Recommended computer for ALPR with 2 cameras?

[wittaj]

Now I remember why I didn't go the paid route. Just too expensive for me as the $5 plan was not sufficient. With the open source version I have unlimited retention and it's free! I do miss out on the filtering that the paid version provides. So mine logs all plate read attempts regardless of confidence and it doesn't ignore parked cars (although with tweaking if the code it is supposed to).

Currently I have 611,000 records in my MySQL database that was started in April of 2019!! I intended to set up some routines to clean up the database automatically but never got around to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Which route are you going that you are not paying for the service to read and log plates?

 

[wrybread]

I'm curious too, but guessing this?

Rekor Documentation

doc.openalpr.com

I've been meaning to try it. Although I have to say, the ALPR team gives pretty stellar tech support, and their product works well.

 

[wrybread]

I'm still curious about laptops. Has anyone found a specific laptop model that works well for ALPR?

 

[wtimothyholman]

I'm still curious about laptops. Has anyone found a specific laptop model that works well for ALPR?

If I were going to buy one, I'd get this: Dell G3 15 Inch Gaming Laptop with Game Shift technology | Dell USA

Note the NVIDIA GPU. I would also install Ubuntu Linux on it. And if I was worried about disk space, I'd include an external hard drive.

 

[th182]

Which route are you going that you are not paying for the service to read and log plates?

Sorry for the delay! I followed the guide here OpenALPR - A How-To on Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop

If I remember correctly it was slightly different due to variations in the recent packages. I do remember that I had to use Ubuntu 16.04 and NOT 18.

 

[pbc]

Just jumping in on wrybread's thread (hope that's okay) as my CPU has jumped since using openALPR. My i6700 based server has an AMDFirePro W4100 graphics card, can this be used somehow to reduce reliance on the CPU? I can't figure out if there is a setting somewhere I need to adjust!

 

[wtimothyholman]

Just jumping in on wrybread's thread (hope that's okay) as my CPU has jumped since using openALPR. My i6700 based server has an AMDFirePro W4100 graphics card, can this be used somehow to reduce reliance on the CPU? I can't figure out if there is a setting somewhere I need to adjust!

No, it has to be an NVIDIA graphics card. OpenALPR requires an NVIDIA driver created with the CUDA toolkit. Although AMD undoubtedly has a similar development tool for its own cards, OpenALPR does not support them.

The card doesn't have to be expensive. An NVIDIA GTX 1050 or 1060 can easily handle a couple of LPR cameras without any difficulty.

 

[pbc]

So something like this?

 

[wtimothyholman]

So something like this?

View attachment 65140

Yes, that will be fine - probably overkill, in fact. I have an old GTX750 in my Dell Optiplex 9020, and it easily handles two LPR cameras running at 2MP resolution at 50 FPS.

 

[pbc]

No, it has to be an NVIDIA graphics card. OpenALPR requires an NVIDIA driver created with the CUDA toolkit. Although AMD undoubtedly has a similar development tool for its own cards, OpenALPR does not support them.

The card doesn't have to be expensive. An NVIDIA GTX 1050 or 1060 can easily handle a couple of LPR cameras without any difficulty.

Just picked up the card and will install it shortly. For the CUDA installation, do I install Visual Basic free version (with no components) and then go through this quickstart guide?

CUDA Installation Guide for Windows

docs.nvidia.com

 

[wtimothyholman]

Just picked up the card and will install it shortly. For the CUDA installation, do I install Visual Basic free version (with no components) and then go through this quickstart guide?

CUDA Installation Guide for Windows

docs.nvidia.com

Read the instructions on the OpenALPR web site for NVIDIA driver installation.

Rekor Documentation

doc.openalpr.com

 

[pbc]

Thanks, did all that. How do I know if it's actually working as my CPU % hasn't really changed much?

 

[samplenhold]

How do I know if it's actually working as

Open the Task Manager. Go to the Performance tab and click the GPU graph on the bottom left. You will see the video card usage.

 

[Robert G.]

Open the Task Manager. Go to the Performance tab and click the GPU graph on the bottom left. You will see the video card usage.

In addition to the GPU usage in the task manage, you can also look at the logs for OpenALPR, there is indication in the logs if it is using the GPU or not.

 

[pbc]

In addition to the GPU usage in the task manage, you can also look at the logs for OpenALPR, there is indication in the logs if it is using the GPU or not.

Safe to assume this means the GPU isn't working?



ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading library -- "alprocrgpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading library -- "alprocrgpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading library -- "alprocrgpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading detection library -- "alpredgegpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.


ERROR loading library -- "alprocrgpu.dll": The specified module could not be found.

 

[Robert G.]

@pbc I assume you are under Windows, did you install the required software? There are some extra bits you need.

It is documented here:

Rekor Documentation

doc.openalpr.com

 

[pbc]

Yes, not much is going right for me these days! Have uninstalled it and will start again from scratch.

 

[pbc]

So, when I install BlueIris, it makes me install the second item here:




When I get to the second line here:



...and I install the exe, it tells me:


So not sure if I should uninstall the one that BI installed and install this one? Or just go to the next step since the Visual C++ version BI installs looks newer. Typically these things will say "you have a newer version installed do you want to replace" vs the message above.

 

[pbc]

In addition to the GPU usage in the task manage, you can also look at the logs for OpenALPR, there is indication in the logs if it is using the GPU or not.

Okay, I didn't install the 2015 version above and went ahead with the rest. I think it's working since the NVidia GPU usage jumps from 3% to 14% when it sees a plate, and I don't see any errors in the openalpr logs.

Which OPENALPR log actually specifies that the GPU is being used per your comment above?

 

[wtimothyholman]

Okay, I didn't install the 2015 version above and went ahead with the rest. I think it's working since the NVidia GPU usage jumps from 3% to 14% when it sees a plate, and I don't see any errors in the openalpr logs.

One way you can verify that the GPU is working is to set your cameras to maximum frame rate and maximum resolution. My Dahua -Z12 cameras would peg my i7 CPU at +90% running at 2 MP resolution @ 30 fps. With the GPU enabled, my CPU runs at 30% with both cameras operating at 2 MP @ 50 fps, according to the OpenALPR agent.