ZoneMinder Forums

Posted: **Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:25 pm**

I'm trying to set the video bitrate in the console settings to something that will not consume all available bandwidth, but regardless of what I set it at, the bitrate used is still that maximum that my DSL will handle.

I'm using zm 1.23.1 on Gentoo x86_64, installed via emerge.

for Options - Low B/W:

Video bitrate: 32
Frame rate: 5

for Options - Images:

ffmpeg path: /usr/bin/ffmpeg (which is correct for my system)
ZM_OPT_MPEG: ffmpeg is checked. (I also tried 'No' for this option)

On the console in firefox 2.0.0.14 under Windows XP, I am set for Low bandwidth.

I have tried restarting ZM after making these changes but even so, once I click on a Monitor, the monitor window comes up and starts showing me the video stream but my network activity jumps to 600Kbps (my max DSL upload speed). Nothing I change seems to have any effect.

Is there some other option that I need to modify to reduce the amount of bandwidth that the video is consuming?

Or will downgrading to 1.22 be the better option?

Posted: **Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:07 pm**

If you view the page source, what are the options being passed into zms?

Posted: **Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:23 pm**

Is this the info you're asking for...?

Code: Select all

<td align="left" class="text">ZM_WEB_L_VIDEO_BITRATE</td>
<td align="left" class="text">What the bitrate of the video encoded stream should be set to (<a href="javascript: newWindow( '/zoneminder/index.php?view=optionhelp&option=ZM_WEB_L_VIDEO_BITRATE', 'zmOptionHelp', 320, 284);">?</a>)</td>
<td align="left" class="text"><input type="text" class="form" id="ZM_WEB_L_VIDEO_BITRATE" name="new_config[ZM_WEB_L_VIDEO_BITRATE]" value="32" size="8"></td>

It seems to be "keeping" the value that I enter, meaning, it seems to save it and display it when I go back to edit it again. It just doesn't seem to be taking effect.

Posted: **Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:31 pm**

Also, I noticed on Config->Images that the ZM_STREAM_METHOD was set to jpeg. After reading the help associated with this option, would this be bypassing the bitrate option and just be sending jpeg stills?

Posted: **Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:07 pm**

I meant paste the source that surrounds the call to zms from the actual streaming view. Basically I just wanted to see what was being pass into zms via the query string.

Posted: **Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:34 pm**

Ah, this?

Code: Select all

<img src="http://localhost/cgi-bin/nph-zms?mode=jpeg&monitor=1&scale=100&maxfps=2&rand=1209475873" alt="Office" border="0" width="320" height="240">

I think the problem is related to the fact that I am viewing jpegs instead of mpegs. So far I've found that setting the frame rate down (to 2) helps limit the bandwidth. I am unable to get streaming of any kind to work yet. I have ffmpeg installed and have tried firefox and IE, both with the quicktime and Windows Media Player plugins. I've also tried to connect to the stream directly with VLC. Nothing seems to want to display the stream. I'm sure it's something that I'm doing wrong though.

Posted: **Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:32 pm**

Yes, mpjpeg streams (which is what you have selected) do not require fmpeg, quicktime, media player or VLC. They should work directly in FireFox and with the Cambozola app in IE. See this FAQ for details.

ZoneMinder Forums

Video Bitrate while watching a Monitor

Video Bitrate while watching a Monitor