The BX2 is a high performance 16-camera digital multiplex recorder capable of a 100pps (PAL) record rate. The system’s advanced recording schedule allows the user to individually program each camera’s recording priority in order to give greater flexibility. This flexibility allows assignation of a higher recording rate to specific cameras on alarm, or allows the configuration of cameras in higher sensitivity areas to record more frequently. BX2 Continuous Archive units have RAID 1 fault tolerance to disk failure. There are 4 hard drives onboard giving 2 months storage with twin 600GB storage banks on its 1.2TB disks. The four integrated RAID1 disks store two identical copies of all recorded data. A pair of the disks can be removed directly from the machine at any time, whilst recording continues unaffected. Recording all data to two disks instead of one also means a failsafe backup is always in place should any disk fail. At any time the mirror drives can be hot-swapped allowing the entire storage to be instantly removed for archive, or can be made available for evidence without any disruption to recording or system operation. It also means that if more than 2 months storage is required, disks can be hot-swapped as long as the application demands. By regularly swapping out the RAID disk units, users can create continuous archives of unlimited capacity, without ever needing to pause recording or miss an event. Once a unit is removed, a new one can be dropped in directly to maintain system performance. The easily-removable disk caddies also mean that there is no laborious copying to CD-R or DVD-R whenever video needs to be taken off the machine, minimising the potential for data loss and human error. By providing a carbon copy of all recorded data, including its digital signature, there is no possibility of the information being lost or tampered with, critical for evidential purposes. According to Mark Romer, national sales and marketing manager at DM said: “This new model will prove invaluable for high risk applications, such as nightclubs, where large amounts of data frequently need to be provided to the police – yet where it is not possible to risk CCTV system downtime. “Equally, applications requiring long-term data archiving such as city centres, shopping malls and banks will benefit from the easy swap-out capability that allows unlimited archiving, with up to two months recording on every pair of disks. System features All DM’s hard disk recordings have a digital signature that is applied for evidential purposes and the recording facilities are available through GOTO and event preview facilities. Images can also be copied to an internal CD-R for playback on a PC. The BXR system has built-in network video transmission including bandwidth limitation which offers matrix-style multiple user network viewing and control. The remote keyboard can be used to control up to 256 cameras, with an integral multi-directional joystick delivering swift, seamless control of leading manufacturer/s domes. There’s a hidden camera option that ensures sensitive scenes can only be viewed by authorized staff, while record scheduling allows users to select cameras to be recorded, lets alarms and activity to be switched on and off and allows users to select whether alarms and activity are interleaved or exclusively recorded. With BX2 there’s a programmable 16 x 8 masking grid for each camera view, with 5 levels of sensitivity. Options include up to 30 minutes of tagged pre and post alarm activity per event. It’s also possible to assign up to 8 contacts to each camera input with multiple alarms triggering one camera if required. The alarm options include a main monitor display of the last alarm with a 2 second dwell per alarmed camera with a return to pre-alarm display. There’s also email notification on alarm with up to 5 email addresses contacted on alarm. The email notification occurs on a camera-by-camera basis and includes: alarms, activity, power fail, power up, global alarm, panic alarm or date change. Alarm scheduling lets you choose when you want the system to automatically select the cameras to be recorded, switch alarms and activity on and off, and select whether alarms and activity are interleaved or exclusively recorded. It’s also possible to alter the record rate for standard, alarm and activity recording. The email alarm includes a jpeg image from the camera on the first alarm, the machine ID and camera number, the alarm number, the time and a link to the network viewer. The system also gives the option of recording and playing back a single channel of audio in real time. Recorded with images from a camera, audio can be played back directly from the unit across powered external speakers. Any audio that’s recorded is automatically copied when images from camera 1 are archived to CD-R or exported across a network. In terms of recording capability the BX2 can playback and record to hard disk at the same time. As mentioned earlier the system is able to record each of its 16 camera inputs for 4 months at 6 images per second with file sizes of 18kB. The maximum internal storage for continuous archive BX2 is 1.2TB configured as 600GB of Raid 1 storage – this configuration gives 2 months storage. You can also create event partitions in order to extend the storage time of alarms and events. The event partition is configured during installation and overwrites itself when the disk is full. In addition, the disk can be configured to protect images permanently from being overwritten when the global alarm is activated. End users can also manually configure sections of recorded images to be permanently protected from overwrite, and remove permanent protection. Networking capabilities are also integral to the BX2. A standard Ethernet connection gives live and recorded viewing on a networked PC using DM’s Network Viewer software or via web pages using a standard browser. Network viewing is independent and does not affect system recording or local operation The BX2’s Network Viewer software includes live full, quad, 6, 9, and 16-way screens; VCR fast forward and rewind, playback and frame advance/rew, GOTO time and date and a quadrant event review. There’s file export of digitally signed images over the network and archived images can be viewed using PC playback software. Along with these features you also get PTZ and telemetry presets, multiple user access, configurable password protection and an event log. Meanwhile, web page features allow viewing of live images in full screen and quad format, including telemetry control, full screen playback with GOTO function, password authentication. Central to the system’s ability to offer control of remote sites is the KBS3 remote keyboard. This unit has built-in RS485 twisted pair protocols that give direct control of a range domes including: JVC, Ultrak, Ademco, Kalatel, Bosch, Panasonic, Sensormatic, Pelco, Samsung and more. There’s also joystick control of telemetry cameras with a twist zoom feature, wash/wipe, focus, iris, lamps, preset, patrol, and auto pan keys. You can manage up to 16 BX2 units from a single keyboard across an RS485 bus. Fact file: Features of the BX2 include: * 100 IPS frame rate * 1.2TB storage onboard * Video motion search * Advanced recording * 600GB continuous archive * Digital signature * Audio recording * 20 alarm inputs * Direct telemetry control * Embedded OS * Remote keyboard.