ZoneMinder Forums

Hello ZM forums.
I am working on a home automation network, and trying to get zoneminder up and running. Painstakingly wired throughout my attic are BNC cables going to 5+ BNC cameras around my house, all of the wires then routed into the closet in my house I have converted into a datacenter. (at least it looks like it)

I made a post here asking for help, it has a ton of information in it including zmu -d /dev/video0 -q -v output
viewtopic.php?f=40&t=30004&p=117820#p117820

TLDR, my questions: I see this wiki guide https://wiki.zoneminder.com/UDP_Technology_NCP3200v2 on configuring a NCP3200v2 card. In this wiki it specifically states I have to have a bttv.conf file, which is easy enough, but i need information for that file, specifically gbuffers=? card=?,?,?,? as my card is a 4chip NCP3200 which is a version 1 I think. If I got this working, I think I would see 4 of my cameras, which leads me to...

TLDR#2: on the wiki guide for the NCP3200v2 it writes about patching the kernal for 16 video outputs, and then lists a bunch of code. Where do I put this? Do I need to reinstall this system with 3.14, as that is what the kernal says it is patched for? I think this would be the only way I could get full card functionality going.

Any help with this would be really appreciated, or just someone pointing me in the right direction....thank you.

IMO, you should use an IP Video encoder, and not mess with the PCI card. Problem solved.

I edited the HCL to include a note on this. I've mentioned it in the forums a number of times.
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Hardware_Compatibility_List

If you are inclined to troubleshoot this card regardless, I think the video4linux wiki has resources that would be helpful.
https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page The source code for the BTTV cards is valuable, as is modinfo which will tell you the parameters that you might pass. Yes, you will want the 3.14 kernel, if you are going to use that patch unless you can verify the module hasn't changed. Do you really have to ask this? You might be in over your head if you are asking this.

What are you interested in, kernel hacking, or getting the cameras to just work, or both?

I probably am in over my head. I'm not a linux guru. I wouldn't call myself a beginner, I regularly install various linux/bsd on my Proxmox hypervisor to test run various services like Nagios, Zoneminder, ClearOS, etc. So my level of knowledge on this is relative i guess. So I guess thats why I have to ask. Ive always jumped into things headfirst just to try to learn. I ask questions a lot even though I get a lot of grief for doing so.

Ive never done kernal hacking or compiled my own.

I'd like to get my cameras working but I would also like to understand how the system is working, how to patch a kernal, what the gbuffers= card= settings actually mean, what they are referencing.

Thank you for the info you have provided so far. I'll try to do some further research.

In that case, refer to these links for starters, I found by going to special pages on the wiki (left sidebar), choosing all pages, and then searching for bttv

https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Bttv
https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/ ... 48,_bt878)

Feel free to report back what you learn.

These links look incredibly helpful! Thank you I will read these and report back any findings I come across.

If I can figure this hardware out I would love to share my findings with the community, even though it is an older card, it could be useful for someone out there!