CCTV system

CCTV System

The Bedlam CCTV system, which allows the stage and audience seating to be visually monitored from the box office, and the stage to be monitored from the dressing room, was installed in July 2006.

Instructions

Box Office

1) Turn On the TV and the Cameras at the plug (the sockets to the left of the TV) 2) Turn the TV to channel 0 (AV) 3) Select your camera using the switch on top of the black box above the TV. Gently. BE GENTLE. 4) Observe 5) To watch the external camera ("tramp cam"), press the button on the back of the SCART selector (behind the TV)

Dressing Room

1) Turn on the TV 2) Using the Remote, change the channel to AV (there is a button marked TV/AV - press it!). 3) Indulge your voyeuristic fantasies, Blue Velvet style, or just wait for your cue. 4) Smile.

Description

The CCTV System, AKA Agnes, consists of:

Two Cameras - located above the Kitchen Door (to view the audience) and below the Tech Box (to view the stage)

Lots of Cable - 4-core telephone cable, to be precise. This runs from the two cameras to the Box Office, and from the Stage Camera (the one underneath the tech box), via a split (just above the top of the steps up to the rake from the Cafe), to the monitor back-stage. These cables are coloured Black in the auditorium, Black and White in the Cafe, and white in the dressing room. There is a connection behind the Fat Cat in the cafe, which extends the Black cable (which runs from the "Audience" camera to the box office) by connecting it to the White 4-core cable. At the split and the connection, the cables connect as follows:

- Light Orange to Yellow - Dark Orange to Green - Light Blue to Black - Dark Blue to White

At the male connectors, which are 6p4c, and the white wire connects as follows (looking at the male connector pins-up, and reading left to right):

-Dark Blue - Light Blue - Dark Orange - Light Orange

While the Black wires connect as follows (same reading convention as with the white cable):

- White - Black - Green - Yellow

Phone Line Switcher / Camera Selector - Located on the Box Office shelf, this is a black box with a 2-position turn-switch on the top, two inputs, located on the "long" sides of the box, and one output, located on the bottom "short" side. This box was built in order to allow the person monitoring in the box office to select which camera they view. Inside, each input is wired to the switch, which then leads to the output. The wiring convention from the male plugs follows for the socket wiring, however it should be noted that the sockets are 6p6c, and as such the outer two connections are not used in this system. As such, inside the box, the second connection in (reading from the left) is connected to the dark blue wire. Note: Agnes (as the switcher is called) is very fragile. She does not like to have her connections wiggled. Please treat her with respect! She is not your girlfriend, do not bash her around. Treat her as you would a beautiful ming vase.

SCART selector - Located beside the Box Office monitor, this allows the user to select between viewing the CCTV camera which has been selected by the Camera Selector and the external camera (or "Tramp Cam").

Phone Line to SCART adaptor / Power Supply - This has several connections, but is used by us to convert the phone line signal through to SCART signal, and also to supply power back to the cameras. As such, this must be plugged into a 13amp power supply, connected to the camera feed (either via the Camera Selector, or direct feed), and then through the SCART socket into the monitor.

Two Monitors - Located on the Box Office Shelving and in the Dressing Room, these monitors allow the viewer to... well... view. Cameras are connected via a phone-line to SCART adaptor. As such, the monitors must be tuned to the AV channel in order to view the signal.

Troubleshooting

If something is not working, check:

- That everything is plugged in: The Monitors and the camera power supply (the plug attached to the SCART adaptor) all need to be plugged into a power supply - the SCART adaptor should be plugged into the monitor, the phone line should be plugged into the SCART adaptor, the box office phone line should be connected to the camera selector's output, and the two camera feeds should be plugged into the inputs on the camera selector.

- That everything is turned on properly: The Monitors should be tuned to AV (using the remote for the dressing room monitor), the SCART selector should be set to show the correct feed (external or auditorium camera), and the camera selector should be set to the correct camera (stage or seating view).

-If the signal is odd: Try restarting everything. If this fails, try to isolate the fault by connecting the cameras in the box office directly to the SCART adaptor. If this clears things up, go to A), if not, go to B) A) Reconnect the cameras to the switching box (Agnes). Then, GENTLY wiggle Agnes's connections (the inputs and outputs on the camera selector). B) Check the various connections between the cables (the split in the auditorium or the extension in the cafe). Make sure they are securely connected, and to the correct terminals (as indicated above). If the above does not work, try to contact someone who knows alot about electronics. Either that or build a new one.

Credits

Designed, Built, Cursed and Bodged by Matt Wieteska
Inspired by Charlotte Jarvis, Tom Latter and Helena Larkin
Aided and Abetted by Richard Bell and Colleen Patterson
Encouraged by Charlotte Coles, Clemency Cooke, Simon Hodges and a whole load of other people who tried not to get burnt while I was soldering.
Documentation by MW