---
title: C. Best Camera Configuration for Aivr
description: Recommended Codec, Frame Rate, Resolution and Bitrate Settings for Cameras Connected to the AiVR
---

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# C. Best Camera Configuration for Aivr

## Recommended Codec, Frame Rate, Resolution and Bitrate Settings for Cameras Connected to the AiVR

The AiVR pulls one stream from each camera, records it exactly as received, and decodes the same stream for AI detection. How each camera is configured decides how clean the recording is, how much storage and upload it uses, and how reliable AI detection is. This article gives the recommended settings for every camera, the profile to use for each role, and how to check your cameras in the Control Center.

> **IMPORTANT:** The AiVR can't change camera settings. Every setting in this article is made on the camera's own web page.

---

### 1. How the AiVR Uses a Stream

- The AI analyzes one frame out of every five: 30 fps → 6 frames per second, 15 fps → 3, 10 fps → 2.
- Each analyzed frame is a 640×640 copy, so resolution above 1080p adds little to basic detection but uses more of the AiVR's decoding capacity.
- There is no separate inference stream to configure. The recorded stream is the AI stream.

---

### 2. Settings for Every Camera

Create one dedicated stream profile named **Alocity** on every camera, or use the camera's default H.265 profile. A dedicated profile keeps Alocity's settings separate from other recorders and is easy to find on the next visit.

| Setting | Recommended value |
| --- | --- |
| Codec | **H.265** (H.264 if H.265 isn't available) |
| Bitrate control | **VBR** (variable) with a maximum cap |
| Frame rate | **15 fps** (20–30 fps for fast motion, see section 5) |
| Keyframe interval (GOV / GOP) | Same as the frame rate (15) |
| Time sync | **NTP** on |
| Extra streams | Turn off unused substreams, third streams, on-camera recording and on-camera analytics |

> **IMPORTANT:** Turn off **Dynamic GOV**, **Dynamic FPS** and smart codecs (WiseStream, H.264+/H.265+, Smart Codec, Zipstream). They reduce AI accuracy. With Dynamic FPS on, quiet scenes can drop to 1 fps and the AI misses events.

The same setting has different names by manufacturer:

| Generic | Hanwha | Hikvision | Axis | Dahua |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Keyframe interval | GOV length | I-Frame Interval | GOP length | I Frame Interval |
| Smart codec | WiseStream | H.264+ / H.265+ | Zipstream | Smart Codec |
| Variable keyframes | Dynamic GOV | Part of H.26x+ | Dynamic GOP | Part of Smart Codec |
| Bitrate mode | Bitrate control | Bitrate Type | Bitrate control | Bit Rate Type |

---

### 3. Choose a Profile for Each Camera

Each camera is configured in one of three directions, depending on its role and the camera's quality:

| Setting | Efficient | Detection Boost | Record only |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Use for | Modern cameras | Older or low-cost cameras in AI roles | Cameras with no AI agents |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1280 | Cleanest Native resolution | 1080 x 720 |
| Frame rate | 15 fps; 20–30 for fast motion | 25–30 fps | 10–15 fps |
| Codec | H.265 if supported, else H.264 | H.265 if supported, else H.264 | H.265 if supported, else H.264 |
| Rate control | VBR with average and hard max | VBR with a high max, or high CBR | VBR with max |
| Keyframe | Equal to frame rate or 1s | Equal to frame rate or 1 s | Equal to frame rate or 1 s |

> **Tip:** These profiles are starting points, not rules. Check the picture and the AiVR's capacity after applying them.

---

### 4. Resolution and Bitrate by Camera Type

Maximum bitrates below are for H.265. If the camera only supports H.264, use about 1.3–1.4× these values.

| Camera type | Resolution | Max bitrate (kbps) | Tip |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Dome / turret / bullet** | 1080p (2MP) | 1,024–2,048 | The everyday default |
| Small indoor dome (HD) | 720p | 512–1,024 | Small rooms and hallways only |
| Outdoor bullet | 1080p–4MP | 2,048–4,000 | Upper end for rain, foliage and night IR |
| 4K dome or bullet | 4K (8MP) | 4,096–6,144 | Keep under about 6,000 |
| Fisheye (9MP) | Native | 8,000–10,000 | Set raw and dewarped channels separately |
| Multi-sensor | Per sensor | Match each sensor's row | Add each sensor as its own stream |
| PTZ | 1080p–4K | Match the resolution row | Return to a home preset so zones line up |
| License plates (LPR) | 1080p or higher | 3,000 at 1080p; under 6,000 above | Never 720p. Aim tight and head-on at the lane; WDR on |

