ZoneMinder Forums

hi,
I'm completely new to zoneminder and to webcams in general, so please forgive me if i ask stupid questions. ;-)
A fairly large company asked me to build an securitysystem for them and while browsing the web i stumbled upon zoneminder. It looks very promising, but first i have a few "hardware questions".
1. i need to connect 8 camera's to one PC. is this possible?
2. some of these camera's are over 40 meters away from the PC. again, is this possible?
3. can zoneminder handle 8 camera's at one time? recording 8 streams at the same moment.
4. Is zoneminder stable enough to handle heavy loads for weeks or even months?

i hope someone is able to answer one or more of my questions.
thanks in advance,

bart

Bart:
Handling any amount of cameras at over 40 meters usually means that you will have to run them through a network. Wired or wireless should do fine.

Now, getting video digitized and on a network will require a video server or network-ready cameras. A video server is basically a box with a few video inputs (where you connect regular, inexpensive cameras) and one network output. The industry defacto standard are the Axis series of video servers and network cameras. Be noticed these can be expensive, as a simple video camera costs 270 USD, and a 4 camera video server costs around 1300 USD.

On the other hand, StarDot Thechnologies makes a nice (linux based) video server with 6, yes six, video inputs at only 760 USD. So for the price of one Axis video server you can get 2 from StarDot for a total of 12 cameras. Nice, huh?

On the technical side, in my experience, Zoneminder can handle multiple cameras running over a long period of time. I believe Phillip Coombes, Zoneminder author, runs his home surveillance system on 24x7 for long periods of time. He also has a multiple network camera setup, so he can give you more tips on that area.

Also, for network cameras I usually get a 6.25 frame-per-second video stream on a 100Mbps LAN, at a resolution of 320x240 which is pretty good for my needs.

What else? Oh, I know a nice place on the Net where you can get infra-red BW and color bullet cameras for 109 and 169 USD respectively. These cameras include 20 infra-red LEDs for surveillance in total darkness.

Regards,
Jose Rodriguez.

Hi Jose, thanks for your reply.
Is it possible to connect a network camera directly to a computer? I like to save the money of the video server.
6.25 fps at 320x240 is perfect for this company! As long as it's possible to recognise faces everything is fine :)

Can you point me to this place on the Net where you speak about?

regards,

Bart

I am interested in setting up the same type of system for my company.

Let me get this straight... in addition to the $300 camera, you have to get a "video server" for every 4 cameras? I was under the impression that the cameras connect straight to the network... in fact the spec sheet says so, and photos show an RJ-45 connection in the back.

Thanks for the help.

Let me explain myself better...

Option 1:
Network ready camera (as many as you want) + network (hub or switch) + ZoneMinder = OK

Option 2:
CCTV camera (cheap, $70 b/w, as many as the inputs of your video server ) + network server (as many as you want) + network (hub or switch) + ZoneMinder = OK

In summary, if you have a video server then you use cheap CCTV cameras. If you dont want a video server, use network ready cameras.

Got it? Good.
I personally prefer option 2, because if for some reason my camera gets broken (vandals, weather, lightning, act of God) I dont lose $300 bucks, just the value of the cheap CCTV camera.

The 270 USD camera I mentioned above is the Axis 2100 network camera. It plugs direct into your network, no video server needed. These kind of camera are great for remote places where a video server would be overkill. With a network camera you just run electric power and Cat5 cable to where you want it, and you are done.

On the other hand, video servers are great for places where you will install many cameras relatively close together, like a warehouse or office space.

Also, you can hook up a Linksys wireless bridge like the WET11 to a video server or network camera, so you dont have to run network cable to those hard-to-reach places.

For Bart: If you are only going to have one network-ready camera, then you can connect that camera straight into the network card of your computer. Just make sure you are using a crossover cable, so that you wont have to use a network switch. If you are going to run multiple network-ready cameras, then you will need a network switch. Then again, if you are only going to run one camera, there is not much need for a network-ready camera where you could use a capture card. (Read below for the considerations of using a capture card.)

Now, the cheap, weatherproof, infra-red cameras I mentioned are NOT network-ready. You will need to use a video server to make them work. Maybe, just maybe, you could make them work with a video capture card, and use your PC as your own video server. Actually, using a capture card could yield higher frame-rates at even higher resolutions. But I would not know for sure with the over-40-meters distance issue and signal degradation.

So you see, there are various strategies you can use, depending on your needs and requirements. The real trick is choosing the right strategy. Why dont you describe in a bit more detail your specific situation, and I or the other members of the forum can help you further.

And for the bargain hunters:
6-input video server @ $795: http://www.stardot-tech.com/
cheap, weatherproof, infra-red cameras: http://www.123cctv.com/cctv/exterior-cctv-cameras.html

Regards,
Jose Rodriguez

cool - thanks. I was slightly confused.

The Stardot video servers look great. I may use a mix depending on location.

I will post my setup/results.

Thanks again.