Suggestions needed - Off-Shore project

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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PalliSteina
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:55 am

Suggestions needed - Off-Shore project

Post by PalliSteina »

Hello everyone.

I'm a technician for Marine Research Institute of Iceland. We are currently working on a project that requires recording fish behavior around a feeder system we are building.

The plan:
We will place a buoy into a remote fjord. In the buoy is an advantech computer that will act as a control unit/server running CentOS. From the buoy is an umbilical cable connecting the devices on the seabed(150m down). We will use Kongsberg camera that outputs analog signal.

What I need to know:

To be honest, I'm not sure if ZoneMinder is the right application for us. But if it can capture based on movement or timing and has adequate video logging I believe it should work.

What would be the best capture card to use? We will be using 2 cameras later on so 4 inputs should be what Im looking for. The card needs to be PCI and low power(if possible) but I want quality. Anyone recommend this card? Spectra8

Any suggestions are wellcome, I'm bit out of my element right now. :)

Regards,
Palli
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Lee Sharp
Posts: 1069
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:18 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Post by Lee Sharp »

Your issues will be in administration. If it reboots in a database write, you will corrupt the database and no more recording, for example.

As to cards, I would get a single chip 4 port card. The BT878 chips run very hot, which means they use a lot of power. Would 11fps do it? A single chip will do 2 cameras at 11fps all day long.
User avatar
Lee Sharp
Posts: 1069
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:18 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Post by Lee Sharp »

You can stop the ZM service, and run a mysqlcheck via cron, then restart the ZM service. That limits your exposure to 1 day max. (Or hourly, if you really want. Generally it takes less than 3 minutes.

And yes, a UPS and good hardware minimize it. I just always plan for the worst so I don't get surprised.
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