Rekor Scout Price Increase to $10/Cam

[biggen]

I don't think that is the case. The last winter storm I lost internet access for 4 days, but using the other utility someone made, I kept getting the plates in that system despite no internet access.

I’m pretty sure the webhooks come from their cloud after your cameras send them the payload first. You have to have internet to get any results at all however.

It’s easy enough to test. Disconnect your internet and see if you still get webhooks.

 

[wittaj]

I am not sure if that other utility uses web hooks or not, but regardless, I was getting plates in that system the whole time I didn't have internet.

 

[kjlf94301]

I’m pretty sure the webhooks come from their cloud after your cameras send them the payload first. You have to have internet to get any results at all however.

Results may be queued if you lose internet. The client will save them and sent them in to their cloud bulk once your internet returns.

It’s easy enough to test. Disconnect your internet and see if you still get webhooks.

2 different “webhooks”. Residential licenses don’t have the first type which come directly from the agent and can be used without internet and still fully function (it’s the same agent, just disabled without on-prem license). Second is the webook processor stuff mentioned elsewhere in the forums that comes from their cloud after they receive the upload from the agent.

 

[biggen]

2 different “webhooks”. Residential licenses don’t have the first type which come directly from the agent and can be used without internet and still fully function (it’s the same agent, just disabled without on-prem license). Second is the webook processor stuff mentioned elsewhere in the forums that comes from their cloud after they receive the upload from the agent.

Yup. That is it. The cheaper Scout license doesn't allow you to run a server at home to receive data directly from the client. You have to have internet access to send data to them first. Then you can setup webhook forwards after that that come from them.

 

[wtimothyholman]

The price hikes wouldn't be as much of an issue if Rekor was regularly updating the Scout (OpenALPR) client, but that hasn't happened since June 2021. I honestly have to wonder just how much effort they're putting into OpenALPR software development nowadays.

It amazes me that Rekor seems to deliberately ignore their crown jewel, and instead pursues nebulous contracts and partnerships for traffic analytics. Meanwhile Flock Safety is actually giving customers what they want (functioning LPR systems), and they've got customers all over the country. Flock Safety is the company that Rekor wishes it could be.

I question if Rekor will survive the next two years. The management doesn't seem to have a clue how to grow the business.

 

[CCTVCam]

Sorry I don't ALPR, but is Rekor just a driver details lookup service? If so that's a job for the police so I don't really see an issue.

Surely all it takes to find the licence plate if you have an incident is simply to look at what the LPR camera recorded at the same time and date as your main camera. Isn't that nothing more than a quick timeline search jump to the time in question? eg. Camera 1 (main view) incident at 22.05 on 2/3/23. Camera 2 LPR, use timeline search function to jump to 22.05 on 2/3/23. Sorry if I misunderstand the purpose, but I'm struggling to see the advantage of what the extra software brings.

Things may also be different over there, as over here you cannot look up the owner of a vehicle but can enter the plate into a free website to tell you what vehicle it's registered to (make, model and colour), and whether it's tax, tested and insured. Either way, if you have an issue with a crime and havce recorded a licence plate, surely your only job as householder is to hand that information and asscopiated footage to the Police. It' seems a lot to pay simply to have the software read the plate instead of you jumping to that point on the timeline in a couple of second search and reading it for yourself. Any extra information above the nmumber, whether you look it up yourself or automatically, is only really for the satisfaction of doing so as ultimately the Police will look it up on their database anyway if given the number from where they can get much more info.

On the data point, I tend to agree. If you're not using their storage, surely they could just charge $5 a month (that's assuming you really feel it's worth it given what I've said above). I'm guessing they maybe afraid that if they offer a cheap hook in only service, they may see a mass desertion from the main service.

 

[biggen]

Sorry I don't ALPR, but is Rekor just a driver details lookup service? If so that's a job for the police so I don't really see an issue.

Surely all it takes to find the licence plate if you have an incident is simply to look at what the LPR camera recorded at the same time and date as your main camera. Isn't that nothing more than a quick timeline search jump to the time in question? eg. Camera 1 (main view) incident at 22.05 on 2/3/23. Camera 2 LPR, use timeline search function to jump to 22.05 on 2/3/23. Sorry if I misunderstand the purpose, but I'm struggling to see the advantage of what the extra software brings.

Things may also be different over there, as over here you cannot look up the owner of a vehicle but can enter the plate into a free website to tell you what vehicle it's registered to (make, model and colour), and whether it's tax, tested and insured. Either way, if you have an issue with a crime and havce recorded a licence plate, surely your only job as householder is to hand that information and asscopiated footage to the Police. It' seems a lot to pay simply to have the software read the plate instead of you jumping to that point on the timeline in a couple of second search and reading it for yourself. Any extra information above the nmumber, whether you look it up yourself or automatically, is only really for the satisfaction of doing so as ultimately the Police will look it up on their database anyway if given the number from where they can get much more info.

On the data point, I tend to agree. If you're not using their storage, surely they could just charge $5 a month (that's assuming you really feel it's worth it given what I've said above). I'm guessing they maybe afraid that if they offer a cheap hook in only service, they may see a mass desertion from the main service.

