two 16 channel cards in 1 pc?

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:08 am

Can zoneminder work with two 16 channel cards in one pc so that I can hook up 32 cameras to the pc?
If so is there ant special setup, or should it work by default?
32 Channel cards are more expensive than buying two 16 channel cards, so that is why I think it would be very helpful if I can get this to work.
Thanks!

KeithB · Post by **KeithB** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:50 pm

If by 16 channel you mean a four bt878 chip card then yes you can.

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:45 pm

so any cards from that list should work is what you are trying to say?
I can put 2 dvr cards under one system though?

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:22 pm

you should be ok with pci-e card

but if i remember pci can only handle about 400fps total aka 16cams at 20fps maybe be more but thats what i recall.

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:31 am

I want 32 cameras hooked up. How can I accomplish this?

KeithB · Post by **KeithB** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:03 am

If you attach 16 cams to a 4 chip card you will only be getting 3fps or so per cam so the PCI bus should be enough for the 32. I beleive that you can have up to 4 of the 4 chip cards with linux so in theory 64 cameras at 3fps.

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:12 pm

I am a bit confused. why do I only get 3fps? That is very low. How can I get 32 cameras at something decent like 15+ fps?

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:17 pm

the problem with this is the pci bus is limited by how much data it can move so thats why you are limited but you should be able to mix pci and pci-e cards to archive that 15fps and 32 cams.

the slots on top is a pci X16
the next 2 are PCI
the last one is a pci X1

also as a note a pci X1 can go in a X16 slot with no adapter

so with that in mind
4x http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... -981-8.htm

32 inputs 15FPS
or

2x http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... -981-8.htm
+
2x http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... _8port.htm

32 inputs 15FPS

Depending on the motherboard although this will thereticoly run at 15fps it will run at a slightly less because of the switching required to support so many cams.

also 10 fps is pretty much real time and is over kill 15 and 30 are so over kill its not even funny

to prove my point look at this camera feed at 10fps http://www.box.net/shared/s242npy7b0

Also as var a Linux goes stay away from via chipsets (aka dont buy the cheapest mother board)

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:16 pm

awesome thanks for helpful tips. You are motivating me to build my own computer. what motherboard/cpu/memory rig would you recommend I buy?
I built a computer with a geovision card, and the computer would randomly freeze up and I don't even know why. I think I put a too much of a powerful intel dual core cpu, causing it to overheat on the hot days.

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:34 pm

I would recommend a bear bones kit. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... 1_B69-0124

mostly because the air flow has been figured out

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:49 pm

Does it make a difference of how top notch the ram and cpu are. Those barebone kits seem a bit too powerful for a video server no? My only concern is that they will freeze up when running 24/7 all year long. Then again, maybe I just was unlucky with my hardware in the past.

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:42 pm

Zm will require more pwer than you think however the dedecated GPU is unnecessary however ram cpu and hard drives. spend as much as you budget alowes because then you can use more zones in ZM.

well maybe not so much ram but cpu get a decent one pules hard drives are cheap

my bottom of the line hp 1.6 Dule core With 2G of ram has been running almost a year straight no reboot etc. its tracking 5 axis cams

KeithB · Post by **KeithB** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:33 pm

If you want 15fps you need one chip per camera. Its to do with frames lost as the chip switches between cameras not the PCI bus.
Look on the Euresys site:
http://www.euresys.com/Products/picolo/PicoloTetra.asp
That *very* expensive card claims to have quick switching but look at the frames per second! Its 30fps for 4 cameras ie 1 camera per chip but drops to 6.7fps with 8 cameras ie 2 cameras per chip.

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:20 pm

what is better. using four 8 channel cards or two 16 channel cards?
like why not use 2 of these?
http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... 981-16.htm
does zoneminder support audio btw?

giloosh · Post by **giloosh** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:18 pm

what is the difference as far as FPS between these two cards:
http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... pv-155.htm
and
http://store.bluecherry.net/Provideo_PV ... 183_16.htm
There is one review on the PV 183 that says you can only reach 5 fps per cam with 16 cameras. Shouldn't you be able to reach 15 fps per camera as advertised.
For the PV 155 shouldn't you be able to reach 7.5 fps each cam with 16 cams?