16CH China/Ebay Conextant Fusion 878A WORKING!

[divolb]

Read through all the hardware forums on Zoneminder then purchased a card on Ebay after asking the buyer if the chip was a conextant 878.

"16 Channel 16CH CCTV Security DVR Card BNC PCI Capture"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWNX:IT

Ebay store:
stores.ebay.com/DEPOTZZS-electronic-and-digital

Picture:


Card has two D-Sub connectors, and one composite connector. Four Conextant Fusion 878A chips with the following label:

CONEXANT
Fusion 878A
25878-132
0946y1e2
0945 TAIWAN

There are no definitive markings on the card to identify it, very generic.

I am using Ubuntu server 9.04 and Zoneminder 1.23.3
Linux kernel 2.6.28-17-server

I added the "modprobe.conf" file to the "modprobe.d" directory and put the following in the modprobe.conf:

alias char-major-81 bttv
options bttv card=131,131,131,131

I came to these setting after much experimentation. I also struggled with an IRQ conflict and was only able to see the first 878 chip as "/dev/video0". I got an error during bootup that showed "bttv0: can't get irq 7" In my bios I was able to change IRQ 7 to 10 and reboot and I got all bttv devices (video0 through video3). Cables from D-Sub connectors are numbered 1 - 16 amd are as follows in zoneminder:

1-4 are under video0(0-3),
5-8 under video1(4-7).
9-12 under vidoe2(8-11), and
13-16 under video3(9-15)

Hope this helps someone, the other posts helped me. So I am trying to return the favor.[/img]

[beach]

I really would like to get a in-expensive card like this. Have you had any issues at all with it?

BTW: Hi all - first post!

[divolb]

I have only had the card for week now. So far no issues. The card is supposed to support audio, but I have not tested that and I probably won't as audio does not concern me. I have not really run this card through it's paces yet. I just added big heat sink across all the BT878 chips and one small one on the pci chip. I've read some reports of overheating the BT878 when running high frame rates/lots of cameras near the maximum of these cards. Right now I have my frame rates turned way down and my 4 cameras are spread out over all the chips. I will have to try moving all 4 camers to same chip (channels 1-4 under /dev/video0).

Buying some more cameras is my next step, now that I have 16 channels!

[beach]

Thanks for the reply. I have not committed to any card yet - I would love to hear if you hit any road blocks with this card.

Thanks!

-Beach

[joeinbend]

Hi Divolb,

Now that it has been a few months, i'm wondering what your review of this card is. How is the frame rate, image quality, color quality, etc? I ask because I bought a "eBay cheapy" 4 channel card a few months back, and its "okay", but I notice that under full framerate i get quite a bit of interlacing, or horizontal lines through the objects in motion on an image, and I believe this to be the card (although if its a known software issue that I can correct, please tell me!!)

thanks

[ccundiff12]

I also bought this exact card off of ebay. I did quite a bit of struggling getting it to work until i found this thread. I manually installed zoneminder on several different distros until finally i used the live CD, and the recommended settings in this thread. I am now able to see and record video from my cameras!!! EXCELLENT!!

My problem is this. I was under the impression that EACH bt878a chips could provide 30fps. I have 6 cameras spread across video0, video1, video2, and video3 but am ONLY getting 30fps TOTAL across the whole card, approximately 4.5ish on all six cameras even though they are across all 4 chips. Is there any option i am missing? i have done exactly what is presented in this thread. In one of my previous attempts i was able to get 2 cameras working at 30fps so i know it is possible.

[CX23882-19]

I have one of these, currently using Ubuntu 10.04.

Seems to "work" (displays an image), but as for ccundiff12, FPS is low (and for testing I only have one camera connected to /dev/video0(0).

An additional problem I'm having is that the image is shifted vertically. Settings in ZM are correct - PAL, 352x288. No idea whether something else needs setting somewhere. Nothing would surprise me when it comes to Ubuntu 10.04.

[CX23882-19]

I don't know if my card is defective. Everything is fine during the day (except for the vertical offset) but as soon as it goes dark outside, the card loses lock and the image starts rolling. This happens on all 4 of the BT878 chips.

Edit: This card is similar in several ways to the Kodicom 4400RR (although I don't believe it is a clone). The thread over at the Ubuntu forums highlighted an issue with the attenuator (the little blue component) on the 4400RR being set high by default at the factory. After turning this anti-clockwise, the inputs are stable (frame rate looks fine too).

