Hi, I'm lost and need help

Post here to ask any questions about hardware suitability, configuration in ZoneMinder, or experiences. If you just want to know if something works with ZoneMinder or not, please check the Hardware Compatibility sections in the forum, and the Wiki first. Also search this topic as well.
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twomonkeysayoyo
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 11:50 pm

Hi, I'm lost and need help

Post by twomonkeysayoyo »

I'm a linux sysadmin at a University so I am the guy the family goes to when crap breaks. My Grandmother is 94 and requires 24 hour care in home. Her husband took good care of her, but honestly none of us expected her to live this long. Anyway, my Uncle took it upon himself to buy a surveillance system for the home since none of us live near her. The guy who put it in used a computer "server" that was in an 8" x 6" x 2" black box. It, of course, failed. He is apparently dead or too sick to answer calls, so we have an analog camera system, a box all the analog wires go to and a PCI card that the box connected to. The PCI card appears to be either serial with one little port and a big port or serial parallel. We don't have the server software he was using. I have to replace the server (going to use a Dell PowerEdge T110) and a PCIe card and I'm pretty sure I want to go with zoneminder as the dvr server. THIS IS ALL I KNOW. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I don't know the terms for the equipment, I don't know the terms for the softwares. I don't know what I'm getting into. I just know I have to do it. Thanks in advance for explaining my situation to me.
whatboy
Posts: 304
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:31 pm

Post by whatboy »

There are liveCDs on the download area, start there, and if you can do that, you could start (by reading first the forums) a new system from scratch... you're an admin, I knew shit about linux a couple of years ago...
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kingofkya
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Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:07 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Post by kingofkya »

Also the serial port you have can mean anything because manny capture cards use a din5(not total sure) connector so theres less ports stuck on the back then it goes to the bnc plugs.

IF you relly want to know if the card woks ether run the live cd or take a picture of the pci card.(we need to know what the big chip says.

Also if you search on ebay for" linux cctv" cheap cards will come up.

LiveCD/Installer
http://www.isentrix.com/pub/zoneminder/ ... 24.2-1.iso
twomonkeysayoyo
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 11:50 pm

Post by twomonkeysayoyo »

ok, the card I have in there has a h408dg_v2 rev:2 label on it. This is some sort of capture card? The camera gathering box hooked into this via a 25 pin (what looked like an LPT parallel port). Does this mean a very specific kind of connection is expected from the analog camera gathering box or is this a fairly generic thing? Can anyone recommend a pcie version of this? I'd look at the recommended hardware list, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for...
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kingofkya
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Post by kingofkya »

Ok you have 2 routs a small enbedded device called a video encoder.
Most will only allow live vieweing and recoding to a server. might be all you need in your case. If you just need remote viewing this is a good rout.

or a pci-e card like you asked.

http://store.bluecherry.net/category_s/63.htm
all the cards on this page work with zoneminder with very little config.


Techwell PCI(needs drivers) very cheap and reliable

http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewto ... t=techwell

http://cgi.ebay.com/8-Channel-240fps-8- ... 23071ada49


Yes its what is called ether a capture card, encoder or frame grabber. What you have is somewhat "standard" but none of them really have a standard. Pics of the setup and card might help us determin what you need to do. As will the output of lspci if you can run linux on the machine if the card works..
twomonkeysayoyo
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 11:50 pm

Post by twomonkeysayoyo »

Thanks. The setup is a 5 or 6 camera setup (we think one camera doesn't work). I'll get the pics of the setup sent to me tomorrow. The card itself appears very similiar to these http://www.ccsgcorp.com/2400dg.htm though the one I have has two internal connector plugs closer to the screw plate. I'm remembering it being a wad of bnc connections that ran to something that looked like an old printer port plug, but I haven't looked at it in about a month and not particularly critically, then. The computer I'm getting will be in Monday, but only has PCIe connections. I wouldn't necessarily trust the existing card because the machine failed due to heat. My mom says "I know the fan was running in March" but the last date on the HD is January. Our needs are recording and, in particular, remote viewing of those recordings and live video. Some amount of 'reboot if frozen' and notification would sure be nice, since that's what screwed us in the first place. That and an uncle who instead of asking for the wireless password just resets the router every time he visits.
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kingofkya
Posts: 1110
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:07 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Post by kingofkya »

This why you physically remove the button and replace with a jumper. Don't worry its not just your family that does that kinda of thing. :)

Also a cheaper (better) option that just appered if you buy new.
http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15302
Edit: but PCI makes this not a good choice.

Another thin as far as zm goes I have never had it crash or stop working accept for human issues.

Oh let play with the modem the "Internets" not working when 100% time it was there virus infected computer causing problems. While they unplugged the network cameras by mistake.
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