Raspberry PI - non typical role

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DaveG
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:13 am

Raspberry PI - non typical role

Post by DaveG »

I am aware of the limits of the PI and have adjusted my expectations accordingly. However I am wondering if it possible to configure ZoneMinder to perform a reduced role. I have 7 camera's which are a mix of 720p and 1080p and I know they work with ZoneMInder as I've tested them on a virtual machine running Debian. What I propose it that instead of zoneminder monitoring all the cameras and recording footage that it does nothing more than stream the current camera which is being viewed using a mobile app. I have found zmNinja very quick. So - can zoneminder remain dormant until a client wants to view a camera and then stream only that camera to the remote client ? Unless more than one person connects to the server it should mean only 1-2 camera's would be polled at any time. I will configure the cameras to do their own motion detection and record to another PI using FTP.

Do you think this can be done ?
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snake
Posts: 337
Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 2:20 am

Re: Raspberry PI - non typical role

Post by snake »

DaveG wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:21 am So - can zoneminder remain dormant until a client wants to view a camera and then stream only that camera to the remote client ?
Yes, using the API, but you'll have to script a solution yourself. All cameras would have to be set to disabled, and in "none" mode, until a client appears. Then your script could call the API to enable the camera and put in monitor mode.
DaveG wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:21 amI will configure the cameras to do their own motion detection and record to another PI using FTP.
I don't know how you are going to combine that with a client monitoring them. It may be easier to have the client monitor the video streams directly, not via ZM. Otherwise, the cameras all have to be enabled (if motion detection is used).

Why not just use a more powerful ARM computer?
DaveG
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:13 am

Re: Raspberry PI - non typical role

Post by DaveG »

If I have 7 cameras defined in "Monitor" model then do I take it from your reply that ZoneMiner is constantly reading the video stream from all of them even if nobody is looking at a ZoneMinder web page. In my mind I had assumed that when the ZoneMinder page had someone click on the Camera name it would open up a page and then only start to read the video stream from the camera. The way it's working as you describe means it will be in meltdown mode even when it has nothing to do.

Dave
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snake
Posts: 337
Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 2:20 am

Re: Raspberry PI - non typical role

Post by snake »

There are two processes that run on cameras in ZM (someone correct me if I'm wrong). There are zmc and zma for each monitor. In order for both of these processes to be off, you must make two changes to a monitor - it must be disabled (checkbox) and it must be set to "none" mode. So there are two settings that must be made. If you set it to None mode, but don't disable it, then one of these processes still runs in the background using resources.

Recording will use more resources than monitor, and mocord will use more than recording, however, ZM is still doing "Something" with the camera stream, if it's left in monitor mode, and enabled. As for how many cameras you can run with the SBC, you'll have to test and try - it depends on the cameras resolution, fps, etc.

What I said before still stands.

If the cameras are all SD cameras on the pi, it may be able to handle 7 in monitor mode. Not sure how you will incorporate modect.
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