Will digital high-definition surveillance follow the old path of analog imitation

The term "shanzhai" is widely used in the field of mobile phones, and now the security industry is also filled with a large number of shanzhai security manufacturers, big or small. It can be said that shanzhai is the most rampant in all industries and the security field in China. In Shenzhen alone, there are hundreds or even thousands of shanzhai analog camera manufacturers, and at least hundreds of DVR manufacturers. At present, it is generally difficult for the electronics industry to have such a large lineup of counterfeit products. According to relevant semiconductor manufacturers, some domestic enterprises even specialize in illegal piracy and can achieve tens of millions of output value.

Shanzhai enterprises are generally speculative short-term behaviors, imitating, plagiarizing, and copying boards, with little consideration for market norms and long-term development, only aiming to pursue immediate benefits. These enterprises pose a significant threat to society and the market. Nowadays, engineering companies and distributors in the security industry often sigh: "The development of security is becoming increasingly confused, the market order is chaotic, and local computer cities are placing different brands of simulated monitoring products door-to-door, all claiming to be agents or offices of a certain brand

Security counterfeiting has led to the following consequences:

(1) The homogenization competition among dealers is fierce, and the price war is making profits lower and lower.

(2) The vicious competition among distributors extends to engineering companies, and their profits are getting lower and lower.

(3) Manufacturers face fierce homogenization competition and low profits, so they naturally try their best to reduce costs and enhance market competitiveness, which in turn leads to a decline in product quality and service.

(4) Due to the low profits of engineering companies, poor product quality, lack of quality assurance for users, and poor service.

So why are there so many counterfeit companies using analog cameras? Japanese camera semiconductor suppliers, in order to utilize China's cheap labor, sell CCDs and DSPs to China and provide finished camera solutions, while Chinese camera manufacturers only need to produce them. Due to Japan's extensive presence in China, almost anyone with a certain amount of funds can become a manufacturer of analog cameras. As a result, there are countless manufacturers of analog cameras, and the large number of cameras inevitably leads to price wars, resulting in lower camera prices and maximizing the sales and profits of Japanese camera chips.

DVR was originally a high-tech product, but in recent years, some semiconductor companies and solution providers have also followed Japan's approach and developed DVR finished product solutions, which have been widely spread throughout the country. Nowadays, DVRs are as numerous as analog cameras, and the price war is fierce. Even worse, because just making DVRs is not too technically difficult, after years of development, the difference in image quality and performance between big brands and counterfeit DVRs (solutions) is very small, which forces first tier brand DVR manufacturers to also get involved in vicious price wars.

So, will the digital million high-definition return to the old path of simulation and also move towards shanzhai?

I believe that digital high-definition cannot move towards knockoff. The reasons are as follows:

(1) At present, there is no internationally unified communication protocol for digital high-definition network communication, and the front-end and back-end devices of various high-definition manufacturers cannot be compatible with each other. Therefore, only their own back-end can be compatible with their own front-end high-definition cameras. This forces high-definition manufacturers to not only do front-end and back-end work, but also have to do a full range of front-end and back-end work. Without considering technical difficulties, the financial strength alone greatly raises the threshold. Only enterprises that have reached a certain scale have the opportunity to grow into high-definition manufacturers.

(2) It is not convenient for a single chip company to create a complete high-definition front-end and back-end solution. In this case, chip companies need to cooperate with large security manufacturers, and large security R&D manufacturers are very wary of chip companies providing product solutions and generally unwilling to cooperate with chip and product solution providers. Therefore, chip companies also do not support counterfeiting.

(3) Nowadays, in the DVR industry, there has been a situation where manufacturers are killing off counterfeit DVRs at a price of over 200 yuan. Counterfeit DVR companies are facing great survival pressure. In the high-definition field, large high-definition manufacturers may offer a few machines at special prices for the mid to low end market, making it difficult for counterfeit enterprises to continue to survive in the digital high-definition era.

Due to the high threshold of digital high-definition, a large number of small and medium-sized security manufacturers with average technical strength may be blocked from entering the digital high-definition market. Moreover, as an industry develops to a certain stage, it will inevitably gradually mature, and the process of industry maturity is bound to go through repeated market survival of the fittest. The high-definition manufacturers that ultimately survive are inevitably a few enterprises with relatively strong comprehensive strength. By comparing and observing air conditioning and television products that have already reached maturity, we can understand that in a product field, there are only a dozen or so companies that can ultimately survive for a long time and reach a certain scale, and the majority are three to five.