Cheap and Frugal

[yakky 0]

Anyone notice that this board seems to attract some _REALLY_ cheap people? I am very frugal. but I'd like to think I'm not cheap. I'm just amazed at how many people around here are looking for the absolute bottom dollar items. $30 cameras.... $100 DVRs.... and then they end up either frustrated or buying more expensive stuff.

[Numb-nuts 1]

Some people don't know the value of quality and can'r see further than the selling price. Small minded is as small minded does. I let them get on with it.

 

There's nothing wrong with frugality, in fact being frugal can be a lot of fun and after all saving can be fun but there is a limit I like helping people with their home CCTV projects when they are ding it not for financial concerns but out of sheer satisfaction of doing the job themselves (DIY)

[Toaster 0]

I'm going to introduce a new concept to cheap and frugal. Personally I feel many of the more expensive brands have more inexpensive equal counterparts. Why? Because I think they are all made in China, and the same camera made by the same people in the same factory is put in several branded boxes and shipped around the world, including some generic eBay brands. I may be wrong ? But that's what I feel.

 

That being said I have not done much experimenting with brands x,y,z... but when you see a $200 camera listed with same specs and parts as a $70 camera, it makes you wonder......

 

And I think that's what a lot of us non-professionals think. So in all fairness not everybody is straight out CHEAP, as much as feel they are probably the same as the more expensive counterpart

[Numb-nuts 1]

The larger the corporation the higher their running costs and they need to recoup that somehow.

To some degree, the equipment is much the same however the function and capability is a big feature in the larger corporation's product often badge engineered but they need to carry the overheads with them also hense the significant price difference.

 

I think it must be something like a reverse economy of scale? Chew on that a while....?

[ak357 0]

Anyone notice that this board seems to attract some _REALLY_ cheap people? I am very frugal. but I'd like to think I'm not cheap. I'm just amazed at how many people around here are looking for the absolute bottom dollar items. $30 cameras.... $100 DVRs.... and then they end up either frustrated or buying more expensive stuff.

 

I agree

if u notice "heavy duty posters kinda do not post anymore"

I personally can't stand talks about so called D1 and CIF

and Dahua cameras

which are in eyes of my customers are joke

I laugh at expression " this camera is good for money spent"

does not make any sense to me at all

may be should slow down now

[thewireguys 3]

Welcome to the Dahua support forum how may I help you

[ak357 0]

Welcome to the Dahua support forum how may I help you

 

Are u Dahua Certified Solutions Provider ?

[bike_rider 0]

I'm going to introduce a new concept to cheap and frugal. Personally I feel many of the more expensive brands have more inexpensive equal counterparts. ....

 

And I think that's what a lot of us non-professionals think. So in all fairness not everybody is straight out CHEAP, as much as feel they are probably the same as the more expensive counterpart

 

Simply not true. If you've never used a high end camera, you don't know what you are missing.

 

Show me a camera with the performance of something like an Axis P3364 (made in Thailand FWIW)for materially less money and I"m on it. I have an Axis encoder and a vivotek encoder - the images (being only D1) look about the same, but the build quality of the axis is obvious and the feature set difference is huge. Add to that the customer support from axis and the two have little in common. They both work, but if I needed another one...

 

I screwed around with an ACTi $500 camera and it was not up to my needs and expectations. OTOH, I'm loving this P3364. It's the camera I should have bought. My time has value (even my 'free' time) to me, so the the 'cost' of the ACTi, especially in terms of aggravation, was huge.

 

So, for high end cameras, "If you have the means I highly recommend picking one up".

 

If you can't afford it, that's fine. Everyone's situation is different. Do what works for you. Just don't try to convince anyone that a Kia is a Lexus.

[bike_rider 0]

2nd (3rd?) tier vs top tier.

 

Like it said in the audio world - if you can't tell the difference, don't spend the money.

[justincameras 0]

Having worked for a nation wide company and an international company for Fortune 100 companies, I am very biased. I have installed million dollar American Dynamics systems over fiber optics with matrixes code translators and VCR's. I have run cables in stop n robs for crapcams. I am in full agreement with Scotty, "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

 

 

Big systems equal big problems.

 

Bosch sold a system to a local hospital using a local rep to install it. When it wouldn't work according to the Bosch rep they turned to me because we had just installed their access control.

 

I tried for two weeks 8 hours per day finding more and more programming, installation, wiring, wrong and fixing as I go. I was on the phone with tech support so much I had come to know all of their names, wives names and pets names. Of course tech support was always telling me to upgrade this or that usually screwing up the component I was upgrading.

 

The "rep" had sold them an obsolete computer tape drive backup for archiving. I had a 14 step instruction to go by from the hospital to display recorded video. Are you kidding me? This "system" never worked the day they installed it. I finally threw up my hands and asked Bosch to put together a system just like this one and see if they could get the system to work. I went to lunch and a service call and went back to the hospital. I called tech support and was told, "We can't get it to work either." I told the chief of security and the head of operations this statement in a meeting and later said the same thing in a deposition.

 

Now the good.

A few years ago our company installed an access control, burg alarm and 200 Stardot 1.3's and a 64 Terabyte NVR in a gold and silver depository which was the federal reserve bank building. Two floors, 4 vaults, gun range, bullet proof command center, the works. This one had it's hiccups but is the best and easiest I have ever done. The building already had analog cameras and was adding to and replacing the NICEVISION system with Exaqvision. If you want I can post some images.

 

We were featured in a national trade magazine because of this project.