[Iggersm00]

What sort of frame rate are you getting? 30FPS per camera or 30FPS per chip or 30FPS for the whole card?

[CX23882-19]

It's 30FPS per chip, but it depends on how many inputs you're using.

You can use inputs 1, 5, 9 and 13 together and they will all work at 30FPS each. If you were to use input 2 as well, 1 and 2 would be at a lower FPS whereas 5, 9 and 13 would still be at 30FPS.

Now that I've downgraded to 1.23.3 (vs the 1.24.2 in the Ubuntu repositories) my FPS problem seems to have gone. I had various other issues in 1.24.

[savoy9020]

Just wondering if this card was stable on 1.2.4

[tjcomputertech]

Client had a currupt hard drive on their dvr machine.
Cannot find a driver for this videocard that matches the picture description of your card. Contacted the ebay sellers that sell under the same description today to see if the card matches and if they will send a driver.
Was wondering if you still possibly have the install disc that came with the video card when you purchased it.

It would help tremendously. Thanks!!

-Tj

[punch-card]

I recently purchased this card and put it in my RHEL5 system. And so far it is working pretty good.
I used "divolb" modprobe.conf and connected to port 1,2,3,4 on the lower connect (closest to pci connector).
Seems to work and for $65 and the ablity to capture up to 30fps per camera (4 cameras total), so far it sees like a
pretty good deal.

[andrewa]

I bought the same card and installed it on one machine experimenting with 2 OS by swapping the HD: Fedore Core 6 and Fedora 14 (32 bit). Under FC6 the DVR could not start even with divolb's modprobe.conf. Fedora 14 recognizes the card without creating modprobe.conf. The ZM rpm 1.24 coming with Fedora14 needs some tuning and it works OK. I cannot however get more than 1fps with 8 cameras connected to video0 ch0-7 or to video0 ch0-1, 4-5, 8-9, 12-13. I expected that in this way all 4 chips are used and the total productivity should be 120fps. I had to configure in ZM Options-Config 2 Captures_per_frame and switch off multiple buffers to get stable pictures without cross-watching different cameras on one channel. When I followed divolb's advice and configured cameras on different channels on video0 and video1, ZM showed monitors in red. Probably I should repeat the same experiment more scrupolously and will squeeze 30fps from all 4 chips.
The cameras work at max resolution 480*360 PAL GREY though 2 of them are inside colour cameras. Does anyone know how to set up the monitors so that colour is displayed? When I change the colour setting of one of the colour cameras all 8 monitors turn red and stop working.
It is a pity I got stuck with the Korean DVR board HICAP-50 with Philips chip, no solution so far under Linux.

[punch-card]

Make sure your modprobe.conf is configured correctly, and make sure "V4L_MULTI_BUFFER" is checked under options -> config

Here were my camera settings....





I can get 120fps, but not a very long capture because my dual core can not keep up at a 640x480, it would probably work great at have that resolution.

I bought the same card and installed it on one machine experimenting with 2 OS by swapping the HD: Fedore Core 6 and Fedora 14 (32 bit). Under FC6 the DVR could not start even with divolb's modprobe.conf. Fedora 14 recognizes the card without creating modprobe.conf. The ZM rpm 1.24 coming with Fedora14 needs some tuning and it works OK. I cannot however get more than 1fps with 8 cameras connected to video0 ch0-7 or to video0 ch0-1, 4-5, 8-9, 12-13. I expected that in this way all 4 chips are used and the total productivity should be 120fps. I had to configure in ZM Options-Config 2 Captures_per_frame and switch off multiple buffers to get stable pictures without cross-watching different cameras on one channel. When I followed divolb's advice and configured cameras on different channels on video0 and video1, ZM showed monitors in red. Probably I should repeat the same experiment more scrupolously and will squeeze 30fps from all 4 chips.
The cameras work at max resolution 480*360 PAL GREY though 2 of them are inside colour cameras. Does anyone know how to set up the monitors so that colour is displayed? When I change the colour setting of one of the colour cameras all 8 monitors turn red and stop working.
It is a pity I got stuck with the Korean DVR board HICAP-50 with Philips chip, no solution so far under Linux.