CCTVPLANNER.IO · NVR · DAHUA
Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI
8-ch compact WizSense NVR — 4-port PoE (36 W), 1 SATA (16 TB), 16 MP, AI by NVR
SPECIFICATIONS · NVR4108HS-P-EI
Full specifications
Specifications sourced from official manufacturer datasheet (link in hero).
About the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI
The Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI is a mid-channel recorder positioned for the most common SMB site — typical retail chains, mid-sized offices, warehouses and clinics that sit between roughly eight and sixteen cameras. Storage capacity sits in the comfort zone for month-long retention at typical channel resolutions, with room to drop archived footage onto cold storage as it ages out. The 3U-plus chassis is built for storage density and serviceability — front-loading hot-swap bays, redundant PSUs on enterprise SKUs, and rear-side network and alarm I/O all reached without sliding the unit out of the cabinet. Partial built-in PoE (4 ports for 8 channels) handles the closest cameras directly and pushes the remainder onto an external PoE switch. This split is common when the NVR sits near a cluster of cameras and the far cameras are reached through a switch in another room or floor.
Best use cases for this recorder
Small retail & single-tenant office
Built-in PoE means the entire install fits in one cabinet — cameras patch straight into the recorder, no extra switch to specify or maintain. 8 channels cover a typical front-of-house plus stockroom and parking layout.
SMB site — office, school, clinic, hotel
The 8-channel/1-bay combination sits in the most-shipped slot for SMB CCTV: enough channels for a mid-sized site, enough storage for 30-60 day retention at typical commercial-camera bitrates.
Rack-cabinet commercial installation
Designed for a 19-inch rack alongside a managed PoE switch, UPS, and network appliances. Front-loading hot-swap bays let the unit be serviced without sliding it out — important on installs where HDD replacement during business hours is unavoidable.
Strengths
- •4 built-in PoE ports eliminate the need for an external switch on small installs
- •Smart H.265+ codec halves storage cost over H.265 at equivalent perceived quality
- •ONVIF compliance lets the unit record from third-party cameras, not just the same-brand catalog
Considerations
- •Single HDD bay means no RAID protection — schedule regular backups or pair with a secondary NVR/NAS for redundancy
- •No RAID support — single-disk failure means losing all footage on that disk; plan retention policy accordingly
Storage planning
Running all 8 channels at the industry-typical 4 Mbps/channel H.265 CBR (15 fps, 4 MP scene complexity), the NVR4108HS-P-EI produces roughly 338 GB of footage per day — about 2363 GB/week, 10125 GB/month, and 30375 GB across a 90-day retention window. Fully populated with 1× 16 TB drives the unit holds 16 TB raw — enough for roughly 1.6× the one-month archive at full bitrate before RAID overhead. These figures are deterministic — derived from your bitrate assumption, the channel count, and the calendar — not estimated from a marketing data sheet.
Estimates assume 4 Mbps per channel H.265 CBR continuous recording. Motion-only recording typically reduces storage by 40-70%.
Bandwidth headroom
Input (ingest)
Avg 10.0 Mbps per channel — enough for 4K H.265 at 4 Mbps/channel.
Output (playback)
Sets the ceiling for simultaneous remote playback streams to mobile and web clients.
Installation tips for the NVR4108HS-P-EI
Install in a standard 19-inch rack cabinet on supported rack rails; allow at least 1U of clearance above and below the Compact 1U for airflow and HDD-bay servicing.
Plan storage at roughly 338 GB/day (≈10125 GB/month) for continuous H.265 recording at 4 Mbps/channel — match HDD capacity to the longest retention window the privacy policy or insurance contract demands.
Schedule weekly off-site backups (NAS, cloud, or sister NVR) since the single-bay design has no internal redundancy — a failed disk loses the entire archive.
Distribute high-power cameras (PTZ, heated housings) across the 4 built-in PoE ports — concentrating them on a single port group can exceed the per-port PoE budget even when the chassis total has headroom.
