For dependable license plate recognition at 25-30 mph, plan for 80-100 pixels per foot at the plate, which usually means a dedicated LPR camera with a long focal length and short shutter speed. General-purpose 4MP cameras can read plates only at close range and low vehicle speed. Combine an LPR-specific camera at chokepoints with overview cameras covering wider context for full coverage.

If you sell to U.S. federal agencies, federally-funded projects, or many state and local government customers, yes — Section 889 of the NDAA bans Hikvision, Dahua, Huawei, and several other manufacturers from those installations. We carry NDAA-compliant lines from Axis, Hanwha, i-PRO, Pelco, Vivotek, and Bosch. Commercial private-sector buyers face no federal restriction but may inherit one through a customer's procurement rules.

PoE (802.3af) supplies up to 15.4W and powers most fixed-lens cameras. PoE+ (802.3at) goes to 30W and is the default for heated outdoor housings, PTZs, and motorized-zoom optics. PoE++ (802.3bt) reaches 60-90W and is required for large outdoor PTZs, multi-imager cameras with built-in IR, and accessories with integrated heaters and wipers. Always confirm the camera's PoE class against your switch budget per port.

Storage retention is driven by regulation, insurance, or operational policy. Cannabis, banking, and gaming often require 30-90 days; most commercial buildings retain 14-30 days. Calculate storage as resolution × frame rate × compression × camera count × retention days. H.265 cuts the load roughly in half versus H.264 with comparable image quality. Build in 20% headroom for events that trigger higher-bitrate recording.

You can, but you give up edge analytics and convenience features tied to manufacturer-native integration. ONVIF Profile S/T provides basic streaming, PTZ control, and event subscription across brands, but advanced AI classification and per-stream metadata typically require same-brand camera and VMS. For deployments where you're standardizing, pick one VMS and align cameras to its supported list rather than mix arbitrarily.