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Security Technology Executive
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IP Video for Casinos
New surveillance systems are ideal for the industry, but it’s important to specify a well-designed systemThe Latest from SIW
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A quality casino surveillance system is an essential business tool used to resolve gaming disputes, monitor public safety and detect fraud, cheating and theft. The very nature of the gaming environment — where patrons and staff intermingle and handle large sums of money — demands that the video system delivers the best quality images available in terms of both image quality and frame rates.
An IP video system that delivers these essential elements also adds other dimensions to a casino surveillance operation — by providing analytical search tools and features, such as instant recall of recorded video. In addition, the technology enables any component of the system to be located anywhere on the network. This gives large casinos the flexibility to easily and cost-effectively integrate CCTV surveillance into their operations and establish off-site control rooms or monitor multiple sites from one central point.
High Casino Standards
It is a given that casinos demand the highest standard of video quality. In order to detect sleight of hand or subtle scams, full frame rate, live viewing and review of recorded footage is essential. Any lowered frame rates, dropped frames or jerky, stop-start video make the system unusable when trying to track hand movements and cash or chips changing hands.
Leading end-to-end IP video surveillance systems can stream and record high-resolution video continuously at 30fps, whereas some less capable, poorly specified systems can only achieve this performance under ideal conditions, for example when there is limited video motion. The gaming environment is a high-motion, 24-hour operation; therefore, the surveillance system needs to be performing to these high standards at all times.
Fault Tolerance, Redundancy, Diagnostics and Hardware Monitoring
Casinos and Gaming Commission regulators require a high level of fault tolerance and redundancy for different but related reasons. Gaming Commissions insist that all active gaming tables are recorded — in compliance, a casino operator is obliged to close a table that is not being recorded. The inconvenience, revenue loss and possible penalties mean that casinos need a high level of fault tolerance and redundancy to minimize downtime.
In the event of a failure, an immediate failover component must be available to eliminate the downtime. Analog CCTV systems often employed banks of VCR or DVR “standbys” in case of failure; however, this approach required an analog switcher to reroute the video signals to the standby units. It was not feasible to wire all cameras into a standby system, thus some intelligence within an analog system was required to detect a VCR/DVR failure and reroute the video signal. Unfortunately this was usually done manually.
A well-designed IP video system, on the other hand, can eliminate table downtime due to a Networked Video Recorder (NVR) failure by multi-streaming the camera video to both a primary and a secondary NVR. Alternatively, the recording can be automatically assigned to other NVRs in the system when a primary NVR fails. NVRs can be located at any point on the system and have redundant power supplies and network connectivity. In the event of any failure and a failover to a redundant part, an IP video system will also have an alert and reporting system that will clearly identify the problem and prompt action.
