Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for performing video recorder failover. In a particular embodiment, a system for handing a failover of a first Network Video Recorder (NVR) is provided. The system includes a second NVR that receives a video stream and temporarily stores an amount of the video stream to the temporary storage, wherein the amount of the video stream stored in the temporary storage at any given time corresponds to a duration of time sufficient to accommodate a failover of the first NVR to the second NVR. In response to a detection of a failure of the first NVR, the second NVR records the video stream to the second long-term storage and transfers at least a portion of the video stream stored in the temporary storage to the second long-term storage.