cglaeser

I am using a couple of the Avigilon 5MP 9-22 mm bullets with IR at a clubhouse and I want to use an Avigilon with similar MP, FOV, and IR at my home. I prefer domes at my home for aesthetic reasons. Has anyone compared the performance of the Avigilon 5MP bullet 9-22 mm with IR to the Avigilon 5MP 9-22 mm dome with IR?

Common sense would dictate plates should be designed for easy reading, but many states in the US add all sorts of crap to the plates that make them difficult to read. Of course, state mottos and slogans don't affect the retroreflective properties needed for IR capture, but given how incredibly difficult they make it for humans to read plates, I don't have much faith states will use common sense going forward.

Understood. It's still pretty bad. I have been using LPR cameras for several years. In both tactical situations (i.e. a burglary in progress) and evidence collection for detectives and the DA, clean crisp black and white plates are preferred and much less tedious.

Your issue with plate capture appears to be linked to the design of the plates in your local area. I don't have the same issue. [attachment=0]red on black at night.jpg[/attachment] That is a capture of a black plate with red letters under IR. That looks pretty bad. A human can read it, but not automated recognition.

A neighbor who is out of the country has a Hikvision DS-7608NI-SE/8P. Someone took a package from her front door and I want to download images and video using the Chrome browser. When I select a check box and download a video file, where is the file stored? I set the Chrome preference to prompt me for the folder on each download, but I am not prompted when using the Hikvision app and I can't find the file once the download is complete.

None of my players (wmp, real, quicktime) would play the Hikvision mp4 files. I found this Hikvision converter at http://www.hikvision.com/en/us/download_more.asp?id=637 and I was able to play the video after conversion.

Thanks, I was able to find the images and video. How do I view the video?

I already have two analog Messoa SCR515PRO LPR cameras connected to an Avigilon encoder. Not only would it be a shame to use the analog output of a 2MP LPR camera, I already know from the performance of the 515 that analog is not sufficient to support ANPR given the width of the lanes at my site. If Avigilon can't support the Messoa LPR615, that would likely be a deal breaker. Best, Christopher

I saw a grey market price of $1,600 and guessed the installer's price would be in the $2,500 range. I'll take two if they will work with our Avigilon server.

This looks promising ... http://www.messoa.com/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/messoa/en/anprlpr_cameras/lpr615/

I've never understood why states print artwork to obscure license plates. Why require license plates if you don't intend to read them?

Thanks for the follow up, Eric!

On a related topic, I notice the license plates on your server automatically change exposure when you zoom in. I have to change the sliders on the display settings on my server to enhance the license plate. What am I missing?

Alex, I get similar results on my two Avigilon 9-22 mm bullets about 50% of the time with modest IR. I think if I follow your suggestion and try a more powerful narrow beam IR, the results will improve dramatically.

Do you have sample images?

Good to know. I have a good Avigilon installer but the rep quit over a year ago and I'm not sure if they found a replacement. Will ask.

I believe their LPR camera is cheaper than that and includes the IR. I need to read plates at 190 feet. The site currently has two Avigilon 5MP 9-22 mm and Alex suggested I test the current setup with a high power narrow beam IR. Will give that a try.

The plan is to swap the Messoa with an Avigilon 8 PM Pro with 70-200 mm Canon zoom. Is it car speed or number of cars per minute? Car speed happens to be low, and the number of cars per minute is about eight at morning rush.

I purchased IR bandpass filters and tried this. I never got it to work.

Thanks, Buellwinkle. The plug-in looks promising.

I was referring to a continuous white light. Using a strobe requires the addition of a vehicle detection or ranging device.

Most surfaces are to some degree reflective, not retro-reflective. Some of the light will scatter, and much of the light will bounce off at an equal but opposite angle. Keep in mind that LPR cameras are typically at an angle so you can read multiple plates if the cars are moving closely together. The amount of white light required to scatter back to the camera from a reflective plate and sufficiently mask the headlights or taillights would likely distract the driver. That is one of the benefits of IR; it does not distract the driver. The benefit of retro-reflective plates is that much of the light bounces back in the same direction as the light source.

My guess is ALPR for non retro-reflective plates is limited to daytime use and is very iffy for nighttime use. If the vehicle has an evenly and well-lit plate and there are a sufficient number of pixels on the plate, then they might be able to pull the plate. But if the vehicle's license plate light is burned out or is very bright on one side and is not evenly lit, I doubt an ALPR can pull the plate. We have a lot of vehicles in our city with dealer (the owners never bothered to attach registered license plates after purchasing the vehicle). The dealer plates are not retro-reflective. Sometimes I get lucky and can read the dealer plate at night on either an Avigilon 5 MP or a Messoa LPR camera, but more often than not it's a miss. Of course, if the vehicle is driving through a well-lit parking garage or similar, then it's easy to read the plates, but the white lights essentially create a daytime scenario.

Show me, prove me wrong. Then why can I see the registration stickers on the plate, but not the larger WASHINGTON? It's not just the color, contrast and size of the letters that matter at night. It's also the retro-reflective coating. Red on white is a poor choice for night identification, but if the white is retro-reflective and the red letters are not, that will make it much easier to read at night with an IR camera.

License plates in states like CA use more than high contrasting colors to read plates at night. They also use a retro-reflective coating on the area that is not the ID. So, yes, the red on a CA plate is difficult to read in part because it shows up as white, but also because the red "California" on the plate is retro-reflective. This is purely speculation, but I think that if the ID on CA plates was red, it would not be as easy to read as blue, but would still be readable in many cases because the ID would not be retro-reflective while the rest of the plate would be. Just guessing, though.