Exacq M Series Gets Aggressive Against Hikvision

By Brian Karas, Published Nov 22, 2016, 10:12am EST (Info+)

The most common complaint against Western NVRs is too high prices. With Chinese recorders, such as Hikvision and Dahua, running sub $500 and Western ones starting at $1,000 (or much more), the price gap is significant, especially for simple applications.

Now, Exacq has a new series which is quite aggressively priced and packaged against Hikvision and Chinese recorders.

In this note, we examine the specs, pricing, pluses and minuses of the M series.

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Poll - ****

Comments (33)

Undisclosed Integrator #1

11/22/16 04:43pm

The issue is that if you are having to compete in the segments that are price sensitive you are probably going to go Hik end to end. There are a few places where customers would want the functionality of exacq vms with an 8 camera system. However most places you are going to use exacq (established business with IT dept) you are probably going to run a large NVR or Virtual exacq anyway which is why I voted this as moderate. It is not a winner and not a loser but really pretty niche.

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #4

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #1 | 11/23/16 03:46pm

In this world there are those that choose to say whatever they want to say, to justify their decision to buy Hikvision and sell to their customers.

Many of us make a good living selling against the Chinese. Maybe we care more about what we sell instead of telling a customer, " buy this, it is cheap". Even 8 channels with cameras.

So with your explanation, you can go one step farther and just tell your customers to go to Walmart and buy an 8 channel system for <$1000.

The Chinese government offsets losses for their companies competing in the US.

Anyone that denies this knows little about China or works for the Chinese.

It's better to sleep well knowing that we make sure our customers have products that are "secure", are quality, and video is not shared unless they want it shared.Yes, we can isolate networks but not all companies see the risks, it is our job to inform them.

One comment was , can you be sure, not one component was made in China, not smart either. A screw does not send info out without permission.

YOU can make sure there are no Trojans, no back doors, you can make sure your product is secure or, you can buy and sell cheap and not worry about it because you just don't care about anything but making a dollar.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #4 | 11/23/16 04:20pm

So you are CERTAIN that none of the products you sell have backdoors or any other type of exploit?

And your comment about screws being made in China is about as lame as they come. Nobody is saying something so ridiculous. What we ARE asking is this; are any chips or assemblies made in China?

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Undisclosed #7

In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #4 | 11/24/16 04:03am

"YOU can make sure there are no Trojans, no back doors, you can make sure your product is secure or, you can buy and sell cheap and not worry about it because you just don't care about anything but making a dollar"

Your opinion please

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608141/internet-privacy/snowden--the-nsa-planted-backdoors-in-cisco-products.html?page=2

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John Williams

In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #4 | 11/24/16 06:41am

It's one of the truths that may be heard. It use to be Japan Inc. As a great partner of mine from Taiwan said, there is one father, many sons. The technology is shared and every step forward is just that for China which is now the factory of the world.

We better take on the parts we have an even playing field with and tell our kids to do their homework. They are on a small planet.

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Undisclosed #2

IPVMU Certified | 11/22/16 04:48pm

7 watts POE per camera on avg is weak.

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Undisclosed Distributor #3

11/23/16 08:09am

Exacq LC series were a joke, 1 HDD and limited functionality. When will they learn?

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
11/23/16 01:47pm

I guess I don't understand this middle of the road approach. Why sell such a crippled device? Throw in a little more graphics power and allow full resolution playback and dewarping. How can Hik and Dahua do that with little CPUs, but western brands can't/won't?

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Undisclosed #6

In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/24/16 02:50am

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our lesson on "government subsidies."

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Undisclosed #2

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 05:20am

Goverment subsidies enable little CPUs to do the work of bigger ones?

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Undisclosed #6

In reply to Undisclosed #2 | 11/24/16 05:55am

I'm not sure if you're serious or trolling for laughs, but I will humor you and assume the former.

Do you really think that "western" manufacturers are sitting back, twirling their pencil-thin moustaches, and scheming up how to put out their next "underpowered" device? Or, could it be, that perhaps without a government subsidizing their operation, they are forced to look at ways to compete while ALSO making a profit AND upholding the value of their brand?

They don't put smaller CPUs out because they think it's the best thing going, they put smaller CPUs out because it's how they can compete with someone that literally has an entire global economy supporting them while they sell their product at breakeven or a loss.

It's tough out there when you're not a pawn for a global power.

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John Williams

In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 06:44am

I knew I liked you. Well said

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Undisclosed #2

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 07:53am

So you don't think China's cost to manufacture nvrs would still be significantly lower than the West, even if you eliminated subsidies?

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 12:34pm

While I understand what you are saying, it makes little sense to me. You are saying, well, we can't match them on price OR features, so let's just release the crappiest box we basically can to say we tried. This hobbled product is essentially useless if they can't meet EITHER of the standards, performance OR price. I never expected BOTH, but one of the two would be nice. Or how about being even somewhat close on one? In the same ballpark?

And it's kind of funny that everyone uses the "subsidies" crutch to excuse poor products, when it hasn't slowed others that don't receive subsidies, like Dahua, UNI, Hanwha, etc...

