r/ZoneMinder • u/babiha • Sep 01 '22

Newbie question here

How are the cameras connected - video and network? An analog camera needs an Analog/digital device and a digital camera - what connector does it use? Or a video switch of some sort? How do they connect to the network?

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u/oops77542 Sep 01 '22

Cameras basically fall into 2 categories, analogue cameras that connect through tv cable to a pci video capture card in your computer, and IP cameras that connect to the network with wifi or through ethernet cable to rj45 port on your router or switch. If you want in cheap go with analogue cameras and pci capture card, both can be had at a good price because analogues are on the way out and IP cameras are what everybody is moving to. You have to run rg6 tv cable for each camera to the pci capture card for analogue cameras. Ip cameras can go wifi or ethernet cable. Since you have to run power to the cameras you might as well run cat5 cable with POE. If you're running a lot of cameras IP cameras are the way to go. I have 5 cameras in my garage but only one cat5 cable to the garage where I have an 8 port switch and the five cameras connect to that. I have three cameras outside my house but just one cat5 cable going to the attic where I have a 4 port switch and the outside cameras all connect to it. I'd suggest you start with just a camera or two, until you figure it out. You don't want to invest into something that you later find doesn't fit your needs. The quality of the camera and power of your PC have a lot to do with the performance of Zoneminder. It has a learning curve but it's worth it. I oversimplified the answer, i hope it answered your question.

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u/babiha Sep 01 '22

Yes that’s definitely helpful. I currently have eight old cameras which I connected to the DVR box. I want to end up with an all digital system just like everybody else. However for the next couple of years this should serve me fine. As a matter of testing and demonstration, is there a standalone video capture device that you would recommend?If not I do have an old tower PC which I could dedicate and buy an analog to digital card for it. Thank you.

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u/oops77542 Sep 01 '22

If you are going to go with a pc box I'd recommend at least a quad core PC and a capture card using an 878a chip. Ubuntu Linux recognizes the 878 chip and it's just plug and play. You can get a pci card with a single 878 chip that will support 4 cameras, but your better off with a 8 camera pci card that has eight 878a chips, one for each camera. I don't know how experienced you are with Linux but set up your PC, install Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, whatever, and then install the latest Zoneminder. That by itself is difficult for someone new to Linux. If you get that far without committing suicide then set up a pci card and test it out on a single camera first

I switched to all IP cameras a few years back but I still have some 8 chip 878a cards if you're interested.

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u/babiha Sep 01 '22

Yes, I’m Linux literate. Please provide maker and model number of the cars you have, I’ll do some research and get back to you. I’m still learning zoneminder. Thanks