The right mix
The right mix
Bosch Security Systems, a leading provider of the latest security and surveillance technology, advocates a balanced CCTV product approach
By Patricia A. McQueen
In the gaming industry, a lot of money is at stake. Sure, players risk their entertainment dollars in the hope of a big score, but on a much grander scale, gaming operators know that millions are on the line if the games, and the gaming environments, aren't safe and secure. So they are constantly on the lookout for sophisticated surveillance and security systems, although sometimes the latest isn't necessarily the greatest.
One of the major players in this market is Bosch Security Systems, whose product portfolio includes a wide selection of analog and digital closed circuit television (CCTV) video systems. These include surveillance cameras, monitors, video matrix switchers and control systems, and digital recording systems. The company also offers a full line of intrusion, fire and access systems as well as complete building integration systems.
That business is spread over a number of industries, including gaming and entertainment, government, transportation, manufacturing, education, healthcare and the financial services amongst many others.
In the gaming industry, Bosch products are used in over 100 locations around the country, including commercial, tribal, riverboat, and racetrack casinos. Installations range from just one or two product lines, like the company's well-regarded surveillance cameras, to a complete package including cameras and all the necessary video recording hardware and software. The Venetian in Las Vegas is one example of the latter.
Analog vs. digital
In every gaming jurisdiction, operators must have live video surveillance and the ability to keep camera recordings for a specific period of time, which is at least a week but often times longer. Historically, those recordings were always done with video cassette recorders, and a typical casino with 1,000 or 1,500 cameras, that meant 1,000 or 1,500 VCRs stacked high in a room somewhere.
"There's absolutely no problem with that," said Dr. Bob Banerjee, product marketing manager for Bosch, adding that such a system is reliable and cheap, plus it's quick and easy to swap out VCRs when one goes bad without losing more than a few minutes of video from a single camera. He estimates that about 90 percent of gaming properties are still using tape-based recording.
Still, he adds, there are disadvantages. Tapes have to be changed every six hours or so and stored in huge fire-proof cabinets on concrete and steel reinforced floors. And if an event happens, tapes from several cameras have to be pulled, reviewed, and edited "to put together the evidence that you are going to use to prosecute or defend," explained Banerjee. "That's why people said that analog tapes are okay, but maybe there's a better way of doing it."
That better way is using digital video recorders (DVRs) with RAID disc arrays for foolproof redundancy. DVRs offer larger storage capacity, higher quality video and easier recall than VCRs, but they aren't without their own challenges. Certainly it's not as easy to replace a broken DVR as it is a VCR. Not only are there setup and software issues involved, but each DVR might be recording video from eight or more individual cameras, so a momentary loss of one unit would mean multiple camera feeds are lost.
Of course, those challenges can be overcome with the proper system integration.
"For heavily used CCTV such as in gaming, you need an intelligent management system that ties together the live camera feeds as well as where it's being recorded on the DVRs," Banerjee said.
Complete package
Bosch's own solution involves its Hi-Q DVRs and video management software called ADIM, which coordinates all of the components of the system. It allows instant switching from viewing a live feed to a recorded feed, and records, archives, and allows real time video playback while being monitored.
The Hi-Q has a high market share in gaming because it uses MPEG-2, the most powerful method to compress and record the highest quality video. The Hi-Q is complemented by Bosch's Divar DVR, for the more economical storage of less demanding applications including general security, hallways and parking lots.
Still, only about 10 percent of properties have installed a complete DVR system.
"While common in many states including Nevada, a few other states are adopting it more cautiously until they have convinced themselves that it is as good as if not superior to tape" Banerjee said. "With a good DVR and associated software this is certainly true and the transition is happening faster each day."
A big factor in the transition, though, is cost. Depending on the exact setup, it could cost a casino anywhere between a few hundred thousand and a couple of million dollars to go digital.
"Those who adopt digital recording have reached the breaking point in terms of inconvenience, are fed up with low quality video and slow response times to events, or have old equipment that needs upgrading or expanding," Banerjee said.
But the time is now, and he predicts that a large number of properties will make the conversion to digital systems over the next five years. However, Banerjee issued a warning that sometimes it's better to have a mix of old and new technology.
Blending technologies
Historically, at the heart of every CCTV surveillance system is an analog matrix switcher. That black box is what every camera's video feed passes through on its way to one of dozens of monitors for live viewing-it allows personnel to instantly access a live feed from any of the hundreds or thousands of cameras in use. The switcher also passes the feed through to the recording device, whether it be a VCR or a DVR.
But in the digital age, there is also the possibility of using an Internet Protocol (IP) network instead of the analog matrix switcher.
