D-Link DCS-2100+ / Biostar Barebones iDEQ 200N / CentOS 3.4

[fcrossen]

Hi,

Just my experiences with the following:

1. CentOS on Biostar:

This is a lovely quiet and small case. Just add a CPU, RAM, Optical Drive and Hard Disk. SATA support.

CentOS installed easily. You do need to download chipset drivers for the iDeQ from NVidia. Have them ready on a CD as you need the drivers to run the on board LAN card. Alternatively, I have a second Realtek 10/100 card in the box which is supported by CentOS.

NB: Every time you upgrade the Kernel you may need to re-install the NVidia chipset drivers. Be prepared for this. I have the External LAN running off the Realtek card and the Cameras attached through a hub/router to the NVidia. This means if I need to upgrade the kernel I can do it remotely as the Realtek card will be detected when booting the new kernel.

SQL and WWW directories:

These will fill up with camera data, so make sure you have plenty of room for them. I have symlinked the relevant zoneminder www directories and the mysql database to /home which has about 240GB available.

2. Zoneminder

RTFM! If you get complaints during intsallation about missing files, you need to start the installation again.

You do need the devel versions of several packages, so if in doubt, just install them.

I needed to get:

pcre-devel
mysql-devel
ffmpeg

and a few others...

3. The D-Link Cameras:

A couple of gotchas!

When specifying the camera source the path on the host is:

/cgi-bin/video.jpg

The absulute path is required and it is case sensitive.

I have not been able to get live video and the performance of the image grabs is sub-optimal. However, I'm really just tweaking now and will post my experiences.

(If anyone knows how to get video from the D-Link camera, please tell me!)

Also, you MUST specify http version (ZM_HTTP_VERSION) 1.0 (NOT 1.1) in the Zoneminder options or you'll get nothing from the camera.

My first thoughts on the cameras is that I should have got an Axis model that supports a Linux client. I would avoid D-Link link the plague in future until such a time as they support Linux. (I don't understand them, it's Linux running on the bloody camera, but they won't support a linux client!)

NB: They seem to use Vivotek hardware, so some of the Vivotek API works for the DCS-2100+, but not all.

That's it for now. Just thought I'd share my experiences, and hopefully save you all some time!

Thanks for a superb piece of work Phil.

[zoneminder]

I have a DCS-1000W and you can get video by specifying video.cgi as the path, or it may be VIDEO.CGI I can't remember. If you search for DCS-1000W you should find the posts. Several people have reported using DCS cameras without too many problems, except for the dismal image quality.

Phil

[fcrossen]

I have a DCS-1000W and you can get video by specifying video.cgi as the path, or it may be VIDEO.CGI I can't remember.

I tried that, and all permutations of UPPER and lower case with and without the "cgi-bin" path.

It seems D-Link are furiously trying to remove functionality from their cameras.... please prove me wrong... please???!

[fcrossen]

I have a DCS-1000W and you can get video by specifying video.cgi as the path, or it may be VIDEO.CGI I can't remember.

I tried that, and all permutations of UPPER and lower case with and without the "cgi-bin" path.

Solved: Check the http version Zoneminder is using. DLink require 1.0 and ZM defaults to 1.1.

[fcrossen]

My first thoughts on the cameras is that I should have got an Axis model that supports a Linux client. I would avoid D-Link link the plague in future until such a time as they support Linux. (I don't understand them, it's Linux running on the bloody camera, but they won't support a linux client!).

Following up on the above...

I contacted Phil and ordered two Axis 206W cameras from him. Cameras arrived promptly and packaged to the hilt. (Phil must be an ex-boy scout - NOTHING was going to happen that box!)

The pricing was excellent (cheapest I could readily find) and apart from that it's a great way to give some support to Phil.

The Axis 206W vs. D-Link DCS-2100+:

The Axis cameras are STREETS ahead of the D-Link ones:
They look nicer, feel nicer and have a better build quality, are smaller, much easier to configure, have an excellent feature set, give a better picture and are fully documented.

DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER buying a 2100+ for Zoneminder - they are shite (Irish technical expression for 'well below par'!) and you will regret it. After having experienced both cameras I honestly wouldn't take a present of the D-Link one.

(I haven't tried running the D-Link extensively in Windows - apart from the shots I saw in the initial configuration screen - so I have little experience of the D-Link in 640 x 480. This D-Link only runs in 320 x 240 in Linux. Picture quality is very inferior to the Axis cameras.)

[zoneminder]

Unsurprisingly, I agree with everything said above regarding Axis v D-Link! They are in different universes right through from image quality to developer support.

And Francis, if you think that package was wrapped, you have seen v1. It was in a box with bubblewrap but just went over the 'small packet' weight limit and would have taken 10 days to arrive so I had to go back home and start again

Phil

[ariel_]

I don't understand about this setting.

Also, you MUST specify http version (ZM_HTTP_VERSION) 1.0 (NOT 1.1) in the Zoneminder options or you'll get nothing from the camera.

Where do I find this so I can change it.

Looks like the Dlink DSC-900 uses it's path for video as http://192.168.XXX.XXX/video.cgi. I can view the stream from any web client. But not via zonemider. I am gussing it's the problem stated above. But I need to know where to change this setting.

Thank you.

[ariel_]

Strange I am replying to my own post.

I got my Dlink cams working.

The settings I had to use was done without changing the http to 1.0

In the source I change it to just the IP address no http://
And the path I had to just use video.cgi no / or any other settings.

This is working with 5 DCS-900 and one DCS-900W.

They are working great.

[jameswilson]

from colnsole click options then the network tab

James

[led]

I too was disapointed with the dlink camera...

I have a DCS-5300W, but I think the firmware is very similar.

Having said that:

you can capture bigger pics from the dlink camera using

/cgi-bin/video.jpg?size=1
goes up to size=3 (I think)

There's a /cgi-bin/cam.html with the correct link to get the right size depending on the camera config.

as for video streaming there's another link wich I think maybe video, but don't know how to decode it. In theory it's H263.

You can get it from /cgi-bin/video.263

I managed to make a script to control the camera using the http protocol.

Don't know where to send it of if anyone is interested.

Hope it helps somebody.

[zoneminder]

I'd be interested in taking a look at the script. You can just mail it to me if you like.

Phil

[igormorgado]

I have bought one of those DLINK DCS-2100

I wish to know if there is some way to watch the movies and audio on linux.

Best regards

[GSMD]

I've set HTTP to version 1.0 but still everything I get is only a black box.
Any other options should be set for the 2100?

Thank you.

[Wiffydus]

Same problem here with a new DCS-2100+
If you got the stuff working, please let me know.

Tx

Wiffydus

[hmazzeo]

My Configuration is:

Options:

HTTP 1.0

General:

Monitor Type: Remote
Function: Monitor / Record

Source:

Source: user:pass@ip
port: 80 (it depends on that finds selected)
Remote Server: /cgi-bin/video.jpg

Buffer:

Buffer size: 10

good luck !!