Zmodo Camera giving blue screen when running in IR mode

[Steveearle86]

Hi all,
I have just today set up my first camera with Zoneminder. The camera is a ZModo (unsure of the model) but can be seen here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mega-Pixel-Tech ... ords=zmodo

I have got this up and working with Zoneminder with settings that one of the Amazon reviewers suggested - all default except

Source Type: Ffmpeg
Source Path: rtsp://username:passwd@IP address:10554/udp/av0_0
Remote Method: RTP/Unicast
Options: --rtsp-caching=100
24bit Colour
1280
720

However, shortly after the unit goes into IR mode, the Zoneminder viewing screen goes blue as if the signal is lost. However, using the camera's native software (browsing to the cameras IP in Internet Explorer) can still see the image which suggests it is not an issue with the camera itself.

Can anyone odder any suggestions on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[knight-of-ni]

How are you powering the camera? Are you using a long power cable?
It is possible that the moment the IR lights kick in, the voltage drop is sufficient to cause the signal to drop briefly. ZoneMinder should recover the stream in time, if this is the case.

Make sure you are not trying to use the zmodo software at the same time as zoneminder.
Many budget cameras do not support more than one simultaneous stream, using the same rtsp url. Even if the camera specs say multiple streams, that is often by using different urls for each stream.

Finally, you can get a performance boost if you use 32bit color space, instead of 24.

[Steveearle86]

Hi,
Thanks for info. I am using the standard cable that came with the camera which is short. The stream does not come back up once the screen has gone blue, although every 30 seconds or so (haven't timed it) the image will show for a split second and then the screen goes to blue again.

This is happening on both the Ethernet connection and wi-fi connections.

I am getting a lot of these errors in the Log

Buffer overrun at index 42, image 258892, slow down capture, speed up analysis or increase ring buffer size

I have increased the buffer size to 150 with no effect.

Also, I changed the source type from ffmpeg to remote but this only gives me a still frame rather than a moving picture

[knight-of-ni]

Not sure the problem has anything to do with the LEDs.
The frame rate in the camera is faster than your machine can keep up.

Buffer overrun at index 42, image 258892, slow down capture, speed up analysis or increase ring buffer size

ZoneMinder is telling you what you need to do. You tried increasing the ring buffer and that didn't help. So now you need to try the other two.
The one most likely to resolve the issue is to reduce the frame rate of the stream (in the camera, not in zoneminder).

[Steveearle86]

Hi,
Thanks for your help. I have decided to return the camera and go for a more premium model. As well as the issues documented here, I didn't feel the image was good enough.

Just a question though, you say

The frame rate in the camera is faster than your machine can keep up

Is this going to be an issue if I get another [different] camera? reading your post makes me think that you are suggesting my PC is not fast enough to keep up with the camera, if this is the case, is that a CPU, or GPU issue?

When I was setting the camera up the other day, I reduced the frame rate right down and it did not solve the blue screen issue.

Which setting is the analysis speed? Is that in ZM?

[knight-of-ni]

Not a mind reader. For starters, describe your hardware, how many cameras you have, and the frame rate configured in the camera, not in zoneminder.