HM's 5MP sensor and H.265 encode place its typical bitrate well above a 2MP camera and below higher-resolution multi-sensor or panoramic models, so its per-camera-per-day storage figure sits in its own band. A page tuned to this camera's actual resolution and codec gives a materially different (and more accurate) answer than a generic default, which is why it is worth landing on this preset rather than adjusting a generic calculator run by hand.

03 / Hydrated calculator

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