Three little pigs... or problems :)

[momcilosystem]

Hi guys!

I have some issues with Fedora 15 and Zoneminder. I will try to make this post as short as possible but with screenshots and explanations I doubt I'll succeed.

Here's some info:
- used Fedora 15 minimal installation
- installed zoneminder with yum
- installed all of the other things (mysql, httpd, ...)
- my /etc/sysctl.conf is as follows:
kernel.shmall = 134217728
kernel.shmmax = 134217728

- service starts and runs (after this patch "if ("no" eq 'yes') # 'yes' if memory is mmapped 'no' if use shared memory")
- cameras are analog with GeoVision GV-250 card (bttv option card=150)
- if you need more info just ask

First problem is: there is no picture on monitors. But when I go to define zones it shows image from camera so monitor setup is correct (I think).


Second problem is: I can't get two cameras to work at once. If I create monitor for either of two cams attached it will work fine (it's on F14 with older zoneminder), but when I add second monitor it gets weird - streams overlap or is frozen...

Third problem: isn't that big or important. I can't get High res on one of the cameras - even though both are exactly the same. When I say high res I mean 768*576. We can work on that later


I really want to make this work, so if you have any questions or need more info or anything, just say I'll do what I can to make this clearer.

[bb99]

You probably have several problems to correct. First disable (untick) options::config V4L_MULTI_BUFFER. Second increase options::config CAPTURES_PER_FRAME to a value of 2. Your shared memory settings will not support 640*480 so either double the shmmax value or lower the resolution to 320*240 and try using the BGR24 palette. Post back results

[momcilosystem]

Hi,

thanks for such a quick response.

I did what you've told me to do and I think there is no difference in my setup. I changed shmmax to double what it was - still no 640x480 with BGR24. I unticked option V4L_MULTI_BUFFER and increased CAPTURES_PER_FRAME to 2 but still no picture in my monitor.

I am attaching Options window and a another screenshot of zones during the day.
Also I have found that when I open monitor in Opera it shows picture frame where stream is supposed to be but not the stream - attached that too.

P.S. My /var/log/messages only contains this error (but at alot of times):
zmwatch[1232]: ERR [Can't get shared memory id '7a6d0002', 2: No such file or directory]

[bb99]

Try loading up Firefox it supports the output from ZM; if I'm remembering correctly Opera has had issues rendering in real time. Keep in mind that you may need to use Cambozola for IE...

[momcilosystem]

Just to clarify - I do everything from firefox, that opera screenshot was just to ... show how opera handles monitor page. I know that opera has some streaming issues.

Anyways, I installed FULL Fedora 15 (2074 packages) just to make sure it's not some dependencies problem - and it's not.

I am now running minimal Fedora 15 again (188 packages).
That's the third time I did clean install, so, either I am constantly making the same mistake or there is something else wrong.

Still having the same issues.

Any help would be appreciated.

[momcilosystem]

I am really obsessing with this.

Can someone tell me how their /ush/share/perl5/vendor_perl/ZoneMinder/Memory.pm file looks like at line 118.

I found that there is a bug in Fedora's 15 version of that file which is fixed like this:

change line from this:

Code: Select all

if ( "yes" eq 'yes' ) # 'yes' if memory is mmapped

to this:

Code: Select all

if ( "no" eq 'yes' ) # 'yes' if memory is mmapped

(https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=736988#c2)

And yet I found that in source file Memory.pm.in lines look like this:
if ( "@ENABLE_MMAP@" eq 'yes' ) # 'yes' if memory is mmapped

Being that I am not that familiar with perl, compilation and that low level stuff - I don't know if that @ENABLE_MMAP@ should stay as is or should it change to ... well as bug stated: "no".

I would be grateful if someone with working zoneminder can check their file and tell me what it says at line 118.

Thanks

EDIT:
I forgot to mention that source that I was looking is from 1.25.0 and I am using:
zoneminder-1.24.3-4.20110324svn3310.fc15.i686
which is latest in Fedora 15 repo.

[momcilosystem]

You probably have several problems to correct. First disable (untick) options::config V4L_MULTI_BUFFER.

Sorry, I didn't realize that this is for fixing mixed streams. It worked on my older installation of Zoneminder. I can use Montage now.

Thanks for that.

[orionstoy]

I found that there is a usb bandwidth problem in Linux or so they say. Its possible that you are running into the same issue with your addon card but this is just a guess.

I know when it comes to USB cameras you can't run two of the exact same cameras

One will work but when you try to connect the second it will fail due to not enough usb bandwidth .. I have tried everything possible to stop this issue. I have even tried using separate usb hubs.

The only way I was able to get two (USB) cameras to work at the same time was to use an older camera that uses a different Capture Palette. One uses YUV420 the other uses YUYV ... the second is a much better camera and I would love to use my other good camera (different model but still uses YUYV) but if i try to connect two that use YUYV at the same time it fails.

I was never able to get an answer or way to resolve this issue ... you may be in the same boat here ... its may be just someone needs to rewrite something to eliminate this 'bandwidth' issue.

If your cameras work on two different Capture Palettes .. you might try setting one cam using one palette and the other to use a different palette.

Sorry I know this wasn't exactly helpful but maybe it will give you another couple things you can look into that may help you solve your issue.

[momcilosystem]

Appreciate the effort, I don't think it's bandwidth issue though since they're analog cameras hooked to PCI card and they are working with earlier version of Zoneminder and Fedora 13.

I actually think that it has something to do with new Fedora 15. They switched to systemd and I assume that somewhere in repackaging of Zoneminder they didn't do something right.

I will try tomorrow with Fedora 14 fresh install and see if I can get it to work. I think it will work.

Thanks again.

C-ya