Camera Monitoring with Lorex camera

[Branta]

Mint 6 stable


What open source app can I use as a replacement for the Windows app used with a Lorex,camera security system?

The URL for Lorex is: http://www.lorextechnology.com/



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Bob

[JpBя]

While I'm not familiar with Lorex cameras specifically, (or, obviously, your particular installation) I'd have a look at ZoneMinder: http://www.zoneminder.com. It seems to be the best thing going in Linux security camera software. I've used it a little, and it's easy to configure and use, at least with my setup. FWIW, I usually find a hardware DVR to be money well spent. You get a level of reliability that it's hard to match with a computer/capture card system, provided you choose a good one. Then again, if this in the home, it might not be worth it. Anyway, good luck!

[Lessss]

While some lorex cameras are IP cameras most aren't and only the dvr box has an IP. With the Lorex software the software connects to the DVR box IP and shows the channels.

So without knowing how those "channels" are addressed it's not likely to work. I have yet to hear from anyone that has succeeded.

[phd21]

Mint 6 stable
What open source app can I use as a replacement for the Windows app used with a Lorex,camera security system?
The URL for Lorex is: http://www.lorextechnology.com/
Bob

HI Branta

I think you can use one of these wonderful programs, "motion", or "Zoneminder" for this. Although, you should also be able to view the IP camera using a browser too since most IP cameras have a built-in web server; you might need to open some ports in your firewall to do this...

Motion Homepage - easy to use and setup, 1-4 cameras
http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/bin/view/Motion

How to Operate Linux Spycams With Motion
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/7 ... ith-motion

Zoneminder - IMHO the best camera software for security out there. Unlimited number of cameras.
- A little more work to setup though...
http://www.zoneminder.com/

How to Operate Your Spycams with ZoneMinder on Linux (part 1)
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/7 ... ux-part-1-

Controlling Spycams with ZoneMinder on Linux (part 2)
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/7 ... ux-part-2-

Article and video of Zoneminder ...
http://ulyssesonline.com/2010/09/05/zoneminder/


Hope this helps ...

FYI: It would help everyone here to have more information about your system's setup: like what edition and version of Linux Mint are you using, Cinnamon, Mate, KDE (my favorite), or Xfce; version 17, 17.1, 17.2, or What?; 32-bit or 64-bit? Some more information about your hardware would be useful as well. You can get this information from top of your system menu's Welcome screen, System Information program(s), and the best is by typing in "inxi -Fxz" from a console terminal prompt, which you can then copy and paste back here. This information helps anyone here in this forum to be able to answer any questions you may have better , thanks. You can even add this information (abbreviated) to your signature using the control panel link in the above left of this forum screen; then when you post a question or reply to one, that info will automatically be there, ex: see mine and others below their posts.

[Lessss]

Lorex LH118000 The cameras are non IP cameras that plug into a dvr that does have an IP and the software from lorex displays all the feeds indside that on the windows PC.

Mint 17.1 XFCE 32bit
Kernel: 3.13.0-37-generic i686 (32 bit, gcc: 4.8.2)
Desktop: Xfce 4.11.8 (Gtk 2.24.23) Distro: Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Single core Intel Pentium 4 CPU (-HT-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (nx sse sse2 sse3) bmips: 6783.42
Clock Speeds: 1: 3391.714 MHz 2: 3391.714 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] bus-ID: 01:00.0
X.Org: 1.15.1 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1280x768@59.9hz, 1360x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce 210/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 331.113 Direct Rendering: No

If I type the ip into a brower http://192.168.0.17 it redirects and gives http://192.168.0.17/play.html which is a lorex page but blank.
Same thing if I add the port IP:port
If I use something like MyIPcam it says response is received but no image, error 404 If I deliberately use the wrong settings it just says 'Cam model Scanning... (30 sec)' then "Camera does not respond. Check the 'Cam address' or 'Cam port' "

If I put the lorex sotware in a VM running XP or win7 I can get sound but no picture. I'd rather avoid a VM.

[phd21]

Hi Lessss,

1. Okay, obviously if the cameras were independent (capable of running stand-alone), and not dependent on their DVR, this would be easier and more flexible. But, you should still be able to view the video streams from the cameras in various ways if the DVR has an IP address and because you said you can do this in MS Windows. This assumes you do not have a problem viewing videos in your browser(s) (like YouTube, ,or news videos), and if you do, there are ways of handling that too. If you do not have these programs already installed from the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM), then you might considering installing them: ubuntu-restricted-extras, ffmpeg, "mplayer2" stuff, smplayer, mencoder, "h.264" & "h.265" codec libraries.