You misunderstand the purpose.

Rekor uses AI to find the plate in an image. Then it saves the plate/car image to a database with a time stamp. It also attempts to ID the car make/model. In the USA you can’t find a driver by a plate. Only law enforcement can do that.

So say your neighbor says a black sedan was prowling the neighborhood a couple weeks go and some stuff was stolen out of his front yard. He doesn’t know the exact day or time. You can then search by car type/color to attempt to find the car and then find the plate associated. Sure you could do this without AI if you had lots of time to FF through hundreds of hours of footage but that sucks if you don’t know the day/time you are looking for.

You can also setup alerts. Let’s say you found that plate in your database of the car suspected of stealing stuff. You can then setup an alert to get an email/text message to your phone the next time that exact plate passes by your house. Then you could alert police that the car you suspect doing nefarious things is in the neighborhood currently.

 

[Crest6010]

This is the end for me too, especially since I run with two LPR cams. I just hope we can find a comparable solution. CPAI is working well for me but isn't as consistent. Ultimately, ALPR isn't a necessity but a convenience. As long as my footage from my LPR cams is there, that's what's needed if an incident occurs.

 

[kjlf94301]

I’m on the fence now. Over the last couple of years I’ve had 1 instance where a watchlist hit alert actually resulting in me watching the car go and check doors on some cars on the street (not mine though) and 2-3 where it’s made searching for an event a lot easier. Between the power costs for that box and the subscription, we’re getting closer to $150/yr. It’s not crazy but it’s definitely not a necessity considering the opportunity cost of getting a new camera or something.

I’m interested in what other products are going to popup on this space. I believe Frigate Plus is supposed to have “license plate” in that set of new models but I can’t see Frigate being good for ALPR with the relatively low detection rates. Might be workable with some tweaking though.

 

[wtimothyholman]

I'm sticking with Rekor for now, despite the price hike. Just last week I recorded the license plate of a vehicle driven by two guys who tried to break into a construction trailer parked next to my neighbor's house. The two would-be thieves drove through my alleyway to peek through my neighbor's fence to see if they were asleep before cutting the lock. Fortunately another neighbor saw them before they could rob the trailer, and they drove off.

Knowing how these criminals work, I did a search of the plate on my system and got an immediate hit from the day before, when the same vehicle first drove past my house and then drove through my alley. The difference was that this time I had excellent daytime images of the vehicle and plate. The local police were quite happy to receive them. And now I've got an alert in my system in case they ever return to my street.

Show me a product that works half as well as OpenALPR and I'll consider switching to it, but I haven't found it yet. It's a great product that is being mishandled by clueless management.

 

[kjlf94301]

I'm sticking with Rekor for now, despite the price hike. Just last week I recorded the license plate of a vehicle driven by two guys who tried to break into a construction trailer parked next to my neighbor's house. The two would-be thieves drove through my alleyway to peek through my neighbor's fence to see if they were asleep before cutting the lock. Fortunately another neighbor saw them before they could rob the trailer, and they drove off.

Knowing how these criminals work, I did a search of the plate on my system and got an immediate hit from the day before, when the same vehicle first drove past my house and then drove through my alley. The difference was that this time I had excellent daytime images of the vehicle and plate. The local police were quite happy to receive them. And now I've got an alert in my system in case they ever return to my street.

Show me a product that works half as well as OpenALPR and I'll consider switching to it, but I haven't found it yet. It's a great product that is being mishandled by clueless management.

I wasn’t thinking that use case. You’re right. Pulling images from different times of day is definitely valuable. I’ve done it before and it’s really helpful. Rekor definitely does a good job getting plates, pretty amazing sometimes vs what I can do visually even. I think the reminder about the time of day thing pushed me back over. Thanks!

 

[wittaj]

I'm sticking with Rekor for now, despite the price hike. Just last week I recorded the license plate of a vehicle driven by two guys who tried to break into a construction trailer parked next to my neighbor's house. The two would-be thieves drove through my alleyway to peek through my neighbor's fence to see if they were asleep before cutting the lock. Fortunately another neighbor saw them before they could rob the trailer, and they drove off.

Knowing how these criminals work, I did a search of the plate on my system and got an immediate hit from the day before, when the same vehicle first drove past my house and then drove through my alley. The difference was that this time I had excellent daytime images of the vehicle and plate. The local police were quite happy to receive them. And now I've got an alert in my system in case they ever return to my street.

Show me a product that works half as well as OpenALPR and I'll consider switching to it, but I haven't found it yet. It's a great product that is being mishandled by clueless management.

This!!!!

When you use a plate reader in conjunction with some sort of database, it makes scrubbing for the repeat car very easy!

Unless you live on a street that sees like 5 vehicles per day, most are not going to watch how ever many weeks of video or pictures you have to see if that vehicle came by before. It is just way to time consuming.

I use this utility that a member here created. I now have 3 years of plate history.

When something happens I can know in seconds if that vehicle has been back here before.

I get an email every day that gives me a list of first-time plates that come thru.

