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Joe Barr Gives ZoneMinder A Thumbs-Up
I've been interested in the Free software home-security software called ZoneMinder for a while, but strictly as a lurker, checking out the project's site whenever I noticed it crawl down the Freshmeat home page. Joe Barr of NewsForge, though, recently had reason to install the software, which manages one or more home security cameras (which can be any Linux compatible camera -- he used some common D-Link wireless ones), watches for movement (generating alarms based on user configuration), and lets the camera output be streamed elsewhere, so a thief can't usefully just rip out the recording system. (NewsForge and Slashdot are both part of OSTG.)
Article page 3 mentions a "live cd" of all the9 .5.isoZoneMinder LiveCD v1.19.5
stuff by Ross Melin is available off the standard
download page here is the direct link:
http://www2.zoneminder.com/downloads/ZMliveCD_1.1
IF you look at the website, you can (graphically) define exclusion zones within each camera's view.
The software is really quite powerfull.
Motion has motion detection and whatnot, and it's a pretty nice program, extremely configurable and extensible. Makes a nice webcam with java streaming .
"'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."
"Multiple Zones (Regions Of Interest) can be defined per camera. Each can have a different sensitivity or be ignored altogether." http://www.zoneminder.com/documentation.html
or use dyndns and install the client that updates it when your provider changes your ip address (like once a year for me).
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According to the article, the maximum resolution is 640x480. To accurately recognise a number plate, you need to recognise around 8-10 characters with at least 8x8 pixels per character. Assuming the field of view is 45 degrees, you'd need to have a number plate at least two feet away to be fully visible, and then the visible size would halve every time you doubled the distance. You'd probably be able to get 16 feet range if this were the case.
The lighting would be up to you. These cameras are sensitive to infrared light (Some buildings actually have infrared lamps on the outside, which appear not to be working to us, but will make the scene appear illuminated to a video camera). You'd probably want to have motion activated outside lighting before you had a camera for night-time protection.
Although, I hope the cameras also save the time and date on the display. Some courts won't accept such evidence unless it is timestamped.
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As someone who worked in security (and no, not as an 'officer') he would help himself immensely by creating some kind of sign and stickers saying "This house protected by webcams" or something. The real goal should be to deter, not catch, because cacthing a crook like this is a long shot. This sort of thing isn't really conducive to catching John Doe, local professional thief, it is good, however, for catching Timmy, the neighbor's kid.
I recently tried installing ZoneMinder to test it as a security system for my company.
/usr/local/zoneminder (after a couple of false starts, figuring out the directives that needed to be passed to the configure script); and then tried to run the setup script.
I downloaded the most recent version (1.19.5), and tried installing it on a Debian box with a USB webcam attached. Being that there isn't a Debian package for it yet, I tried installing it from source. I installed it to
I found that I needed to hack the setup script in order for it to find certain things (which Debian puts in a different place than Redhat, and were hard-coded in); and even when I did so, the setup script bombed out near the end with a perl error (even after turning off 'use strict', which helped me past a couple of coding errors). I discovered that Redhat-ish values (user and group to run as) had been hard-coded into some autogenerated config files.
Even after straightening that out, I found that the init script was Redhat-specific (and not outrageously well-written at that). So as a quick-and-dirty measure, I just started the daemons by hand, the old Unix way. (If I cared to, I can write init scripts with equal aplomb for both Redhat and Debian; but I just wanted to try this program out).
Got the daemons up & running. Looked at the config page through a web browser. Tried setting up a camera. Got no output. Got no useful debugging information in the logs. I knew very well that the camera was working (got output via xawtv and camstream); but zoneminder wouldn't produce output. After reading the FAQ, troubleshooting docs, and Googling a bit, I figured out how to invoke some of the programs from the command line, and saw that Zoneminder's tools could scan for video devices and get information about them; but couldn't figure out any more than "something's not right with this daemon, it exits directly after being invoked".
At this point I decided that the quality of this tool was highly suspect, and not appropriate for our use. Definitely not appropriate for a post-1.0 release; since even just the installer bombed out with a perl coding error.
It looks like a nifty program, which is why I stuck with the frustrating install & troubleshooting process for 4 hours or so. I wish the developers the best; but I humbly and honestly suggest they develop some regression and install tests.
Note: I am anything but new to Linux. I've been admin'ing Redhat and Debian systems for 6 years now, and using it as my exclusive desktop since about 2000. I am not a perl hacker nor a C programmer by trade (tho I'm not unfamiliar with such things); and I really don't feel like becoming one in order to just try out a post-v1.0 program.
After trying and sending back the X10 crap (CMOS is not the way to go) I found an inexpensive solution that I've been using for over a year now. Geovision makes an excellent system that comes bundled with a DVR card for the PC (*nix too). I'm running 2 - 3/4" weather-proof wired bullet cams (Sony 1/3 CCD's high res, low lux) connected to a 2 port card (up to 16 port avail). The software is solid and has wayyyy more features than I need. 24x7x365 monitoring, MPEG's captured to an HD on motion detect, remote access, playback, web, security, 30 day retention of files (configurable), alarms, PTZ support, audio, yada, yada, yada. Amazing what goes on in my hood when I'm at work! :) Cams, card, and software was under $300 USD. Just add PC and away you go! Tin foil hat and side arm not included.
Although, I hope the cameras also save the time and date on the display. Some courts won't accept such evidence unless it is timestamped.
ZoneMinder does this by default. It's also very easily user configured via their web interface.