Cameras Don't Show Up In Zoneminder

zdunham · 10-05-2009, 08:03 AM

Hi all.

Trying to set up a video surveillance system with Zoneminder on Ubuntu Jaunty. I am using a Logitech Quickcam for this. The camera works with Ubuntu, when I run XawTV I can see everything clear as day. When I try to get the camera to show up in Zoneminder I get no picture. I have tried a bunch of different device format and color combinations and still cannot get it to show up. If anyone has any experience with Zoneminder or has had this problem please help! Thanks in advance.

zdunham · 10-05-2009, 01:25 PM

If a moderator feels that this belongs in the hardware section or somewhere else please feel free to move it wherever I am likely to get the best answers. Thanks a lot.

zdunham · 10-06-2009, 08:40 AM

centosboy · 10-06-2009, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdunham

bump

from the main zoneminder console, under the option 'source'

select the link. then check settings on general and source tab.
mine are like so:

general -

name -> cameraname
sourcetype ->remote (yours would be local if the cam is locally attached)
function -> modetect
linkedmonitors -> cameraname
ref image blend %ge -> 7

source -
protocol -> http
method -> simple
remote hostname -> user: password@remote.hostname
port -> port
width -> 640
height -> 480
orientation -> normal

bear in mind im using an ip camera, but your settings should look similar.

also please find where you logs are

zoneminder console -> options -> paths

tail -f these logs whilst restarting zm

let me knw how it goes

NB - the section where i entered remote hostname, i had to put a space after user: - only in the post so i didnt get that smiley icon. if your cam uses login details, you would enter no space between user: password

zdunham · 10-06-2009, 02:42 PM

Thanks for the reply, I've been rather busy today I hope to try this and get back to you by the end of today though.

zdunham · 10-06-2009, 03:22 PM

OK, my setup is local, I do have the camera plugged directly into the computer at the moment.

The log file that caught my attention the most was zmdc.log which revealed this:

10/05/2009 16:22:32.055844 zmdc[22302].INF [Starting pending process, zmc -d /dev/video0]
10/05/2009 16:22:32.057722 zmdc[22302].INF ['zmc -d /dev/video0' starting at 09/10/05 16:22:32, pid = 19336]
10/05/2009 16:22:32.099510 zmdc[22302].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 6]

To me, at least, it looks like it tried to start the camera and failed but I couldn't find much on what exit status 6 is yet. I shall continue hunting. Thanks for whatever information you can give and have given.

EDIT: After googling exit status 6, every forum topic I could find on it was inconclusive as to the problem.

I tried changing the device format and color multiple times, even tried gray as was recommended somewhere else and that did not work either.

centosboy · 10-07-2009, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdunham

OK, my setup is local, I do have the camera plugged directly into the computer at the moment.

The log file that caught my attention the most was zmdc.log which revealed this:

10/05/2009 16:22:32.055844 zmdc[22302].INF [Starting pending process, zmc -d /dev/video0]
10/05/2009 16:22:32.057722 zmdc[22302].INF ['zmc -d /dev/video0' starting at 09/10/05 16:22:32, pid = 19336]
10/05/2009 16:22:32.099510 zmdc[22302].ERR ['zmc -d /dev/video0' exited abnormally, exit status 6]

To me, at least, it looks like it tried to start the camera and failed but I couldn't find much on what exit status 6 is yet. I shall continue hunting. Thanks for whatever information you can give and have given.

EDIT: After googling exit status 6, every forum topic I could find on it was inconclusive as to the problem.

I tried changing the device format and color multiple times, even tried gray as was recommended somewhere else and that did not work either.

have you specified the capture width and height in the camera source settings?
looks like your camera isnt being detected.
can you confirm that the camera is actually on /dev/video0?
dmesg should tell this.

what is your output from

Code:

zmu -q -d /dev/video0 -v

i would be interested in seeing your settings.. as i described mine above..

zdunham · 10-07-2009, 07:49 AM

OK when I try that command I get:

Code:

Error, username and password or auth string must be applied

Now for the settings, in the General tab I have:

Code:

Name:                       Monitor-1
Source Type:                Local
Function:                   Modect
Enabled:                    Yes
Linked Monitors:            Monitor-1
Max FPS:                    None
Alarm Max FPS:              None
Reference Image Blend %ge:  7
Triggers:                   None Available

And then in the Source tab I have:

Code:

Device Path:                /dev/video0
Capture Method:             Video for Linux 2
Device Channel:             0
Device Format:              PAL
Capture Palette:            RGB24
Capture Width:              320
Capture Height:             240
Preserve Aspect Ratio:      No
Orientation:                Normal

I have tried a whole load of different device formats and capture palettes and it hasn't made any difference so I've left it at that one because it seems to be the most common from other Zoneminder users.

I am almost positive the camera is /dev/video0 because I did:

Code:

ls /dev/video*

That gave me /dev/video0 only, I only have the one camera plugged in.

