survtech

What's wrong with duct tape? If it's good enough for astronauts, it's good enough for CCTV.

You have to solder the wires to a mating connector. They used to come with cameras or lenses. And that is a video auto-iris lens.

Our DVR is essentially the Honeywell Enterprise system. Hence the need for "transcoders" for specific IP cameras. We had a heck of a time getting lighting straight but we finally convinced the casino to follow our suggestions: 1. Provide sufficient lights for our cameras to work without needing AGC (which "muddies" the picture). 2. Locate lights on the same side of the table as the camera to minimize reflection. 3. Use flood lighting, not spots. 4. Keep the lighting "color-neutral".

First, you have to know if the lens and camera are compatible. There are two types of auto-iris lenses: DC and video. You can usually tell by the controls on the lens - a video auto-iris lens will usually have two adjustment pots on the lens for ALC and level. DC auto-iris lenses will not have adjustment pots. Also, video auto-iris lenses will often have ony 3 wires while DC will have 4. The camera may have a switch for lens type, but most modern cameras don't anymore. Here is the pinout for DC auto-iris lenses: Typical (though not always the same from different manufacturers) color codes: 1. Blue 2. Red 3. White 4. Green And here is the pinout for video auto-iris lenses: Typical (though not always the same from different manufacturers) color codes: 1. Red 2. N.C. 3. White 4. Black or Shield

Not all casinos use fixed cameras over each table. NIGC MICS calls for either fixed cams for each table plus one PTZ for every 4 tables -or- one PTZ for every 2 tables (no fixed overhead shots). We use one fixed for each table (positioned over the player opposite the dealer) and one PTZ for every 2-3 tables. You're right - it is almost impossible to identify the suits of every card (especially face cards) with an analog camera. The best we can do is approximately 7 of 10 cards. This is not a problem with blackjack but is a problem with poker-based games. We are looking at Covi and other megapixel cameras but many of them won't integrate with our DVR system (Honeywell Enterprise). One brand that will is the Arecont Vision product line. We are also looking at the Tangam system.

The camera is not too critical, as long as it is high resolution. We use Pelco CCC1380h6 in DF5 domes and Ganz ZCD3039NSA for fixed cameras. We use Pelco Spectra 2 and 3 for PTZ. Far more critical is lighting, camera placement and, with the fixed cameras, zoom and focus. You also can not enable AGC. That "muddies" the picture.

In Arizona you should at least have a dome with good heat dissipation (fan, etc.) and probably a sun shield if it is going to be in the sun.

True, but the best people to ask about that would be Pelco.

Ask the experts at Sennetech. They make code translators. http://www.sennetech.net/

Check out the Pelco EHXM Explosion Proof Camera System. It is airtight and, I assume, watertight. Call Pelco to see if can be installed underwater. ftp://www.pelco.com/ProductSpecs/Pelco_ExSite_Explosionproof_Camera_System_spec.pdf

Yes, the back box has interfaces and mounting for the dome drive (what you have) and power, video and control connections. There were a number of BB5's - indoor (BB5A), indoor pendant (BB5-PG, BB5-PB) and outdoor environmental pendant (BB5-PG-E), among others. Strictly speaking, the Pelco back box is not needed to use the dome drive but you would have to find a way to hold the drive. There are also some other parts in the back box (a fuse, filters, connectors for aux functions, and a fan to cool the electronics in the drive) I strongly suggest calling Pelco. They have always had very good support.

Do you know that is a discontinued product? The original back box was a BB5. I believe that it will not work in a Spectra IV back box. You might contact Pelco at 1-800-289-9100 and ask for Spectra tech support.

A good technician can repair that PC board: 1. Align the board pieces together. 2. Scrape off the insulation on the foil sections on each side of the crack. 3. Tack solder larger foil sections across the break to keep things together. 4. Solder jumpers of uninsulated wire across the remaining foils. 5. Solder jumpers across the "tacked" areas mentioned earlier. 6. Check for shorts, cold joints and missed foil bridges. 7. Clean the board with flux remover. 8. Coat one side of the cracked area of the PC board with 5-minute epoxy glue, let set then coat the other side with epoxy glue. 9. Reconnect and test all functions. I've repaired many PC boards that way and never had a unit returned.

