If I want to read licence plates and monitor the area...

dubb

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do I have to install two cameras side by side?
 

aristobrat

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@bigredfish's video above is a great example of why.

By the time you adjust your camera settings so it has the best chance of reading plates, just about everything except bright surfaces (i.e. license plates) is too dark to see well.
 
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Parley

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Yes. That is why I am also adding 4 LPR cameras just for license plates. I have other cameras that cover the area. Here is one example that I already have taken pictures of.

LPR NVR 1 Daytime.jpg LPR 1 West.jpg
 
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Parley

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Let me add that the current cameras that cover those areas are fine for getting license plates during the daytime. It is the night time where they falter and the need for LPR specific cameras.
 

crzipilot

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Was about to come on here and ask the same question. first night of having the cams setup, and when I first looked at the live feed for the LPR cams all I saw was dead of night. Uh Oh...this isn't good. I decided to pull video clips, and lo behold, the brightness of the plates came in. not bad for first night and just using some approx. settings found on the forum. It could be the cam or could be just the settings, but we can make out the numbers on the plate, but not the actual state etc. Is this about the quality most are getting?

Thanks




Front Exit LPR_20190805T221649-0500_Moment.jpg Rear Entrance LPR_20190805T212130-0500_3.jpg
 

bigredfish

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Thats pretty damn good for a first shot, congrats!

I dont usually get the state, but its really dependent on the plate itself. So many older and dirty plates that dont reflect well, and the lack of contrast between the white and light green some genius decided to use for Florida plates :facepalm:
 

Parley

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As long as you can read the plate and those are not bad. Mine go from very good to so-so as shown above, to not at all as some cars do not have a front plate. That is why I am installing additional cameras so I can read the front and back plates of a vehicle. I also noticed that when I go frame by frame to read a plate some numbers and letters will fade in and out depending on the light conditions. So a number or letter that might be weak in one frame can be stronger in another frame.
 

crzipilot

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Cool, now if I can just figure out how to record 24/7 on these cams I'll be all set. I lost out on the argument of which cams to use, and am dealing with amcrest with uploading to amcrest cloud. Not my first choice but at least the cams are getting the plates.
 
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Cool, now if I can just figure out how to record 24/7 on these cams I'll be all set. I lost out on the argument of which cams to use, and am dealing with amcrest with uploading to amcrest cloud. Not my first choice but at least the cams are getting the plates.
Why not do what most folks here do? Get a WIN10 PC and run Blue Iris to capture 24/7?
 

crzipilot

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I would, but this is an HOA project. In that on the HOA board, we have some IT pros that A. want offsite recording. B. do not want a NVR or other item required to be in a persons house, as then they control it. So in their wisdom, the best option was going with amcrest (which is what is on his house) and send everything to their cloud. It took actually getting in their 8mp cams and mounting them and me showing to them they can't get a plate captured for them to finally admit that we needed a varifocal lens etc. It's been a process.
 

crzipilot

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you have pics of the nvr on the nema boxes. We have a "guard" shack in the middle of our entrance where the cams are mounted. Inside is the power and internet. IT guys didn't want to run a NVR inside as it gets super stupid crazy hot inside. They figured the drives would fail in no time.
 

bigredfish

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No hotter or more humid than Floriduh. Going on 3 years two Dahua 4208’s with PoE plus a cable modem and a netgear router in each

I’ll get you some pics this evening when I get home
 

crzipilot

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I gotcha, onthe temp and humidity, but this is inside a shack with no airflow. I walk inside it and it's probably close to 110+ with the doors closed. No airflow through there at all. The router and fiber modem are mounted in there, but it was the hard drives we were worried about.
 

bigredfish

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No real airflow here. Hot as shit in there..

culdesacbox.JPG culdesacbox-open.JPG entrance-poleandbox.JPG Culdesac-pole.JPGculdesac-pole2.JPG


Certainly not saying its ideal, but it beats having to stream video back to another point over the interwebs.
 

crzipilot

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Cool, that gives me some ideas, I'll see what I can convince them of. Of course they already invested in the amcrests, would have rather had the dahuas....
 
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