PCI-8604PW 4 Channel (4x 878A Chips)

[Mad Professor]

Hi All.

Please feel free to move this topic to a more suitable location if required.

I am looking for any help and advice with regards to the possibility of getting an unknown 4 channel PCI CCTV card working with ZoneMinder.

There are 3 main chips on this board, two seem to be commonly found on CCTV cards, but the 3rd chip seems to have no markings or they have been erased.

The two chips I can read are: Conexant Fusion 878A and PLX Technology PCI6140-AA33PC.

The card is marked with a what seems to be a model number of: PCI-8604PW

#sudo zmu -d /dev/video0 -q -v

Video Device: /dev/video0
General Capabilities
Driver: bttv
Card: BT878 video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENER
Bus: PCI:0000:07:0c.0
Version: 3.16.7
Type: 0x85000015
Supports video capture (X)
Does not support video output
Supports frame buffer overlay
Supports 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
Supports read/write i/o (X)
Does not support async i/o
Supports streaming i/o (X)
Standards:
NTSC
NTSC-M
NTSC-M-JP
NTSC-M-KR
PAL
PAL-BG
PAL-H
PAL-I
PAL-DK
PAL-M
PAL-N
PAL-Nc
PAL-60
SECAM
SECAM-B
SECAM-G
SECAM-H
SECAM-DK
SECAM-L
SECAM-Lc
Formats:
8 bpp, gray (GREY)
8 bpp, dithered color (HI24)
15 bpp RGB, le (RGBO)
15 bpp RGB, be (RGBQ)
16 bpp RGB, le (RGBP)
16 bpp RGB, be (RGBR)
24 bpp RGB, le (BGR3)
32 bpp RGB, le (BGR4)
32 bpp RGB, be (RGB4)
4:2:2, packed, YUYV (YUYV)
4:2:2, packed, UYVY (UYVY)
4:2:2, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (422P)
4:2:0, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (YU12)
4:2:0, planar, Y-Cr-Cb (YV12)
4:1:1, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (411P)
4:1:0, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (YUV9)
4:1:0, planar, Y-Cr-Cb (YVU9)
Crop Capabilities
Bounds: 1063 x 608
Default: 924 x 576
Current: 924 x 576
Inputs: 4
Input 0
Name: Composite0
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected
Input 1
Name: Composite1
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected
Input 2
Name: S-Video
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected
Input 3
Name: Composite3
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected

#sudo lspci -v

PCI bridge: Hint Corp HB6 Universal PCI-PCI bridge (non-transparent mode) (rev 11) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32
Bus: primary=06, secondary=07, subordinate=07, sec-latency=32
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: f6100000-f61fffff
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [90] CompactPCI hot-swap <?>

Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 19
Memory at f6100000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: bttv

Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at f6101000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2

Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18
Memory at f6102000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: bttv

Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at f6103000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2

Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
Memory at f6104000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: bttv

Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at f6105000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2

Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
Memory at f6106000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: bttv

Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 14
Memory at f6107000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2

I am running ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Thanks for your time.

Best Regards

[Gary S]

The card appears to be a generic 878 card which should work fine with Ubuntu. I have an old card here that appears to be almost exactly the same. I ran this card for around 10 years with Zoneminder 1.2 and an early version of Ubuntu.

It should work with no issues. I'm currently running a newer version of this card and it works great with Mint 17.1.

This is a single chip card, so all 4 inputs must have the same settings and cameras capable of running the same settings.

[Mad Professor]

Thank you for your reply.

As if yet I have not been able to get this card working with ZoneMinder.

I did come across a web site / post elsewhere saying that this card was designed to be used in an unknown name linux basic cctv system, and the software has to enable the card before any video capture can take place. There was some talk about a driver / patch to enable this card to work with other linux based systems.

I am trying to relocate the link in question.

Best Regards.

[Gary S]

This is what my old card was. I used it for almost 10 years with Zoneminder. I retired it when it started dropping channels. No drivers other than what Linux has native are required.

Video Device: /dev/video0
General Capabilities
Driver: bttv
Card: BT878 video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENER
Bus: PCI:0000:05:04.0
Version: 3.13.11
Type: 0x85000015
Supports video capture (X)
Does not support video output
Supports frame buffer overlay
Supports 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
Supports read/write i/o (X)
Does not support async i/o
Supports streaming i/o (X)
Standards:
NTSC
NTSC-M
NTSC-M-JP
NTSC-M-KR
PAL
PAL-BG
PAL-H
PAL-I
PAL-DK
PAL-M
PAL-N
PAL-Nc
PAL-60
SECAM
SECAM-B
SECAM-G
SECAM-H
SECAM-DK
SECAM-L
SECAM-Lc
Formats:
8 bpp, gray (GREY)
8 bpp, dithered color (HI24)
15 bpp RGB, le (RGBO)
15 bpp RGB, be (RGBQ)
16 bpp RGB, le (RGBP)
16 bpp RGB, be (RGBR)
24 bpp RGB, le (BGR3)
32 bpp RGB, le (BGR4)
32 bpp RGB, be (RGB4)
4:2:2, packed, YUYV (YUYV)
4:2:2, packed, UYVY (UYVY)
4:2:2, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (422P)
4:2:0, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (YU12)
4:2:0, planar, Y-Cr-Cb (YV12)
4:1:1, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (411P)
4:1:0, planar, Y-Cb-Cr (YUV9)
4:1:0, planar, Y-Cr-Cb (YVU9)
Crop Capabilities
Bounds: 1063 x 608
Default: 924 x 576
Current: 924 x 576
Inputs: 4
Input 0
Name: Composite0
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock not detected
Input 1
Name: Composite1
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected
Input 2
Name: S-Video
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected
Input 3
Name: Composite3
Type: Camera
Audioset: 00000000
Standards: 0xffbfff
Power on (X)
Signal detected (X)
Colour Signal detected
Horizontal Lock detected

[Mad Professor]

I have not yet been able to get this PCI-8604PW card working with ZoneMinder.

I have even put this card into my main PC, and installed Ubuntu Desktop 14.04.3 LTS x64. and running VLC I get nothing from the PCI-8604PW card. "/dev/video0" "ch0-3", "/dev/video1" "ch0-3", "/dev/video2" "ch0-3", "/dev/video3" "ch0-3".

Now if I swap out the PCI-8604PW card for a cheap unbranded 4-port single 878A chip card, and once again using VLC I can view the video input on each of the input ports. "/dev/video0" "ch0-3".

One thing I have noted is that with the cheap unbranded card, when there is no signal on a selected port VLC displays a blue background, but with the PCI-8604PW card, I do not get this blue background, you just get a black background with the VLC logo in the middle.

Here is the web site / forum link that I was talking about: https://patchwork.linuxtv.org/patch/23112/

Here is a quick quote of why it seems the card will not work.

This patch adds support for the PCI-8604PW card equipped with four 878A.
It is unknown who the manufacturer of this card is and no drivers were available during development of the patch.
According to images found online, the card is originally sold with Linux DVR software.

A CPLD on the card prevents the 878A from requesting access to the bus until an initialization sequence has been issued via GPIOs.
The implemented sequence uses the minimum number of GPIOs needed to successfully unlock bus access.
As there are many more GPIOs connected to the CPLD, it is very likely that some of the others have an influence on the bus arbitration scheduling.
This should be investigated further in case of performance issues.

The tested card contains an EEPROM on one of the 878A, but it is completely empty (i.e. contains only 0xff), so it is not possible to detect the card.

I am sorry to say that I am no linux guru, None of what is said in the above link makes any sense to me.

Thanks again for your time.

Best Regards.