I assume you are talking about the Telco multi-pair lines??? You can use them, but be aware that you may encounter problems with ground loops and noise. Telco wire is usually rated as Cat-3 but on most of the existing wire I've dealt with there is little if any twist to the pairs. The less twists, the more noise is picked up. Also, 1000ft. is a bit long for passive-passive so you may want to use either active receivers or active transmitters.

Also, if you are interested in casino surveillance technician jobs, check out http://www.casinocareers.com.

We use passive baluns all the time with at least 500 of 1000 cameras. No problems. Picture quality is as good as with high-quality RG-59. We do use active receivers when the run is longer than about 500ft., though.

Nice!

Perhaps it is the dry Southern California climate. I've seen PVC get brittle or rot out in 3 years.

im not too good at it... PVC isn't so bad cause its easy to cut and bend But PVC is not suitable for outdoors, especially in a hot, sunny climate. It will deteriorate badly within a relatively short time.

Are the camera video or power cables running parallel to elevator power cables? Most likely you are getting inductive coupling to either or both.

Alyhough I can't say for sure, my best guess is that the lens itself is not designed for day/night operation. Also remember that focus is far less critical with the iris closed than when it is fully open. That could be affecting your settings. Try adjusting back focus with a neutral density filter or #5-#6 welding glass in front of the lens and the iris fully open. Keep the focus at infinity and look at a distant object. You have to go back and forth between fully zoomed out and fully zoomed in while adjusting back focus until the camera stays in focus at both extremes. If that doesn't work, adjust the lens focus slightly and repeat the back focus procedure until it maintains focus on the distant object over the entire zoom range.

The feedback circuitry is primarily used by control systems that incorporate "presets" settings. If you use the "COM" then all motor ground wires are tied together and the motors are controlled by + and - voltages on the other wires. That allows for less wires back to the controller. "IND" would require separate ground wires for each motor but also allows control by simple relays to reverse voltage to the motors.

How long you keep the raw recorded data would be determined by what you are looking for and how long after an incident occurs you would need to review it. Most users will store the raw data for one week to one month. After that, the raw data is overwritten by new video in a constant erase/write process. If an incident occurs that needs to be saved longer, the user would create a clip of that incident and save it to long-term storage - usually CD or DVD. With the price of large hard drives continually dropping and simple SATA RAID becoming popular, it wouldn't be too expensive to go to 500GB or even 1TB. That could give you a month or longer at your current resolution and frame rate.

You might want to run a fragmentation report on one of the DVR's data drives. One of the systems we tested before we purchased our alpha DVR (now the Honeywell Enterprise) was the Colby Systems. It wrote video data in one hour long files. If you wanted to review during that hour, you had to stop (and restart) recording the stream. Dangerous! Anyway, the Pelco DX-9000 had a similar writing scheme and casinos who tried it had to replace it because the files became fragmented to the point that each server had to be taken down regularly and defragged. It took many hours to do the defrag. Meanwhile, the system wasn't recording. If a DVR system writes lengthy files to a standard formatted hard drive or RAID (NTFS or FAT16/32, etc.), these files can become fragmented to the point that the system throughput slows way down and eventually can't keep up with the data stream(s). The best systems use other writing methods - small packets or cluster-by cluster writes, etc., that avoid fragmentation.

I really can't imagine the likelihood of any hard drive failing in such a way as to destroy the DVR it is installed in so I don't see any problem buying the drives from the cheapest source. And hard drives typically have a longer warranty than DVR's. We do the same thing with the Sanyo casino DVR's. Although Sanyo doesn't sell them driveless, we refuse to buy the second 300GB drive at Sanyo's inflated $700 price. And we have found that we can install at least 500GB drives in place of the 300GB ones that Sanyo sells.