Does anyone or has anyone used zm on system they have sold and installed etc. Or is it just used at your home (like me)
If so i assume it must be with what it can do, have you had any problems, what machine do you set it up on etc
James
*edit sorry posted in wrong area and not sure how to move it sorry Phil
Commercial
same question that I have...
Hi,
I also want to know this as we could do away with a commercial application and instead provide support to ZM and it's development.
So what is the typical use for ZM? Can't be only in homes from some of the posts I have read in the forum.
Phil - Maybe you can tell us the rules for commercial deployment. We aren't talking about selling the software but the complete system with cameras etc and support is Ok....Isn't it?
Regards,
Deano
I also want to know this as we could do away with a commercial application and instead provide support to ZM and it's development.
So what is the typical use for ZM? Can't be only in homes from some of the posts I have read in the forum.
Phil - Maybe you can tell us the rules for commercial deployment. We aren't talking about selling the software but the complete system with cameras etc and support is Ok....Isn't it?
Regards,
Deano
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jameswilson
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If i were to use it commercially i think its only fair to donate as i could offer little in helping with development (apart from testing and stuff that any idiot can do) I was just curious because I have been considering using it commercially do to the fact that its a box we can work on and repair. MOst systems we use have to go back to the manaufactures to be repaired or upgraded. for example if you wanted to upgrade a 80Gb to 160Gb it would cost me about £400. Plus we have hard disk failues power supply failures etc. With ZM all this can be reapired by us on site if necesary.
James
James
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jameswilson
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First off i know the watermarking isue will be there, but the law here in denmark is as far as i know not that strict on this point, and if u look at the pictures u get, it is primarely ment to help the police catch the burgler, and yes i know it is a biggere isue in the US than it is in denmark.
My goal is to deliver a system based on ZM with Axis Network Camera's, primarely Axis 205, 206 and 206M, and iam looking into having a calendar fuction running on top of CRON so u can set holliday's and so forth. ZM will do all the monitoring, and with options to use X10 interface, but that will come on a later time, my goal with the X10 interface is that most Alarms installed in most homes / bussinesses have an output line that u can activate ZM over. But all this i will detail on a later post, and yes i will allso post my configs and expirences along the way.
Another goals is to be able to deliver a system that private users can afford, to give u an example, any other commercial system here in denmark will set u back around 2500£ and is sold with 4 cameras, where my cheapest system will cost under 1000£ with 1 camera, and that server will be able to expand to around 4 cameras.
My goal is to deliver a system based on ZM with Axis Network Camera's, primarely Axis 205, 206 and 206M, and iam looking into having a calendar fuction running on top of CRON so u can set holliday's and so forth. ZM will do all the monitoring, and with options to use X10 interface, but that will come on a later time, my goal with the X10 interface is that most Alarms installed in most homes / bussinesses have an output line that u can activate ZM over. But all this i will detail on a later post, and yes i will allso post my configs and expirences along the way.
Another goals is to be able to deliver a system that private users can afford, to give u an example, any other commercial system here in denmark will set u back around 2500£ and is sold with 4 cameras, where my cheapest system will cost under 1000£ with 1 camera, and that server will be able to expand to around 4 cameras.
Best Regards
Tom Stage
Tom Stage
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jameswilson
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- Location: Midlands UK
Hi,
Sounds like you are on the same track as us here in Australia. We are a systems integrator and one of our companies is already a security company and has its own software developers and even a in house written DVR application.
Thing is after looking over ZM I can see areas where we are lacking and areas where ZM could do with some work....in fact I would say that our product is behind ZM in several important areas that other users wouldn't necessarily pick , but if it wasn't for the fact that I am the product manager here.
So we have been working on the Centralised management software for our DVR product and I have now told the development team that we will be integrating other DVR platforms into our central site S/W for remote monitoring and management etc.
I have also told the lead developer that if we do any changes to the ZM S/W we will post them back and this should include the applets we have for motion detection zone drawing rather then just defining them with coordinates.
We also have experience with streaming technologies here so we may be able to help with that as well.
The point made about watermarks is something that still needs to be addressed as many countries require it by law and we have been leaving it out until the last minute as it is a complex issue.
The business you are setting up is going to do the supply of the complete systems? Or supply and install?
What about monitoring? We have partnered with a security company for both the installation and another security company for the monitoring and guard response side of the business and manage the lot.
We are also involved in IPTV and VOD implementations and Security for the home as an appliance is a interesting area that we have demonstrated a working solution with remote centralised monitoring and interface with the security system with a IP Set top box which is then able to interface with the home automation system etc through the Security server appliance.
Now it would be a interesting development if we tried that with ZM...
Regards,
Deano
Regards
Sounds like you are on the same track as us here in Australia. We are a systems integrator and one of our companies is already a security company and has its own software developers and even a in house written DVR application.
Thing is after looking over ZM I can see areas where we are lacking and areas where ZM could do with some work....in fact I would say that our product is behind ZM in several important areas that other users wouldn't necessarily pick , but if it wasn't for the fact that I am the product manager here.
