The bench test 1: Sophisticated and sturdy

What our experts say …
CCTV manufacturers are not manufacturers are not normally known for their modesty: most products are liberally adorned with logos and badges. But you would be hard pressed to find identifying marks anywhere on the X-Dome system. Its exact parentage is not especially important but for the record it is made by National Electronics, a division of Richardson Electronics Ltd (RELL), a sizeable multi-national with fingers in many pies, including of course CCTV.

We have been looking at the X-Dome Elite, a highly configurable motorised dome camera suitable for demanding indoor or outdoor applications. The feature list is extensive but the highlights include continuous 360-degree rotation at 240 deg/sec and 90-deg tilt (90 deg/sec) under manual control, with an auto flip function to make it easier to track subjects passing beneath the dome.

Up to 220 preset positions can be stored and used in a range of cruise and tour sequences (four auto-cruise, four pattern tours, four auto scan). The field of view is divided into eight programm-able zones, there is provision for up to eight privacy masks and it can be used with up to eight external alarm sensors (with one alarm output).

Communications with a keyboard controller is via an RS485 bus, using a single twisted pair. There is plenty of room for expansion and up to four controllers can be connected together to control a 'matrix' of up to 255 cameras.

Our review system used the matching National Electronics KB-03M controller but X-Dome will also work with a wide variety of other makes of controller and common communication protocols. The Elite camera is a high-performance day/night model with automatic or manual colour/monochrome switching. It is based around a ¼-inch CCD with a claimed resolution of 470 lines. This is mounted on the end of a 22x motorised optical zoom and for good measure there is 10x digital zoom.

Pan/tilt control is fully proportional and tied into the zoom so that pan and tilt movement are in progressively smaller increments at higher zoom settings. Camera functions, including focus, shutter, iris and white balance can be left under automatic control or set manually; there are p.25 also manual sensitivity and backlight adjustments. There is a good assortment of display options with time and date and title facilities for the camera , preset positions and zones, though due to a somewhat convoluted on-screen display system it can take an age to set up.

The KB03M controller is housed in a sturdy cream coloured metal case with neatly curving sides and it looks very smart. In the centre is a backlit LCD display, which the instructions claim switches off after 30 seconds, though ours remained permanently lit.

To the left of that is a numeric keypad and a set of buttons for camera selection and keyboard set-up; there is also a button marked 'Monitor' though this doesn't appear to have any apparent function. Below the LCD are two rows of buttons for the pan/tilt functions (Tour, Pattern, Dwell etc).

On the right are the manual camera controls (iris, focus and zoom), plus the joystick, topped off by a twisting zoom control knob. On the back of the controller is a row of sockets, a nine-pin D-Sub for RS232 comms (a future option); next to that is a RJ-11 socket, used in multi-controller set-ups.

Alongside is a socket for the 9v DC power supply – a plug-in mains adaptor is supplied. RS-485 communications are handled by a six-way (three-port) plug-in socket and on the extreme left there is an eight-way DIP-switch for configuring multi-keyboard installations. Three major components make up the dome assembly; the housing, a transparent dome and the camera module. The exterior housing, which also contains a PCB for connections and communications with the outside world, is the largest and heaviest of the three parts.

The circuit board includes a small interchange-able daughter for telemetry protocols plus a non-volatile memory that stores programmed data, such as preset positions and camera set-up parameters so that in the event of the camera module failing there should be no need to reprogramme the system.

The housing can be used in a variety of mounting configurations, attached to or suspended from walls, poles and ceilings. It is built to a very high standard from a heavy alloy and double-skinned, to provide a high degree of protection from the environment.

The transparent dome continues the trend for heavy-duty engineering and excellent weather protection. A thermostatically-controlled heating coil is mounted around the rim to keep the dome free of condensation and the electronic and mechanical parts from freezing up.

The PTZ-camera module attaches to the housing pendant by a pair of quick-release latches, the electrical connections are routed through a pair of semi floating multi-way connectors and the whole assembly can be removed in just a few seconds.

Getting it back in takes a little longer as the latches and connectors have to be carefully lined up and this can be tricky, particularly if the pendant is high up or in an accessible position. It's worth doing a couple of dry runs at ground level or when it's on the bench, to get a feel for the alignment and orientation of the camera unit.

X-Dome's designers have stuck to a tried and tested formula with the bulk of the electronics mounted inside the base of the camera unit. There are two large PCBs, dealing with power supply regulation, motor control and communications, plus a miniature fan, the pan motor and a rotary transformer. On the top there is a simple turntable arrangement with a vertical arm supporting the tilt motor, camera module and limit stop micro-switch. The camera is linked to the motor by a simple toothed belt drive arrangement. A small PCB mounted on the turntable acts as an interface between the rotary transformer and the camera, using a flexible ribbon cable to carry power, video and control signals.

Most of the moving parts are made of plastic, which helps keep the weight down but without sacrificing strength or rigidity. A black-coloured shroud fits directly onto the turntable protecting and hiding the mechanism.

Setup & operation
Installation is, or rather should be, a breeze but the instruction manuals let the side down and are a bit vague in places. The most serious omission is the lack of any connection diagrams for the communications board, inside the dome's outer housing. Fortunately we were provided with a pre-wired test cable but it would be almost impossible to work out the connections otherwise.