I tag neighbor plates and suspicious plates, along with FedEx, UPS, etc. so I can jump in this utility in the morning and do a quick look and see did any vehicles come past that don't belong back here.

I get a phone alert when a car I marked as suspicious comes thru. When I am expecting a package, I can put an alert on that delivery vehicle.

Now that will be different for everybody. If you live on a main road or connector road, you will have more traffic so you may get a lot of first-time plates.

I live in a no-outlet subdivision, so someone back here at 2am should be a neighbor.

So when I see a car come thru that I haven't tagged, I see if they came thru before.

And you learn how many cars actually go past you. My subdivision if 40ish homes. In three years, I have collected over 20,000 unique plates. That is crazy.

 

[CCTVCam]

You misunderstand the purpose.

Rekor uses AI to find the plate in an image. Then it saves the plate/car image to a database with a time stamp. It also attempts to ID the car make/model. In the USA you can’t find a driver by a plate. Only law enforcement can do that.

So say your neighbor says a black sedan was prowling the neighborhood a couple weeks go and some stuff was stolen out of his front yard. He doesn’t know the exact day or time. You can then search by car type/color to attempt to find the car and then find the plate associated. Sure you could do this without AI if you had lots of time to FF through hundreds of hours of footage but that sucks if you don’t know the day/time you are looking for.

You can also setup alerts. Let’s say you found that plate in your database of the car suspected of stealing stuff. You can then setup an alert to get an email/text message to your phone the next time that exact plate passes by your house. Then you could alert police that the car you suspect doing nefarious things is in the neighborhood currently.

I can see the value in that. Howver, for most purposes if an event occurs it will be on one of your other cameras and so you will have a date and time making searching the LPR easy. I guess it depends on how much you value your neighbours!!

 

[wittaj]

I can see the value in that. Howver, for most purposes if an event occurs it will be on one of your other cameras and so you will have a date and time making searching the LPR easy. I guess it depends on how much you value your neighbours!!

Yeah, for that event you have it. But what about the event that @wtimothyholman pointed out where they scoped it the day before.

I have seen it a week before. They come in during the day and you get a clean capture of the car and maybe even the occupants.

Nobody is going to go thru thousands of pics to try to find if the vehicle came thru before.

Yeah I wish my neighbors would offer some money when I save them money LOL. My system has literally recovered thousands of dollars worth of stolen stuff or parked cars hit. But I figure if word gets out to perps (and they do talk) to avoid certain neighborhoods due to cameras, then I am fine with that.

And in my case, I do a quick look and if only known plates came thru, there is some comfort in that as well.

 

[wtimothyholman]

Yeah I wish my neighbors would offer some money when I save them money LOL.

Don't you know it. I have probably saved a few insurance companies tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars since my system caught those catalytic converter thieves and ended the spree of thefts in the midtown area. I'd be happy with 1% of the money saved.

Instead I have to settle for being a benefactor to the community.

 

[CCTVCam]

Don't you know it. I have probably saved a few insurance companies tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars since my system caught those catalytic converter thieves and ended the spree of thefts in the midtown area. I'd be happy with 1% of the money saved.

Instead I have to settle for being a benefactor to the community.

Maybe there#s a service to offer here.

Contact insurance companies and offer footage of who was at fault / casued the damage for say a $200 Admin fee.

 

[sixes6462]

This!!!!

When you use a plate reader in conjunction with some sort of database, it makes scrubbing for the repeat car very easy!

Unless you live on a street that sees like 5 vehicles per day, most are not going to watch how ever many weeks of video or pictures you have to see if that vehicle came by before. It is just way to time consuming.

I use this utility that a member here created. I now have 3 years of plate history.

When something happens I can know in seconds if that vehicle has been back here before.

I get an email every day that gives me a list of first-time plates that come thru.

I tag neighbor plates and suspicious plates, along with FedEx, UPS, etc. so I can jump in this utility in the morning and do a quick look and see did any vehicles come past that don't belong back here.

I get a phone alert when a car I marked as suspicious comes thru. When I am expecting a package, I can put an alert on that delivery vehicle.

Now that will be different for everybody. If you live on a main road or connector road, you will have more traffic so you may get a lot of first-time plates.

I live in a no-outlet subdivision, so someone back here at 2am should be a neighbor.

So when I see a car come thru that I haven't tagged, I see if they came thru before.

And you learn how many cars actually go past you. My subdivision if 40ish homes. In three years, I have collected over 20,000 unique plates. That is crazy.

Question I use the same setup using the OpenALPR tool that a member on this forum made. I'm guessing I'll answer my own question, but do I need my subscription when I am using the OpenALPR tool that is saving on my local pc anyways?

 

[wittaj]

Question I use the same setup using the OpenALPR tool that a member on this forum made. I'm guessing I'll answer my own question, but do I need my subscription when I am using the OpenALPR tool that is saving on my local pc anyways?

Unfortunately yes. It will work for like 15-ish days or so but then it will stop without an active subscription.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

Shame we all don't live near each other, 2 of us at the ends of the streets could have LPR and the rest could skip it

Anyone want an IPCamTalk compound?