I read:

since i'm new to video (and will be so for a while...) i'd need a few hints from you pixel pros:

well I'm more like your newbie pixel bro' but I'll try to answer some of it

• which linux/PD/GEM etc. components would i need for video in and analysis?

I found pdp pretty good for this job though gem's pix_blob IIRC is nice aswell, pidip has some pdp based externs that do colortracking and there is a very use- ful object called motiongrid. Also the API is easy enough to grasp to add your own stuff.

• any experiences concerning long-term (several months) video and audio

stuff with PD under linux?

test it for a week, make sure the box has a network connection, put everything in startup scripts so even non-geeks can get is back up in no time.

• which (cheap!) video-in device should be used?

these philips usb cams are cheap, there is a i386 binary only decompressor module for linux so you get a decent framerate and the image quality is ok

bttv based cards are also cheap, well supported (even on ppc) then you can use whatever composite/s-video device you have (also these tiny composite cams from conrad.de) + you can use it to watch tv after the installation ;)

HTH

x