The purchase of video cameras over the Internet from China
“You can’t beat the price and quality of purchasing video surveillance cameras over the Internet from China”. We know that it is a very strong statement but this should give you every reason why.
China Video Surveillance Revenue to Reach $9.5 Billion by 2014
Government mandates, public events and accidents driving growth
February 3, 2011
Isaac Wang
“Driven by government regulations, major public events and a growing number of vehicle-related accidents, revenue generated from China’s video surveillance and security industry is set to grow by 10.4 percent to reach $7.2 billion in 2011, according to IHS iSuppli research.
China’s video surveillance and security industry then will rise to $9.5 billion in revenue by 2014, managing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1 percent from $5.3 billion in 2009.
Government regulation, including economic stimulus and policies in 2010, is playing a major role in this growth”.
Whether you like the idea of purchasing surveillance cameras from China for political reasons or not, you will not be able to dispute the price and the quality of cameras that are coming out of China. The best and least expensive way of buying these surveillance cameras are from China on Ebay, for an individual buyer.
Puchasing The Video Surveillance Cameras On Ebay
Since many of the different Chinese manufactured cameras are sold on Ebay, they are priced very reasonably because of the competition. If you are familiar with Ebay, you know if a seller has sold a ton of items and has a positive rating of over 95%, you can feel pretty confident about the purchase.
When pricing out a camera on Ebay, type “CCTV camera” in the Ebay search field. This stands for Closed-Circuit Television. Once you hit search, change the sort field to “price+shipping: lowest first”. I also check the “buy now” button, so I don’t have to waste my time with bidding. Skip through the pages until you start getting into the $30 range. There you will start seeing analog color CCTV cameras. As you go up in price, you will start seeing some of the cameras with inferred night vision. This comes in handy if you need to see and record events in darkness. Also, you will start seeing waterproof cameras and higher TVL (television lines) ratings like 420, 480. This is somewhat comparable to resolution. The higher the number, the clearer the picture should be. I’ve been purchasing analog cameras with a TVL rating of 480, which give a very sharp video picture. You can go higher or lower, depending on your needs. Also look for the size of the lens. Most of the cams come with a 1/4″ or 1/3″ lenses. The larger lens gives you a better picture.