Lafer is based at the Stromburg above the small Hunsrück town of Stromburg (Rhineland-Palatinate), where he has resided since 1994 indulging gourmets with his restaurant Le Val d'Or . The company has expanded greatly in recent years, and the castle now boasts the Turmstube restaurant and high quality Stromburg Hotel in addition to the TV studio.

Advanced video surveillance system
A Videor Technical eneo CCTV integrated solution installed by Vogel Sicherheitsanlagen GmbH provides video surveillance of the whole building complex. Day/Night cameras with VPT pan and tilt systems as well as infrared illuminators for surveillance of the outside area are utilised together with MiniTrax dome cameras in inside areas. The 1/4" colour dome cameras with a resolution of 430 TV lines are ideal for inside as well as outside areas, and their compact dimensions allow them to merge inconspicuously into the sophisticated architectural concept. They are fitted with a remote controlled motor zoom lens with a 10x optical and 10x digital zoom; the focussing range is 3.15-31.5 mm (F1.6) and light sensitivity 1.5 Lux. MiniTrax moves to positions at speeds up to 120 degrees per second and has 60 storable presets. It offers a great many of the features seen on its big brothers from the Fastrax series, such as the RS-485 port, programmable guard tours, AGC, backlight compensation and automatic white balance.

Five units make the digital recordings
Imagery recording is achieved by four 9-channel DXR Digital Recorders as well as a 4-channel DXR Digital Recorder from the eneo range. Their recording speed of 100 fields per second (PAL) guarantee fluid video recordings even in multi-channel mode. In addition to an integral CD-RW recorder for fast data backup, they boast numerous other professional features: the recorders have nine alarm outputs, four spot monitor outputs, a VGA output as well as three USB 2.0 ports and a SCSI port. The whole package is rounded off by search functions, such as "Motion Search" or "Museum Search" for finding image sequences quickly.

Intelligent Building Technology
Bus technology integrates all CCTV components into the central system for EIP/KNX building control. Bus technology has the advantage that signals from several electronic components - lighting, locking system, window shades, video cameras, etc. - can be routed over and controlled by a single control cable. Touch-sensitive terminals (12- and 15-inch TFT displays) are installed in the floors for control and display of all house parameters; their intuitive screens display an identical portrayal of the building's ground plan and different rooms. This allows each surveillance camera in the internal and external areas to be called up from several positions in the building. Simultaneously, camera images can be viewed in several rooms, because the intelligent screens also serve as a display medium. When a supplier rings at a side entrance, for instance, the current camera view switches automatically to the touch screen and voice contact is made over the telephone system. Furthermore, 1- and 4-channel web servers, UHF modulators as well as a mobile touch screen network-connected via WLAN are installed. Customised remote software also allows remote access to the cameras' live pictures as well as to the recorded imagery.
"Mr Lafer places great value upon innovation and technical excellence in implementation of his ideas, which is why we are very proud of the installed solution," is how the Managing Director Klaus-Dieter Wand (Vogel Sicherheitsanlagen GmbH) expressed his satisfaction after the system was taken into operation.