Trouble Generating MPEG | Ubuntu 7.10 | ZM 1.22.3

[Plunk]

Hi all, recently I installed zoneminder from the deb package. I am receiving an error in the ZM web console of, "Video Generation Failed!"

When I tail /var/log/apache2/error.log I see:

[Thu Nov 08 14:53:09 2007] [error] [client MYCLIENTIP Command 'cat temp/zmFileList.txt | zip -q temp/zmExport.zip -@' returned with status 12, referer: http://SERVERHOSTIP/zm/index.php?view=export&eid=1492

I am using the janky Ubuntu ffmpeg package. I feel this may be my problem. Also I'm not sure that the deb package was compiled with ffmpeg support because of the janky ffmpeg package from Ubuntu. Do I need to just compile and install ZM myself with a self-built ffmpeg as well? If so, what parameters do I need to build ffmpeg with for ZM? Do I then just follow the build instructions for ZM on the WIKI?

I've been a linux user for years and am very impressed with ZM and simple jpeg video streaming and capture. I did have another problem where I could not find how to capture images with movement only during certain times of the day. I did however come up with a solution by changing ZM's configuration with a CRON job. If there is a way to do it in ZM I would be much obliged.

Thanks in advance!

[linuxsense]

See this Plunk:

http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7250

A simple edit should fix things so the files are created (did for me) but all I am getting is green junk in my generated video...working on it now...

[Plunk]

I will try this when I get to work in the morning. I'll report back if I'm getting green video corruption or the intended output.

[linuxsense]

I ended up removing the ZoneMinder package (Kubuntu 7.10) and built 1.22.3 from source after removing ffmpeg and then building my own copy of ffmpeg from svn. Works great now. Just could not get anything but corrupted video exports when using the packaged ffmpeg. I used the following config for ZoneMinder so it would pretty much drop in place of the packaged version:

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./configure --with-libarch=lib --with-ffmpeg=/usr/local --with-webdir=/usr/share/zoneminder --with-cgidir=/usr/lib/cgi-bin --with-mysql=/usr/include/mysql --with-webuser=www-data --with-webgroup=www-data --disable-debug --disable-crashtrace

If you end up removing the ZoneMinder package apt will remove your database and db user, so be sure to create a backup...

[kevin_robson]

Any chance you could post a step by step guide on building ffmpeg from svn repositories. The guides I have found on the web seem to be out of date and wont work for me.

Thanks

[Plunk]

IT WORKS!

I did have to build ffmpeg from SVN though. I will post a guide a little later, have to go run some cable now.

EDIT: Also, I am still using the deb package from the repositories.

[linuxsense]

To build ffmpeg from svn do:

Code: Select all

svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg

From there just run ./configure in the ffmpeg dir, then 'make' and 'make install'. I already had about a billion development packages installed on this machine so I did not have any issues with the build, ymmv...

[Plunk]

Linuxsense is right, however if you're not familiar with building from source just say so. I'll post a start to finish for you.

linuxsense, is there a reason you're using Kubuntu rather than just the plain jane Ubuntu Server install? If you want a gui to monitor the system, why not Xubuntu for lower overhead? Are you using the system for more than just ZM?

[kevin_robson]

Thanks linuxsense, I also got this working after building ffmpeg manually.

I'm doing clean build when I can get around to it and if nobody else has done a guide by then I'll document something for the wiki, referencing your assistance of course.