How Much CPU do you Need for Megapixel IP Cams?

[bt101]

Hi - I have been using "motion" for a while.
On a typical 3GHz dual core, it can handle several 320x240 x 15fps streams, however when I try using something in the 2 megapixel range (eg a USB webcam) it really taxes the CPU with one stream at 5 fps.

I want to move up to IP cameras. Something like 4 or 5, 2 megapixel IP cameras (25 fps).
I know this would cripple "motion".

Can anyone comment on how zoneminder would handle these cameras on your typical middle of the road machine as described above?

I must be missing something or doing something wrong, because a fellow at work says he has 5, 2 megapixel cams going into a MS Windows machine with some sort of purchased software and it handles it no problem. How are all of those NVRs doing it? A middle of the road NVR typically has 8 channels (do these things have 20 CPU's inside?).

[camseverywhereyo]

Bump. I'm in the same boat and have the same questions.

I was planning on picking up six 3MP Hikvisions powered by ZM on a dedicated 3ghz dual-core machine with 8GB of ram. I don't want to drop that kind of money on six 3MP cameras if ZM can only handle one or two cams at, for example, 1280x720 (the Hikvision wikis mostly indicate this is the best resolution I can hope for). But more importantly, will ZM on this machine even be able to handle that number of cameras?

[ccc]

How big are your zones?

I run (4) 4mp IP cameras, and (1) 3mp IP camera (can't find the 12/16mm 4mp), but the machine is not resource limited (8) core/(16) thread with 64GB memory. I run them all at max resolution (well beyond 1280x720, etc). As expected I have no issues. I plan to add more cameras.

But I would not recommend using 25fps, even my 8fps is probably overkill.

Cameras like the Hikvision 4mp raise the bar in several areas, network, memory, storage, processing. Turning down the fps will help on all except memory, there you can look at buffer (or add memory).

So it is going to depend on your actual resolution and frame rate. They might work at 1280x720 on that system. For the high resolution like I run, I would get a quad core and more memory.

[camseverywhereyo]

How big are your zones?

I think you're referring to the zones defined per camera for motion detection? I dont have the cams yet but I do intend to limit the motion-detection areas to just what's required. Can't really estimate %age coverage that at this point but I do understand the point you're making. If the cams need to detect motion anywhere and everywhere in their field of view, I'm asking for problems. Are your zones per camera quite small/constrained?

Thanks for the hardware info as well...

[ccc]

The cameras run at 2688x1520 and target 24bit color. The largest zone I use is 28%. That cam also has two 1% zones. Total is about 30%. Using blobs, the preset of best, high sensitivity.

[mattj]

I'm really curious as to the hardware requirements too. I'm thinking of using ZM with about 10-12 5MP cameras at 7fps, and for form-factor requirement I'm thinking of a 6-core i7 with 16GB RAM.

Also I saw it mentioned somewhere the idea to make 2 monitors for each camera, a high res and a lower res. Link the monitors, record the higher res stream and use the lower res stream for the motion detection. I haven't tried this myself yet, but it might be worth a try in a hardware limited situation.

Also looking forward, ONVIF cameras that do their own motion detection send a signal to the NVR for motion events. If this feature makes it into ZM then that would really unload the NVR CPU. I wish I had time to help out more!

[ccc]

The cameras mentioned above already have two streams, and ZM has triggers which include motion detection from cameras.

[mattj]

The cameras mentioned above already have two streams, and ZM has triggers which include motion detection from cameras.

From what I understand, the ONVIF motion detection is not handled in the mainstream ZM yet, but one of the people working on it (Jan Hochstein) has got it working in the version in their personal repository. More info here:

https://altaroca.wordpress.com/2014/11/ ... oneminder/

Are you referring to something different?

[camseverywhereyo]

Thanks ccc for all the info!

Same question as mattj. I was under the impression ZM doesnt currently support being triggered *from* a camera's built-in motion detection.

[samuel235]

Thanks ccc for all the info!

Same question as mattj. I was under the impression ZM doesnt currently support being triggered *from* a camera's built-in motion detection.

This is one feature that I think most users are really looking for. It would be the perfect solution for our servers hearts, I mean hardware lifespan