Are cameras from china really worth it?

[CCTV Blog Admin]

Every day I see more and more companies selling cheap inexpensive china cameras. The funny thing is, dealers continue to buy them. Most chinese models in the market can easily be found on Ebay, Frys, Sams club,etc.Yet dealers continue to quote and sell this to there customers where they can easily find prices on them on the net. Why would you do this? I dont understand. There specs all vary even though they all have the same chipset and dsp and most dealers dont even offer decent support. I am hoping someone has some insight as to there reasons for purchasing these products, is it only price?

[Janet]

I have dealt directly with the Chinese companies in the past. On the plus side the prices were low. On the negative side, I had to order huge quantities. There were huge dalays with shipping and customs. The quality of the products were inconsistant. Tech support was non existant if you could get in touch with someone who speaks english. The headaches were not worth it. I buy name brands from local distributors. I pay more, but I like having a good company with a strong supply line behind it. It keeps my customers happy.

[Brandon Joubert]

Hi Janet

Some time ago I started and ran a flourishing team buying website, we had members from all over the world buying goods jointly from China. I eventually disbanded the idea because it was extremely difficult to get everybody to agree on what to buy. It was easy in the beginning but got impossible as membership grew.

I think this concept would work extremely well in a clearly defined field such as cctv. We used the team buying concept to bypass the minimum order quantities, and we restricted membership in order to protect the markets of our members in different countries.

Since 2000 though I have an excellent infrastructure developed in China with very reliable products. I am sure there are other professionals here who have also , over time , found and used excellent Chinese suppliers.

Do you think a team buying group like that , could get you back to buying from China?

[Brandon Joubert]

For that matter - team buying from anywhere - China, US, japan, etc .....

[samakida]

i suggest cctv camera from japan it betern than expensive but good quality.

More Detail : http://www.anzenthai.com

[CCTV Blog Admin]

How true this is. Low prices can only do so much.

[Brandon Joubert]

I have used a single supplier in China since 2004. I must say that the prices I get from them are extremly competitive. The quality is reasonably good - to the extent that when we install these at facilities that already have cameras , we do get the "wow" exclamation. That may be due to our intense focus on the lens and focal length for the objective though - but have no problem with a couple of years performance.

All chinese cameras will look the same - that's the Chinese model. Specific factories manufacture casings only, and supply the manufacturers of cameras. Most manufacturers get their casings from the same place. Of the more than 440 CCTV manufacturers on the mainland, a large number are backyard assemblers - and that's where the problem comes in. It took us six years to find our current supplier and it was by word of mouth - not alibaba or similar.

I might mention that during the six years, we lost thousands of dollars on Chinese samples that had poor pictures, poor night vision, overheating - one even started to smoke on our test bench.

Why i buy Chinese? - As a startup business, the bigger brands back then in 2000 used and still use exclusive trade practices. They had extensive entry barriers, and preferential pricing strategies. Branded products in SA are sold at more than 200% the market price in the US - many South Africans would rather buy an IPOD from the US than here in SA.

By getting my products from the source, I control the quality, I control the Price to my end user, and while others may be competitive, few will be able to better the pricing.

Stick to the top reputed Chinese factories though --

[CCTV Blog Admin]

Brandon you make some very good points. The problem is that most companies buy from alibaba, ec21 and so on. I travel to Asia 3 or 4 times year and as you stated it takes alot to find a good manufacturer in China, Taiwan or Korea. You have to be there. You may order samples and they may look and perform well but your shipment will deviate from the original product. The flood gate has been opened for dealers worldwide to buy based on price and they are killing the market. Take the H264 platform that is being pushed as the platform of choice. It's being sold at a lower price that the MPEG4 dvrs and it's a newer technology. Wouldn't you think the H264 DVRs would sell for more being they give you better compression and picture quality? Well, no. Becuase they prefer to sell a million units and make 1 dollar than to sell 100,000 units making $100 a unit. In the end, business savy people offer other features and goodies to off set the competition. For a dealer it's better to spend a little more and buy locally from someone that's done the leg work and supports their brand. That's my two cents anyway.

[CCTV Blog Admin]

By the way I'm typing from an iPhone so there may be some typos. Be gentle with me.

[Brandon Joubert]

Typos don't bother me.........mostly it's the content i'm after :)

[Brandon Joubert]

Just hate that as a dealer. All our dahua dvr's are H.264 and yet there are online sites selling the things at about 10% margin. I know where they buy from.

Problem is as a distributor, you've got to be able to offer your dealers some margin, and when the products are on the web at 10% more than the dealer payed - there aren't many dealers who want to support the product. In that sense it's better to trade a branded product - as there is more profit potential ultimately.

I wonder how these guys that sell at 10% margins are able to offer adequate support?

Fully agree, the only way to buy from asia is to go to asia!

[Jesse]

Many companies get cameras and put their names on them. We are actually engineers and developers. Our design team creates schematics and specs and sends them over to our partners in Korea who prints circuit boards and does assembly and quality control. Then once they make a prototype they send it back to us. Then we test it and apply changes and it becomes a long process to get the end result.

All service repairs are done in house the same day. We offer 2 year warrantee on all Luxar products. Visit www.luxarvideo.com to learn more.

We stand behind our brand and offer quality product at reasonable prices.

[CCTV Blog Admin]

Please be careful with what you say. I am familiar with your cameras ( luxarvideo ) and most of the camera line you have come from other manufacturers I am very familiar with.