"The IP network also has the ability to take things coming in and reroute them to places they need to go just like the analog matrix switcher; it's called video over IP," Banerjee said. "Replacing the analog matrix switcher with an IP network switch is the future for many markets, especially when the IP network stretches distances that fixed wiring struggles with, but right now it is absolutely the wrong choice for the highly regulated gaming market where the network simply starts and ends in the same security operations room. The problem is that if the network goes down, you lose everything. While the Pentagon may have one of those super-reliable failsafe networks, the majority of the rest of us don't. Of course you can build them, but at a cost."
He suggests that properties use a blend of the old with the new by keeping the analog matrix switcher for all the live feeds, since those are crucial to continued operations. They can then use video over IP and send the camera feeds over the network strictly for recording purposes.
Ideally Banerjee said, you wouldn't even force the video to travel across the network in order to get recorded because again, you are unnecessarily reliant on the network.
"I refer to that as Recording at the Edge, where the video is stored between the camera and the network. Whenever you need to replay, the video comes out of the storage, known as network video recorders (NVRs), across the network to appear on the monitor of your choice," he said.
Banerjee summed up his message to the gaming industry: "The most successful digital recording installations will be done by those who select the best of both worlds-the failsafe reliability of the analog matrix switch for live video, and the cost-effective, really modern, low-cost digital IP technology that allows you to store huge quantities of high quality video."
Sidebar:
Bosch Security Systems at a glance
Company: Bosch Security Systems
Website: www.boschsecurity.us
Address: Bosch Security Systems
130 Perinton Parkway
Fairport, N.Y. 14450
Tel: (800) 289-0096
Fax: (585) 223-9180
Contact: Ann Marie Camblin, Marketing and Media Specialist, Annmarie.Camblin@us.bosch.com
Tel: (585) 223-4060 ext. 4308
Locations:
Bosch Security Systems has its North American headquarters in Fairport, N.Y., with manufacturing and regional sales offices throughout North America, along with a national network of certified dealers and distributors.
Employees: 300
Founded: 1969 as Detection Systems
Overview:
Bosch Security Systems is a leading supplier of equipment to the electronic protection industry. The company designs, manufactures and markets electronic detection, control and communication equipment around the world for security, fire protection, access control, closed circuit television (CCTV) and personnel and asset tracking applications.
Gaming Products:
Allegiant® microprocessor-based video switcher/control systems
Hi-Q real time digital video recorders
Divar digital video recorders
VideoJet IP network video encoders and decoders
CCTV Cameras: AutoDome, UnityDome, FlexiDomeXT, DinionXF
Bosch Security Systems, a leading provider of the latest security and surveillance technology, advocates a balanced CCTV product approach
By Patricia A. McQueen
In the gaming industry, a lot of money is at stake. Sure, players risk their entertainment dollars in the hope of a big score, but on a much grander scale, gaming operators know that millions are on the line if the games, and the gaming environments, aren't safe and secure. So they are constantly on the lookout for sophisticated surveillance and security systems, although sometimes the latest isn't necessarily the greatest.
One of the major players in this market is Bosch Security Systems, whose product portfolio includes a wide selection of analog and digital closed circuit television (CCTV) video systems. These include surveillance cameras, monitors, video matrix switchers and control systems, and digital recording systems. The company also offers a full line of intrusion, fire and access systems as well as complete building integration systems.
That business is spread over a number of industries, including gaming and entertainment, government, transportation, manufacturing, education, healthcare and the financial services amongst many others.
In the gaming industry, Bosch products are used in over 100 locations around the country, including commercial, tribal, riverboat, and racetrack casinos. Installations range from just one or two product lines, like the company's well-regarded surveillance cameras, to a complete package including cameras and all the necessary video recording hardware and software. The Venetian in Las Vegas is one example of the latter.
Analog vs. digital
In every gaming jurisdiction, operators must have live video surveillance and the ability to keep camera recordings for a specific period of time, which is at least a week but often times longer. Historically, those recordings were always done with video cassette recorders, and a typical casino with 1,000 or 1,500 cameras, that meant 1,000 or 1,500 VCRs stacked high in a room somewhere.
"There's absolutely no problem with that," said Dr. Bob Banerjee, product marketing manager for Bosch, adding that such a system is reliable and cheap, plus it's quick and easy to swap out VCRs when one goes bad without losing more than a few minutes of video from a single camera. He estimates that about 90 percent of gaming properties are still using tape-based recording.
Still, he adds, there are disadvantages. Tapes have to be changed every six hours or so and stored in huge fire-proof cabinets on concrete and steel reinforced floors. And if an event happens, tapes from several cameras have to be pulled, reviewed, and edited "to put together the evidence that you are going to use to prosecute or defend," explained Banerjee. "That's why people said that analog tapes are okay, but maybe there's a better way of doing it."
