Hi,

I've been using Zoneminder for 15 months now. It is time for some technical progress.

My main concern now is that the video input of the Bt878 based Hauppauge WinTV-cards is not good. I have verified the poor quality by slplitting the video signal to another device. Watching the signal on a large TV and computer screen at the same time shows that the picture is of much lower quality.

So, I need better input cards that work with Linux. Any suggestions?

I like the Spectra8 from http://www.ituner.com.

Phil

does the spectra 8 have the interlace and high speed movement problem?

Off the top of my head I can't remember. I usually run most of my cameras at 320x240 resolution anyway as I've got so many configured.

Phil

Phil,

Thank you for the tip on Spectra 8. The price is a bit higher than what I thought but on the other hand if it is good it surely is worth it.

I guess there's a similar price leap here as in audio gear, too. You get the "typical laymans' stuff" relatively cheap but when you have to get something special it costs pretty much more...

If you run 640x480, yes. I've got 3 of them running here and they're fine until you bump the res, then they look like crap unless you apply the interlace patch.

interlace patch im breathless with anticipation lol. Is this the wait for 3 frames setting or something else mate!!??.

I actually meant the high speed motion combing effect that occurs rather than a blur etc.

James

Incidentally, by the way, and only tangentally related to this thread, there's quite a good page on the advantages of progressive over interlaced scanning on the Axis site, here:

http://www.axis.com/products/video/came ... e_scan.htm

good link
I have been meaning to experiment with progressive scan cameras but there arnt many available as cctv cameras. All the ones i have found (apart from a few bosch, pana and dennard) have been designed for non security apps (ie need lots of light) I will try and remember o do this over the next few days

James

tips.
use ccd cameras
if you need to see on the dark .. use w/b.. color cameras need much light.
trie to use sony chipsets. are the best on the market.
use 420 lines cameras or better. are up to 600 lines image is awesome.
if you can use pal cameras. you get more resolution and loose some fps.
the experiment on axis i thing have favorable conditions to axis.

lens .. play with the lens.. dont get the camera closer .. use the right lens.

I disagree with yhe sony thing, we used to be big sony users and had massive quality issue. side by side a sony will loose out to a panna, bosch\philips.
Definrtly ccd though. the axis site has some great info on it. ie theres a lens calc on there

James

sorry to hear that.
for my point of view sony have made many advances on the ccd technology. like super had sensor.
i never have the oportunity to deal with a panna, bosch\philips.
have you use watec cameras?

watec are great for small size and low light. But i find thier good stuff expensive but to be fair i havnt used any for about 3 years. Im in charge of deciding what we use at work. My decisions arnt just based on performance. I have to look at product familiarity with the engineers, Product suport, Performance, Price. I like to find a product range from the same manaufacturer. We used to use sony big time for everything, We then had a quality issue with an old colour ccd (cant remeber the unit name) and moved to pana. Pana P!ssed on anything sony had picture quality wise and definetly low light wise. About 6 months ago i moved of pana cameras onto Bosch (easier for the lads to set up (no filters req)) but i have yet to replace a single pana unit (monitor or camera.) I still think that pana outperform bosch like for like but i lose at least 15 mins per camera on setup time if i go for panasonic over bosch. So bosch is considerably chaeper for similar performance. Hope you dont work for sony lol. But i doubt i will ever spec another sony anything as long as im in the security industry. (as you can gather i had quite a fallout with them)

James

well i found very intresting what you post.
i will search about that information.

can you post any prices of prices of bosch or panna.
just to compare the difference prices managed outside my country.
since i cant find those cameras in here.. shust bosch i think.

the panna cameras you seek are panasonic. Unfortunatly we are an installer of cctv and i only know where to get them from for us. I dont know of any sites that sell this equipment direct to end users, maybe others can help here?

James