Caught a prowler on video and I'm looking to upgrade my cameras

[JDJ]

A couple of weeks ago I caught this guy on video in the middle of the night. The video is useless, but he did leave when he saw the camera, and he didn't steal the bike (forgotten outside on a fluke) that he was apparently after.

He ignored my motion activated floodlight, which was interesting to me, and continued advancing 20 feet or so further onto my property. But when he saw the camera, he was out of there immediately. Truth is he could have gotten away with taking the bike, so it was lucky that he got spooked.

I'm adding two floodlights next week. I'm going to replace my current cameras (1080p analog cams) and I'm leaning toward getting some 8MP IP cameras because the new floodlights should light up the area enough to take advantage of the additional pixels.

I've been reading the Cliff Notes, (thanks Looney2ns), and learning a lot.

Any thoughts on my plan are welcome. I have plenty of time to modify it and would welcome feedback on getting high-quality facial recognition.

 

[actran]

Welcome and good luck.

To get best night footage, use Dahua Starlight 2Mp cameras like the turrets that have been discussed on this site.

 

[JDJ]

Welcome and good luck.

To get best night footage, use Dahua Starlight 2Mp cameras like the turrets that have been discussed on this site.

Thanks actran, I like the Dahua 2MP Starlights a lot.

I'm going to see how bright the new floodlights make that particular area when they get installed next week.

Of course, I might be "forced" to buy a 2MP and an 8MP to compare them side by side. You can't have too many cameras, right?

 

[bigredfish]

Not trying to talk you out of IP cams, they have some advantages, but so you know, HDCVI cameras will likely run over your existing cable and rival their IP counterparts in most basic features... of course you would need a Dahua DVR or XVR

Look at this video and others like it on my youtube channel (HDCVI 3231 Starlight 2MP - very similar to the 5231 IP version Starlight)

Bad Guy appears about 0:45 seconds in

(switch the Youtube player to 1080p)


Dahua HDCVI camera selection

 

[JDJ]

That is amazingly clear, definitely face ID quality. I'm adding HDCVI to my research list. Thank you.

 

[bp2008]

For good face ID you really need a lot of pixels on the subject which means a lot of zoom depending on the distance.

Shoot for 100+ PPI if you can. You won't achieve that with a wide angle lens unless someone walks right up to the camera.
IPVM Camera Calculator V3

 

[Bubs]

One issue with using flood lights that motion activated unless you force then in color they will be blind for a few seconds went they switch BW to color when the lights come on

 

[JDJ]

One issue with using flood lights that motion activated unless you force then in color they will be blind for a few seconds went they switch BW to color when the lights come on

That is true. With the layout as it is on this part of my property, a few seconds of blindness should be okay. There's enough distance that has to be traversed that it will take them that long as they get closer to the camera. I'm going to test it once I get my new cameras though to see what's what. I will probably try out a few different cameras to dial it in. I appreciate your comment.

 

[looney2ns]

That is true. With the layout as it is on this part of my property, a few seconds of blindness should be okay. There's enough distance that has to be traversed that it will take them that long as they get closer to the camera. I'm going to test it once I get my new cameras though to see what's what. I will probably try out a few different cameras to dial it in. I appreciate your comment.

If you haven't ran across this "Best to test all camera locations with a portable test rig before final install for at least 24hrs. Portable test rig, 8'2x4, 5gal bucket, rocks or bricks."

 

[nats]

Did you install a face recognition platform to be notified if they come back?

 

[SouthernYankee]

nats

What face recognition software would you recommend.

 

[fenderman]

nats

What face recognition software would you recommend.

The one his company sells at a high cost
To be fair, they do have a free version for up to 3 cameras which can be useful to many. However, you need a powerful machine and an nvidia card. What is nice is that its all local, no cloud.
Sentinel Black Edition — Sentinel

 

[JDJ]

Did you install a face recognition platform to be notified if they come back?

Hi nats, facial recognition would be nice but in my situation it's not in the cards yet.

I did come up with an interesting plan for the area in question (where the prowler went last time) which will have a damn good chance of a close up face shot the next time a prowler comes around.

I installed two additional motion lights and they do a great job of lighting the area which is approximately 14 by 25 feet.

I replaced the fixed lens camera that took the picture of the prowler (posted above in this thread) with a 5x zoom model. It catches faces a lot better now, but probably not good enough for identifying someone.

So I built a 14 by 14 inch box that I'm going to place on the exterior wall to get close-ups. It looks like an electrical access box, painted to match the house, so it shouldn't get a second glance but there is a bullet camera hidden on the far side. Anyone walking toward it from the street will just see an access box on the wall next to the electrical meter, and probably won't give it a second thought, but once they go past it, the camera inside the box will have a view of them. They will have walked past the box at that point, and the camera itself will be hard to see at night.

When they turn around to leave, there will be a great chance for the camera to catch their face (camera will be five feet six inches up) with very good light, from less than 10 feet away at the furthest point, and within a foot or two as they walk past it to leave.

For good measure, I placed a Chamberlain driveway motion detector in the box to give me an audible alert when someone is back there.

I thought that winter might slow down the night creepers, but it seems to be on the increase instead, so it will be interesting to see what shows up in my video over time.

 

[nats]

Hi nats, facial recognition would be nice but in my situation it's not in the cards yet.

I did come up with an interesting plan for the area in question (where the prowler went last time) which will have a damn good chance of a close up face shot the next time a prowler comes around.

...

Nice one! If you do decide to try something out I be happy to help you set up =).

The one his company sells at a high cost
To be fair, they do have a free version for up to 3 cameras which can be useful to many. However, you need a powerful machine and an nvidia card. What is nice is that its all local, no cloud.
Sentinel Black Edition — Sentinel

Well, the free version is exactly for this cases. I wish more home users took advantage of it. =)

 

[fenderman]

Well, the free version is exactly for this cases. I wish more home users took advantage of it. =)

The requirements state nvidia card. Would it work on 1 camera without nvidia for testing?

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

That is amazingly clear, definitely face ID quality. I'm adding HDCVI to my research list. Thank you.

You also can use LR1002 with EPOE NVR/Switch, then can use those cables and no need to add new cables again, the adapter is cheap. Save time and money.

 

[nats]

The requirements state nvidia card. Would it work on 1 camera without nvidia for testing?

It just runs slow, which kinda kills the whole real-time point. If you are really interested in testing it on CPU PM me and we could do the experiment for science!!

The smallest card I usually recommend is a 1060 6GB ~$250. You can run 2-3 cameras on that.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

so i am thinking the PIR camera ipc-hfw1831c-pir siren on, the thief will be scared.

 

[fenderman]

It just runs slow, which kinda kills the whole real-time point. If you are really interested in testing it on CPU PM me and we could do the experiment for science!!

The smallest card I usually recommend is a 1060 6GB ~$250. You can run 2-3 cameras on that.

I have a spare i5-6500 that I can throw unbutu on to see how it performs. The biggest issue for the home users with using nvidia cards aside from the initial cost, its the power consumption running 24/7.

 

[nats]

I have a spare i5-6500 that I can throw unbutu on to see how it performs. The biggest issue for the home users with using nvidia cards aside from the initial cost, its the power consumption running 24/7.

Sounds like a plan! how much memory can you put on it? the models will have to run on CPU + RAM instead of GPU memory. PM me or lets start another threat as to nor derail this one =)