no mpeg streaming video - please post your working config

jayoungh · Post by **jayoungh** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:53 pm

What I have:
- Ubuntu 10.04
- Zoneminder 1.24.2
- Bluecherry capture card
- Two IP Cameras

What's working:
- IP cameras using Options-Images-STREAM_METHOD-mpeg
- Xawtv displaying video from capture card

What's not working:
- capture card using mpeg STREAM_METHOD. (JPEG stream method works ok but not very reliably)

When I try to run the monitor for the capture card, I get a blank white page with the playback controls, etc.

I have looked in the log files and do not see any errors.

Could someone that has video capture card working with mpeg video method post their configuration:
- source tab info
- buffers tab info
- options - System tab
- options - Config tab
- options - Paths tab
- options - Images tab
- options - Medium B/W tab

That's a lot of work but maybe if we start doing that it will help shorten the troubleshooting cycle for others.

Also, I am using the standard package from Ubuntu. I assume that is using the share memory option but do not know how to tell or how to change it to the memory mapped option.

Thanks.

Pada · Post by **Pada** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:00 pm

AFAIK the ZM that is installed via the package manager for Ubuntu is using mmap and not shm. I you have even the mjpeg streaming working, then you would see /dev/shm/zm.mmap.* files.

Instead of using 'Source Type = Remote' for the camera, try using 'Source Type = Ffmpeg' and then specify the URL under 'Source Path'.

I've found that the MPEG_LIVE_FORMAT set to 'asf' works the best for me.
'swf' also works.

From my experience, the ZM installation from the package manager works much better on Ubuntu 10.10 than on 10.04.

jayoungh · Post by **jayoungh** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:37 pm

>Instead of using 'Source Type = Remote' for the camera, try using 'Source
>Type = Ffmpeg' and then specify the URL under 'Source Path'.

Those settings are for IP cameras, right? My IP cameras are working fine or at least display images when using mpeg (one of them displays images for a couple seconds and then stops). I can't get any video to display from the capture card when using mpeg STREAM_METHOD.

I don't see any files related to zm in /dev/shm so I guess zm is using mmap although I was sure I saw the "can't get shmem" error in the log files earlier before boosting shmem.

If you have a capture card working using the mpeg STREAM_METHOD could you post some of your settings?

Thanks.

Pada · Post by **Pada** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:23 pm

if ZM is unable to capture the video feed, then it won't create the files in /dev/shm.

If you're using a capture card, then you have to stream from local (/dev/video0, /dev/video1, etc.).
Or that is how I understand it works.

I'm not an expert at ZM - I've only started using it fairly recently.

jayoungh · Post by **jayoungh** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:31 pm

Thanks Pada.

I am using /dev/video0 and /dev/video1. As I said, the jpeg video works ok - just a little slow. mpeg streaming does not work for capture card cameras but it does work for the ip cameras.

ZM has been a monster to get working at all but I keep going back to it because it has more features than many of the windows versions (remote PTZ control being the major one) and of course it runs on Linux so it "can" be more stable. I may have to go back to windows though because there are significant issues with zm.

jayoungh · Post by **jayoungh** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:10 pm

I was able to get mpeg streaming to work using Prada's suggestion of using asf streaming instead of swf. It's still weird that swf worked fine for the IP cameras but not the capture card cameras.

If I could figure out an efficient way of posting all my settings for others, I would. I have it in a word document it would be nice if there was a way to include an attachement.

Pada · Post by **Pada** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:27 pm

That's great news. I would love to see your findings/settings -> check your PM Inbox.