Looking for advice on a local storage only camera system

The Z12E is PERFECT for going back later and reviewing video to find the plate. This is exactly what most of us do. But it won't automatically read them (need a camera 3 times the price). Someone (you or police) would manually read the plate.

But as I pointed out above, at night your image will be completely dark. You shouldn't rely on just the Z12E as a plate camera.

You have to zoom the camera in a lot to be able to read plates. And with the black image at night (unless you have a ton of light) will not give you car color or type and anyone walking in will be missed. Unless you are relying on others in the neighborhood with cameras to fill in those pieces.
 
I was simply pointing out (as did @wittaj above who beat me to the punch) that you really dont need a true ANPR camera with a built in database of plates. Thats really the only thing different between it and a regular camera such as the Z12.

For simplicity sake, We have 3 cameras at the entrance (and 3 at the culdesac). One dedicated to plates inbound, one camera dedicated to humans/vehicles looking outbound, and one Overview looking inbound. The overview is most helpfull at night as the LPR cameras at night will only see the plate's IR reflection

5442 Overview Inbound (can be color but better definition with supplemental IR so running IR mode currently)
CapturePoint.jpg HOAEntrP2P_StreetView_main_20240624113955_@13.jpg

LPR (5442-Z12) Inbound
HOAEntrP2P_EntTag_main_20240624013905_@13.jpg HOA Ent VPN_EntTag_main_20240623140004_@7.jpg HOAEntrP2P_EntTag_main_20240601083327_@13.jpg

5442 Outbound Overview in color
HOAEntrP2P_Entrance_main_20240830225815_@13.jpg HOAEntrP2P_Entrance_main_20240901124624_@13.jpg HOAEntrP2P_Entrance_main_20240901135452_@13.jpg
 
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hmm, now I'm concerned that I don't have the correct setup. Our HOA has 180 homes with 2 entrances so we have a fair amount of traffic. My plan was to place the cameras on the islands with 1 pointed in and another pointed out (the angles are excellent). The inward facing would get the front of exiting cars and the back of entering cars. The outward facing will get the back of the exiting cars. If need be later, we could add a 3rd overview camera but my hope was that wouldn't be needed. Primarily the usage would be that if someone had a break in or such we would review the footage to give the police the vehicles moving during that time window (description and plates).

The best solution for car entrances are WIzMind-X cams (7442H-X) or dedicated LPR cams..

WIzMind-X are more universal - because they work not only on cars but also on people.
They do full ANPR (car plate number recognition), but also cars color/brand/type and also human attributes (age, clothes types/colors, hat/glasses/mask etc)..

You can search by those attributes using Video MetaData functions on NVR (5xxx-EI minimum)...

In latest firmware there is also AcuPick 2.0 solution - where Video Metadata is connected with IVS (perimeter protection) and searching people/cars by image.. In case of using higher line NVR (6xx-XI) Dahua promised in materials that those functions can be connected even with Face recognition feature (but for now they didn't released AcuPick 2.0 firmware for 6xx-XI)..


Screenshot 2024-06-12 at 14.19.13.png

Lots of AI goodness..


there are versions with Z4 lenses (8-32mm). Little less as Z12 in 5241-Z12, but difference in AI/ANPR/searching by attributes functionality between 5241-Z12 and 7444H-X is huge..

 
You guys are awesome, thank you for the advice. The 741R is out of our price range, especially since we need 4 of them. We do plan to have lights aimed to (hopefully) make the tags visible at night. I'm not finding pricing on the Wizmind bullet cameras. I don't think looking thru the footage to read the plate is unworkable for us. The budget I got approved was based on these devices.

It sounds like I've got the right NVR to be able to search the metadata, especially with the Acupick firmware...wow, that's cool stuff. Hmm, is that supported on this NVR 5-EI Series Smart H.265+ AI 8 Channels 1U 8PoE 2HDDs Network Video Recorder NVR8CH-8P-2AI - IP Cam Talk Store I notice it is listed as Empire Tech but I am thinking these are Dahua devices.
 
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We have found Accupick isn't really valuable in a home situation, especially with just two cameras. Not aware of anyone here using it. I tried it on my neighbors I set up for him and it was useless.
 
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We would have 4 cameras (2 on each island) but I get your point. It looks like a very good tool but in practice our usage might be minimal. We do have someone that keeps using the exit side of the island to zoom past people coming thru the entrance. It seems like this might help me build a solid case on him by showing him doing it repeatedly without having to comb thru lots of footage looking for him.