EDIT: Thanks for all your help by the way.

I also ran:

Code:

xawtv /dev/video0

and it worked, XawTV started up with the camera.

centosboy · 10-07-2009, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdunham

OK when I try that command I get:

Code:

Error, username and password or auth string must be applied

Now for the settings, in the General tab I have:

Code:

Name:                       Monitor-1
Source Type:                Local
Function:                   Modect
Enabled:                    Yes
Linked Monitors:            Monitor-1
Max FPS:                    None
Alarm Max FPS:              None
Reference Image Blend %ge:  7
Triggers:                   None Available

And then in the Source tab I have:

Code:

Device Path:                /dev/video0
Capture Method:             Video for Linux 2
Device Channel:             0
Device Format:              PAL
Capture Palette:            RGB24
Capture Width:              320
Capture Height:             240
Preserve Aspect Ratio:      No
Orientation:                Normal

I have tried a whole load of different device formats and capture palettes and it hasn't made any difference so I've left it at that one because it seems to be the most common from other Zoneminder users.

I am almost positive the camera is /dev/video0 because I did:

Code:

ls /dev/video*

That gave me /dev/video0 only, I only have the one camera plugged in.

EDIT: Thanks for all your help by the way.

I also ran:

Code:

xawtv /dev/video0

and it worked, XawTV started up with the camera.

must be some settings then

run

Code:

zmu -q -d /dev/video0 -U user --password password

also whilst doing any restarts, be sure to be tailing the logs in the background.

something like

Code:

tail -f /path/to/zmlogs &

should always be running in the background for these purposes so you can see any new events logged

zdunham · 10-07-2009, 09:32 AM

Perhaps this is a stupid question, not sure. There was a never a time to create a user and password during installation so is there a default administrator user and password for Zoneminder? If not how can I create a user and password after installation? Just for the sake of it I tried using the Apache username and password which did not work.

centosboy · 10-07-2009, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdunham

Perhaps this is a stupid question, not sure. There was a never a time to create a user and password during installation so is there a default administrator user and password for Zoneminder? If not how can I create a user and password after installation? Just for the sake of it I tried using the Apache username and password which did not work.

defaults are admin:admin

can be changed by clicking the options link.
also make sure the zone minder console is 'Running'

zdunham · 10-07-2009, 10:28 AM

OK, admin/admin worked thanks for that, I ran

Code:

zmu -q -d /dev/video0 -U username -P password

and I got "error22" for the output, that is it.

zdunham · 10-07-2009, 01:39 PM

Maybe this will help also. I ran "v4l-info" and this is what I got:

Code:

### v4l2 device info [/dev/video0] ###
general info
    VIDIOC_QUERYCAP
	driver                  : "uvcvideo"
	card                    : "UVC Camera (046d:08c5)"
	bus_info                : "0000:00:0f.2"
	version                 : 0.1.0
	capabilities            : 0x4000001 [VIDEO_CAPTURE,STREAMING]

standards

inputs
    VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT(0)
	index                   : 0
	name                    : "Camera 1"
	type                    : CAMERA
	audioset                : 0
	tuner                   : 0
	std                     : 0x0 []
	status                  : 0x0 []

video capture
    VIDIOC_ENUM_FMT(0,VIDEO_CAPTURE)
	index                   : 0
	type                    : VIDEO_CAPTURE
	flags                   : 1
	description             : "MJPEG"
	pixelformat             : 0x47504a4d [MJPG]
    VIDIOC_G_FMT(VIDEO_CAPTURE)
	type                    : VIDEO_CAPTURE
	fmt.pix.width           : 320
	fmt.pix.height          : 240
	fmt.pix.pixelformat     : 0x47504a4d [MJPG]
	fmt.pix.field           : NONE
	fmt.pix.bytesperline    : 0
	fmt.pix.sizeimage       : 42666
	fmt.pix.colorspace      : SRGB
	fmt.pix.priv            : 0

controls
    VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL(BASE+0)
	id                      : 9963776
	type                    : INTEGER
	name                    : "Brightness"
	minimum                 : 0
	maximum                 : 255
	step                    : 1
	default_value           : 127
	flags                   : 0
    VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL(BASE+1)
	id                      : 9963777
	type                    : INTEGER
	name                    : "Contrast"
	minimum                 : 0
	maximum                 : 255
	step                    : 1
	default_value           : 32
	flags                   : 0
    VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL(BASE+2)
	id                      : 9963778
	type                    : INTEGER
	name                    : "Saturation"
	minimum                 : 0
	maximum                 : 255
	step                    : 1
	default_value           : 32
	flags                   : 0

There was also some stuff for Linux version 1 but it didn't have much information and some wasn't available so I just pasted the Linux 2 stuff in.

zdunham · 10-09-2009, 08:22 AM

Maybe this helps a little bit too. This is the debug log.

