ZM 1.24.4 and 16port capture card problems
Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 5:55 pm
Hello,
I am setting up a new ZM server with 1.24.4 and 16port PCI-e capture card. The card is a PV-981-16 from BlueCherry. The card has 4 BT878 chips and works fine when I configure 2 channels per device. When I add the 3rd and 4th channels, all monitors on the device go black and I receive the following errors in the zmdc.log file:
06/01/2011 10:19:37.063751 zmdc[18567].INF [Starting pending process, zmc -d /dev/video0]
06/01/2011 10:19:37.068106 zmdc[18567].INF ['zmc -d /dev/video0' starting at 11/06/01 10:19:37, pid = 18642]
06/01/2011 10:19:37.518315 zmdc[18567].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 255]
The PC I'm running is a brand new box with an Intel E5606 quad core processor and 6GB of RAM.
I contacted BlueCherry to see if they knew anything. Here is the transcript of our chat:
9:50:26 AM Andy: Hi. I bought a couple PCI-e 16 port camera cards from you guys and I'm having problems using beyond 8 ports.
9:50:51 AM Andy: I'm using zoneminder and I know you guys don't provide support for that, but I wanted to see if you had any insights.
9:51:06 AM Andy: I've read everything I can find on your site and on zoneminder's site.
9:51:19 AM Alex: The card is pv-981, right?
9:51:24 AM Andy: Yes.
9:51:50 AM Andy: As soon as I add the 3rd channel on a device (/dev/video0), all cameras go black screen.
9:52:08 AM Andy: I have it running on a quad core server with 6gb of ram.
9:52:19 AM Andy: Brand new box. Still can't get it to work right.
9:54:45 AM Alex: What resolution/framerate do you have set up in zm? There are also a couple settings you may want to tweak in zoneminder -- one is called (I think) CAPTURES_PER_FRAME -- that will need to be set to 4 if you are planning to use all 16 channels. Another one right next to it (zm help says it does the same thing as the former but you can try either).
9:55:48 AM Andy: I'm running at 2fps, 640x480. I have adjusted the CAPTURES_PER_FRAME to 4 and set V4L_MULTI_BUFFER off.
9:56:35 AM Andy: Works great for 8 cameras. As soon as I add the 9th, what ever channel I added it to goes to all black cameras and won't start,
9:57:11 AM Andy: I get this in the zmdc.log: 06/01/2011 09:49:17.467655 zmdc[25874].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 255]
9:57:41 AM Andy: I haven't been able to find much, but figured since these boards come from you guys, you might have run across something.
9:58:12 AM Andy: I have 2 boards in 2 different servers. Same problem.
9:58:20 AM Alex: Do you have the shared memory adjusted for higher resolution?
9:59:47 AM Andy: [root@localhost zm]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall4294967296[root@localhost zm]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax68719476736
10:00:15 AM Andy: The numbers are well beyond the zm requirements, which I figure is due to the high amount of memory in the box.
10:00:46 AM Andy: [root@localhost zm]# ipcs -l------ Shared Memory Limits --------max number of segments = 4096max seg size (kbytes) = 67108864max total shared memory (kbytes) = 17179869184min seg size (bytes) = 1------ Semaphore Limits --------max number of arrays = 128max semaphores per array = 250max semaphores system wide = 32000max ops per semop call = 32semaphore max value = 32767------ Messages: Limits --------max queues system wide = 16max size of message (bytes) = 65536default max size of queue (bytes) = 65536
10:05:52 AM Alex: I am not sure about that log entry -- that would be a question for zoneminder forums, since they will know what it means. The memory looks fine though.
10:06:16 AM Andy: Ok. I figured I'd run it by you guys and see if you had any ideas.
10:10:18 AM Alex: Sorry, this would be a question for them -- as long as a single channel works that means that the card is operating properly..
10:10:19 AM Alex: Just to make sure: you are using video0-3 channels 0-3 in the zoneminder?
10:11:02 AM Andy: Yes. The devices are there and rights set to 666 for /dev/video[0-3].
10:11:44 AM Andy: Problems arise when using Device Channel 2 and 3
10:12:55 AM Andy: Works fine if I setup 2 channels per BT878, when I get to 3 is when it fails.
10:13:40 AM Alex: A couple things to try -- reduce resolution (and/or leave fps field blank). Did you restart zm after the settings were changed?
10:14:01 AM Andy: I'll try that. Yes, I restart zm after changes.
10:16:58 AM Andy: I reduced the resolution and left fps blank. Does the same thing when I add the 3rd and 4th cameras to the device
10:19:42 AM Andy: Another thing to note: once the device starts failing on all channels, I have to delete all 4 camera monitors that are on the device and readd 2 of them before it'll work again.
Things I've done:
V4L_MULTI_BUFFER = off
CAPTURES_PER_FRAME = 4
cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall
4294967296
cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
68719476736
chmod 666 /dev/video[0-3]
Any insights would be appreciated. I'm trying to throw as much detail as I can into this post so that if someone else encounters a similar issue they can find it.
Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Andy
I am setting up a new ZM server with 1.24.4 and 16port PCI-e capture card. The card is a PV-981-16 from BlueCherry. The card has 4 BT878 chips and works fine when I configure 2 channels per device. When I add the 3rd and 4th channels, all monitors on the device go black and I receive the following errors in the zmdc.log file:
06/01/2011 10:19:37.063751 zmdc[18567].INF [Starting pending process, zmc -d /dev/video0]
06/01/2011 10:19:37.068106 zmdc[18567].INF ['zmc -d /dev/video0' starting at 11/06/01 10:19:37, pid = 18642]
06/01/2011 10:19:37.518315 zmdc[18567].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 255]
The PC I'm running is a brand new box with an Intel E5606 quad core processor and 6GB of RAM.
I contacted BlueCherry to see if they knew anything. Here is the transcript of our chat:
9:50:26 AM Andy: Hi. I bought a couple PCI-e 16 port camera cards from you guys and I'm having problems using beyond 8 ports.
9:50:51 AM Andy: I'm using zoneminder and I know you guys don't provide support for that, but I wanted to see if you had any insights.
9:51:06 AM Andy: I've read everything I can find on your site and on zoneminder's site.
9:51:19 AM Alex: The card is pv-981, right?
9:51:24 AM Andy: Yes.
9:51:50 AM Andy: As soon as I add the 3rd channel on a device (/dev/video0), all cameras go black screen.
9:52:08 AM Andy: I have it running on a quad core server with 6gb of ram.
9:52:19 AM Andy: Brand new box. Still can't get it to work right.
9:54:45 AM Alex: What resolution/framerate do you have set up in zm? There are also a couple settings you may want to tweak in zoneminder -- one is called (I think) CAPTURES_PER_FRAME -- that will need to be set to 4 if you are planning to use all 16 channels. Another one right next to it (zm help says it does the same thing as the former but you can try either).
9:55:48 AM Andy: I'm running at 2fps, 640x480. I have adjusted the CAPTURES_PER_FRAME to 4 and set V4L_MULTI_BUFFER off.
9:56:35 AM Andy: Works great for 8 cameras. As soon as I add the 9th, what ever channel I added it to goes to all black cameras and won't start,
9:57:11 AM Andy: I get this in the zmdc.log: 06/01/2011 09:49:17.467655 zmdc[25874].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 255]
9:57:41 AM Andy: I haven't been able to find much, but figured since these boards come from you guys, you might have run across something.
9:58:12 AM Andy: I have 2 boards in 2 different servers. Same problem.
9:58:20 AM Alex: Do you have the shared memory adjusted for higher resolution?
9:59:47 AM Andy: [root@localhost zm]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall4294967296[root@localhost zm]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax68719476736
10:00:15 AM Andy: The numbers are well beyond the zm requirements, which I figure is due to the high amount of memory in the box.
10:00:46 AM Andy: [root@localhost zm]# ipcs -l------ Shared Memory Limits --------max number of segments = 4096max seg size (kbytes) = 67108864max total shared memory (kbytes) = 17179869184min seg size (bytes) = 1------ Semaphore Limits --------max number of arrays = 128max semaphores per array = 250max semaphores system wide = 32000max ops per semop call = 32semaphore max value = 32767------ Messages: Limits --------max queues system wide = 16max size of message (bytes) = 65536default max size of queue (bytes) = 65536
10:05:52 AM Alex: I am not sure about that log entry -- that would be a question for zoneminder forums, since they will know what it means. The memory looks fine though.
10:06:16 AM Andy: Ok. I figured I'd run it by you guys and see if you had any ideas.
10:10:18 AM Alex: Sorry, this would be a question for them -- as long as a single channel works that means that the card is operating properly..
10:10:19 AM Alex: Just to make sure: you are using video0-3 channels 0-3 in the zoneminder?
10:11:02 AM Andy: Yes. The devices are there and rights set to 666 for /dev/video[0-3].
10:11:44 AM Andy: Problems arise when using Device Channel 2 and 3
10:12:55 AM Andy: Works fine if I setup 2 channels per BT878, when I get to 3 is when it fails.
10:13:40 AM Alex: A couple things to try -- reduce resolution (and/or leave fps field blank). Did you restart zm after the settings were changed?
10:14:01 AM Andy: I'll try that. Yes, I restart zm after changes.
10:16:58 AM Andy: I reduced the resolution and left fps blank. Does the same thing when I add the 3rd and 4th cameras to the device
10:19:42 AM Andy: Another thing to note: once the device starts failing on all channels, I have to delete all 4 camera monitors that are on the device and readd 2 of them before it'll work again.
Things I've done:
V4L_MULTI_BUFFER = off
CAPTURES_PER_FRAME = 4
cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall
4294967296
cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
68719476736
chmod 666 /dev/video[0-3]
Any insights would be appreciated. I'm trying to throw as much detail as I can into this post so that if someone else encounters a similar issue they can find it.
Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Andy