alarm i/o inputs, sensor and video integration,

[lolailando]

I a trying to find out what platform would be best to integrate cameras and i/o sensors.
I am trying to build an alarm system to monitor my house and a 50'x 50' garage 30" from my house.

I would like to be able to get pictures email to me when an alarm event is trigger by both a camera movement detection but also from other sensors.
Having a video stream would be nice but I don't need live realtime monitoring on 16 cameras. Probably 4 to 8 cameras taking pictures when an event is triggered, and one video stream at a time will suffice.

I have seen many dvr cards have several i/o conections, and I also know I can interface the serial port with some basic electronics for i/o.
how developed is zoneminder for i/o from other sensors?
I am also unsure if i should go with ip or analog cameras, or build a few routers with usb cameras as I have read in this forum.
I have a logitech 9000 and the quality is awesome, I wonder if less cameras with higher resolution is the way to go.
I am trying to do this on a budget so the cheaper the better, I have many pc's laying around.


i am looking at zoneminder, ircas and linuxMCE, any advice greatly appreciated; i don't want to reinvent the wheel.
I have basic skills in electronics, networking, building pc and basic programing of microcontrolers in basic, quite comfortable with wiring installations.
thanks

[johnnytolengo]

I have some experiences with ZM and PIC throught serial port connection and perl programed. Also you can do some O/I via php.

Is not so dificult to program a PIC chip + some perl script to do I/O actions.

If you are a spanish speaker I recomend you this w.site:

http://www.forosdeelectronica.com/


J.

[lolailando]

muchas gracias,
is there any functionality already built in zoneminder to be used as an alarm system?
or you have to write everything from scratch?
thanks

[johnnytolengo]

everything by your self and depends what you are looking for.