ZoneMinder Forums

I've been doing experiments using the new Intel Atom board and ffmpeg directly on a 1 camera testbed, with an bluecherry
PV-143, with an eye towards doing a mobile security setup. I get good results with a direct capture of 640 x 480 @ 30 fps, as long as I have a heat sink on the BT878 chip (it gets hotter than the Atom does)!

Where I need to go with this thing in the short term in at least a 2 channel / 20+ fps capture, at at least 320 x 240, with ffmpeg. I am planning to slip into the Zoneminder logic at a later time, and I know my fps will take a big hit then, so right now, I am just trying to hit those numbers with the raw capture using ffmpeg. I have clocked the single Atom, and with the codecs I am using turned down to very simple, it can hit these numbers fine with ffmpeg. But trying to find the right capture card for this throughput range has been a bear, as I am sure I will need 2 chips to do it.

A one chip 30 fps solution on eBay is $20, but it seems to get to more than 1 chip, I land on the PV-149, which is has 4 chips, 2 more than I need, and also runs at $150, which seems like a very steep jump for just adding a 2nd channel. I could try and gang to PCI cards, but this is a mobile system, so space is t issue, as is vibration.

Can anyone recommend a card or a supplier that can get near this 2 port / 2 chip mark for a fair price?

Much thanks,

- Michael

There are cheaper multi-chip cards to be had, eg:

http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... highlight=

What's the cpu utilisation like with the Atom board? (Which one are you using - D945GCLF?)

I quite fancy building a very low power Atom based zm box to go in the garage. There are a couple of Atom + US15W mini-itx boards out there now that claim <5W chipset power consumption. With a 2.5"HD a ~25-30W system ought to be possible (assuming the capture cards aren't very greedy...).

Not seen any prices on those boards yet though, but it bodes well that the D945GCLF can be had for around £50/$80...

Jim