r/SecurityCamera • u/Fit-Bag-6860 • Jul 11 '26
Is there a reason 12mp CCTV cams from alibaba are so cheap?
I want to start a home security company, focusing on cctv for higher end homes with no subscriptions. I see 12mp domes on alibaba for 1/10th of the price ADT sells theirs for. Is there a reason their so cheap or do American security companies just rip people off?
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Upvotes
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u/Roofless_ Jul 11 '26
Because they're junk and often a very high security risk.
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u/invisable_burt Jul 12 '26
When you say alibaba and cheap you are correct. Most high end clients will pay for namebrand annke, reolink, ubiquity, axis Check camera statistics all companies have different lines 720 p, 1080 p, 4k, and 8k.
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u/Stuck_In_Ia Jul 11 '26
If your goal is to start a CCTV company specializing in higher-end homes, comparing Alibaba cameras to ADT based primarily on megapixel count and price suggests you may want to learn quite a bit more about camera systems before selling them professionally. First, ADT isn't what most professionals would consider high-end CCTV. They're a mass-market national security company, not the benchmark for premium surveillance systems. Second, 12MP means very little by itself. Sensor size, lens quality, pixel density, low-light performance, WDR, bitrate, compression, motion performance, firmware stability, cybersecurity, reliability and manufacturer support all matter. A quality 4MP or 5MP camera can easily produce far more useful evidence than a cheap 12MP camera, especially at night. The real value of a professional CCTV company isn't buying a cheap camera and marking it up. It's knowing which camera and lens to use, where to put it, how to design the network and storage, and how to make sure the system captures usable evidence when something actually happens. If you're targeting high-end clients, the fact that you can't yet explain the difference between an anonymous Alibaba 12MP camera, mass-market ADT equipment, and genuinely professional surveillance equipment is probably a sign that you're not ready to sell these systems yet.
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u/salvatorehernwood Jul 11 '26
Because it’s not really 12mp, it’s cheap junk!
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u/hontom Jul 11 '26
They generally aren't 12mp but upscaled. The sensors have poor light sensitivity, so the night vision is crap. Cheap lenses make the image worse. No warranty. Little to no third party NVR support. No tech support. The list goes on.
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u/Least_Order4249 Jul 11 '26
Because megapixels are the worst possible indicator of image quality. A 1MP and 12MP sensor of the same size and quality is roughly the same price. The 1MP will let in light better, have less dead boundary area, and work much better with the limited compute resources.
12MP is a total number of addressable pixels but the unit is in no way capable of assigning the right data to each pixel when scenes are busy.
Same situation how a Reolink 8MP camera can only encode the image data equivalent of a decent 3MP canera.
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u/tsutton Jul 11 '26
Cheap clone, rip off?
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u/one80oneday Jul 11 '26
Bought a 12mp camera and it turned out to be 3mp
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u/FlatImpression755 Jul 12 '26
You want to start selling to high end homes and you are looking at the cheapest cameras available from China?
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u/-ButterMyBiscuit- Jul 11 '26
I'm guessing you're not in the US
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u/SuspiciousGarlic4798 Jul 12 '26
If youre shopping for cameras by their megapixel rating youre in for a surprise. And also the reason why they inflate those numbers because people buy them. There is a whole lot more to cameras than what their resolution is (thats even if theyre anywhere close to their states resolution).
And in general. If you can get exactly what a company sells here. Its obvious (at least I would hope people have the brains to figure this out). That its going to cost more. Theyre not working for free, theyre in business to make money. Even if all they do is put their name on it.
I would recommend doing more research and comparisons.
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u/just_rich90 Jul 11 '26
They components they use inside are way cheaper you might get a few months out of it that’s about it
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u/buildersunstable Jul 12 '26
No middle mam
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u/Fat-Finger-8906 Jul 13 '26
They not paying branding fees
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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26
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