Power & rack
Power draw sits at roughly 35 W idle and around 66 W under full load (1-bay HDD activity plus 36 W of PoE delivered to cameras). That dissipates approximately 225 BTU/hour of heat into the rack — size the comms-cabinet ventilation accordingly. Allow 3U of cabinet space for the chassis plus 1U of unobstructed airflow above and below; pair with a UPS sized for at least 15-minute hold-up so the recorder shuts down cleanly on mains failure.
Installer time & cost (rough estimate)
A typical EU integrator quotes 7-9 h of labour to commission the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI (approximately €315-€405 excluding hardware), broken down as physical install, HDD population, 8-channel discovery and IP/credential configuration, schedule + retention setup, motion / event rules per camera, mobile-app pairing, and a brief operator handover. Allow extra time for sites with non-standard network topology (multi-VLAN, multi-site bridges) or for migrations from a legacy DVR where camera streams must be re-addressed.
Indicative EU 2024-2025 pricing — actual quotes vary by region, network topology and migration scope. Excludes hardware, HDDs, transport, permits, and VAT.
Frequently asked questions
How many cameras can the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI record?
Up to 8 IP camera channels per chassis. Total ingest bandwidth is 80 Mbps, which sets the practical ceiling — running every channel at 4K (typically 8 Mbps each) requires 64 Mbps, so verify whether your camera plan fits inside the bandwidth budget.
Does the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI support third-party (ONVIF) cameras?
Yes — ONVIF Profile S/T support means the unit records from third-party cameras as well as the same-brand catalog. Most cameras supporting ONVIF 16.12 or newer plug-and-play; older firmware may require manual stream URL configuration in the NVR web UI.
How much storage does the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI need for 30-day recording?
At the industry-typical 4 Mbps per channel H.265 CBR (15 fps, 4 MP scene), all 8 channels recording continuously for 30 days produces approximately 10125 GB (9.9 TB) of footage. Motion-only or event-triggered recording typically cuts that by 40-70 % depending on scene activity. Plan HDD capacity for the longest retention window your privacy policy or insurance contract demands.
What HDDs are recommended for the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI?
Use surveillance-rated HDDs — WD Purple, Seagate SkyHawk, Toshiba S300, or equivalent. Desktop / consumer drives (WD Blue, Seagate Barracuda) are not validated for 24/7 write workloads and typically fail within 12-18 months in CCTV use. Max 16 TB per bay across 1 bays = up to 16 TB raw capacity; populate matched pairs/sets if planning RAID.
Does the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI need its own PoE switch?
Not on small installs — 4 built-in PoE ports power and connect cameras directly to the recorder. On larger sites a dedicated managed PoE switch is still the cleaner architecture: separate failure domain, larger PoE budget, easier replacement.
What power and cooling does the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI need?
Plan for 35 W idle and ~66 W under full load, dissipating roughly 225 BTU/hour into the rack or cupboard. Size the UPS for at least 15-minute hold-up so the unit can flush write buffers and shut down cleanly on mains failure — abrupt power loss is the leading cause of NVR file-system corruption in commercial installs.
Is the Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI suitable for evidentiary recording?
Depends on the retention and chain-of-custody policy. The 1-bay chassis is single-disk only; for evidentiary recording, pair with a secondary NVR or NAS for redundancy. On the export side, ensure footage is hashed and timestamped before transfer to investigators.
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Helpful Tools & Resources
Storage Calculator
Match HDD capacity to your retention policy
Bandwidth Calculator
Verify your network can carry the ingest load
Camera Quantity Calculator
Match channel count to your site
UPS Sizing Calculator
Hold-up time for clean NVR shutdown on mains failure
System Budget Estimator
Hardware + install + commissioning cost
CCTV Storage Planning Guide
Bitrate, retention, RAID — the full math
Plan your CCTV layout with Dahua NVR4108HS-P-EI
Use our free CCTV planner to lay out cameras feeding this recorder, match HDD capacity to retention windows, and generate a professional PDF report — no signup required.
Free until you outgrow it · No card · No install