ZoneMinder Forums

first of all, im just as new to linux as a whole as i am with zoneminder, so forgive me if im making some dumb n00b mistakes.
background:
for years i've had this four camera pci card running in windows xp, but it's proprietary software hasn't been updated in a decade and is finally showing it's age. i found that after january 1 i could no longer export video because the ui was hardcoded to only accept dates before december 31 2022. i've been looking for a solution that wouldn't involve just buying new hardware to replace what is still working fine, and it looked like zoneminder was the best option.
the card is a lorex qlr460 pci. it's got four inputs (bnc) and one bt878. the windows drivers that came with it only work with "lorex vistapro 6" but i found drivers for a bt878 tv tuner card that lets me get video into other software, from channel 1 in tv tuner mode, and channel 2 in fm tuner mode but still nothing on 3 or 4.

upgraded the old xp sp3 machine to debian 11 (32-bit)
installed zoneminder 1.34.23
got everything working without any problems.
added /dev/video0 and i get video on channel 0 but nothing any other inputs.
channel 1 does occasionally get static that briefly mirrors whats on channel 0
ive been working on this for two days now and haven't made any useful progress, i've tried a lot of things ive seen online but nothing works, so im finally asking for help. maybe im just missing something obvious.

thanks in advance

Drop the PCI card and get one of these:
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Hardware_Co ... eo_Encoder

I happen to have a 4 channel one I'm not using. I'll send it to you for the cost of shipping. PM me if you are interested.

It’s more Linux than ZM, I think. V4L if they still call it that. You need to have the right kernel modules for the chips. Then, as they are loaded, the devices show up. If you only get /dev/video0 showing up, then I’m not sure what else there is you can do. Loading and unloading modules, check dmesg and/or logs.

burger wrote: ↑Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:29 pm Drop the PCI card and get one of these:
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Hardware_Co ... eo_Encoder

I happen to have a 4 channel one I'm not using. I'll send it to you for the cost of shipping. PM me if you are interested.

i'll think about it. if i can't get anything else to work i might not have any other option.

Magic919 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 30, 2023 8:06 pm It’s more Linux than ZM, I think. V4L if they still call it that. You need to have the right kernel modules for the chips. Then, as they are loaded, the devices show up. If you only get /dev/video0 showing up, then I’m not sure what else there is you can do. Loading and unloading modules, check dmesg and/or logs.

could be, although from what i understand (and im new so i could be wrong) since there's only one chip on the card /dev/video0 should be the only thing, and then the different inputs are on channel 0,1,2,3. that's the way zm seems to detect things. i still have a feeling that something somewhere is just configured wrong.

The video4linux wiki is where you should be searching. Though there might be something relevant on the zm wiki.
https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
or
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Hardware_Co ... t8x8_Cards
One other final option is to use coax to ethernet moca converters. These can run ethernet over coax, and allow you to use ip cameras. Though I have had bad luck with these (if you don't crimp the coax right, it can damage the converters). Altronix has the ebridge series, and there are cheaper options from overseas as well. The auction places are a good place to start.

burger wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 2:55 am The video4linux wiki is where you should be searching. Though there might be something relevant on the zm wiki.
https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
or
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Hardware_Co ... t8x8_Cards
One other final option is to use coax to ethernet moca converters. These can run ethernet over coax, and allow you to use ip cameras. Though I have had bad luck with these (if you don't crimp the coax right, it can damage the converters). Altronix has the ebridge series, and there are cheaper options from overseas as well. The auction places are a good place to start.

i'll look over there and see what i can figure out.
those wouldn't actually be necessary, the cameras are ordinary composite video, but the runs were pretty short and i actually wired them with ethernet cable because it's what i had on hand lol.