I've been lurking on this site for a couple years after I saw a thief stealing packages from mailboxes in our neighborhood but my security footage was to grainy to provide actionable information to the police. Seems like a common problem in our neighborhood that some petty crime happens and there is video footage of the vehicle/perp but not clear enough to be actionable, and the police can't do anything.
Frustrated by that experience, I decided to install a better setup with LPR capability, and I read the threads on this board to figure out how. I ended up installing 2 SD49225T-HN cameras, one fixed on a group of mailboxes and the other one configured as LPR. I used the trick of placing reflective tape in the field of view of the LPR so that focus is maintained day and night which worked really well (that was mentioned on a thread in this forum). I put a spare license plate placed in the field of view to optimize exposure settings to work day/night without glare/washout. I used the PTZ cameras for LPR instead of the turret/bullet style simply because they are mounted very high up and I wanted the ability to adjust aim without having to climb a tall later while I optimized the setup since I didn't know beforehand what angle/field of view was going to be optimum for my LPR setup. I know the PTZ is not considered optimum for LPR, but it is working fine.
I also installed 6 IPC-HDW5231R-Z cameras covering the perimeter of my house/front door, etc, and hooked it up to a Dahua NVR NVR5216-4KS2.
This week a truck came by in the middle of the night and stole mail from the group of mailboxes. The cameras did their job and I got clear video of the crime and the license plate, so the police say they will be able to act on this information!
Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice posted on this board!
Frustrated by that experience, I decided to install a better setup with LPR capability, and I read the threads on this board to figure out how. I ended up installing 2 SD49225T-HN cameras, one fixed on a group of mailboxes and the other one configured as LPR. I used the trick of placing reflective tape in the field of view of the LPR so that focus is maintained day and night which worked really well (that was mentioned on a thread in this forum). I put a spare license plate placed in the field of view to optimize exposure settings to work day/night without glare/washout. I used the PTZ cameras for LPR instead of the turret/bullet style simply because they are mounted very high up and I wanted the ability to adjust aim without having to climb a tall later while I optimized the setup since I didn't know beforehand what angle/field of view was going to be optimum for my LPR setup. I know the PTZ is not considered optimum for LPR, but it is working fine.
I also installed 6 IPC-HDW5231R-Z cameras covering the perimeter of my house/front door, etc, and hooked it up to a Dahua NVR NVR5216-4KS2.
This week a truck came by in the middle of the night and stole mail from the group of mailboxes. The cameras did their job and I got clear video of the crime and the license plate, so the police say they will be able to act on this information!
Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice posted on this board!