---

### 5. Settings by AI Role

- **General detection** (people, vehicles, intrusion, loitering, counting): 15 fps at 1080p. Plan for at least 62 pixels per meter in the detection zone.
- **Fast motion** (Wrong Way, Stop Sign Violation, vehicles at speed): raise to 20–30 fps so tracking doesn't lose the object between frames.
- **Face Recognition and Person of Interest**: plan for 250 pixels per meter on faces. Narrow the field of view or move the camera closer rather than raising resolution.
- **License Plate Recognition**: 1080p or higher. Aim tight and head-on at the lane with WDR on.
- **Record only**: lower frame rates (10–15 fps) are fine and use far less AiVR capacity.

> **Note:** Finalize the camera's angle, zoom and focus before setting up AI agents. Moving the camera later means redrawing detection zones.

---

### 6. Check Your Cameras in the Control Center

The Control Center reviews each camera's actual recording and recommends changes.

1. Go to **AiVR**, click the AiVR's name and open the **Storage** tab.
2. Scroll to **Yesterday's storage by camera**. Each row shows a full calendar day for one camera, with a status of warning, info or ok.
3. Expand a row to see its codec, resolution, frame rate, bitrate mode, average and peak bitrate, and recommendations.

*![Screenshot 2026-11-02 164514](https://help.alocity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202026-11-02%20164514.png?width=670&height=332&name=Screenshot%202026-11-02%20164514.png)*

Recommendations you may see:

| Recommendation | What to do on the camera |
| --- | --- |
| **Encode in H.265** | Switch the Alocity profile from H.264 to H.265. H.265 stores the same footage in roughly 35–45% less space at matching quality. |
| **Switch to variable bitrate** | Change CBR to VBR with a maximum cap, so quiet hours use less storage. |
| **Frame rate above target** | Lower the frame rate to 15 fps unless the camera covers fast motion. |
| **Fleet GB outlier** | This camera stores much more than others. Review its resolution, bitrate and smart-codec settings. |

When a camera is set correctly, the row reads **Matches the recommended profile** and nothing needs to change. The **Recommended profile** box summarizes the target, for example H.264 → H.265 · CBR → VBR · cap 3.11 Mb/s.

The VBR caps the Control Center recommends by resolution:

| Resolution | Recommended VBR cap |
| --- | --- |
| 1280×720 | 1.38 Mb/s |
| 1920×1080 | 3.11 Mb/s |
| 2560×1440 | 3.87 Mb/s |
| 2880×1616 | 4.89 Mb/s |
| 3840×2160 (4K) | 8.71 Mb/s |
| 3008×3008(fisheye) | 9.3 Mb/s |

---

### 7. Stay Inside the AiVR's Capacity

Every AiVR has a stream limit and a decoding budget. Higher resolution and frame rate use more of the budget: one 4K camera at 30 fps uses as much capacity as eight 1080p cameras at 15 fps.

| Stream | Capacity units |
| --- | --- |
| 1280×720 @ 15 fps | 0.5 |
| 1920×1080 @ 15 fps | 1 |
| 1920×1080 @ 30 fps | 2 |
| 2560×1920 (5MP) @ 15 fps | 2.4 |
| 3008×3008 fisheye @ 15 fps | 4.4 |
| 3840×2160 (4K) @ 30 fps | 8 |

Multiply by the camera's AI role: record only 0.3×, detection 1×, detail roles (face, POI, LPR, fall and weapon detection) 1.5–2×. \[VERIFY: AiVR model stream limits and unit budgets — partner guide lists AiVR-8: 6 streams/10 units, AiVR-16: 12/16, AiVR-60: 50/115; the Installing article lists 8/16/60\]

Upload must be at least the sum of all average camera bitrates plus 20%. As a guide, 1 Mbps of average bitrate uses about 10.8 GB of disk per day.

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