Hi Adam,
The casino I work at just went through the same process. We had a Pelco 9780 matrix and Honeywell NVR system. We spent almost a year evaluating a number of systems and wound up going with IndigoVision.
Evaluations were done in two phases: the first, about a week long for each system, evaluated the basics - ease of use, quality of video, latency, playback functions, bookmarks, clip creation, etc. Many of the evaluation systems fell by the wayside during the first stage, including Avigilon, Pelco Endura and Genetec. The second phase evaluated the remaining three systems in depth and lasted about a month for each system. Dallmeier was eliminated in Phase 2, leaving us with Geutebruck and IndigoVision.
We also evaluated a number of third party encoders, including Axis, Bosch, Sony, TKH and Verint and IP cameras, including Axis, IndigoVision, Bosch and Ganz during Phase 2. Testing revealed a virtual tie between three of the encoders: IndigoVision's own, the Axis Q7406/Q7900 and the Bosch X1600XF. We requested the Axis encoders when soliciting bids for the Geutebruck system (we were not impressed with Geutebruck's own encoders) and the IndigoVision encoders with the IndigoVision system (for obvious reasons).
Three Integrators were invited to bid on both systems, however Geutebruck was only offered by one Integrator - a major cause of their elimination in the final RFP analysis.
IndigoVision was chosen because the system offered a good mix of features, among the best picture quality for their encoders, reasonable price which gave good "bang for the buck", warranty options and their willingness to work with us on system improvements and feature requests.
System installation was basically completed on December 20, 2013 although final tweaking took a few more weeks. We are happy with the system and our decision to go with a virtual matrix. Doing so gives us a lot more flexibility while reducing system footprint and power and cooling requirements by at least 1/3. In the end, the reduction in power and cooling requirements will save the casino substantially.
Along with the basic system, we purchased five full years of warranties, support and upgrade licenses. That rolled those costs into the casino CAPEX, making Accounting happy.
I'll be happy to answer any questions but will be out of touch for two weeks so be patient for a response.