It's made worse by the fact that the plug labelling appears to be for an RS232 system and the connections for an RS485 twisted pair are not marked (for reference, use the Rx+ and RX- pins). We passed the info on to RELL and hopefully future versions of the manuals will be updated.

The system should work straight out of the box though it is possible that one or two settings might need to be changed. In our case there was a mis-match between the Baud rates of the keyboard controller and the dome. This is easy to figure out, a switch on the dome goes through a diagnostic routine and a short tour after which it displays its ID and other parameters, including Baud rate.

This is also shown on the keyboard controller's LCD and it is a simple enough matter to enter the controller's set-up menu and make the necessary change. Items on the menu are selected using the joystick and changes stored using the Enter button.

The camera's on-screen menu displays use a similar technique but it is much less intuitive. A main menu is displayed using one of two keyboard shortcuts. This has eight options: System Info, Lens Parameters, Camera Parameters, Pan Tilt Parameters, Function Setting, Privacy Masking, Alarm Setting and Exit. Item selection using the joystick can be hard work and you may find yourself wiggling it in frustration as the cursor fails to move, or jumps past selections.

System Info calls up a set of seven sub menus covering the camera title, time and date settings, display configuration, password setting, display language (English or Chinese), factory reset and system reboot.

Creating titles (also used to identify presets and tours etc) is a nightmare involving an extra-ordinary amount of joystick waggling and too-ing and fro-ing between display screens. It's possible there are shortcuts or quicker ways of doing it: but don't look for any help in the instructions!

The Lens Parameter menu covers zoom speed, digital zoom setting, switches for auto/manual focus, iris, level control and day/night switching (man/auto/time). The instructions aren't much help and aside from little or no explanation of these adjustments, they fail completely to mention one called Iris PLC, which appears on the lens menu. Camera Parameters are also dealt with in a cursory manner by the manual. Functions included are sensitivity (slow speed shutter), shutter speed (slow and fast speeds up to 1/3000th sec in 14 steps), Exposure F1.6 to F34 in 10 steps, Line Sync, White Balance mode (auto or user set) and Backlight Compensation.

The Pan/Tilt Parameter menu has adjustments for auto stop time, speed, proportional pan and set North, which sounds as though it could be quite interesting but since there's no additional information its purpose remains shrouded in mystery. The Function Setting menu deals with programming preset positions, tours, patterns auto scan, zone settings and secondary functions such as parking time and actions. The Privacy Mask menu is very straightforward and simply involves aiming the camera and positioning a black rectangle over the area, or areas to be masked. Finally the Alarm Setting menu calls up a set of switches for enabling the eight alarm inputs and setting the action (go to preset, tour etc).

Fortunately the instructions are the only serious flaw in a highly competent system. The camera performs very well indeed and comes to within a whisker of the claimed resolution figure. The image is crisp and able to capture very fine detail using the optical zoom. The picture degrades noticeably as the digital zoom kicks in but at the lower setting the picture is still very clean. Colour accuracy in natural light is very good and the white balance system handles mixed light well, though manual intervention may be needed in scenes lit by tube lighting, which produces a slight yellow/green caste in auto mode. The auto exposure system is responsive to rapid changes in lighting level and low light sensitivity is most impressive. The autofocus system is quite fast as well, though it has a tendency to hunt about at lower lighting levels and at or close to the day/night switching point it is usually faster to focus manually from the keyboard controller.

Pan/tilt actions are smooth and progressive with only very slight lag and little or no overshoot. But at higher zoom settings you become aware of the stepper motors with a slight jerkiness when carrying out very fine positional adjustments.

What the manufacturer says ...
When Richardson designed the X-Dome range, we had a number of key factors in mind. Our objectives were to get all the features and compatibility possible for a competitive price, without compromising on quality. We believe the X-Dome gives a great customer solution.

Consisting of internal flush, pendant and external pendant mounts with associated bracketry, the camera line-up allows colour, colour/mono and also a 'No-Zoom' dome. Telemetry control is via coax or twisted pair and, as well as supporting our own 'factory' protocol, also has VCL, Pelco, Pelco coax, Molynx, Vicon, Diamond, Philips, Li-Lin, AD/Sensormatic and Kalatel (and soon BBV) options.

The PTZ have four privacy zones, built-in fully programmable alarm handling at the dome head, 220 presets, four programm-able preset tours, four programmable patterns, full on-screen titling, Auto Flip function, Optional Freeze frame on preset and a resume function that allows the dome to resume to any function after a time period.

With built-in time and date we can schedule functions such as day/night changeover as well as the normal auto or manual modes.

The No-Zoom dome is a result of our links to retail and hotel applications where often a dome is sited because you wish to see up and down a corridor or where a fixed camera looking down an aisle would get temporarily obstructed by a seasonal display or banner.

So you can move the camera from the control position without having to send an engineer to the shop floor, at around a third the cost of a fully functional dome.

We have made the OSD programming menus as accessible as possible. How often have you heard that a certain dome will work with a certain controller but you can't actually program it without the manufacturer's keyboard? With X-Dome, to enter the menu you require tele-metry control with the facility to call preset 1 twice within five seconds and with an up, down, left and right button. From here you will have access to all the OSD functions regardless of your controller type.