So we have been working on the Centralised management software for our DVR product and I have now told the development team that we will be integrating other DVR platforms into our central site S/W for remote monitoring and management etc.
I have also told the lead developer that if we do any changes to the ZM S/W we will post them back and this should include the applets we have for motion detection zone drawing rather then just defining them with coordinates.
We also have experience with streaming technologies here so we may be able to help with that as well.
The point made about watermarks is something that still needs to be addressed as many countries require it by law and we have been leaving it out until the last minute as it is a complex issue.
The business you are setting up is going to do the supply of the complete systems? Or supply and install?
What about monitoring? We have partnered with a security company for both the installation and another security company for the monitoring and guard response side of the business and manage the lot.
We are also involved in IPTV and VOD implementations and Security for the home as an appliance is a interesting area that we have demonstrated a working solution with remote centralised monitoring and interface with the security system with a IP Set top box which is then able to interface with the home automation system etc through the Security server appliance.
Now it would be a interesting development if we tried that with ZM...
Regards,
Deano
Regards
Hi All
Yes my plan to start with is to only supply the system, with the option that i will be present at the site to oversee the activation of the system.
My points in doing it this way is that i dont wanna do all the mounting off the camera's and installing of the server, the product they purchase thru me is as is, the rest is up to the custemer. But my plan is to associate my self with an electrics company for the installing of the systems, another plan of mine is to contact different insurence company's and make a package deal with them so if a custemer purchase a video system they will get savings on there insurrence's.
The reason i wont start a full blown security company atm. is that iam not a millionare and that kind of thing is gonna cost a bundle to start.
Another thing is that most people that have an exsisting alarm system installed at their house / company allready have a security responce hooked up to their system. If u as a private / home user dont have this there are plenty of options to do this in the market here in denmark, for instance u can purchase a small GSM module that can take a single input and then send an SMS to 4 diffrent mobile phones, i plan this as an option as well.
Yes my plan to start with is to only supply the system, with the option that i will be present at the site to oversee the activation of the system.
My points in doing it this way is that i dont wanna do all the mounting off the camera's and installing of the server, the product they purchase thru me is as is, the rest is up to the custemer. But my plan is to associate my self with an electrics company for the installing of the systems, another plan of mine is to contact different insurence company's and make a package deal with them so if a custemer purchase a video system they will get savings on there insurrence's.
The reason i wont start a full blown security company atm. is that iam not a millionare and that kind of thing is gonna cost a bundle to start.
Another thing is that most people that have an exsisting alarm system installed at their house / company allready have a security responce hooked up to their system. If u as a private / home user dont have this there are plenty of options to do this in the market here in denmark, for instance u can purchase a small GSM module that can take a single input and then send an SMS to 4 diffrent mobile phones, i plan this as an option as well.
Best Regards
Tom Stage
Tom Stage
To get round the watermark problem, a cheap workaround might be to buy a cheap eBay mux (I bought a 16ch DM Sprite for $39 - color) and use the outputs to drive ZM + also drive a very inexpensive timelapse VCR which records all your video (about 176 hours per tape for 8 cams).
Therefore you'd get www access, alarms, and a decent (prosecutable) audit trail (which could be cross referenced back to ZM alarms and video clips because the date/timestamps are more or less in sync). All for ~$100!
Another good reason for using a mux is that you can also do a quad output and using a cheap RF modulator send your output to your CATV system.
thanks!
Therefore you'd get www access, alarms, and a decent (prosecutable) audit trail (which could be cross referenced back to ZM alarms and video clips because the date/timestamps are more or less in sync). All for ~$100!
Another good reason for using a mux is that you can also do a quad output and using a cheap RF modulator send your output to your CATV system.
thanks!
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jameswilson
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a solution not without its problems. forgetting the dpa problem with tapes reliabilty, log books etc etc. Is watermarking that hard to achieve, on the commercial dvr's then is this just a hash to say they have got it. I really dont care if its possible to defeat, because i believe anything is.
James
James
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zoneminder
- Site Admin
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Coming in late on this thread, so I'll address a few points at once
1) SifuDean - It sounds like you have some really interesting work going on, anything you can feed back would be interesting. In general you are free to use ZM in a commercial system under the normal auspices of the GPL, whereupon you should supply source for any modifications you have made etc. One thing to be aware of is that under some circumstances MySQL itself requires a licence fee on any system you ship/sell if I'm reading their licence correctly. I have a Postgres version of ZM but it's branched off an older version of ZM and I've not merged it back in yet (it's a big job), that at least is free under the same terms.
2) Any donations, especially for commercial enterprises, are always appreciated. I think most people would be surprised just how rarely anything comes back in for this kind of development, so the odd nice surprise can make all the difference. I should probably mentioned that I also do some bespoke developments for a fee as well if they are required for more urgent timescales. I've been extremely tied up lately but should be freer for this kind of thing in a couple of weeks or so.
