ZoneMinder

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

Has anyone used ZoneMinder that apparently is a DVR software operating on Linux environment?

 

This software complies with GPL rules and seems very interesting... Here are some of the features:

 

ZoneMinder is intended for use in single or multi-camera video security applications, including commercial or home CCTV, theft prevention and child or family member or home monitoring and other care scenarios. It supports capture, analysis, recording, and monitoring of video data coming from one or more video or network cameras attached to a Linux system. ZoneMinder also support web and semi-automatic control of Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras using a variety of protocols. It is suitable for use as a home video security system and for commercial or professional video security and surveillance. It can also be integrated into a home automation system via X.10 or other protocols.

 

ZoneMinder is a set of applications which together provides a complete surveillance solution allowing capture, analysis, recording and monitoring of any cctv cameras attached to a Linux based machine. It is designed to run on distributions which support the Video For Linux (V4L) interface and has been tested with video cameras attached to BTTV cards, various USB cameras and IP network cameras. A partial list is given in the Support section, please give feedback in the Forums if it works with yours. It is designed to support as many cameras as you can attach to your computer without too much degradation of performance. ZoneMinder also requires MySQL and PHP, and is enhanced by a webserver such as Apache.

 

ZoneMinder is highly componentised and comprises both the back-end daemons which do the actual image capture and analysis and a user friendly front end enabling you to both monitor the current situation and view and organise historical events that have taken place. The front-end is web based allowing you to check and control your ZoneMinder installation from any other machine which can connect. ZoneMinder does not require X at all, or the web interface for day-to-day functions and so is suitable for 'headless' systems. There is also a rudimentary xHTML interface allowing basic monitoring from suitable phones!

 

Apparently you can change the GUI to your liking... It operates with any Linux based distros (at least that is what they claim) and fairly robust... Looks like it also works with various capture cards, including Geo...

 

I may be taking the challenge to spend some time with its code.. but if you had any reservations and actual test results, please let me know.

 

Thanks...