ST1 are a Finnish group who own many service stations across the Finnish mainland. They needed a solution to replace their poorly performing analogue CCTV systems, below is detail of how they went about solving it.

“Only a few people in the UK may have heard of the Finnish energy group St1. The company based in Helsinki was established in 1995 under the name Greenergy Baltic Oy and is committed primarily to the development and sale of environmentally compatible and sustainable energy solutions. Following the purchase of the Finnish service station operator St1 in 2005 the company also changed its name to St1 that year. St1 currently operates its service station business in four countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway and Poland. In 2010 the company took over the Shell Finnish service station chain. The total of 225 Shell retail stations are operated under their old brand name in addition to the 360 Finnish service stations. The company claims to operate around 1,200 service stations throughout Scandinavia.

Test phase passed with distinction

Last summer a test phase examined conversion of analogue CCTV systems to HDcctv at St1. The management wanted to trial the promise made by HDcctv – video surveillance over coaxial cable in outstanding HD quality, which was previously the domain of only IP megapixel cameras – in practical conditions.

Slimmer, more efficient, more cost effective

Specifically, eight HDC-2100M1080 cameras were installed – four cameras less than in the analogue system. This was possible due to the fact that one of these cameras can monitor up to four petrol pumps, as opposed to only two by an analogue camera. Conversion to HDcctv therefore has the effect of considerably streamlining the system as well as helping to save money. In the test installation the previously required 16-channel recorder was replaced by the much slimmer and ultimately more cost-effective DVR HDR-4008AE (8 channels). Whereas the existing coaxial and power cables were retained along with the external housings for the cameras: they were reused for the new HDcctv cameras. eneo HDcctv was therefore not only able to notch up points by creating savings potentials and producing artefact-free imagery, but also due to its minimal training requirement: thanks to the very simple DVR menu structure, the specialist from 4Safe needed barely one and a half hours to instruct the responsible employees in all the functions and parameters of the HDR-4008AE. The positive overall impression was rounded off by the sophisticated design and solid workmanship of all the devices.

Course set for the conversion

The pilot project was rated as being extremely positive. Although some time passed before the final decision was made, we have recently received confirmation: St1 will gradually convert numerous subsidiaries of its service stations in Finland to HDcctv technology from eneo. What has already been decided are the HDcctv models for which the analogue cameras will have to give way: HDD-2000MIR1080, HDD-2110M as well as the HDB-2000MIR1080.”

So the above demonstrates how HDcctv products can be used to give companies a true upgrade at a sensible price. The fact that more area can be covered within the view of the camera and the picture quality is so much more impressive give the end user a real feeling that they have got a CCTV system that offers true value for money. Although the example above is Eneo products HDcctv solutions offer many a good choice of HDcctv systems for sale check out the link for more detail on our fantastic hd sdi  bullet camera