Intermediate 8 Camera 4K System
Eight 4K cameras on a local recorder is the configuration most houses land on after doing the entry point count honestly. At about 6 Mbps per camera in H.265 it writes roughly 48 Mbps, which fills a 4 TB drive in about 7 days and an 8 TB drive in about 14.
This is the buy-once build. Eight 4K cameras covers every door, the driveway, and the window clusters on a typical family house, with the resolution to recognise people rather than merely notice them.
It adds a separate PoE switch rather than relying on the recorder ports, which is what makes the system expandable and lets cameras join the network somewhere other than at the recorder.
Optimised for: The best value per dollar across coverage, resolution and retention. This is the build most people should make.
| Item | Why this one | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| The system itself | |||
| REOLINK 8CH 4K Security Camera System with 2TB HDD RLK8-800B6 REOLINK | Six 4K bullets and an eight channel recorder with a drive fitted. Start here and add two cameras rather than buying eight separately. | $755.99 | Check price |
| REOLINK PoE Security Camera RLC-820A 2 Pack, 4K Outdoor REOLINK | Two more 4K cameras to fill the remaining channels, in dome bodies for the soffit positions where a bullet is easy to knock out of alignment. | $194.99 | Check price |
| Storage sized for real retention | |||
| Seagate Skyhawk 8TB Video Internal Hard Drive Seagate | Eight cameras at 4K fill a 4 TB drive in about a week. An 8 TB surveillance drive roughly doubles that, which covers a fortnight away from home. | $309.99 | Check price |
| Network | |||
| NETGEAR 8-Port PoE Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Network Switch GS308PP NETGEAR | An 83 W budget across eight PoE ports carries eight class 3 cameras with the headroom that stops a port shutting down on a cold night when the heaters run. | $69.99 | Check price |
| Power protection | |||
| APC BE650G1 Battery Backup 650VA 390W Uninterruptible Power Supply APC | Carries the recorder, the switch and the router through the short outages that make up most of them. APC publishes both the VA and the watt rating, so a real runtime can be computed rather than guessed. | $109.99 | Check price |
| Cable and termination | |||
| celertec CAT6 Outdoor Cable, 1000ft, 23AWG Solid Bare Copper, Unshielded celertec | Solid bare copper 23AWG Cat6. The thicker conductor means less voltage drop on the longer runs this build will have. | $219.99 | Check price |
| VCE UL Listed Cat6 Keystone Jacks 10Gbps, 25 Pack VCE | Punch down jacks for every run, which is both more reliable than crimped plugs on solid cable and far easier to fault find later. | $25.99 | Check price |
| TRENDnet 24-Port Blank Keystone 1U Patch Panel, TC-KP24 TRENDnet | Every camera run lands in one labelled place. This is the difference between a five minute fault find and an afternoon in the roof. | $21.99 | Check price |
| Cable Matters 200-Pack Nail-in Cable Clips, 7mm Cable Matters | Securing runs along the soffit line. | $6.99 | Check price |
| Tools | |||
| ZOERAX 14 in 1 Professional Network Tool Kit with Crimp Tool and Connectors ZOERAX | Crimper, punch down tool, stripper and connectors in one purchase, which is everything an eight camera install needs. | $64.99 | Check price |
| Klein Tools VDV526-200 LAN Scout Jr Cable Tester Kit Klein Tools | Reports cable length as well as continuity, so you can confirm each run is inside the 100 metre limit rather than assuming it from the drawing. | $59.97 | Check price |
| Weatherproofing and mounting | |||
| Universal Bullet Security Camera Junction Box Mount Bracket, Rainproof NVRTTRR | A rainproof box behind each camera, protecting the connector that is otherwise the first thing to fail outdoors. | $15.99 | Check price |
| WiTi Universal Vertical Pole Mount for Security Camera, Metal Corner Bracket WiTi | Aiming a camera along a wall rather than perpendicular to it roughly doubles the useful coverage of a rectangular property. | $9.98 | Check price |
| Notice | |||
| Faittoo Video Surveillance Sign with 36 inch Stake, 12x12 inch Faittoo | A staked sign at the property line, which is both the legal notice some places require and a real deterrent. | $22.99 | Check price |
| Running total, 14 items | Live prices from the product listings. Prices change often, so treat this as a guide. | $1,890 | |
Get this build as a printable checklist
The full item list, the running total and the wiring checklist, as one page you can take to the install.
What you can skip
Telling you not to buy something is what makes the rest of this list credible. None of the following is required for a working system.
- The patch panel, if you are running four cables rather than eight. Below about six runs it is tidiness rather than necessity.
- A managed switch. It is the right call if you want cameras on their own VLAN, but an unmanaged switch records exactly as well.
- The two extra cameras, initially. The six camera kit is a complete system on its own and the recorder has the channels waiting.
What to upgrade first
A camera with real optical zoom on the one approach where you would most need to identify a face. Optical zoom is the only thing that adds pixels to a distant subject, and it beats upgrading every camera to a larger sensor.
Where this build runs out
Eight 4K cameras on wide lenses still will not identify a stranger at the far end of a long drive. That is a lens problem rather than a resolution problem, and the fix is one longer lens rather than eight better sensors.
Compare the other builds
Before you install any of this. Aim cameras at your own property and your own boundary, never into a neighbour's windows. Cameras in bedrooms, bathrooms or anywhere with a reasonable expectation of privacy are a serious legal problem, including for guests, lodgers and anyone who works in your home. Audio is legally different from video, many US states require the consent of every party to a recorded conversation, and several recorders capture audio by default, so check your own state before enabling it. Some places require visible notice that recording is taking place, and landlords and homeowner associations often add their own rules. This is researched general information and not legal advice.
Once it is running. Change every default password, keep the firmware updated, and be clear where the footage goes. Mains wiring for a floodlight is licensed electrician work in many places, and running cable in a wall cavity has its own rules. Prices change often, so treat the running total as a guide rather than a quote.