CCTV System Design Checklist: Cameras, Coverage, Storage and Network

A practical checklist for planning camera coverage, lighting, storage, PoE, network capacity, NVR selection and future expansion.

Start with the surveillance objective

Define what each camera must achieve before choosing megapixels. An overview camera, an entrance identification camera and a perimeter camera can require very different fields of view and image detail.

Plan placement and lighting

Check mounting height, viewing direction, backlight, night illumination, reflections and obstructions. Test the intended view after dark because a scene that looks good in daylight may lose useful detail at night.

Calculate storage and bandwidth

Use each camera's actual or planned bitrate rather than megapixels alone. Add camera bitrates for network planning, then calculate recording hours and retention for storage. Leave practical headroom for variation and growth.

Plan PoE and cabling

Confirm camera power requirements, switch PoE budget, cable distance and installation quality. Label both cable ends and record switch ports so future troubleshooting is straightforward.

Choose the NVR from specifications

Check channel count, incoming bandwidth, supported resolution and codecs, decoding capability and storage interfaces. Channel count alone does not prove that an NVR can handle a particular camera mix.

Design for expansion

Where practical, reserve switch ports, PoE budget, recorder capacity and IP address space. Good documentation is part of the design, not an afterthought.