[ale] ZoneMinder

[Chris Fowler]

Geoffrey wrote:
> If you get a multiport card, you want a card that has a chip for each 
> card.  That will likely cost at least $100 for the card.  If your card 
> is a bttv based card, it will work with Linux.  I've got a link for a 
> site that sells Linux supported cards, but it's at home and I am not.
>
> I have one watching my driveway and it works very well.  Caught some 
> awesome lightening shows as well. :)
>
> I actually have mine scripted to archive all captured video once the 
> disk space gets to 90%. ;)
>
> Also, any captured images pop up on my existing monitor as captured. 
> Motion has a functionality to execute a script each time an image is 
> captured.
>
>
>   
I made some progress today.

I bought one of these at Frys for $44. +$10 rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16881124111

Micro-Center has the same cam for $29.99!   I got ripped off.

It took a while but I finally got zoneminder to function under Xubuntu.  
Apparently I had to tell it I was running at 320x200.  I'm not sure 
why.  The camera with NTSC supports up to 510x492.  Maybe someone can 
explain but if I told zoneminder to use that them 'zmc -d /dev/video0' 
would fail to run.  No error messages or anything.

I may be that the card that I have only supports 320x200?  It uses the 
Conextant chipset.

Here is the card I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330255641846&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=014

640x480 on the spec. 

Maybe the camera I bought is called Maxi-Bright becauset they turned up 
the brightness as washed out all the colors.  Vibrant colors where not 
there at all.  Trees outside that were green appeared white.   Nice 
colorful curtains appeared faded to almost no color at all.  It could be 
the cheap coax had more attenuation then what I wanted.  It came with 
60' of cable.   It did not feel as good as standard RG-59.  For a $30 
camera it is sufficient.  I figure that to get a decent camera will run 
about $80 off eBay.

Chris

-- 
Chris Fowler
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