20 Sep 2006

Overview

Stanley Casinos (part of the Stanley Leisure PLC) operate a total of 45 casinos across the UK and are the largest casino operator in the country.  As part of an extensive regional refurbishment program, the company wanted to introduce Digital Video Recording to replace the existing analogue recording.

Requirements

The primary project requirements were as follows:

    •  Integrate with the existing CCTV and audio equipment at       all sites. 
    •  Provide recorded image quality, which improved upon the       existing systems.
    •  Allow access to both recorded and live footage via TCP/IP       network.

In addition to the above, an important aspect was ease of use.  It was deemed essential that staff could easily access images to resolve gaming disputes as quickly as possible without the need for any specialist knowledge and minimal training.  When required, easy export and transportation of images was also important.


Project implementation

Working with specialist integrator ID Technology Group PLC, a shortlist of potential DVR's was drawn up.  Bearing in mind the requirement to record in real time (25 images per second) with high image quality, it soon became obvious that an Mpeg based solution would be most appropriate.  However each site also contains a number of "non gaming" cameras, which do not require to be recorded at such a high frame rate.

Considering this, Visimetrics proposed a "hybrid" solution comprising of it's MPEG2, Linux based FASTAR DVR for real time recording, combined with it's recently released VADER product for all other cameras, which is a general purpose JPEG2000 time lapse DVR.  This represented the optimum performance/cost ratio for the sites in question.

An extensive "live" site trial was carried out, during which Visimetrics were able to modify the product based on feedback from Stanley's, particularly in the area of live viewing functionality.  At the end of the trial the Visimetrics solution was chosen by Stanley's as the preferred DVR to be deployed during its ongoing refurbishment programme.

Tony Flood, the Security Manager at Stanley Casinos with responsibility for the project comments "The Visimetrics offering proved itself in the field to be an effective DVR that was easy for staff to get to grips with.  We also now have the added benefit of being able to export images to DVD's, which are playable in standard DVD players.  The company has been responsive and has taken on board our requirements as a user, delivering the required technical solutions to meet our operational requirements."