ZoneMinder Forums

Hi,

I'm using v1.26.5 on Ubuntu Server 12.04LTS. It's working fine, but every morning i get sometimes crashed pictures like this: The lower part of Picture is like inverted or so. This happens only in the morning hours for several times, after the camera is switching from night to day mode. I'm using the cam AVTECH AVN257. This picture Problem is generated by the ZM Software, because the stream of the cam doesn't have any problems like this.

Another problem i encountered is that sometimes (in a week once, or twice) i get an alarm when nothing moves on the screen, and this event records durations is over 600 or even 1200 secs.

Did someone get this kind of errors?

Thanks
Regards
Laszlo

I have seen it before, not with zoneminder however, but it is caused by jpeg corruption. If this occurs only when the IR cutter is moving, it may be a limitation of the camera to handle the "flashing" from the transition of the cutter. Does this clear up as the imagery "calms down"? Do you have multiple cameras of the same type and are they also experiencing the issue? Is this a network camera? I would suspect that you may also see delay (more importantly a large amount of jitter) as the cutter is moved into position.

Sorry, but did not exactly understand you. What do you mean with moving IR cutter? I have only this one camera. The CAM is a AVTECH AVN257 (Network CAM).

On ZM i have 5fps setup (and also 5fps by the CAM setup), which should be ok.

mcll wrote:Sorry, but did not exactly understand you. What do you mean with moving IR cutter? I have only this one camera. The CAM is a AVTECH AVN257 (Network CAM).

On ZM i have 5fps setup (and also 5fps by the CAM setup), which should be ok.

"after the camera is switching from night to day mode"

Most cameras for daytime (colour) use have an Infra Red cut filter (IR Cut) so that the colours don't come out wrong.

Most cameras for night-vision use (black and white) don't have an IR cut filter, so they can see by IR light.

If yours can see in the dark AND do proper colour in the day, then congratulations, you have a good camera. But, to do this trick, it physically moves an IR cut filter in and out of the path of the imaging device. I think the suggestion is that the camera has problems when this change occurs.

At low light levels, the camera will give up trying to do correct colours, drop the filter in, and put the IR leds on (if it has them). Reverse the process when daylight comes back.

It shouldn't corrupt the JPEG data though, which I agree is what it looks like there. Unless it's some weird reflection off the moving optics. But I don't think it is.

Thanks mikb, i think i understand it now. But as i know, and as i see on the product sheet of my cam (Avtech AVN257), there is no mechanical object, no IR Cut filter. At night mode i have BW picture.

This jerky picture can be seen at every mornings since a few weeks, and it comes suddenly. Its not constant, 10 or 20 minutes long the pictrure is clear, than suddenly it comes this jerky picture for a few seconds, than again everything is ok. Tomorrow i try to upload a small video about this problem.

I'm trying to find the cause of this problem. Maybe only a settings problem.

What should be the best settings for using only one camera in ZM?

So, i had today 11 events with this jerky picture. Here you can see all on Youtube.

Unfortunatelly for me its not allowed to post links (The Forums says: "Your post looks too spamy for a new user, please remove off-site URLs."), so i give you only the youtube code. To view them, please remove the space from the following URL (its a playlist):

youtube . com / playlist?list=PLZ9ITtRaeyKxOJIt8JbTNmzwrBIb0fVNp

What do you think, what can cause those kind of problem? Thanks for any kind of help.

ZM is running on a Server with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server Edition software. Camera and server are on the same local network (network is a Gigabit Network). Server is a 2 Core 1,8GHz Atom Processor with 2GB RAM installed. Average load about 1,5.

mcll wrote:Sorry, but did not exactly understand you. What do you mean with moving IR cutter? I have only this one camera. The CAM is a AVTECH AVN257 (Network CAM).

On ZM i have 5fps setup (and also 5fps by the CAM setup), which should be ok.

Try leaving blank the Maximum FPS field if it's already set in the camera. I have an Ubiquity Aircam and had the same problem until I left the field empty.

Hope it helps,

PacoLM

PacoLM wrote:Try leaving blank the Maximum FPS field if it's already set in the camera...

Thanks. My settings does not allow to leave this field blank. But i set it now to 25 FPS, maybe it helps. Will see tomorrow...

mcll wrote:But i set it now to 25 FPS, maybe it helps. Will see tomorrow...

25 FPS is not ok, because the stream is too fast for ZM to analyse the pictures... It recognises only a few pictures. 10 FPS was also too fast, so i had to set it back to 5 FPS.

I could not find any settings in ZM where i can fix the frame rate to 5. I thought there was an option for it, but i cannot find it. Is there any?
If yes, than i could fix ZM to grab only with 5 FPS, but i can than set the Camera to stream with 25 FPS.

Here are my current settings, maybe someone here can find some problems in my settings. (or if you find points where to be improved, than let me know pls.)

Sorry for the pictures..

Email, Upload and X10 options are disabled.

mcll wrote: there is no mechanical object, no IR Cut filter. At night mode i have BW picture.

If your colours look good during the day, you have an IR cut filter fitted, I can assure you things look odd without one. Trees glow brighter/greyer. Black clothing often looks grey. Some reds are not the right redness. You'd know! If there is no mechanism to remove it, then it will still be there at night which will hamper night vision. But ...

I've seen your YouTube videos, that is data corruption in the data stream. Never mind about the IR cut filter bit!

Also, if it was the IR cut fiter moving in and out, it would happen once in the morning, and once at night. Not over and over.

When you were suggested to leave the Maximum FPS blank -- that needs to be in ZoneMinder, not the camera. At the camera, set the framerate you want. At ZoneMinder, set it BLANK, and it will deal with whatever the camera throws at it. Do not set a FPS at both ends, even if you think it's the same, it causes trouble!

All those tabs you posted -- it's not on them -- there's more config elsewhere ...

Click on your "Source" link for the camera, then go to "General" tab, see "Maximum FPS" ?? Empty that field.

mikb wrote:I've seen your YouTube videos, that is data corruption in the data stream....
...All those tabs you posted -- it's not on them -- there's more config elsewhere ...
Click on your "Source" link for the camera, then go to "General" tab, see "Maximum FPS" ?? Empty that field.

Yes i think it's a datat corruption. But why, what's causing it?

OK i have now that settings, but as i see it's already empty.

Here other camera settings: