I do all my configuring directly from the camera web GUI. There are settings only available from there that aren't accessible through the NVR. The NVR will overwrite the settings if it can change, but only if you change them.
@looney2ns gave you a great starting point for FPS and bitrates, which is where I run mine. I like the H.265 compression rate. 6 cameras at these settings with 8TB of storage gives me 30 days of history. A bit of overkill, so it won't matter when I add my 7th camera for a blind spot I want to cover. I'd say shoot for 10 - 14 days minimum history for storage. H.265 compression will give you the most efficient storage per cam and TB of hard drive space.
I have about 20 of these I've set up and help administer for myself, neighbors and customers. Most everything is default, but I'll fill you in on what I've changed and like to run.
Camera->Conditions: I run Day mode 24/7 on all settings below, Normal & Night set to defaults:
Picture (Normal, Day & Night) all at default settings, 50 of 100
Exposure (Normal, Day & Night) Anti Flicker = Auto; Mode = Auto; Auto Iris = On; 3D NR = On; Grade = 50
Backlight (Normal, Day & Night) Mode = Off
White Balance (Normal, Day & Night) Mode = Auto
Day and Night; Day = Color
IR Light (Normal, Day & Night) Mode = Smart IR
Camera->Video (There are 5 tabs, Video, Snapshot, Overlay, ROI and Path. I only edit the Video tab. All others left at default.)
Video: (Main Stream) Encode = H.265; Smart Codec = Off; Resolution = 1080P; Frame Rate = 15; Bit Rate Type = CBR; Bit Rate = 4096; I Frame Interval= 30; Watermark Settings = Checked; Watermark = *****
Video: (Sub Stream) = Enable; Encode = H.265; Resolution = D1; Frame Rate = 15; Bit Rate Type = CBR; Bit Rate = 1024; I Frame Interval= 30;
(Note: Some will set their I Frame Interval = to their Frame Rate FPS. I like the compression efficiency of a double I-Frame interval, but that's just me)
Audio: Main Stream = Enable; Encode Mode = G.117A: Sampling Frequency = 16k;
Sub Stream 1 = Enable; Encode Mode = G.117A: Sampling Frequency = 16k;
(Note: Sub Stream enabled so when viewing from phone or tablet, you can hear noise. You don't need the main stream when using a phone or tablet. It's overkill, but you can choose it if you like on your device/app.)
Attribute: Audio In = Mic; Noise Filter = Disable; Mic Volume = 100
That should get you heading in the right direction. The other menu settings can come from individual questions as needed. It would take me about another 2 hours to give you every individual setting and why the need for it. A couple things I will mention:
Network->TCP/IP: I use a static configuration for each camera and the NVR. This is more of an advanced setup as I like to access the cams Web GUI directly from any workstation in my home. Even though I have a 16 port POE NVR, I use none of the POE ports. I have a switch and midspan to power the cameras, allowing all of them to be on my home network's subnet of 192.168.1.X. It's better as the NVR will re-assign the cameras to it's internal switch's subnet, which cannot be the same as your home subnet. This protects the network of cams, but limits the functionality of the cameras administration through the NVR.
Network->Connection: I change the default TCP & UDP port to something unique between 1025 and 65534. I feel safer than leaving it at the default. It's just my own practice to do so.
Network->Bonjour: Insure this is not enabled
Event->Video Detection = Enabled
Event->Video Detection Record = Enabled
Event->Smart Plan = IVS (selected if you want to use Intelligent Video (recommended))
Event->IVS: This would take another 2 hours to type the intricacies of IVS, so just start playing with it if you choose to use it (again, recommended)
Storage->Schedule->Record Schedule: All days and hours should be selected. Sunday through Saturday + Holiday with General, Motion and Alarm all ticked.
Storage->Destination->Path Tab->Record: Event Type:Local; Tick the Scheduled, Motion Detection and Alarm boxes.
Storage->Record Control: Pack Duration = 8; Pre-event record = 5; Disk Full = Overwrite; Record Mode = Auto; Record Stream = Main Stream
System->General->Date & Time Tab: You need to set this up fully, and all your cams need to match, along with your NVR or the times of recording will be off and different. If an event occurs, it will confuse your research and ability to find the disturbance. Pick a Date Format, a Time Format and enter your Time Zone. Sync it with your PC. Enable Daylight Saving Time (DST) if applicable, and set the dates up for your region. I Synchronize with an NTP server, and use time.windows.com on port 123. I set the update period to 10 minutes. I cannot stress this enough that each of your individual cams along with your NVR NEED to share this information exactly within their menus and setups.
Ok, that should be enough to digest for a while. I'm sure you will have questions. There is a ton more to learn about these cameras. Here's a snapshot of the front of the house, with a couple tripwires set up. Plenty of ambient light for the Starlight sensors, hence the forced 24/7 Day mode.
SD
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