Sony updates PC ONE Showroom with advanced NVM system

PC ONE challenge

The PC ONE showroom is best known for being the largest supplier of office automation equipment in Doha, Qatar - more than 500 customers could visit the store at any one time. However, the current security system didn’t meet the company’s security requirements, and therefore needed to be replaced. The new system needed to have the capability of being controlled from various off-site locations, so that the manager could view the surveillance from wherever he was based. In addition the system had to cover areas such as the basement, cash counters and other internal areas of the main showroom. In conclusion, the PC ONE main showroom required the most technically advanced, yet economical solution possible.

Sony's NVM solution

In response to the PC ONE Showroom requirements, Sony provided a Network Video Monitoring (NVM) system consisting of 19 Sony SNC-DF40P cameras, to cover all the areas of the store, and the Sony NSR-50 Network Surveillance Recorder as a controller. These products belong to the IPELA™ range of visual communication products, enabling images to be sent and monitored through a standard IP network.

The Sony NSR-50 is able to simultaneously control the monitoring, recording and motion detection sensors of all the cameras in the system, which could be expanded up to a maximum of 32 cameras without additional investment.

Transmission over IP means that the management of the NVM system can take place at the central computer in the control room or remotely. At the PC ONE Showroom, it is the duty security officers who supervise the system from a main plasma monitor, without the need for additional multiplexers or other dedicated systems.

The SNC-DF40P is mini-dome type camera and its integral dome enclosure means that the cameras are both easy to install and an unobtrusive addition to any environment. MPEG-4 compression with Adaptive Rate Control ensures stable, high quality pictures with network efficient bandwidth requirements, delivering high frame rates up to 30 fps at QVGA resolution via the 1/4 type IT Super HAD CCD sensor.

The excellent image quality that the cameras produce is due to the high-resolution CCD sensor. Although PC ONE chose MPEG-4 compression, the SNC-DF40P also supports JPEG compression and in fact distinguishes itself from most other IP cameras on the market by having the capability to output analogue composite video. This means the camera can also be used on a CCTV system, in fact it can simultaneously output video to IP and CCTV systems operating in parallel.

The SNC-DF40P also supports audio transmission from an external line input, allowing the control room to talk to monitored people in an alert situation, and the built-in vari-focal lens provides optimum coverage of any desired area. Intelligent motion detection provides more efficient activity detection with reduced risk of false alarms.

Advantages for PC ONE

One of the chief advantages of the NSR-50 is the capability to easily integrate with external Network Attached Storage (NAS). According to user requirements, both the number of cameras and the amount of storage can be increased, therefore providing complete flexibility.

"The quality of the image recorded by each camera can be individually configured, according to the requirements of each location. For example, we are currently using maximum quality for the basement and the cash counter cameras and medium resolution for the other indoor cameras," said Mr. Joman, Technical Services Manager at PC ONE Main Showroom. "In terms of storage capacity, as the NSR-50 Controller records the images from all cameras sequentially, just over one frame per second is taken from each source.'