Photo by IndigoVision

IndigoVision has been awarded its largest ever US contract to supply an integrated IP Video system for the new casino complex at the Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center, Hollywood, Florida, the United States.  This IndigoVision solution is being deployed in full compliance with Florida Gaming Board regulations.  IndigoVision’s IP Video technology was chosen following evaluation of several digital video solutions.  “The key factor for IndigoVision was our performance guarantee that all video would be DVD-quality, 4SIF, 30fps and that no frames would be dropped,” said Steve Wright, IndigoVision’s US SE Regional Sales Manager.  “This was a fundamental requirement of the Gaming Board and the Casino operator.  Any dropped frames within a video clip could hide fraudulent or criminal activity and make any customer disputes more difficult to resolve.”

Redundancy and reliability of the system was another important factor in choosing IndigoVision.  Gaming Board regulations dictate that the casino can only use a gaming table or slot machine if video is being recorded; therefore any downtime would have immediate commercial implications.

The system was designed and is being installed by Miami-based Aware Digital, Inc., and will consist of over 550 cameras controlled by ‘Control Center’, IndigoVision’s enterprise video and alarm management software.  ‘Control Center’ provides control, administration and viewing of the live camera feeds and recorded video over the IP network.  Video recording will be achieved with eight server-based Networked Video Recorders (NVRs), with over 70TB of storage.  This will allow recording for 30 days of continuous full frame rate video from all cameras and ‘Control Center’ provides a suite of tools that enable super-fast location of events within large amounts of footage.  Aware Digital will also be installing a number of custom built applications using the IndigoVision Software Development Kit (SDK) to service the customer’s unique needs.  IndigoVision’s efficient compression technology and Activity Controlled Framerate (ACF) minimize requirements for bandwidth and storage for recorded video.

The CCTV cameras will be connected to the network via IndigoVision’s 10-way transmitter/receiver racks.  These convert analogue video to MPEG-4 high-quality digital video for transmission over the network.  The security control center in the new complex will house more than 10 terminals running ‘Control Center’ software and a video-wall driven by high-end ‘Control Center’ PCs.  This landmark project is the largest US installation of IndigoVision equipment to date and demonstrates that IP Video technology is now a mature platform for the demanding CCTV requirements of casino operations, which need high resolution video images and fast analysis of recorded footage.  IndigoVision’s solution is fully compliant with Gaming Board regulations and shows that MPEG-4 digital video is as good as, if not better than, analogue.  IP Video provides many benefits compared with traditional analogue CCTV systems, such as scalability, real-time camera-based analytics and fault tolerant configurations.