Tag: CCTV kit

CCTV industry- the life of a CCTV Manufacturer

Within the CCTV industry sometimes things do not go to plan………. Manufacturers make great kit with all the best intentions but when it gets into the field something goes wrong…..

The kit falls over or doesn’t perform as it should. End user understandably are annoyed that their expensive system is failing – often right after being installed. Installers are annoyed because not only is there the cost to revisit site but also the delay of other orders/installations as they try to fix the faulty systems.

Some from within the CCTV industry simply deny the fault, some simply issue more of the same kit and the problem simply snowballs as we see from the image CCTV cameras can be incredibly difficult to access.

But sometimes, just sometimes, a supplier will be straight, candid and honest – detailing the fault, when it is likely to happen, what can be done to fix it (even temporarily) and more importantly, work with the installer and end user to resolve it from happening again……….sometimes, we even hear of suppliers funding the cost of hire equipment and man power to support the installer…..

So, perhaps honesty really is the best policy – it breeds loyalty that remains long after the initial annoyance at the problem.

We welcome that in the CCTV industry

CCTV Suppliers – Are there too many?

Pick up any trade magazine and they are awash with literally hundreds of CCTV Suppliers……..all professing to offer ex-stock supply of the latest and greatest products at the best possible priced!

But is this influx of supply simply diluting the industry and causing end user and integrator confusion?

I recall many years ago that there were 2 or 3 mainline suppliers – if you wanted CCTV you went to Norbain or CCTV Warehouse……….. and a couple of other more regional companies…………even the electrical wholesalers sold products that were sourced, in bulk, from companies such as Norbain.

Now, pick up a Farnell, or RS, or Maplin brochure and observe the availability of seemingly good quality cctv kit………visit B&Q and there, in the electrical section, you’ll find an external cctv camera complete with wireless connectivity to a regular TV!

Not to mention the huge amount of eBay stores now popping up offering Hong Kong and China’s latest number one DVR!

So, where does this leave the industry?

We think confused – how is it really possible to justify a £10k professionally installed system when the end user has ‘found’ a ‘perceivably’ equivalent system online?

We hear stories of end users buying cheap(er) kit and then ringing installers to ask for a price to install !!  As if it isn’t bad enough that the installer has to adapt to the ever changing supply of industry supplied kit!!

So, consider this – the distributors and manufacturers of our industry offer not only good quality kit, but provide a level of pre and post sales support that is simply not available from CCTV_Man from eBay, or from China’s number 1 DVR manufacturer……… we urge you to try and get one of their guys out on site on a cold December evening!!

CCTV Users, get the right kit!

Does anyone else think that maybe there is a disparity in our industry?

Does a manufacturer make CCTV kit based on what they think the end user wants?

Does the installer install the CCTV kit based on what they think the end user wants?

Does the end user buy the CCTV kit based on what they are told they want?

Potentially, this means somewhere down the supply line, someone might be dissatisfied?

There is an increasing potential need for all 3 in the supply chain to come together – put the end user, manufacturer and installer together……discuss the end user issues and goals, discuss the kit’s capabilities, discuss the installation considerations….

not only would the system be EXACTLY as described (at least 2 other witnesses!) but maybe it would breed a new element of loyalty……….it could save the end user having to chop and change installer whenever a service level dropped…..or replace kit that didn’t provide what was required….because all 3 parties would have a direct dialogue to each other……

In this day and age of economic unrest, loyalty and service, along with maximising expenditure, is absolutely key in our industry….. it can be the difference between ‘making do’ with ageing systems or ‘upgrading’ to the latest technologies………

We have seen of late a few proactive installers shun the industry norm of keeping their end user customers secret – instead, bringing in their trusted manufacturing suppliers to be a part of the triumvirate partnership…..actively involved in the development of systems and roll outs……and those manufacturers feel more obliged to develop new systems, tweak new software, add new features, because they are actively involved and can see first hand what the end user wants and needs – in a real world scenario and not in a nice, clean sterile manufacturing environment….

So Installers and End Users, unite with the Manufacturers……..you might find the benefits are long lasting and profitable !

CCTV kit

CCTV kit.

Is there an argument that as an end user it is better to buy a CCTV kit from a wholesaler and then install the system either by yourself or get an electrician to carry out the work? Well it would save on costs there is no doubt about that. But CCTV kits available on the Internet tend to be imported from the Far East and tend to be of a lower spec than a CCTV installer would use.

Home CCTV.

For home CCTV it is defiantly a market that is growing, the average domestic customer is simply looking to install a CCTV system to enable them to see who is there without leaving the safety of the home. To this end the CCTV systems that are available in Kit form will suffice. Commercial users though often have CCTV cameras installed for more reasons than just observation purposes and this is where good recording and quality cameras will make a difference.

CCTV kits

Most companies have little or no resources to just have someone watching CCTV images, so inevitably all the information that the CCTV system gathers will need to be reviewed from a recording. This is where the main difference between CCTV kits and a professionally installed CCTV system will tell.

CCTV system.

A CCTV System in kit form will have little or no flexibility on the number of frames per second it can handle or the image quality unlike a more expensive DVR solution. Lets be honest though some high end spec DVRs can cost upwards of £6000 they will have many features and some of these would be over the top for many small or domestic installations.

Buy CCTV.

At the end of the day when buying CCTV kits you really need to think hard about why you really want it, to observe or to actually produce usable images after an event has occurred. Review what is out there and take advice. It could save you spending hard earned cash on something that at the end of the day turns out to be a white elephant.