Stampede Tack and Western Wear, in Cloverdale, B.C., is one of the largest suppliers of cowboy gear in Canada. The first surveillance system at the store, which moved to its current location in 1970, was installed 10 years ago. They upgraded five years later to a Windows-based DVR. Then their integrator, Surrey-based Panarama Technologies, suggested they begin testing Honeywell’s latest video systems, and they jumped at the invitation.

Over the next few years, they tried out four new units, along the way replacing old cameras with digital ones. In the last upgrade, starting in December 2010, they began testing Honeywell’s newly launched HRDP DVR.

“Upgrading was not on our radar,” says Mykle, store manager. “But it was presented to us, and it just seemed like a natural step. And, being familiar with computers, hard drives and the digital aspect of it all, it was just something that was very appealing to us.”

The upgraded DVR supports H.264 compression technology and i-Phone connectivity, Remote View. There’s a maximum of 16 cameras per DVR, but the system allows a customer to add more, says Bill Durno, Honeywell’s product manager for digital video recorders.

“They can connect as many cameras as they want. Then there’s software that allows you to look at just about as many cameras as you want on a single screen,” he says.

Greg Puchniak, Panarama co-owner, says the project was a bit different because all the cameras were installed inside, two focused on the warehouse, the rest around the showroom. The challenge lay in the structure of the building, the large open room that goes up, way up.

“You’re in a retail store where there’s no drop ceiling, so there’s no ceiling tile, no hidden ceiling, and all the wire is pretty much done out in the open.  So, in order to make it still look good and not have wiring hanging everywhere — that was somewhat of a challenge,” he says.

One of the first customers to use the i-Phone application, Mykle says that having after-hours access is probably the biggest advantage of the system. He likes having a real-time view of each camera angle and being able to adjust each angle from his phone. But, mostly, he uses it to keep an eye on the store.

“It’s nice to peak in every once and a while when you’re not physically in the store to see what’s going on. We’ve got great staff, but it’s just peace of mind, that you can check in at anytime, anywhere. I just got back from holidays. I was down in Florida, and virtually in the palm of my hand I had all 16 cameras of the store at any point in time,” Mykle says.

Remote access has also helped reduce false alarms. The store is near a highway, and the noise of trucks travelling in the night often vibrated against nearby buildings and set off the alarm.

“It’s a bit of a pain when it’s 2:30 in the morning and you don’t know what’s going on, if it’s a real emergency or not. And you’ve got to come down and address the issue,” he says.

Now, when he gets a call from the emergency centre, he just zones in on the area that triggered the alarm. “And I can know right away whether it’s something that needs to be looked at right away or just reset the alarm and go back to bed. I can’t recall the last time I’ve come down after hours to check on the building.”