Configure the below form with information about your planned video surveillance system and a suggested specification of computer will be given that should meet your requirements.

This is only approximate and I give no guarantees for the accuracy of this calculator, as there are many factors to consider. Having said that, the main factors are taken into account and the calculator should give a reasonable guide in most cases. It is based on the assumption that motion detection capture is being used, so not all cameras will be capturing at the specified frame rate at the same time, and that captured footage will be kept for a period of 15 days or so.

Note that different computers have different processor configurations - what is important is the number of processor cores. So the calculator may recommand a computer with a "quad-core processor": this is equivalent to a computer with two dual-core processors. Similary, an "eight-core processor" is equivalent to two quad-core processors (such as in the Mac Pro and Xserve computers).

If in doubt, use a faster computer and/or a larger hard disk than suggested here. Click here to go back to the SecuritySpy web site.

Please note that connecting many FireWire or USB cameras can be problematic because of bandwidth limitations. See this FAQ for more information.