Code:

10/08/09 09:24:16.040690 zmc_dvideo0[10255].INF-zm_debug.c/292 [New Debug Level = 5, New Debug Log = /tmp/zm_debug.log.10255]
10/08/09 09:24:16.041073 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/1712 [Got 1 monitors]
10/08/09 09:24:16.041154 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB2-zm_local_camera.cpp/286 [V4L2 support enabled, using V4L2 api]
10/08/09 09:24:16.041932 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/338 [monitor purpose=1]
10/08/09 09:24:16.041955 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/345 [mem.size=9217192]
10/08/09 09:24:16.055658 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_zone.cpp/50 [Initialised zone 0/All - 1 - 320x240 - Rgb:ff0000, CM:3, MnAT:15, MxAT:0, MnAP:50, MxAP:75000, FB:3x3, MnFP:50, MxFP:50000, MnBS:10, MxBS:0, MnB:0, MxB:0, OF: 0]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058028 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/458 [Monitor Monitor-1 has function 2]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058045 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/459 [Monitor Monitor-1 LBF = '%N - %y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S', LBX = 0, LBY = 0]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058057 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/460 [Monitor Monitor-1 IBC = 40, WUC = 25, pEC = 10, PEC = 10, EAF = 1, FRI = 1000, RBP = 7, FM = 0]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058284 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_zone.cpp/889 [Got 1 zones for monitor Monitor-1]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058306 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB5-zm_zone.cpp/918 [Parsing polygon 0,0 319,0 319,239 0,239]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058321 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_zone.cpp/758 [Parsing polygon string '0,0 319,0 319,239 0,239']
10/08/09 09:24:16.058335 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_zone.cpp/796 [Got coordinate 0,0 from polygon string]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058346 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_zone.cpp/796 [Got coordinate 319,0 from polygon string]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058357 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_zone.cpp/796 [Got coordinate 319,239 from polygon string]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058368 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_zone.cpp/796 [Got coordinate 0,239 from polygon string]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058383 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_zone.cpp/816 [Successfully parsed polygon string]
10/08/09 09:24:16.058396 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_zone.cpp/50 [Initialised zone 2/All - 1 - 320x240 - Rgb:ff0000, CM:3, MnAT:25, MxAT:0, MnAP:2304, MxAP:57600, FB:3x3, MnFP:2304, MxFP:57600, MnBS:1536, MxBS:0, MnB:1, MxB:0, OF: 0]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060602 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB1-zm_monitor.cpp/1814 [Loaded monitor 2(Monitor-1), 1 zones]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060621 zmc_dvideo0[10255].INF-zmc.cpp/188 [Starting Capture]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060885 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_local_camera.cpp/349 [Opening video device /dev/video0]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060930 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB2-zm_local_camera.cpp/355 [V4L2 support enabled, using V4L2 api]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060944 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_local_camera.cpp/360 [Checking video device capabilities]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060965 zmc_dvideo0[10255].DB3-zm_local_camera.cpp/370 [Setting up video format]
10/08/09 09:24:16.060996 zmc_dvideo0[10255].FAT-zm_local_camera.cpp/386 [Failed to set video format: Invalid argument]
10/08/09 09:24:16.061373 zmc_dvideo0[10255].INF-zm_signal.cpp/64 [Got signal 6 (Aborted), exiting and forcing backtrace]
10/08/09 09:24:16.061509 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/84 [Signal address is (nil), from 0xb806e430]
10/08/09 09:24:16.061779 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: [0xb806e430]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.061856 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: [0xb806e430]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.061898 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(gsignal+0x50) [0xb7b796d0]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.061953 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(abort+0x188) [0xb7b7b098]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062002 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zmc [0x805582d]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062051 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zmc [0x80688cf]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062100 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zmc [0x80691a4]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062148 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zmc [0x804c4db]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062197 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe5) [0xb7b64775]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062246 zmc_dvideo0[10255].ERR-zm_signal.cpp/122 [Backtrace: /usr/local/bin/zmc [0x804c041]]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062295 zmc_dvideo0[10255].INF-zm_signal.cpp/125 [Backtrace complete, please execute the following command for more information]
10/08/09 09:24:16.062354 zmc_dvideo0[10255].INF-zm_signal.cpp/126 [addr2line -e /usr/local/bin/zmc 0xb806e430 0xb806e430 0xb7b796d0 0xb7b7b098 0x805582d 0x80688cf 0x80691a4 0x804c4db 0xb7b64775 0x804c041]

pickled · 10-09-2009, 12:45 PM

Did you check the permissions on /dev/video0? I had to run 'sudo chmod 666 /dev/video0' to get my cameras to show up.

I'm new to Linux and Zoneminder and basically just followed the tutorial I found here: "Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) desktop with graphical interface". Sorry, I can't post the link since I'm a new member.

I have a brand new Jaunty install (and update) and Zoneminder install using the Synaptic Package Manager. It won't surprise me if I run into more problems.