How effective are cameras triggered with lighting?

[JimS]

I'm finding the Avermedia capture cards, which are more than just $40, but they appear to have some really great reviews. The only thing I'm not finding in my brief searching is confirmation of Linux support for these cards. I can run on Win XP, if necessary, but I would really like to run on Linux.

This whole project is being undertaken as a learning process for me. Sure, I want to do it because it would be cool, but I'm also taking it on because I want to learn, I want to expand my knowledge base. I have a bit of experience in Linux and a whole lot in Windows.


Having said that, is anyone aware of any fully supported capture cards in Linux?

I am not a Linux expert so I am not sure about "fully" supported but the cheap cards I was thinking about at store.bluecherry.net (such as the PV-143) claim to be supported and automatically detected. A 4 port card does not have compression built in - they are simple frame grabbers. They go for about $45 - $50. They also have higher cost cards. I have no connection to bluecherry. I only know of them from links on the zoneminder site.
http://www.zoneminder.com/

 

[signal15]

I'm finding the Avermedia capture cards, which are more than just $40, but they appear to have some really great reviews. The only thing I'm not finding in my brief searching is confirmation of Linux support for these cards. I can run on Win XP, if necessary, but I would really like to run on Linux.

This whole project is being undertaken as a learning process for me. Sure, I want to do it because it would be cool, but I'm also taking it on because I want to learn, I want to expand my knowledge base. I have a bit of experience in Linux and a whole lot in Windows.


Having said that, is anyone aware of any fully supported capture cards in Linux?

The Hauppage cards are supported, have been for years. You can pick them up very very cheaply. But, if you want cards with onboard h.264 hardware encoding, I'm not sure what's out there. Hauppage may have some.

 

[JDuc]

The Hauppage cards are supported, have been for years. You can pick them up very very cheaply. But, if you want cards with onboard h.264 hardware encoding, I'm not sure what's out there. Hauppage may have some.

The reviews I've read of the Hauppage cards aren't all that great, but then again, the reviews aren't geared towards what we're trying to do here.

What are your thoughts on these cards for this purpose?

 

[BioSehnsucht]

If you want multiple cameras on a single card, and pretty straightforward Linux compatibility, then I'll second Bluecherry. My friend has a setup for security at his wife's store using one card and several cameras, using ZoneMinder on Linux. ZoneMinder is pretty sophisticated and can IIRC both generate and receive alarm conditions (i.e., you can trigger it to record externally, and it can generate external triggers to other devices based on conditions such as motion in a part of the video frame etc).