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ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:01 pm
by centaur5
I've been trying for days to get my ACTI IP cameras working in Zoneminder. After finding a few different sources on the internet where it's indicated that they should work and settings have been posted I haven't been able to get it to function. My source in Zoneminder stays red whether I try RTSP, MJPEG, or simple HTTP. Could anybody please post their working settings for both the camera and Zoneminder? I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 server which installs Zoneminder 1.24.2 from their repositories. I only have so much time to confirm these cameras work in Zoneminder so I can return them if they don't. I'm using the ACTI ACM-3511 and ACM-8211.

Re: ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:07 am
by DREMA
Whats the path to the mjpeg feed?

Re: ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 3:23 am
by alexg_ht
How did you install the zoneminder?

I installed mine on Ubunto 10.04 using the repository, zoneminder runs but gives me errors, after a fiew days, i decided to give this a try: http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... &start=165

Works flawless with ACTi cameras.

Re: ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 3:53 am
by centaur5
I installed it on Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit server. I have a server that's basically idle although I have many other things running on it so figured I would put my quad core to use with 4 cameras. When I click on the camera name it just has a black screen and says the camera is idle at 0 fps. I can't figure out why it's not working cause everyone says it should. Also I just setup a different machine with a pv149 on Ubuntu 32 bit server and the 4 cameras work fine. That's why it's so frustrating that I can't get the IP cameras working cause it was a breeze with the CCTV cameras.

Re: ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:06 am
by MILxDOT

Code: Select all

Insure your Acti is set for MJPEG
Insure your resolution in the Acti matches the resolution in your ZM config

Here are the relevant source entries in ZM

Remote Protocol - HTTP
Remote Method - Simple
Remote Host Name - Admin:123456@192.168.xxx.xxx
Remote Host Port - 80
Remote Host Path - /cgi-bin/cmd/encoder?GET_STREAM

I have several Acti cams setup this way…they work really good.

Re: ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 3:36 am
by centaur5
Thanks miket for the post! I know I already tried those working MJPEG settings before doing this post but I can't say for 100% if I had all the right settings on the camera. I rotated through many different settings on the camera while trying to get it to work. However, I did a completely fresh install of Zoneminder cause for some reason it seemed to have ceased to try new changes to camera settings. Now it works great.

Question about using MJPEG though, isn't it less network bandwidth if I was able to get MPEG4 and RTSP working? Also do you have a suggestion on where I might find a script for controlling the PTZ on my ACM-8211? I found one from this site (1st Google hit if you search for "zoneminder acti" but the forum wouldn't let me post the direct link) but it doesn't turn left and whenever I tell it to go right, up, or down it doesn't do just a little but continues all the way til the camera can't go any further so it's useless.

Re: ACTI IP cameras

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 3:44 am
by MILxDOT
Glad you were able to get this working after your ZM rebuild. I haven't played with PTZ using Acti cams yet but look forward to it. I do know that you can use non-mjpeg modes with acti cams but I have yet to use them in that way as well. I haven't done any network efficiency type tests between mjpeg vs RTSP etc...but it would be fun if I had the time.