The Gala Hotel and Casino complex in Douglas on the Isle of Man has installed IndigoVision's integrated IP Video solution to provide CCTV surveillance for its gaming operation.
The system, installed by Zoom CCTV Limited, uses IndigoVision's ‘Control Centre' enterprise video and alarm management software. ‘Control Centre' provides control, administration and viewing of the live camera feeds and recorded video over the IP network. Video recording is achieved using three 1TB stand-alone Networked Video Recorders (NVRs). The Casino required a flexible system that could be easily and cost-effectively expanded to meet their future needs. The combination of ‘Control Centre' and the IP network creates a ‘virtual matrix', which is flexible and fully scalable unlike an analogue matrix in a traditional cabled system.
Twenty-six cameras from the casino's original installation were re-used by connecting them to IndigoVision's transmitter/receiver racks. The racks convert the analogue camera feeds into 25fps, MPEG-4 high-quality digital video for transmission over the network. Three channels of audio from different areas of the casino are also transmitted over the network and recorded on the NVRs alongside the video.
IndigoVision's IP Video technology provides an ideal platform for the demanding CCTV requirements of gaming operations, which typically need high-definition video images and fast analysis of recorded footage. The casino's original system was based on VCR recording technology and required tapes from 20 recorders to be changed every 3 hours. The 3 NVRs now record continuous 25fps high quality video from all cameras for 21 days. ‘Control Centre' allows a specific recorded video sequence to be quickly and easily located which vastly speeds up the resolution of potential customer disputes. The IndigoVision solution is fully compliant with the local Gaming Board regulations and has significantly improved the efficiency of the casino's security operation.
"Because of the importance of the CCTV surveillance the casino needed a resilient fault tolerant system and this was provided by IndigoVision's IP Video solution. In the unlikely event of an NVR going down, all live camera feeds are still available and recording is switched to the other NVRs while the problem is resolved," says Alan Steedman, Zoom CCTV's Project Manager.
