survtech

I have. Not to my liking but I will admit it is easy to learn and use and would probably be suitable as an entry-level casino VMS.

Two grand for four channels? Quite steep, especially when you consider HD-SDI cameras are priced in the same ballpark as IP cameras. Marshall's VS-541-HDSDI - 2.0MP 20X Zoom IP Box Camera is $2k. I can buy three or more 2MP IP cameras for the cost of one of their HD-SDI cameras. Adding an HD-SDI encoder puts that even further out of reach, with virtually no benefit over IP. Even adding EoC converters to the mix would still leave full-IP at approximately $800 to $1,00 per channel versus HD-SDI at $2,500 per channel. Yeah, there are cheaper alternative HD-SDI cameras but like Todd Rockoff says, there's no guarantee of compatibility within HD-SDI.

Not hardly. Casinos usually have manned surveillance rooms. Users often zoom in tightly on an incident to capture subtle actions that overview cameras would miss. I'm not saying that 180 and 360 degree cameras don't offer some possible benefits, just that they often sacrifice pixels on target for their ultra-wide-angle views. It would require a gigapixel 360-degree camera just to replace a well-placed PTZ where you have trained operators. If Aria doesn't record their PTZs, shame on them.

I have to agree with tomcctv. 200 slots, 8 table games, a cash cage, likely additional cameras for count room(s), vault, back-of-house, parking lot(s) and other areas adds up to probably well over 100 cameras. DVRs just aren't made for that camera density; nor are many low-end VMS/NVR systems. Also, depending on how "fancy" the casino wants to get, they might want redundancy and failover built in. They certainly shouldn't use a typical DVR system with no RAID storage - it's too likely they would encounter data loss. Then another question would be if the Surveillance Department would be manned? They would likely want a number of PTZs.

Hostility? I just see no point converting HD-SDI to IP and then distributing the IP stream to a DVR/NVR for recording or monitoring. HD-SDI (or its sister technology, HDcctv) does apparently offer some image quality benefits for "live" monitoring, due to its lack of compression and ultra-low latency. However, once the signal is encoded and compressed, those benefits disappear. Starting with HD-SDI/HDcctv and then converting it to IP through an encoder before it reaches the monitor/recorder eliminates the benefits and adds unnecessary cost. It would be like using a gasoline engine to convert water to steam, then powering your car with a steam engine.

No one sells one but I can see a need for one. A $150 HD-SDI, $350ish encoder and with a VMS licenses would be a very cost effective HD upgrade option. So you're recommending vaporware? Now I understand...

OK. Who, exactly, sells a "low cost $350ish 4 channel HD-SDI encoder"? And, except for live monitoring, the video quality of recorded HD-SDI converted to IP is likely to be no better, and possibly worse, than a straight IP system.

I could design a system for you but not for free. I'm in charge of a 1,000+ camera system at a major casino. PM me if you're interested.

There's no point in converting HD-SDI to IP. Either install a complete HD-SDI system or a complete IP system. Combining the two is a waste, since once you encode and compress the HD-SDI signal, it will be basically the same as you would get from an IP system at a substantial extra cost.

The female connector is almost definitely a standard BNC connector. The male connector (on the cable) looks like a "push on" male BNC. Push on BNCs are very rare. You would need to get a BNC female - to - "F" male adapter to adapt the cable. Alternatively you could cut off the BNC and install an "F" connector on the cable. Or, you could just buy an Ethernet over Coax (EoC) device that is more suited to IP cameras like the Veracity HIGHWIRE, NVT EC1701 series, Vigitron MaxiiCopper series, Altronix eBridge series or many others. Those almost always have BNC connectors.

After some bad experiences with power zoom/focus cameras zooming/focusing on their own, I refuse to deploy them.

When we install cameras alone we have the customer with a 2-way radio at a client machine directing us so we get the exact FOV that they are looking for. Does the client talk you through focusing the camera too? You must have some very knowledgeable clients.

That works well when you're on the top of a ladder, trying to hang onto the ladder, the laptop and the camera: Kind of makes you wish you had these:

CAT3 (Telco cable) can be used to transport video using baluns or active devices. The caveats are that the pair must be used for only video (no sharing with telephone or intercom) and that you can expect more interference on the line and in the video due to the reduced number of twists in the cable. Also, the wire must be point-to-point. If your telephone line is wired in a "star" configuration (from a common point like in your garage to multiple rooms), you will likely get ghosts in the video. CCTV transport is not the same as audio. Unterminated lines cause major problems. You will have to find a way to get the cable straight from the camera to the DVR without any sidetracks. By the way, both CAT3 (Telco) and CAT5 are 100-120 ohm cables and can be terminated with baluns. Baluns aren't that sensitive to impedance anyway. I've seen video transport on 18/2 and the picture looks OK. This is common in elevators.

You do know that the point of his question is to evade detection - likely for nefarious purposes. Perhaps you'd also like to give him the combination to the bank's safe?

Ski masks are so... yesterday. Many modern criminals have a sense of style: [

That's one dirty camera you have there.

As sonyfcb stated, your answer is "It depends". Typically the alarm would have to trigger something: either the VMS or a second device, like a matrix switch. This is often done with a sub panel of the alarm system that contains relays whose contacts are connected to the alarm inputs on an NVR or matrix switch. The system is then programmed so that if contact #1 closes (or opens), the VMS or matrix sends a command to a specific PTZ to go to Preset #2. The PTZ's preset is programmed accordingly. Some systems also allow a dwell time to be set, so that after the PTZ goes to Preset #2 a programmable timer initiates a return to Preset #1 (home position) until another alarm is received. Some PTZs also have a setting that makes them return to home after a specific period but I never liked that idea. I'm in a field where PTZs are manned and may be set at certain positions for long periods while observing something. It would be annoying or even dangerous to set an automatic "Return to home position" function.

I had our distributor quote it: ~$900 for the linux version and ~$1,150 for the Windows 7 version. By the way, according to Iomnis: "The Focus Tool DS1F01 is not available any longer it has been replaced by the DS-1F02 which is not a specialized system in that it can be purchased with LINUX or Windows 7 installed."

Fiber is darned expensive. For example, the ComNet FVT11MAC 1-camera transmitter lists at around $830.

Another way would be to commit suicide. CCTV cameras don't see ghosts very well.

I've seen mention of that type of device on IPVM but don't remember if anyone ever tested it.

Jomadav, I have checked and haven't found any computers, laptop, notebook or otherwise, capable of providing POE from their Ethernet ports. You have to provide camera power in some other manner, either from a POE switch or inserter, the Veracity Pointsource or, if the camera can accept it, an external power source.

Only fiber (and maybe some very expensive wireless) is capable of that distance. Even then, you would still need to power the cameras locally.

We had issues with the Axis cameras zooming all of the way out after disconnecting and reconnecting them to the network/POE and after reboot but that may have been an incompatibility with the VMS or something else. After a team of Axis and VMS mfg. techs made some changes, the problem seemed to disappear but it does make me extremely leery of power zoom/focus cameras.