For example:
- to view the Motion" software cameras, you use the "url": http://localhost:8081/
- to view Zoneminder's control interface and your cameras, you use the "url": http://localhost/zm/index.php

* Note: do you know the port(s) for this DVR and its software, if so, what are they?

2. From the results of the "inxi -Fxz", I can see that your current Nvidia video drivers are insufficient, "Direct Rendering: No". This needs to be addressed first.

You can try the "open source" video drivers and then re-run the "inxi -Fxz" command to see if it changes in a good way, or you can try installing the Nvidia drivers.

2. a.)FYI regarding Video Drivers: *** Always a good idea to have a backup ***

** Note: you must always restart your computer after installing video drivers. And, it is a good idea to check the System Settings, Driver Managr, to see if it recommends any new video driver. If it does, install it and reboot again. Even if it does not, then you will still be using the most current video drivers. ***

Solve display problems in Ubuntu and Linux Mint
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ct/display

2. a1.) Find out which nVidia driver you need

- because nvidia sometimes decides to not include older cards in the newest driver versions, you need to find out if your card is still supported by the most recent driver (installed by the nvidia-glx package) or whether you might need to install a package with a specific version. A little program called nvidia-detect helps you with this

- open up a terminal window and install it with the following command:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-detect
sudo apt-get update

- after the install start it by entering: sudo nvidia-detect

- if it tells you that you need "nvidia-glx" your card is still supported by the latest version and you can install the proprietary driver with the commands in the next step. If not replace nvidia-glx with the package nvidia-detect tells you to use
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 a2.). Install the proprietary Nvidia driver

- for installing the driver, a little helper program to make it work and the nvidia configuration tool, open up a terminal and copy/paste the following:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

- THIS STEP IS CRITICAL: after the installation is finished execute the following command: sudo nvidia-xconfig

- nvidia-xconfig creates a xorg.conf file that tells the kernel which driver to use. Other drivers don't need this config file anymore so it has to be created. Also the installation of the driver ends with the message that the nouveau driver is still active and the easiest solution is to just reboot, without this step you'll end up with system without a graphical interface. If you are allready at that point, just login and enter sudo nvidia-xconfig now
- done!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NVIDIA: how to install a video card driver manually -mamarley/nvidia PPA
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/12

Type in at the console terminal prompt each line one by one, or copy and paste each line:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mamarley/nvidia
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-??? <----- Must put the correct nVidia driver for your video card, ex: nvidia-349
sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings
sudo apt-get install vdpauinfo
sudo apt-get update


Reboot your computer. After this reboot your video card should run on the new driver. Check it by means of the following terminal command:
lsmod | grep nvidia
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OR
I would highly recommend installing these two PPA's below regarding the most current Open Source video drivers, afterwards, reboot, check your System Settings, Driver Manager, to see if any recommended video drivers show up, if it shows any, install the recommended one, and reboot; even if none show up, you would still be using the most recent video drivers available. If you have a Nvidia Graphics (video) card, then there are other instructions, just ask...

Solve display problems in Ubuntu and Linux Mint
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ct/display


X.org-Edgers PPA
you can also add the X.org-Edgers PPA if youre concerned about your graphics performance. This PPA will give you the absolute latest version of the X.org X display server, which is a part of the entire graphics stack. If you want better graphics performance, its important to keep the entire stack updated. You should not use this PPA if you use the proprietary graphics drivers.

Type in at the console terminal prompt each line one by one, or copy and paste each line:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update


Oibaf is a PPA that includes the very latest graphics drivers, and is updated virtually every day. This PPA is only helpful if youre using the open source drivers rather than the proprietary nVidia or AMD drivers proprietary drivers are not included.

Type in at the console terminal prompt each line one by one, or copy and paste each line:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt-get update


3. You might be able to install their custom DVR software in Linux using "Wine".

Hope this helps ...

[MintGuy]

You can use VLC to view your Lorex 720 HD cameras.

1. Open VLC
2. Click on Media and select Network Stream
3. Type in: rtsp://admin: password>@<your DVR IP Address>/cam/realmonitor?channel=<camera number>&subtype=0
example: rtsp://admin:128967@192.168.1.75/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
this will stream camera 1 at IP address 192.168.1.75 in VLC assuming the admin password is 128967
4. Click on Play

(Optional Method)
Open Terminal and type:
vlc rtsp://admin: password>@<your DVR IP Address>/cam/realmonitor?channel=<camera number>&subtype=0 -f

This will open VLC maximized using the example above

Hope this helps folks ...