New setup HDW3549/NVR2108-i poor quality

[venev]

Hello everyone,
Long time reader here and it looks it is my turn to ask for help. I ve installed new setup with three IPC-HDW3549H-AS-PV-0280B cameras through 3006 Dahua PoE switch and NVR2108-I recorder.
Everything is set and it works, but the video quality is terrible. It looks blurry on live and recorded videos. I mean it is so blurry that is impossible to read reg. plate on a vehicle 10-15m away no matter if it is day or night. Led illuminator is working during the night. Also the video is freezing for an eyeblink on equal intervals of 7-8 sec. Things are happening on all three channels. Tried different settings, but nothing. I am not experienced in that, but i think 5MP camera should give if not excellent, but good video quality. I bought those cameras over HDW2431 because found them on a reasonable price in the local dealer (110Eur/pc on a promotion for a month). If someone has an idea how to proceed from now on please help.
Attached is printscreen of the camera encode settings

 

[bigredfish]

Not surprising with those settings...

Get rid of H.265 set to H.264
Bitrate is way too low. Start at 8192 or 10240
Match FPS and Iframe say 15 and 15 minimum
Change to CBR (VBR is worthless on Dahua cameras IMHO)

But thats just for starters. You also need to look at your exposure settings on the camera itself. WHile very scene dependent, you;ll want at least 1/60 or a range of 0-16.67ms, better would be 1/120 or a range of 0-8.33ms but it depends on how much light you have. Lastly make sure your DNR is below 50.

These 2 things are likely the cause of your blur, but thats just for normal scene motion, Reading license plates is another whole chapter and will take a lot more information.

 

[sebastiantombs]

LPR

New to LPR? Considerations Before You Begin

Thought I would throw together a post on my experiences so far with LPR in an effort to help others that are considering running down that rabbit hole. There are some practical considerations you should know about LPR. I am approaching this from the position of using Blue Iris and Plate...

ipcamtalk.com

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...

ipcamtalk.com

LPR

Licence Plate Reader cameras

ipcamtalk.com

Review-Dahua IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E AI Varifocal Bullet

Courtesy of @EMPIRETECANDY at Empire Technology Co., Ltd - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group And EmpireTech-Andy @ Amazon.com: Price Approximately $220US shipped via DHL...

ipcamtalk.com

Read, study, plan, ask then think about doing this.

 

[wittaj]

Yep that camera is not going to get plates at 30m. You need a varifocal lens.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

You use the tioc cam as a LPR , that is bit crazy, and this kind of cam the best function is to scare the people, never have really good pics in the night if there has poor light.

 

[venev]

Thank you so much for the advices. I ve done some changes on the settings and things slightly improved. Long story is that i will need such kind of TIOC cameras in my grandparents house where nobody will live for the winter since april maybe. Did not expect to see wonders from these cameras but in fact i am disappointed from this out of sharpness and blurry videos. Regarding LPR, I don't actually need it but it is a fact that the camera is not able to see it even in 5-10 meters range. The main issue for me is still the blurr and not so smooth moving objects. Later I will try the mentioned settings and will write what results i get.
What is your advice/opinion about full color vs IR cameras generally? I live in area where street lights are pretty strong and maybe this will help to use color ones for sure with the help of its own illumination.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Buy The IPC-HDW3241T-ZAS there can solve the problem.
Or add Light there in the night.

 

[wittaj]

Those are meant to be active deterrence cameras more so than great quality image cameras. They are not on the ideal MP/sensor ratio.

With that said, they can do a good job if placed in the right location. I mean I do have 3 active deterrence cameras and they perform well for me. But any camera placed in the wrong location will result in poor quality. Any 2.8mm camera placed on a 2nd story will be difficult for IDENTIFY purposes as an example since the entire IDENTIFY distance is lost vertically (see below).

How high are these installed?

Do you have any light at night because the LED on these are more gimmicky than anything else? Once dialed in to eliminate motion blur (with a faster shutter), if you do not have any light other than from the LED of the camera, you will be lucky to see much past 5m.

Please post some images of your camera image and some video so we can see what is going on and offer up additional thoughts.

To identify someone with the wide-angle 2.8mm lens on this camera, someone would have to be within 13 feet of the camera, but realistically within 10 feet after you dial it in to your settings in order to IDENTIFY.



So as you can see, at 30 meters, the camera will only be able to DETECT not IDENTIFY.

You need to get the correct camera for the area trying to be covered. A wide angle 2.8mm to IDENTIFY someone 40 feet away is the wrong camera regardless of how good the camera is. A 2.8mm camera to IDENTIFY someone within 10 feet is a good choice OR it is an overview camera to see something happened but not be able to identify who.

One camera cannot be the be all, see all. Each one is selected for covering a specific area. Most of us here have different brands and types, from fixed cams, to varifocals, to PTZs, each one selected for it's primary purpose and to utilize the strength of that particular camera.

 

[venev]

I tried different settings, played with exposure and got things as seen in the pictures attached. Tomorrow will try to find a way to download videos from the recorder because i don't find out a way to do it.

 

[bigredfish]

FYI - still pictures are worthless. Any camera and a broad range of settings can display a pretty still image.

You need to download and show us a video clip with movement in it and describe what your primary goal is.

It sounds like you want overview. You won’t get good overview AND license plates with one camera. You will need a second camera for license plates.

 

[venev]

Yes, for sure LPR is something that I will achieve with another camera. As I said the main thing I want is to get sharper picture in the 10-15m range. The sample pictures I uploaded are not stills, they are print screen of mainstream live videos taken from the desktop. Unfortunately I did not found how to download video files from NVR. Later I will try to find a way and will share videos. As I said I am new with these IP's and still learning many things.

 

[wittaj]

Those pictures you uploaded are stills though. There is nothing moving in those pics - no car or person moving to see how that looks.

How it looks when nothing is moving means nothing - you want the picture to look good when you stop the video of something in motion - can you clearly make out the person or is it a blur or ghost. That is what we are getting at.