Hikvision DS-7208HQHI-K2 8-Channel Turbo HD 4MP Lite DVR

The DS-7208HQHI-K2 is an 8-channel Hikvision DVR for homes, shops, and small offices on coaxial CCTV. Its BNC inputs take HD-TVI and AHD cameras up to 4 MP, HD-CVI at 1080p, and standard analogue, so it works with most existing cameras and cable.

It also connects 4 IP cameras, or up to 12 if analogue channels are switched to IP, at up to 6 MP, with 48 Mbps of incoming bandwidth. That makes it a practical hybrid when a site is moving gradually from coax to IP cameras.

All channels record at up to 4 MP lite, and H.265 Pro+ cuts storage use. Unusually for an 8-channel DVR, it has two SATA bays (up to 10 TB each), so it can hold long recording periods. Four channels support line crossing and intrusion detection. HDMI and VGA outputs run at up to 1080p.

We size the hard drives to how many days of recording you need to keep, and connect the recorder to a UPS or inverter so it keeps recording through power cuts.