Local box - or cloud-managed across every site?

Two real reasons. Bandwidth: 30 cameras at 4MP each is roughly 60-120 Mbps continuous upload. Many sites don't have it. Retention cost: storing 90 days of 4MP continuous video for 30 cameras in someone else's cloud is materially more expensive than on a $1,500 NVR with $300 of disks.

Note that evidence chain of custody is actually a cloud strength, not an NVR one: local NVR footage can be edited, deleted or replaced on the recorder; TetherX generates a SHA-1 checksum for every minute of recording at the time it is written, so any later tamper is detectable on export. A "local recorder hash" only proves the file matches the local recorder - which is the device the attacker controls.

The 2026 answer for most sites is hybrid: a small on-site appliance (TetherBox, Eagle Eye Bridge, Milestone Husky) records locally for bandwidth and retention efficiency, while the cloud provides the tamper-evident hash, audit trail and time-bound sharing the local recorder cannot.

Bad. In January 2023 IPVM disclosed 12 CVEs in Dahua DSS affecting ~3,100 internet-exposed servers. Hikvision's iVMS-4200 had a long history of plain-text passwords in dealer comms. Hik-Connect (the Hikvision remote-access cloud) is treated as a botnet recruitment risk by some integrators. Every NVR that needs remote access requires port-forwarding through the firewall - the exact configuration ransomware attackers exploit.

Verbatim 2025 integrator quote in the IPVM 120-integrator survey: "EagleEye cloud because a major client had a ransomware attack and their corporate IT dept mandated a no open port policy. Cloud was the solution to meet this requirement." Same conversation forces every NVR-to-VSaaS migration.

Hardware NVR: $1,000-3,000 box + $300-800 disks + $0/month + Internet for remote access (port-forwarded). Plus replacement every 3-5 years when the appliance ages out, the manufacturer drops firmware support, or the customer adds sites.

Pure cloud VSaaS (Verkada American, Rhombus American): $99-1,799/cam/year licence (depending on tier) + camera hardware. At 16 cameras over 5 years that is materially more than the NVR even before storage tiers.

Hybrid VSaaS (TetherX with TetherBox, Eagle Eye Bridge): annual platform subscription priced by channel count, TetherBox at each site for local resilience, cloud only for what needs it. Usually beats both pure cloud at scale and pure NVR on operating cost beyond year 2 because the multi-site management overhead disappears.

Yes, in two ways. Cloud adapter (Videoloft British, Camcloud Canadian) pushes streams from an existing recorder up to AWS. Cheapest retrofit. Inherits any limitations of the underlying NVR. Hybrid VSaaS overlay (TetherX with TetherBox alongside the NVR) takes the cameras under TetherX management while the NVR keeps recording locally as backup. Same cameras, two recording paths, single multi-site cloud dashboard.

Free Hikvision iVMS-4200, Dahua DSS Express and Uniview EZStation hit walls fast: Windows-only, single-brand, no real cloud, port-forwarding for remote view, ceiling around 64-256 cameras per server. Most installers outgrow them by the second multi-site customer. TetherX is the channel-only path off them - keep the existing Hikvision / Dahua cameras at first, decommission the free desktop tool, manage everything through the cloud. See iVMS / DSS / EZStation alternative for the full migration plan and NDAA compliance and ringfencing for NDAA implications.

Yes. Cameras never touch the public Internet directly. The TetherBox is the only thing that talks to TetherX cloud, over an outbound-only encrypted tunnel. Two paths to the same architecture: TetherBox software on an existing server or PC already at the site, or a dedicated unit from the TetherBox range (compact in-vehicle and lamp-post models through to rackmount servers for sites recording hundreds of cameras with long local retention).

Yes. 30-day free trial through an integrator partner with a TetherBox, full platform access, and a dedicated onboarding contact. Run alongside the existing NVR for comparison. No card, no commitment. Extensions on request.