Zoneminder setup. Need help and willing to pay for it.

pt80chip · Post by **pt80chip** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:36 pm

Hello. Even though I've installed Linux on my computer many times going as far back as 2000, I still consider myself a newbie. I never took time to play with it and have very limited knowledge.
I would like to have a zoneminder system running in my office. I have already put up the cameras and have purchased one of those chinese made boards with 4 RCA inputs on them. I've even set up Zoneminder in the past somewhat successfully on Feisty Fawn, however it had a memory leak (I believe) and after having the system on for a few hours it would become unusably slow. I am looking to install a fresh install of Ubuntu (preferable Gutsy) and have someone remotely connect and install and set up zoneminder.
If you are capable and looking to do this, please PM me and quote me. It is the first time we outsource computer help because we've been using Windows and my knowledge exceeds our needs.
It doesn't matter where you are located as long as you have a broadband connection and can connect to us.
Thank you in advance.

robi · Post by **robi** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:37 am

Why don't you try Ross's LiveCD? It's really easy to deploy. Pop the disk in, install, that's it. It's a full featured Linux (Mandriva), and works very reliably! I don't have much more experience than you have, and I can confirm the success of the system installed like this for almost a year now.

michael smith · Post by **michael smith** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:14 am

Hi Andy, as you may see many of use use very different Linux OS's is there any real reason for using Ubuntu? I have setup the the chinese cards on my server but I run CentOS 5.1 Anyway opening your box to the World isn't a good Idea. Authentication isn't working on the latest version yet but I must say that 1.23.1 is good

I would use one of the live disc setups and I can help getting your card going. Also chose a Mother board without Via chipsets my Intel MOBO was much faster than my Via MOBO despite being 1.1G verses 3.0G with a Via Chipset.

Cheers
Michael Smith

robi · Post by **robi** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:42 am

Authentication WORKS on the LiveCD, updated to 1.23.1.

Post by **cordel** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:47 am

I agree with Robi, you should give the live cd a try. Alternatively, you might check with Peter Howard and see if he is willing to help setup something for you as he is familiar with the debian based distros, else there is Phil and myself and you can PM/email anyone of us

pt80chip · Post by **pt80chip** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:41 pm

And this is exactly why I like this community so much. I appreciate all the help and solutions, I will install the liveCD today or tomorrow. I don't have any reason why I chose Ubuntu other than the fact that in this last year it is the only distro I've used.
I'll let you guys know how it went.

Regards,
Andy

skyking · Post by **skyking** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:54 pm

I'll add one thing:
Your install is only as good as the hardware. In my case, the cheap ebay single chip card worked OK for testing, but two cameras brought it down to crappy framerates and eventual lockup. the same system works flawlessly with a good 8 chip card and 12 cameras.

pt80chip · Post by **pt80chip** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:48 pm

Thanks Skyking. I actually had installed zoneminder with this setup and I experienced similar results. 1 Camera ok, 4 cameras crap. More than anything I was playing around, but now we've taken extra staff here in the office and I now feel a need to have some sort of surveillance.
On a seperate note, I would also appreciate some guidance in regards to the settings which I should use.
What resolution and frame rate should I set my cameras to? Should I use the motion sensor or should I set it to record constantly?
Any input is appreciated.

skyking · Post by **skyking** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:47 pm

320 x 240, 2~5 FPS is really plenty, use grayscale if possible on Black and white cameras, modect. Try it out with the default zone.
The whole beauty of this is using analog cams with the superior detection built in to zoneminder. It makes searching for a particular event easy.

pt80chip · Post by **pt80chip** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:54 pm

They are color cameras, should I set to greyscale anyway?

Lee Sharp · Post by **Lee Sharp** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:35 am

pt80chip wrote:Thanks Skyking. I actually had installed zoneminder with this setup and I experienced similar results. 1 Camera ok, 4 cameras crap.

If you don't have a heat sink on that card, put one on it! Heat causes more problems...

And if you are willing to run the 1.22 version, I can set you up on Gutsy. But 1.23 and Ubuntu authentication and ffmpeg still have some bugs to shake out...