ZoneMinder Forums

Hey
I'm planning to install a system with up to 10 network cameras in 1024x768 resolution with somewhere around 24fps.
Which hardware-specs am I looking at if I want to use motion-detection with zones?
Does ZoneMinder use the graphics card, or do I just need a good CPU?
Would it help to use a quad-core?
Does it make sense to run the system on 64bit?
How much RAM would I need?

many question, but I hope you can help me. I wouldn't mind if you suggest some mainboards/CPUs as well

thanks

Yes, go quad. ZM benefits a lot from multiple cores. An HP ML110 or ML115 quad would do this fine, with one exception - and aim for 4gb of ram. No massive need for 64 bit. Standard 32b kernels won't be able to access > 3.5 gb of ram unless you choose a bigmem kernel, but that's easy.

The exception btw is 24fps. That's ridiculous and almost certainly a) Not achievable in a sustained manner from megapixel ip cams and b) not required. Under 5fps is the norm for recording and motion detection.

I'm running 10 IP cameras at 640x480 and 5fps with motion detection. I'm running this on an AMD 4 core 3ghz, 2GB ram, and Ubuntu 64bit. The average load on the system is about 2.5. I figure I can do another 4-6 cameras on this setup just fine with the load staying under 4. I bought the mobo/cpu/mem on newegg.com for under $180.

@Flasheart I understand, the framerate will be trouble for motion detection. The problem is I want to play the video itself smoothly afterwards. Could it be possible to record the video with a high framerate, but let ZoneMinder only compare frames (detect motion) with 5fps. So something like "compare every 5th frame"? So in the end I'll get a good video, but still profit from the less calculation?
Converting all videos down to 5fps, run motion detection and then cut the snippets out of the original video, is a waste of resources isn't it?