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The Sony Guide to CCTV
.
Issue 3
2
Sony gives Newham
a clearer picture
Newham District Council has the largest local authority CCTV control room in
the country, monitoring over 200 cameras in the heart of London’s East End.
Recently, it has installed additional Sony Trinitron colour video monitors, bringing
the total in the system to 73 screens. As well as fighting crime, the system is used
for traffic surveillance, including monitoring a new bus lane system, controlling
vandalism, general council activity and ensuring local authority response to
maintenance problems.
The Newham Control Room is also the first in the country to use facial
recognition technology and has recently acquired a Sony Mavica digital camera.
The camera is being used in the prevention of doorstep fraud to build up a
database of employees for the production of ID cards.
The new colour video monitors – nine SSM-20N5E
and two SSM-14N5E – were chosen for their
clarity and sharpness of picture – particularly
suited to surveillance monitoring. The
Trinitron CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), which
has upgraded resolution from a typical
250 to 600 lines, gives a markedly
crisper and more stable image. The
face of the Trinitron is based on the
shape of a cylinder rather than a sphere
ensuring that not only is the geometry of
the image more accurate, but operator
eye-fatigue is reduced.
Operations Manager Bob Lack explains: “The
Council has a policy of making the best use of the technology currently available
and with the help of optimum funding obtained through the CCTV Challenge
scheme and support from local businesses, we have invested £2 million in the last
four years.
“We already had 54 Sony SSM-20 and eight SSM-14 monitors in the system,
some of which were installed when the control room was first set up five years
ago. As the control room monitors are never switched off, durability has also been
an important factor.”
case study