Recording from multiple webcams

[Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions]

Hello,

Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3 webcams simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to record from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.

Any clue?

TIA

--- ---
Eduardo Morras <***@yahoo.es>

[Polytropon]

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3 webcams
simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to record
from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.

Not tested (because I don't have even one webcam here), but would
mencoder be an option for you? Many years ago, I've been using a
computer with two Haupauge TV/video cards and accessed their video
inputs independently by accessing /dev/bktr0 with one mencoder,
and /dev/bktr1 with the other... not sure if mencoder could do
the same with webcams controlled by webcamd...

[Mehmet Erol Sanliturk]

On Tue, 17 May 2016 19:04:59 +0200, Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3 webcams
simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to record
from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.

Not tested (because I don't have even one webcam here), but would
mencoder be an option for you? Many years ago, I've been using a
computer with two Haupauge TV/video cards and accessed their video
inputs independently by accessing /dev/bktr0 with one mencoder,
and /dev/bktr1 with the other... not sure if mencoder could do
the same with webcams controlled by webcamd...
--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
_______________________________________________

I do not have MEncoder :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEncoder
( http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ )
( http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/index.html )

From documentation , it seems that MEncoder can encode from TV , Radio ,
but I could not see web camera .
Perhaps , it may encode from multiple network cameras ( see Section 3.4 :
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/streaming.html ) because each camera
will have its own IP/address .


I do not have a working FreeBSD .
I tried in Fedora 20 x86_64 KDE ( Assume you have a KDE in your FreeBSD ) .


I have attached two web cameras .
I have started Cheese . It attached to one of the cameras .
I have started Camorama . It attached to another of the cameras .

A second copy of Cheese did not start .
A second copy of Camorama did not start ( gave an error that "Could not
connect to /dev/video0" ) .
I have started UCView . It connected to /dev/video1 , but it did not show
any image .


Conclusions :

No one of the programs has any menu item to select a web camera device to
connect .
No one of the programs are able to work in multiple copies .


There are open source other programs you may try compile and run in
multiple copies , but most of them are working with common libraries .
Therefore you need to make modifications to these programs to allow them to
connect to different web cameras , either from one program or from
different programs .


My knowledge is so much .


Mehmet Erol Sanliturk

[Shamim Shahriar]

On Tue, 17 May 2016 19:04:59 +0200, Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3 webcams
simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to record
from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.

I'm not sure if you have looked around, but there are lots of reference
to a software called Zoneminder -- which is available in FreeBSD ports
tree as well
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/multimedia/zoneminder/pkg-descr?revision=HEAD

People have discussed using multiple instances of Motion
http://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/multimedia/motion/pkg-descr?revision=HEAD

Also, here is Raspberry Pi tutorial using Omxplayer (some suggestions on
using vlc was available on various sites)
https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/123787-raspberry-pi-powered-surveillance-camera-monitoring-display

Hope this helps
Regards

[Mehmet Erol Sanliturk]

On Tue, 17 May 2016 19:04:59 +0200, Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3 webcams
simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to record
from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.

Not tested (because I don't have even one webcam here), but would
mencoder be an option for you? Many years ago, I've been using a
computer with two Haupauge TV/video cards and accessed their video
inputs independently by accessing /dev/bktr0 with one mencoder,
and /dev/bktr1 with the other... not sure if mencoder could do
the same with webcams controlled by webcamd...
--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
_______________________________________________

man cheese

is showing that


there is a command line option


--device=DEVICE, -d DEVICE
Use the supplied DEVICE as the video capture device.

In a Terminal :

[***@localhost ~]$ cheese --device=/dev/video1

(cheese:14915): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: value "5.000000" of type 'gdouble'
is invalid or out of range for property 'delaytime' of type 'gdouble'
[***@localhost ~]$


Picture from web camera is displayed .

[***@localhost ~]$ cheese --device=/dev/video0

(cheese:14997): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_set_value: assertion
'G_IS_SETTINGS (settings)' failed
[***@localhost ~]$ x_sync_UDD.sh

Cheese could not start due to the above error .


If these errors can be corrected in sources , you may use multiple copies
of Cheese for multiple devices .


--------------------------------------------

The following statements in different Terminal windows worked concurrently
in different web cameras :

camorama -d=/dev/video0
camorama -d=/dev/video1


Initialization of web cameras may be required by pulling and reinserting
them .


See how to Camorama in the following page :

https://github.com/alessio/camorama
view, alter and save images from a webcam


Mehmet Erol Sanliturk

[Shane Ambler]

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
Hello,
Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3
webcams simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to
record from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.
Any clue?
TIA

You should be able to run an instance of ffmpeg for each camera.

ffmpeg -f video4linux2 -input_format mjpeg -i /dev/video0 out.mpeg

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html#video4linux2_002c-v4l2

[Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions]

On Tue, 17 May 2016 19:04:59 +0200

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
Hello,
Can I record video from multiple webcams? I need record from 3
webcams simultaneusly, I've install webcamd but can't find any app to
record from them. Some apps allow 1 webcam but I need at least 3.
Any clue?

I'll summary answers here:

Polytropon: I can't make mencoder work. It says no bktr0 device error and loading it with kldload bktr.ko don't fix it.

Mehmet: Camerorama don't exist for in FreeBSD ports. I tried other cam apps from ports but they depend on bktr and fails or record a green window.

Shamim: Zonemine tries to install PHP, MySQL, WebServer etc... and I don't want install them for this task.

Shane: ffmepg works and records from my 3 webcams to 3 different files.

Currently trying cheese, it has on 'Cheese'->'Preferences' menu a widget to select the webcam, but can manage more than 1 at a time.

What I'm trying to do is a bit different from what currents apps provide, I'll develop one that do what I want the way I want and not use one to do what I the way they say.


Thanks to all

Post by Eduardo Morras via freebsd-questions
TIA
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