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Undisclosed #6

In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/24/16 03:38pm

It may be useless to you, who sees no problem with installing HIKVision in the first place, but to those of us who refuse to do it on principle, it's not useless at all. It may not be as cheap as HIKVision, but it's close enough that I can propose it as a reasonable alternative and not have the expectation of losing business to a bottom dollar trunk slammer.

By your logic, we should all be selling Swann because at least it's cheaper, right?

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 03:53pm

Why make it personal? My only point here is that they are selling an inferior product at a much higher price. I could understand if they simply matched price with an inferior product, or match performance and ask for more money. Both of those would be reasonable to me. Heck, I may even decide to sell them as an alternative. But selling something for more that does less is ridiculous. There are better options, honestly. And for the record, we generally don't sell Hikvision NVRs either. We generally sell Spectrum on Dell or Lenovo servers.

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John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/24/16 04:32pm

But selling something for more that does less is ridiculous.

Exacq has various software features that do 'more', including the ability to use Exacq's higher end VMS versions (something you cannot do on a Hikvision or Dahua NVR). You may not value that, you may not thing it is worth the extra money but Exacq does offer things that are 'more' than Hikvision or Dahua NVRs.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to John Honovich | 11/24/16 10:47pm

And doesn't that software also work with standalone, ONVIF based DVR/NVRs? So that's not a feature of this product.

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Undisclosed #6

In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/24/16 05:01pm

First, my intention wasn't to make anything personal, and I apologize if you took it that way. However, I think that may be indicative of your own personal feelings towards something that you do, regardless of whether you think it's right.

Second, the quibble we have here is over the words "inferior product." You posit that a product is nothing more than it's specifications. I would suggest that the "product" here is actually the full package, which is the machine (and it's specifications), the software installed on the machine, and the inherent security (or lack thereof) that comes along with it. You seem to have no issues with the security issues associated with Hik, and that's your prerogative, but to suggest that something is "an inferior product" because a significant portion of the reputable industry DOES have problems with it...well, it's a little absurd.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 10:49pm

If the NVR cannot playback all channels at main stream resolutions, I would say that is inferior.

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Undisclosed #2

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/25/16 12:23am

Do you think the same of NVRs whose max outgoing bandwidth is less than its incoming?

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed #2 | 11/25/16 12:33am

I'm going to assume this is a trap, but will answer honestly without checking Hiks specs.

I would say that outbound bandwidth is less important, but it's less than ideal if you cannot view all cameras at full res. It's far more critical to be able to record all of your cameras at full resolution.

At 40mbps max input on an 8 channel recorder, you likely are going to come close to maxing that out with 4MP or higher cams. I don't think that's a NIC based restriction. I'm sure it's CPU based.

Which leads me to my original point; if you simply can't match on price, at least match on performance. I fully expect their unit to cost more. It's likely worth the extra cost. It's likely a better quality product. But when it still costs more and doesn't perform the same basic tasks, it's hard to recommend.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 10:50pm

Oh, and 40mbps max throughput? That's weak.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Undisclosed #6 | 11/24/16 12:29pm

So gov subsidies are the only obstacle to releasing a fully functional, non-crippled device? Got it.

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John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/24/16 02:24pm

So gov subsidies are the only obstacle to releasing a fully functional, non-crippled device?

Jon, Exacq has ~5 series of NVRs. There are different options. Just like Hikvision doesn't make all fixed focus basic cameras, Exacq has multiple choices of recorders, with different capabilities.

This hobbled product is essentially useless if they can't meet EITHER of the standards, performance OR price.

This product may not be for you as a happy Hikvision dealer but as the poll results show there are a significant percentage of integrators (69%) who find this moderately or very attractive relative to Hikvision.

Both can exist in the marketplace. You are free to choose what you want to use. Others are free to choice different things.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to John Honovich | 11/24/16 02:32pm

My comments supporting the opposition just aren't welcome here then?

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John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 11/24/16 03:11pm

My comments supporting the opposition just aren't welcome here then?

Jon, spare us the victim tactic. You have made 5 comments on this topic.

You are welcome to 'oppose' things and I am 'welcome' to make 1 comment offering countering evidence based on integrator poll results.

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #4

11/23/16 02:31pm

It is my understanding that the new Exacq series is made in China too.

Go figure.

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Ryan Hulse

In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #4 | 11/23/16 03:00pm

The M-Series base hardware is sourced overseas and shipped to Indiana.

In our Fishers, Indiana manufacturing location we individually complete each system with storage and a software image (OS+exacqVision) developed by Exacq. Each assembled system is tested on the burn-in rack for 8 hours, just like all our other NVRs.

Really the only difference is that our manufacturing process doesn't have to include assembly of each component (MoBo, PSU, RAM, etc.) for M-Series NVRs.

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Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC
In reply to Ryan Hulse | 11/23/16 03:16pm

Can you ensure that no single component was sourced from a Chinese Gov owned entity? We need to be sure about this!

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #4

11/23/16 03:13pm

It is made by HIKVISION

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Ryan Hulse

In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #4 | 11/23/16 03:19pm

Haha! While that would be a great plot twist, it is not.

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Undisclosed Integrator #5

In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #4 | 11/23/16 06:10pm

You sure seem to be a Troll in this post.

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