Noob webcam set-up questions

[tortoise74]

Hi,
I'm trying to set up zoneminder for the first time. I'm using:

ubuntu 11.10
zoneminder 1.24 (installed using the debian package - i.e. apt-get install zoneminder)

The website side of the set-up seems to have gone okay. I can see h t t p ://localhost/zm/index.php and configure new monitors.

I have a logictech quickcam sphere which works with pretty much every webcam program I've ever used (including xawtv)
however I'm at a loss how to get it configured for ZM. I just get a black screen.

To be honest I don't think the instructions or the interface are very friendly to new users here.
Even as a software developer I've gotten used to webcams being automagically detected and just working.

Something as simple as a list of the programs provided and what they are for would be a great help to newcomers.
A page giving an overview of the architecture would be interesting as well.

From another post here I see people use zmu to interrogate cameras.

> zmu -d /dev/video0 -q -v
Video Device: /dev/video0
General Capabilities
Driver: uvcvideo
Card: UVC Camera (046d:0994)
Bus: usb-0000:00:02.1-6
Version: 1.1.0
Type: 0x4000001
Supports video capture (X)
Does not support video output
Does not support frame buffer overlay
Does not support VBI capture
Does not support VBI output
Does not support sliced VBI capture
Does not support sliced VBI output
Does not support video output overlay
Does not have tuner
Does not have audio in and/or out
Does not have radio
Does not support read/write i/o (X)
Does not support async i/o
Supports streaming i/o (X)
Standards:
Formats:
MJPEG (MJPG)
YUV 4:2:2 (YUYV) (YUYV)
Crop Capabilities
Bounds: 320 x 240
Default: 320 x 240
Inputs: 1
Input 0
Name: Camera 1
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0x0
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected

Note that the only driver option in "source" when configuring a monitor is "video for linux v2"
I don't know if there should be any other options such as uvcvideo suggested by zmu.

In /var/log/zm/zmdc.log I see messages like:

05/05/12 00:48:27.046320 zmdc[28756].INF [Starting pending process, zmx10.pl -c start]
05/05/12 00:48:27.048329 zmdc[28756].INF ['zmx10.pl -c start' starting at 12/05/05 00:48:27, pid = 1701]
05/05/12 00:48:27.399948 zmdc[28756].ERR ['zmx10.pl -c start' exited abnormally, exit status 9]
05/05/12 00:48:49.069565 zmdc[28756].INF [Starting pending process, zmc -d /dev/video0]
05/05/12 00:48:49.070723 zmdc[28756].INF ['zmc -d /dev/video0' starting at 12/05/05 00:48:49, pid = 1748]
05/05/12 00:48:49.522936 zmdc[28756].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 255]

and as suggested in a FAQ, zmc returns immediately:

> zmc --device /dev/video0
> echo $?
255

What I don't know is how to debug things from here.
I had a go at getting ffmpeg to work but I don't think I should need to.

> ffmpeg -r 20 -f oss -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /tmp/out.mpg

If I configure this as a monitor in zone alarm it is orange whatever that means (as opposed to red for the webcam meaning broken?).
The monitor screen is still black (both while ffmpeg is running and after I stop it).
The video plays fine in vlc.

Where do I go from here?

Regards,

Bruce.

[marty505]

Could it be permissions on the /dev/video0 file? Maybe try: sudo chmod g+rw /dev/video0 and see if it comes up.

[tortoise74]

I set up /etc/udev/rule.d for that as suggested elsewhere on this site (I was going to post how but it phpBB thinks its spam even though there are no URLs)

I tried what you suggested just in case but no joy.
I'm also trying the ffmpeg approach. It seems to sort of work. A few events were recorded. A image blipped up a couple of times then disappeared.
On playing back the event I see a brief clip then half a picture (see attached screenshot).

[tortoise74]

Hi,
I'm still stuck on the same black screen.
I've now got an IP cam which I can get snapshots out of using a URL in a browser e.g.

http://192.168.0.178/snapshot.cgi?user= ... =32&rate=6

but nothing shows in ZM.

In /var/log/zm/zmdc.log I have entries for the new cam as:

05/12/12 03:15:07.055166 zmdc[28131].INF [Starting pending process, zmc -m 3]
05/12/12 03:15:07.056178 zmdc[28131].INF ['zmc -m 3' starting at 12/05/12 03:15:07, pid = 695]
05/12/12 03:15:07.138042 zmdc[28131].ERR ['zmc -m 3' exited abnormally, exit status 255]

Its clearly the same problem with zmc but what is it and how do I fix it?

Regards,

Bruce.

[tortoise74]

Its not really understood but my problem is solved.
I went for the nuclear option, dropped the database and re-installed 1.25