Cheers
Phil
1) SifuDean - It sounds like you have some really interesting work going on, anything you can feed back would be interesting. In general you are free to use ZM in a commercial system under the normal auspices of the GPL, whereupon you should supply source for any modifications you have made etc. One thing to be aware of is that under some circumstances MySQL itself requires a licence fee on any system you ship/sell if I'm reading their licence correctly. I have a Postgres version of ZM but it's branched off an older version of ZM and I've not merged it back in yet (it's a big job), that at least is free under the same terms.
2) Any donations, especially for commercial enterprises, are always appreciated. I think most people would be surprised just how rarely anything comes back in for this kind of development, so the odd nice surprise can make all the difference. I should probably mentioned that I also do some bespoke developments for a fee as well if they are required for more urgent timescales. I've been extremely tied up lately but should be freer for this kind of thing in a couple of weeks or so.
Cheers
Phil
Hi Voronwe,
The other thing you can do is speak to the companies that do bundled telco / data services and see if they want to include in their packages the next generation DVR with broadband remote monitoring and support etc...
That way you may find they will finance the Security system within their monthly bill to the client, you get paid upfront and the client gets the security system and cheaper calls / data as well.
Win win for all and we are doing that here.
It should be noted that most of these telco / data broker companies have huge client bases which they will approach for you.
What do you think?
Regards,
Deano
The other thing you can do is speak to the companies that do bundled telco / data services and see if they want to include in their packages the next generation DVR with broadband remote monitoring and support etc...
That way you may find they will finance the Security system within their monthly bill to the client, you get paid upfront and the client gets the security system and cheaper calls / data as well.
Win win for all and we are doing that here.
It should be noted that most of these telco / data broker companies have huge client bases which they will approach for you.
What do you think?
Regards,
Deano
voronwe wrote:Hi All
Yes my plan to start with is to only supply the system, with the option that i will be present at the site to oversee the activation of the system.
My points in doing it this way is that i dont wanna do all the mounting off the camera's and installing of the server, the product they purchase thru me is as is, the rest is up to the custemer. But my plan is to associate my self with an electrics company for the installing of the systems, another plan of mine is to contact different insurence company's and make a package deal with them so if a custemer purchase a video system they will get savings on there insurrence's.
The reason i wont start a full blown security company atm. is that iam not a millionare and that kind of thing is gonna cost a bundle to start.
Another thing is that most people that have an exsisting alarm system installed at their house / company allready have a security responce hooked up to their system. If u as a private / home user dont have this there are plenty of options to do this in the market here in denmark, for instance u can purchase a small GSM module that can take a single input and then send an SMS to 4 diffrent mobile phones, i plan this as an option as well.
Hi Sifudean
That is another aproach i have been thinking about doing, and thnx for bringing it back into my mind.
And to Phill
As far i can read in the MySql License you are not allowed to take mony for the database, if u do then you will have to get a license, and as long as iam not taking mony for the software on the servers i should be home free.
Just to make sure how i stand on the MySql issue asked Mysql how and what i need to do on this issue, and will be posting the result they send me here.
That is another aproach i have been thinking about doing, and thnx for bringing it back into my mind.
And to Phill
As far i can read in the MySql License you are not allowed to take mony for the database, if u do then you will have to get a license, and as long as iam not taking mony for the software on the servers i should be home free.
Just to make sure how i stand on the MySql issue asked Mysql how and what i need to do on this issue, and will be posting the result they send me here.
Best Regards
Tom Stage
Tom Stage
And as promised i will post some info about what MySql have said to me on this isue.
1. I contacted them on the 22 June 2005 and they sendt me a notify about my initial concact to them.
2. I then got contacted by a person from MySql that resides in Sweden on the same day.
3. I wrote back to this person on the 23 June 2005 and dident get any reply.
4. After 1 month of no reply from Mysql, i then wrote to the Nordic Sales manager again on the 4 Aug 2005 and have still not heard anything from him.
5. And now for the fun part, as i was sitting here and typing this post he just called me on my cell phone, and now the issue is solved for good. The message i got is this. : If what u deliver with the system is published under GPL / Not copy righted then u can use MySql with out any licens at all, meaning that if u provide your source code along with the box then u dont need any licens.
5.1 So to make a long post short if you are Open then MySql is Open.
I hope this will help u guys.
1. I contacted them on the 22 June 2005 and they sendt me a notify about my initial concact to them.
2. I then got contacted by a person from MySql that resides in Sweden on the same day.
3. I wrote back to this person on the 23 June 2005 and dident get any reply.
4. After 1 month of no reply from Mysql, i then wrote to the Nordic Sales manager again on the 4 Aug 2005 and have still not heard anything from him.
5. And now for the fun part, as i was sitting here and typing this post he just called me on my cell phone, and now the issue is solved for good. The message i got is this. : If what u deliver with the system is published under GPL / Not copy righted then u can use MySql with out any licens at all, meaning that if u provide your source code along with the box then u dont need any licens.
5.1 So to make a long post short if you are Open then MySql is Open.
I hope this will help u guys.
Best Regards
Tom Stage
Tom Stage