Should I consider anything other than Hikvision or Dahua?

[bp2008]

I am currently testing Blue Iris on an old Lenovo M90p with an i5-650 and 8GB RAM. I am pulling in ten public feeds from the internet for testing purposes, including a couple that are of 5MP resolution. It works great. The system I intend to buy is a new Dell Optiplex 3040 or 5040 with the new i7-6700 Skylake processor and 16GB RAM. I will install an 8TB WD Purple for footage storage. If we went NVR, cost would be the same (two 16-channel units) and would have less flexibility.

You say "new" but you should be aware that complete (minus the huge hard drive) systems using i7-6700 can be had in the ballpark of $500. The trick is to buy used or refurbished systems. You can get these straight from the Dell outlet with a 3 year warranty included for under $500 (sometimes even under $450 after taxes) using the right coupon codes. http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/28/campaigns/dell-coupons-codes-us-outlet-new

Note you can't use the search filters to find i7-6700 reliably. You just have to navigate through the pages and search manually. To fit a standard 3.5 inch hard drive, you need a Small Form Factor or Mini Tower. The "Micro" boxes don't have room. The Mini Tower boxes can fit two 3.5" drives, which is useful if you want the OS and data disks to be separate.

 

[Q™]

You say "new" but you should be aware that complete (minus the huge hard drive) systems using i7-6700 can be had in the ballpark of $500. The trick is to buy used or refurbished systems. You can get these straight from the Dell outlet with a 3 year warranty included for under $500 (sometimes even under $450 after taxes) using the right coupon codes. http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/28/campaigns/dell-coupons-codes-us-outlet-new

Note you can't use the search filters to find i7-6700 reliably. You just have to navigate through the pages and search manually. To fit a standard 3.5 inch hard drive, you need a Small Form Factor or Mini Tower. The "Micro" boxes don't have room. The Mini Tower boxes can fit two 3.5" drives, which is useful if you want the OS and data disks to be separate.

I bought such an i7-6700 Skylake Optiplex 9020 system recently and it is -- quite simply -- an outstanding machine. A+++ IMO.