>> I've been using motion along with USB cameras for a while. I need to >> expand my monitoring capacity and I'm wondering if I should consider >> changing software or hardware. motion seems fairly dead but is >> stable. I'm reading conflicting info about the current status of >> zoneminder. Is anyone using IP cams? > > > Hello Grant, > > Some years ago, the slickest webserver plus zoneminder setup was this > > http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/cherokee/users/2450 > > cherokee + zoneminder + php > > > Another solution is to get some pci cards that take a coax input > from a coax cable (RG/59 or RG6 for distance) directly into the PC. > There you can convert the streaming video into h.264 and move it > around the ethernet. Encoder (coax to h.264) pci cards use to abound > such as Qsee, Avermedia etc etc. > > You can also get embedded boards from TI that include the DaVinci > package which take in coax and convert it to H.264. > > I use to get the best information about the key chips reading the > linux > kernel driver documentation found in the old drivers. Many of > the drivers (most?) have been unified and the in-driver > documents therein > will be mostly useless, so old 2.4 and 2.6 drivers for specific > chipsets is the best source, if you really want to dig into > video over IP. Most currently manufactured IP cams go to great links > to make their hardware a "black box" on what they are doing > to output the H.264. [2] > > Furthermore, you have to delve in the "container" versus the packets > when you find incompatibilities. Many of the advanced ethernet > sniffing software packages have h.264 filters build in [1]. It's all > H.264, just a lot of software gymnastics to frustrate folks from > rolling their own video solution. > > If I were to get serious about video/IP, I'd go with > VP8 (google's standard) > and find a codec (opensource) that could be put on a micro > processor board; pandaboard? [3]. Googling around and I'm > sure you can find > something. [4] > > > usb video sucks, once you try to "scale up" for any sort of > serious video > surveillance system; imho. > > hth, > James > > [1] http://www.wireshark.org/docs/dfref/h/h264.html > > [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP8 > > [3] > https://wiki.linaro.org/WorkingGroups/Middleware/ > Multimedia/Specs/1105/OptimizeVp8Decoding > > [4] http://www.webmproject.org/tools/
After reading everyone's responses, I do think I'll stick with USB cams and motion. Can anyone recommend a good USB cam for indoor use with a nice wide angle lens and mounting threads? It doesn't need to be cheap. - Grant
