HDCCTV to be installed in SD casinos

DEADWOOD, S.D.—In what's believed to be the first instance of a state gaming board approving the use of HDCCTV technology, the South Dakota Gaming Board has cleared the technology's use this month, and integrator Five Star Audio Video Systems will soon begin deployment of the technology at the Silverado and Franklin casinos, located here in the Black Hills.

“It took a while,” said Dennis Roberts, owner of Five Star, and a driving force behind getting the technology approved for use. “We had to make some software changes; we had to jump through some hoops.”

In the end, however, the improved resolution HDCCTV could provide vs. analog cameras, and at full 30 fps frame rate, convinced the board the technology could provide improved security, Roberts said.

The equipment from SG Digital that Five Star will be installing is so new, Roberts said, that he had to do some trouble-shooting with the proper cabling to use (RG-6 does the trick), but the demo he set up for Silverado casino security staff was so compelling “they were all over it,” said Roberts.

Five Star has been installing IP cameras for some time, and still uses it often for specific applications, but Roberts said he's been unable to get HD-quality video at the requisite 30 fps with any fully IP system he's set up. Now, eight cameras with 1280 x 720 resolution, and two 2-terabyte DVRs can cover an entire gaming pit, he said, which used to require as many as 24 analog cameras at the most, and “the casino owners are clapping their hands. They know nothing will get by them, and they won't have to pay out any more than they should.”