one multichannel DVR vs. manny small DVR's

Hello everyone.

General question about what is the better solution:

We are about to get a new surveillance camera system for our ~14 acre facility. It will be around 25-30 cameras all over the place some inside, some outside. Basically the operations are divided into 4-5 departments.

So far the idea was to set up a 32 Channel DVR/NVR and from there on setting up the whole system. Now we were discussing the option of getting 2 or 3 smaller and therefore also cheaper DVR's. Maybe even ready-to-go sets like the ones you find at Costco's and online a lot. Basically each department would have their own DVR and the Management could still log in to all of them through the network.

I could not see the downside of this solution so far, especially if it would turn out cheaper than the "big solution", while supporting the same features.

But then again I am not sure if I am missing something.

What are the major cons about multiple small DVR's? What is the advantage of one big DVR/NVR over many small ones? Or is it even the other way around?

I am thankful for every thought, experience or opinion!

My 2 cents..

The idea of separate NVRs/ servers is a good one, the draw back/ tricky point I can see is if you need to work with all cameras/ departments simultaneously.

Single system is easier to control data, physical security, etc. Could get pricey depending on your surveillance requirements.

Things to consider:

Cheap usually gets you cheap cameras, OK for observation and control under ideal conditions. If your looking at forensic grade footage, difficult lighting situations, then some higher end cameras should be considered.

Recording 24/7, motion, scheduled, how long do you need data for.. Terabytes can be used up quickly.

30 cams at 8mb/s needs 240mb/s recording, need another 240mbs going out for network viewing, enterprise level hard drives, gigabit network, recommend dual gigabit ports on servers/ nvr.

If your looking at loss prevention, security guard needs, then I'd invest in a higher end system.