That better way is using digital video recorders (DVRs) with RAID disc arrays for foolproof redundancy. DVRs offer larger storage capacity, higher quality video and easier recall than VCRs, but they aren't without their own challenges. Certainly it's not as easy to replace a broken DVR as it is a VCR. Not only are there setup and software issues involved, but each DVR might be recording video from eight or more individual cameras, so a momentary loss of one unit would mean multiple camera feeds are lost.
Of course, those challenges can be overcome with the proper system integration.
"For heavily used CCTV such as in gaming, you need an intelligent management system that ties together the live camera feeds as well as where it's being recorded on the DVRs," Banerjee said.
Complete package
Bosch's own solution involves its Hi-Q DVRs and video management software called ADIM, which coordinates all of the components of the system. It allows instant switching from viewing a live feed to a recorded feed, and records, archives, and allows real time video playback while being monitored.
The Hi-Q has a high market share in gaming because it uses MPEG-2, the most powerful method to compress and record the highest quality video. The Hi-Q is complemented by Bosch's Divar DVR, for the more economical storage of less demanding applications including general security, hallways and parking lots.
Still, only about 10 percent of properties have installed a complete DVR system.
"While common in many states including Nevada, a few other states are adopting it more cautiously until they have convinced themselves that it is as good as if not superior to tape" Banerjee said. "With a good DVR and associated software this is certainly true and the transition is happening faster each day."
A big factor in the transition, though, is cost. Depending on the exact setup, it could cost a casino anywhere between a few hundred thousand and a couple of million dollars to go digital.
"Those who adopt digital recording have reached the breaking point in terms of inconvenience, are fed up with low quality video and slow response times to events, or have old equipment that needs upgrading or expanding," Banerjee said.
But the time is now, and he predicts that a large number of properties will make the conversion to digital systems over the next five years. However, Banerjee issued a warning that sometimes it's better to have a mix of old and new technology.
Blending technologies
Historically, at the heart of every CCTV surveillance system is an analog matrix switcher. That black box is what every camera's video feed passes through on its way to one of dozens of monitors for live viewing-it allows personnel to instantly access a live feed from any of the hundreds or thousands of cameras in use. The switcher also passes the feed through to the recording device, whether it be a VCR or a DVR.
But in the digital age, there is also the possibility of using an Internet Protocol (IP) network instead of the analog matrix switcher.
"The IP network also has the ability to take things coming in and reroute them to places they need to go just like the analog matrix switcher; it's called video over IP," Banerjee said. "Replacing the analog matrix switcher with an IP network switch is the future for many markets, especially when the IP network stretches distances that fixed wiring struggles with, but right now it is absolutely the wrong choice for the highly regulated gaming market where the network simply starts and ends in the same security operations room. The problem is that if the network goes down, you lose everything. While the Pentagon may have one of those super-reliable failsafe networks, the majority of the rest of us don't. Of course you can build them, but at a cost."
He suggests that properties use a blend of the old with the new by keeping the analog matrix switcher for all the live feeds, since those are crucial to continued operations. They can then use video over IP and send the camera feeds over the network strictly for recording purposes.
Ideally Banerjee said, you wouldn't even force the video to travel across the network in order to get recorded because again, you are unnecessarily reliant on the network.
"I refer to that as Recording at the Edge, where the video is stored between the camera and the network. Whenever you need to replay, the video comes out of the storage, known as network video recorders (NVRs), across the network to appear on the monitor of your choice," he said.
Banerjee summed up his message to the gaming industry: "The most successful digital recording installations will be done by those who select the best of both worlds-the failsafe reliability of the analog matrix switch for live video, and the cost-effective, really modern, low-cost digital IP technology that allows you to store huge quantities of high quality video."
Sidebar:
Bosch Security Systems at a glance
Company: Bosch Security Systems
Website: www.boschsecurity.us
Address: Bosch Security Systems
130 Perinton Parkway
Fairport, N.Y. 14450
Tel: (800) 289-0096
Fax: (585) 223-9180
Contact: Ann Marie Camblin, Marketing and Media Specialist, Annmarie.Camblin@us.bosch.com
Tel: (585) 223-4060 ext. 4308
Locations:
Bosch Security Systems has its North American headquarters in Fairport, N.Y., with manufacturing and regional sales offices throughout North America, along with a national network of certified dealers and distributors.
Employees: 300
Founded: 1969 as Detection Systems
Overview:
Bosch Security Systems is a leading supplier of equipment to the electronic protection industry. The company designs, manufactures and markets electronic detection, control and communication equipment around the world for security, fire protection, access control, closed circuit television (CCTV) and personnel and asset tracking applications.
Gaming Products:
Allegiant® microprocessor-based video switcher/control systems
Hi-Q real time digital video recorders
Divar digital video recorders
VideoJet IP network video encoders and decoders
CCTV Cameras: AutoDome, UnityDome, FlexiDomeXT, DinionXF
