Upgraded video monitoring solution for Silicon Valley Casino

Bay 101 casino has gained recognition throughout the gaming community as one of the finest clubs on the west coast of America. This popular facility located in Silicon Valley features 40 gaming tables on two floors and a sports bar and restaurant, as well as a deli and beauty salon.

Situation

An existing network of 34 Wavestore recorders provided the platform for the state-of-the-art video recording and management system. Recognising the benefits which could be achieved from high-definition megapixel IP cameras, Bay101 asked video surveillance specialists, Digital Security Solutions, to carry out an upgrade of the system.

“The upgrade of the Wavestore recorders was very straightforward and the hybrid recording capability an excellent and cost-effective solution.”

Ryan Delagrange, Digital Security Solutions

Solution

IQInvision’s IQEye megapixel cameras were specified and integrated with those cameras on seven existing servers. A simple software licence upgrade was all that was required to enable the new cameras to be seamlessly integrated into the video management system and displayed simultaneously alongside existing analogue cameras.

The cameras were installed above the locations of high limit games and cage windows. At a height of 20feet and with a viewing diameter of 12 feet, the cameras permit security personnel to view dice when they are in the cups, as well as read identification information in areas where cash transactions are conducted. The quality of the1280 x 1024 pixel resolution images captured by the IQEye cameras and recorded on the Wavestore system, allow the serial numbers of paper money to be read.

Whilst the Wavestore design is based on Linux, the remote client software can be installed on either a Linux or Windows PC. The Wavestore client is respected for its intuitive user interface and the ability for analogue, IP and Megapixel cameras to be seamlessly viewed and controlled from the various user screens, including Auto-Camera Setup, MultiCamera Display with1, 4, 9, 13 and 16 way display options.

The Wavestore client software offers a very fast search and retrieves capability (even with Terabytes of data recorded over many weeks), which is extremely useful in the casino environment where the pit manager can quickly analyse unusual activity.

The user interface also provides fasts canning and image-by-image still frame analysis, as well as 25x digital zoom functionality. The copy function is pure simplicity, enabling the user to select single or multiple video clips and burn these on to CD or DVD for forensic analysis or evidential purposes.

Success

Ryan Delagrange of Digital Security Solutions said, “The upgrade of the Wavestore recorders was very straightforward. The hybrid recording capability is an excellent and cost-effective solution for those installations that have adequate analogue camera networks installed, but want to augment those cameras with megapixel cameras for the benefits that they provide”.

The casino has been a long-time user of Wavestore recording systems and has expanded the recording system as new legislation has required more cameras and enhanced software features to be implemented.

The casino upgraded to Wavestore latest version video management software (VMS) to take advantage of the latest features including authentication; which was required to comply with new legislative requirements. Verification of the integrity of recorded video is needed to enable digital video evidence to withstand a challenge as to its admissibility in court. This upgrade was completed by the local systems administrator, as was previous Wavestore software upgrades.