[mythtv-users] ZoneMinder plug in incompatible with network triggers

[David Smoot]

So this weekend I installed Zoneminder on my Mythbuntu box.  I wanted to use ZoneMinder to do two things:  Integrate with MythTv to allow camera views and management from the TV interface and to use the "zmtrigger.pl" package to allow my home automation system to trigger recordings from my security cameras via a network socket interface.

Unfortunately, it appears these two goals are mutually exclusive.  The ZoneMinder plug in requires ZoneMinder to be compiled with shared memory enabled.  But an unfortunate bug in zmtrigger makes it crash when it is used with shared memory.  See http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=19619&hilit=zmtrigger.

On the positive side I can verify that the default packages for ZoneMinder are compiled with the Myth compatible "shared memory" option and that the mythzoneminder package works with ZoneMinder 1.25 (the latest as of this writing).  So if you do not want the network trigger capability of zmtrigger.pl, then the latest packages appear to work fine.  

I don't really want most of the fancier features of ZoneMinder like motion detection, I really just want a way I can trigger (and ideally schedule) footage from my IP cameras to be recorded via a network interface.

Are there any alternative packages that you are aware of that would accomplish my goal?
Are there any plans to update the ZoneMinder Plug in to be compatible with mapped memory?
Will zoneminder recordings appear in the MythTV interface?

How difficult would it be to write a plug in to Myth TV that could stream IP cameras to disk like any other network source?  Ideally I would want something like what already works with a network attached HD Home Run but streams from a camera instead.  I would want to schedule repeating recordings at certain times like "record the front door camera from 3:20pm to 3:30pm every week day when my son comes him from school" as well as trigger a spontaneous recording whenever the security system is disarmed or set off.

Any suggestions welcome, I am a moderately skilled programmer but with no open source experience.  If the task is not too daunting I might try it myself.

David Smoot
davidsmoot at gmail.com



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