Getting a camera to work in Zoneminder

[mc]

When trying to view my camera on Windows Explorer (analogue cam plugged into the TV Card) i get a black screen and no image. If I right click on the black screen, I see "Windows Media Player cannot connect to the server. The server name might not be correct, the server might not be available, or your proxy settings might not be correct"

I also get this when I click on more info:
C00D1198: Cannot connect to the server

It seems as though perhaps Fedora 3 needs permissions changing to access the streaming, but I don't think the camera is even being seen by Zm as there are 0 events listed. I obviously need to play about with the Zm settings, but does anyone know if could be missing something? The camera works in Gnomemeeting, Xawtv and another program (forgot the name). Have tried various setting alterations in Zm following the notes in the (?) sections.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

[jameswilson]

first of all change your streaming type to mjpeg, mpeg can be a b!tch at the best of times, then check to see if you can view your cam on the server itself.

What are your current config settings for the monitor and what version you running

[mc]

Thanks - changed to jpeg video stream method. Mow get a broken jpeg symbol, and when check properties of this non-image I see 0 bytes, therefore I am looking at an empty display box. It also says status idle 0.00fps. I'm not sure how Zm controls the camera but this obviously isn't yet happening. I know on Xawtv the camera is on Composite 2 - how do I select this on the Zm console?

Also in the zm logs zmwatch.log I am getting:

Can't get shared memory id "2053971969": No such file or directory

Something isn't right somewhere!

[jameswilson]

what are your current setting for that monitor in zm?
ie device channel etc all the info from that page please

James

[mc]

Sorry, they are:


Device Number (/dev/video?) = 0
Device Channel = 0
Device Format (0=PAL,1=NTSC etc) = 0
Capture Palette = RGB24
Capture Width (pixels) = 640
Capture Height (pixels) = 480
Orientation = Normal

[jameswilson]

well id quickly try changing Device Channel = 0 to a 2 and id change the res to 320 x 240 too, just to start with

[mc]

Thanks James

Now get a black screen but date & time are showing, also 20 or 40 fps. So, it's working now! However i can't see anything so may be a video setting to adjust for brightness. Tried to adjust but not sure on settings, and once saved, zeros reappear after screen refreshes....still checking out!

[jameswilson]

black screens arnt always good lol.
HAve a look at your logs. Also do me a favour and stop zm and load xaw up and check its not black there too, like you have the AI lead out or the cap on etc. BTW its a PAL cam yes?

[mc]

Logs are as before . Xawtv works ok though, and camera works fine as PAL in Xawtv

[jameswilson]

ok i just wanted to discount it. If its totally black i doubt its a brightness issue although i have read about that on here i personally have never experienced it. the way to tell i suppose is point your cam at a bright light and see if you get anything at all.
I assume if you unplug the cam the screen goes blue?

[mc]

When unplugged the screen remains black and the time/fps continues

[jameswilson]

Is this box available externally, ie can i get into it?

[mc]

Not yet, am working on that side of things. Will try a few more settings alterations later tonight!

[cordel]

Sorry for coming in so late on this but you might try setting your channel to 1 instead of two. As xawtv would see the second channel as 1st composite=0 second=1, etc. but this depends on the card drivers loaded as well but still worth a try.

[mc]

Thank you. Have tried that also. Weird thing is trying to alter settings (which are all defaulted to 0) simply returns to 0 after saving. What figures should go here - and is 0 the normal default or is it showing this because the camera is inop?