Neighbor's wheels got stolen. Here's the (poor) footage of the perp's car.

[GBot]

At 3:58 a.m. (roughly 57 minutes into this video, sorry for the lack of video editing), you can see a car turn onto our street in the upper right of the screen. He then turns off his lights as he turns around in front of my house.
[Video deleted for privacy reasons. Thanks to all those who replied]

From other cameras you can see (from a far distance) that he stops in front of the victim's house and you can see movement in the driveway, but it's not really relevant. I can post if if anyone cares, or you can probably see it via my YouTube profile.

Any tips on making the video look better? I played with the contrast etc while viewing the video with VLC player but it didn't help much. At best this could possibly tie the perp to the crime if police already have other significant evidence.

Any guesses on the car? I thought they were Honda taillights, but some type of VW or Toyota Camry were other possibilities. I'm trying to look through daytime recordings to see if this person scouted the street another time. I found a car that vaguely looks like the one in the video above, but the license plate is indecipherable.

Finally, any thoughts on what camera could give significantly better nighttime images of my cul-de-sac? This is a Swann NVR/camera package from Costco, which are actually rebranded 3MP Hikvision cameras. There are really no streetlights, so I don't know if an EXIR camera would help or maybe get some additional IR lights that shine towards the street.

Thanks for any suggestions!

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[Del Boy]

Don't know US cars sorry but 2CD2T42WD-I8 6mm/8mm lens will give you a great view of anyone on the cul-de-sac bit. The IR will also help out your current camera.

 

[klasipca]

This is exactly my experience with these budget Hikvision 3MP and newer 4MP cams, they were useless for use at night for driveway/backyard coverage, you can't even make out what type of car it is in your video... and I watched it multiple times. My cul-de-suc isn't as bad in terms of light, but my Hikvision cams couldn't ID car models either at similar distance. In terms of what to do, basically get a better cam or buy external IR. See my sig for both excellent options in terms of driveway cam which don't cost an arm and a leg. If you prefer to stick with Hikvision then check out darkfighter/lightfigher series.

 

[Del Boy]

Actually Huisun Mini PTZ isn't a bad shout. It's IR is strong, lens is good and the Sony sensor would be much better in these low-light situations.

DS-2CD2T42WD-I8 will be a bit sharper during the day because the 4MP is a bit sharper in my experience.

 

[klasipca]

Yeah, i wish Huisun made higher resolution version, perhaps v3 next year... but really, I would use at least 2 cams in this environment like OP. Huisun and Longse I have is a perfect match. Longse gives me wide overall picture with good low light sensitivity and with Huisun I can target specific spot for more detail.

 

[lacibaci]

To get a better night vision you would have to significantly increase your budget 3Mbps Hikvisions are about $100 so you cannot expect very good low light performance without some help (more light) You could get a spot or flood IR lamp.

 

[j4co]

Perhaps I should search more, but is there a thread on reliable IR flood lights ?
All i read is the cheaper ones break fast.

 

[LittleBrother]

A neighbor had something happen on their yard last month. Asked me to check cam. I did, but couldn't see much--was across the street. They got a camera after. People may not realize that night time video is hard enough as it is, but identifying anything at 50 or 60 feet or more, just forget it.

I believe it's possible to get a fairly inexpensive license-plate only setup for night (only plates because everything else in frame will be completely pitch black so that the reflection of the plate doesn't blind the camera), but without a lot of ambient light that car is a challenge for a lot of cams.

 

[gordo]

In case something happens to op's car, he could pull it up more for a better camera view. It looks like plenty of driveway in front of the car.

 

[GBot]

In case something happens to op's car, he could pull it up more for a better camera view. It looks like plenty of driveway in front of the car.

That car needs to be there unfortunately because two cars park in the garage in front of it and there needs to be enough room to maneuver around that car.

Thanks for the feedback so far everybody. I gave the video to the victim and I assume they gave it to police, though I doubt there's much they can do with it.

I would like to get an IR flood light or maybe a higher resolution cam with long lens to pick up license plates (I appreciate the specific model numbers recommended). Though really I hope my other neighbors will be inspired to get cameras for their houses.

Speaking of which, the neighbors to the left of me have cameras too (not sure which brand, but I know a local security company installed them). They're on vacation but maybe they have a slightly better view and maybe better quality hardware too.

Thanks to everyone in this community too. These forums are a gold mine of info!

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[Git]

I believe it's possible to get a fairly inexpensive license-plate only setup for night (only plates because everything else in frame will be completely pitch black so that the reflection of the plate doesn't blind the camera), but without a lot of ambient light that car is a challenge for a lot of cams.

I agree. My 10x Huisun works great picking up license plates day or night but I don't expect anything else from it. I do have a Hikvision also covering the front of the house that I use with a LED Motion Sensor light to scare people away

 

[klasipca]

Nothing wrong with the camera there, providing you are using it as an overview camera to see what is going on. You are not going to see "who" is going on with any camera with a wide angle lens like that. Nothing to do with make of camera. Regardless of make of camera you will need to have a lens that is focussed on a specific choke point or area of interest before you will be able to recognise a face or make out a numberplate.
The area around your building is wide open, with nothing to force people in to using a specific approach route. Address that. Keep the overview cameras. Add a few cameras that are zoomed in to areas of interest.

Even for an overview camera he can do better in the driveway, but I agree best to get a camera or two with zoomed in views.

In case you didn't see it, I uploaded my driveway view. While I can't identify license plate, I can clearly see what car it is and cam can actually identify faces that are on my driveway at night