A little bit about us and our company.

Our core business has always been selling specialist cars, Porsches. It was in connection with that business that we looked into getting a CCTV system and were really frustrated by the myriad of often conflicting information that we were faced with when browsing catalogues and websites.

CCTV cameras with seeming inferior specifications that were more expensive than other cameras from the same company. Technical jargon which made no sense at all to us at the time. Products that may or may not have been compatible with each other when we went to try and plug them in. Even technical information that was just plain wrong.

In the end we bought from a well known national company and subsequently discovered that we`d had the wool pulled over our eyes. What was described as professional grade CCTV equipment simply wasn`t and we had a number of compatibility issues.

That experience set us on the path to create the cctv42 brand. We travel overseas to Asia and source directly from manufacturers keeping us at the cutting edge of available technology, it also ensures we offer good value CCTV systems. We don`t sell end of the line old technology from a garden shed via an internet auction site and neither are we located thousands of miles away in the event of something going wrong or advice being required.

Working as we do directly with the manufacturers allows us to create bespoke products and solutions. There is often a significant difference between what manufacturers think a market wants and what we feel it needs. Manufacturers for instance are obsessed with price, constantly striving to offer the lowest possible prices. But to achieve those prices low quality components have to be used or slightly underhand marketing methods utilised.

When you actually speak with the technical development team from a good manufacturer they have a wealth of knowledge which you can tap into. There are often language barriers to overcome and it usually involves a trip thousands of miles away but for us it's worth it to offer a camera which performs that bit better in low light conditions or to fully understand current technology, not just learn a few current buzz words.

We aim to do the hard work for you and present simple to self install CCTV solutions in an easy to understand format. There are technical sections on the site if you wondered what a particular term or phrase means but you don`t have to read them. Having said that parts do make interesting reading – no, really they do! Particularly when comparing products you might have seen elsewhere. If there's a significant price difference then it`s a fair chance the information on there will explain why.

We don`t claim to be the cheapest CCTV supplier in the UK but are confident our prices stand close scrutiny when compared like for like and low price does sometimes come at a far greater cost. Neither do we claim to offer gargantuan discounts off list prices. That`s because there are no list prices to speak of. Our manufacturers sell across the world and leave final pricing to individual points of sale. You can call the list price whatever you want to !

The best thing about cctv42 is the help and advice we give.

Whilst we avoid offering several products which basically do exactly the same job we do try and give you options. This is particularly relevant to CCTV camera selection where we offer different styles of CCTV cameras with varying lens and electronic component configurations. Each one will be suited to an individual task allowing. You know your application and can select accordingly to create the best CCTV for your needs. Someone wanting to keep an eye on who`s at the front door from their garden workshop will have different needs from a person looking to detect or deter specific activities.

With all that in mind we have spent a great deal of time and effort creating what we hope is an informative website which you can use to plan out your particular CCTV system. There is something for pretty much all eventualities on here and each product has been carefully selected, tested and documented. All the information you need is on here, even down to actual screen shots from the cameras themselves. One of my pet hates when researching our original purchase were the number of generic images used. Even day time photos turned to black and white and passed off as night time photos !

CCTV is a great product which can provide assurance in so many different ways. Now you don`t have to be scared of buying it. If there is anything you think we can do to improve either the site or the service we deliver please feel free to either call me or send me an email

Henry Firman – director