Stack video frames to enhance face and catch Truck Thief?

[mat200]

TL;DR: Is there software out there that can track a moving face for a few frames and enhance it?

Our neighbor at our office complex got their truck stolen from their roll-up garage, twice! The thieves broke a side window, went into the building, opened the roll-up, took the truck out, closed the roll-up, and drove away with a load of tools. A few hours later they came back, went back in through the broken window, opened the roll-up, backed the truck in, loaded up with more tools, and drove away. Brazen. There was a separate vehicle involved as the lookout.

Our neighbor has no cameras, and my cameras are focused on my building, but we got a few frames that might be of interest to the police. Before the first theft, we caught this guy on a bicycle:



Right after the first theft we caught the stolen truck driving by another camera:



These videos are Unlisted, so anyone with the URL can view them, but I don't have them as Public until the police tell me it's Ok to do so, so please keep these within this community, or with people you know well, until laster. After I've done some editing I'll have video of the actual theft from the garage, but you can't see any faces.

One of my employees took the best still from each and fiddled with them in some photo software, and it appears to be the same guy:

View attachment 192354
View attachment 192355

Is there software out there that can track a moving face for a few frames and enhance it? The bicycle clip has him in roughly the same orientation for at least 4-5 frames.

Here are the original video files:

https://www.kan.org/download/SideLot.20240411_183652-183725.45-00.00.18.013-00.00.26.002.mp4

https://www.kan.org/download/BackLotSouth.20240411_180643-180759.46-00.00.27.010-00.00.32.010.mp4

These were recorded as Direct-to-Disc in BlueIris, then downloaded without the Re-encode checkbox, and then trimmed in LosslessCut, so there has been no re-encoding of any frames, and they are as close to the originals from the camera as possible.

TLDR .. yes imho TLAs have it .. yes there should be software like that .. however none of us so far seem to have found a good working instance accessible to normal people ..

For the rest of us we need to focus on getting better image capture in the first place .. enough quality and quantity of pixels on target

 

[TheWaterbug]

Perhaps set up a wireless bridge within a network you host and allow them access ..

You can provide the camera and they would provide the mount point and power ..

Seems like a fair exchange ..

Gets complicated when you expose cameras to the internet without proper management..

That's a great idea! I'll start asking once I prove out the utility of this first camera.

 

[looney2ns]

Do not port forward.
How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk

 

[TheWaterbug]

There are 3 driveways in the complex. Two of them are close to ~120-ish feet from a potential mounting point on my balcony:
View attachment 192433

So I've got the IPC-B52IR-Z12E S2 mounted as noted above, in parallel with a IP5M-T1277EW-AI for the overview. I have Working Mode (aka what everyone else calls Profile Management) set for Day/Night Switch, with Day at Shutter = 0.25 ms (1/4000?) and Night at Shutter = 0.5 ms (1/2000). Folks are leaving work right now, and it's still pretty bright out here in Los Angeles, but the daytime captures look good:





The worst one so far is this BMW turning left, but even that is very human-readable:



That's the best frame for Mr. BMW. He gets worse, but still readable, as he makes the left turn.

I'll see what the nighttime captures look like in a few hours.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Here's the wide view of the BMW. And LOL, I just noticed that you can see the AndyCam in the corner

 

[bigredfish]

FWIW these are relatively recent Night settings with one of my 5241Z-12's

Some guys like to run even less sharpness. 1/1000 should be fine for under 30mph

 

[bigredfish]

Oh!

And unless you’re running manual focus and have been out at night with a vehicle or spare plate to dial that in, you need to set your day/night using the schedule profile.

Have it change to night /B&W a good 45 min before sunset to give the camera enough light to focus on something.
Same in morning reversed. Make the day switch 45 min after sunrise

 

[wittaj]

Oh!

And unless you’re running manual focus and have been out at night with a vehicle or spare plate to dial that in, you need to set your day/night using the schedule profile.

Have it change to night /B&W a good 45 min before sunset to give the camera enough light to focus on something.
Same in morning reversed. Make the day switch 45 min after sunrise

Actually the Z12E with the newest GUI day/night switch actually works the way we expect it to and will switch between day and night profile based on available light and allows setting of a manual focus that will switch based on the profile.

But yes you do have to get that first night of a stationary plate to get a good focus and then set it to manual.

 

[bigredfish]

I'm old and dont trust it (dont trust cell phones or Kuerig machines either so...)

 

[mat200]

So I've got the IPC-B52IR-Z12E S2 mounted as noted above, in parallel with a IP5M-T1277EW-AI for the overview. I have Working Mode (aka what everyone else calls Profile Management) set for Day/Night Switch, with Day at Shutter = 0.25 ms (1/4000?) and Night at Shutter = 0.5 ms (1/2000). Folks are leaving work right now, and it's still pretty bright out here in Los Angeles, but the daytime captures look good:

View attachment 192525

View attachment 192526

The worst one so far is this BMW turning left, but even that is very human-readable:

View attachment 192527

That's the best frame for Mr. BMW. He gets worse, but still readable, as he makes the left turn.

I'll see what the nighttime captures look like in a few hours.

Great start !

 

[TheWaterbug]

Just as a proof of concept, I have thing mounted on a pole on the balcony, using the PFA152-E Pole Mount and PFA121 Junction Box:



Does a grommet exist to seal up this hole at the bottom?

 

[TechieTech]

Does a grommet exist to seal up this hole at the bottom?

Yep. Search "cable gland" on Amazon and you'll find a ton of them. Just have to find the right size.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Ugh. The angle is wrong for cars entering from southbound Western. This is me, coming into work a few minutes ago. I deliberately drove in at a shallow angle, but even at a normal angle I don't think it would capture:

 

[TheWaterbug]

. . .even at a normal angle I don't think it would capture:

Yup. Here's my neighbor making a normal, 90º turn into the parking lot:

 

[bigredfish]

Way too much angle. Look for a different capture point

 

[TheWaterbug]

. . . and sometimes people park in the one defined parking spot that perfectly blocks my view:

 

[mat200]

. . . and sometimes people park in the one defined parking spot that perfectly blocks my view:

View attachment 192640

I'd see if you can get your neighbor to host a camera .. this here looks like the spots I would test out ..

 

[TheWaterbug]

I'd see if you can get your neighbor to host a camera .. this here looks like the spots I would test out ..

Yup. The folks on the right were the ones who got their truck and tools stolen, so I think they'll want to cooperate.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Way too much angle. Look for a different capture point

My neighbor in 104 isn't interested in hosting cameras. He's just got too much going on in running his business. I'm disappointed, but I still have a shot at talking to 105, who has just as good a view of the northeast driveway.

301 is very interested in putting up a camera, and they have the perfect angle for the south driveway.

For the northwest driveway, how about 203 or 204? The tenant in 301 is currently also occupying 203, but might be moving to 204 because he needs the space, but they basically have the same angle to the NW driveway, and that's about 115' as I've drawn the arrow, to where a car would be fully into the lot:

 

[bigredfish]

Any of those except 107 is gonna work . Maybe if you point yours toward that choke point between the buildings ? You’re still gonna get a majority of plates passing through there?