Hybrid System Helps Protect Oceanfront Condominiums
Security Integrator CSI: Palm Beach underwent the task of updating an aging surveillance system to fit the needs of luxury, oceanfront condominiums on the coast of Florida. The integrator built the backbone of its new video surveillance network system on the Toshiba Surveillix HVR 16-channel DVRs.
When Standard Oil Company magnate Henry Flagler first built the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., the surveillance system consisted primarily of the eyes of his security guards.
Nowadays, as the Breakers celebrates its storied history with the renovation and opening of two private residential developments — Breakers Row North and Breakers Row South — the security system has taken on a markedly more sophisticated and hi-tech edge.
Living in Oceanfront Luxury
Breakers Row North and South offer posh amenities and luxury living, with everything from exclusive golf, tennis and beach club memberships to large terraces overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Each tower houses 50 units ranging from one to four bedrooms.
Besides adding luxury, the renovation also enhanced safety. Aging coax cabling, time-lapse VCRs, monochrome CCTV cameras and monitors installed 20 years ago have been replaced with a hybrid digital system. The analog and IP combination included 40,000 feet of newly installed CAT-5e wiring, 42 Toshiba IK-65WDA color cameras and two Toshiba IK-DP30A pan/tilt/zoom (p/t/z) domes. Four Toshiba Surveillix HVR 16-channel DVRs serve as the backbone of this video surveillance network system.
Rick Seymour, CEO of CSI: Palm Beach, and his staff designed and installed the system.
“Breakers Row is simply the most beautiful, well-appointed condominium development in Palm Beach, absolutely first-class,” Seymour says. “Management realized that the CCTV system did not match the rest of the property, so they made the decision to upgrade.”
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Out With The Old
Seymour’s team first removed the old coax from its conduit and fished through new CAT-5e cabling inside and outside the building, including new runs into the pool area, the guardhouse and the two parking lots. An IR motion detection system, integrated into the Toshiba HVRs, was also installed to protect the community from intruders.
Thanks to the recorders’ hybrid capabilities, the team at CSI: Palm Beach was able to install Toshiba analog cameras. The versatile HVR records analog inputs at speeds up to 30 PPS with resolutions as high as 720 X 480. Using a proprietary MJPEG compression method, file size is minimized without compromising image quality. As a result, the Breaker’s analog cameras can be remotely viewed on a LAN or Internet connection and recorded digitally, just like with IP cameras.
“We saved our client a considerable amount of money by using Toshiba analog cameras and HVRs,” says Seymour. “In addition, because the Breakers is not a spread-out community, we only had to use the two p/t/z cameras. This also helped make our bid more competitive.”
Seymour chose to use the Toshiba IK-65WDA cameras for many reasons. First, the camera offered minimum illumination down to 0.001 lux @ F1.2. It also has RS-422 control as a standard built-in feature. Finally, its 133X dynamic range reproduces both dark and light images within the same frame, an important consideration that occurs quite frequently in the bright Florida sunshine. The two Toshiba IK-DP30A domes that CSI: Palm Beach installed feature p/t/z, IR imaging and 216X zoom, along with a “snap in” design that makes mounting and connecting faster.
Each of the 16-channel HVRs has a 500GB hard drive for recording 3-4 weeks of video. Sixteen cameras populate three of the units while the last has only five, giving it room to expand. Toshiba software, included with the HVR, allows the Breakers security staff instant access for camera configuration, viewing, incident searching, and file exporting, along with remote upgrades and alarm monitoring.
The HVR is also linked to the 14 IR zones around the Breakers parameter. If any one of these zones is activated, local cameras go to the site instantly and record at their highest resolution and frame rate.
Overall, the Breakers installation took less than four months for CSI: Palm Beach to complete. Residents now enjoy the best of Palm Beach living while being protected by state-of-the-art security.
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