ZoneMinder Forums

My webcam works in cheese but does not work in ZoneMiner

The error I receive in the log is as follows:

08/30/08 00:25:31.328090 zmwatch[5637].INF [Restarting capture daemon for New, shared memory not valid]
08/30/08 00:25:31.614872 zmwatch[5637].INF ['zmc -d /dev/video0' stopping at 08/08/30 00:25:31]

I've tried increasing the memory allocated but still no luck...

I would really appreciate any help!!

lsusb results:

peter@peter-desktop:~$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 043d:0069 Lexmark International, Inc. X74/X75 Printer
Bus 003 Device 008: ID 043d:0060 Lexmark International, Inc. X74/X75 Scanner
Bus 003 Device 007: ID 043d:0061 Lexmark International, Inc. X74 Hub
Bus 003 Device 006: ID 1131:1001 Integrated System Solution Corp. KY-BT100 Bluetooth Adapter
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 046d:c03f Logitech, Inc. UltraX Optical Mouse
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 413c:2003 Dell Computer Corp.
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0db0:6982 Micro Star International Medion Flash XL V2.7A Card Reader
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 041e:4028 Creative Technology, Ltd Vista Plus cam [VF0090]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000[/img]

I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject, but have you read the wiki section on webcams?

Cameras that use the Video4Linux 2 (v4l2) standard are not supported by Zoneminder. The solution, if you have a v4l2 camera, is to use a bit of software called mjpg_streamer and then point Zoneminder at the mjpg_streamer output. I've had to do that in order to get my Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 working with Zoneminder.

The impression I have gained from the documentation is that not too many webcams work 'out of the box' directly with Zoneminder. It's mainly the old ones that do, but mjpg_streamer may be what you need. You should read-up on the spec for your camera and find out what standard it uses.

Apologies if you knew all this already....

HI MIke - thanks for pointing me in the correct direction

I've installed MJPG Streamer.

But it to seems like it doesn't want to connect to my webcam hmmmm

peter@peter-desktop:~$ mjpg_streamer
MJPG Streamer Version.: 2.0
i: Using V4L2 device.: /dev/video0
i: Desired Resolution: 640 x 480
i: Frames Per Second.: 5
i: Format............: MJPEG
Error opening device /dev/video0: unable to query device.
Init v4L2 failed !! exit fatal
i: init_VideoIn failed

am i missing something out?

Not sure if I can help much more - I'm a newbie on this stuff....

You may find something in this thread that I started when I was in the same position as you are:-

http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12082

Personally, I'd check the camera specs to ensure it is a v4l2 device. Also check that it's capable of the resolution and frame rates that you're trying to get out of it. Perhaps it might also be an idea to try it at a lower resolution. Also make sure the resolution and frame rate you specify in the Zoneminder configuration for the camera is the same as what you specify to mjpg_streamer. I'm not sure if this is important, but gut-feel tells me it's a good idea. Finally, make sure you reboot your PC if you change the resolution settings. I tripped over that one when I already had mine working at a lower resolution but was trying to get 640x480 working - see the last couple of posts on the thread I referenced earlier.

I may be wrong on this, but I think cheese supports v4l2 devices natively. To check that mjpg_streamer is working, try using the camera with VLC. Set mjpg_streamer going and then open VLC. Select 'file', then 'open network stream' and select the HTTP radio button and then enter localhost:8080/?action=stream in the URL box. You should then be able to see the live stream.

If that works, the camera and mjpg_streamer are happy.

One other thing. In Zoneminder, make sure that the Source Type (in the General tab) is set to 'remote'.

There may be other things, but I can't think of any at the moment. See how you get on with what I've suggested so far.

And let us know what you find. You never know, it may help some other newbie who comes along later with a similar problem.

Mike

...Another similar thread that I started on the Ubuntu forums that you may find useful:-

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=882863

Mike