EmpireTech aka Dahua LPR Settings

[The Automation Guy]

Appreciate the help everyone. I think you helped me fix the day time. I'll post back when I have night images to share. I have some from last night but they're terrible
View attachment 183931

I think the nighttime image is a bad for two reasons. First, there is definitely a focus issue with that image. I don't know if the camera was trying to auto-focus and failing or if the camera was still focused on the mailbox that is 50'-70' up the road, but that image definitely is not in focus. Second it appears the shutter speed is too slow. However the blurring/double image we see in the image (and why I say it is a slow shutter speed) might actually have been 100% the result of the focus issue. Therefore I would "focus" my efforts (pun intended) on the focus issue before I started adjusting the shutter speeds any further.

PS - it is very common that the depth of field would be greatly reduced in low/no light situations as the camera is trying to compensate for the low light by increasing the aperture size (which reduces depth of field). So while the plates might be more in focus during the day, you won't have the same amount of depth of field available at night. This is why dialing in your actual focus point to be wherever you want the clearest plate to be in the frame is critical to getting clear plate captures at night.

 

[bigredfish]

I think theyre (daytime) pretty fucking good.

As mentioned, you can adjust shutter and play with lowering DNR and you may improve them a bit. I know I have many dozens of hours into mine and each scene is a bit different. But the samples posted can be read by any automated program and are clearly good to the human eye to identify

 

[wittaj]

@bigredfish the cars on the road will be moving at 45-60MPH. I have more zoom ability but it will give me a smaller window to capture the plate. I assume that might be ok?

I would rather have a smaller window to capture the plate and be able to read it than have a wider zoom and not be able to read it because the plate is too small.

Regarding focus, the best thing to do, especially at night is to have someone stop a car in the center of the field of view and manual focus to get a clean capture. It is the shutter speed that captures the plate moving and that is already addressed, so having a stationary plate to get the focus makes all the difference in the world.

 

[bigredfish]

And it could well be the mailbox is what the camera is focusing on,. But I can read the plate across every frame

 

[anonymoosed]

And it could well be the mailbox is what the camera is focusing on,. But I can read the plate across every frame

Its firing alerts and reading the plates now which is great. Ill try the settings for night and if I can't get them Ill go and park my vehicle by the mailbox to see if I can get it tweaked.

 

[bigredfish]

Yeah Nighttime needs a lot o work

 

[97JeepXJ]

I think theyre pretty fucking good.

As mentioned, you can adjust shutter and play with lowering DNR and you may improve them a bit. I know I have many dozens of hours into mine and each scene is a bit different. But the samples posted can be read by any automated program and are clearly good to the human eye to identify

I think he’s referring to the one night time picture, which does suck but getting the shutter off auto should drastically improve that. I use a #8 mailbox number, if I can see it I know the focus is good

 

[bigredfish]

Yes agree, night image is before any setting changes and horrible as-is

Good idea on the reflective number. I used to use some reflective road tape

 

[anonymoosed]

Yes agree, night image is before any setting changes and horrible as-is

Good idea on the reflective number. I used to use some reflective road tape

Shoot I may go this route and put something out there for testing so im not having to keep parking my truck outside my gate.

 

[wittaj]

And if you decide to go with Rekor, you need to do this add-on created by members here.

It is an incredible long-term tracking database.

OpenALPR Tool - Save and Query CSV Exports Steps I took To Get Mine Working. ZERO Programming Experience.

The LPR_Viewer and LPR_Downloader are free Windows programs designed by @Gymratz & @DLONG2 which allow you to automatically collect, store, view and manage plate data from your IP cameras. It does require a $5 a month subscription to the 'Watchman' plan available at OpenALPR.com. Also there is...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[anonymoosed]

And if you decide to go with Rekor, you need to do this add-on created by members here.

It is an incredible long-term tracking database.

OpenALPR Tool - Save and Query CSV Exports Steps I took To Get Mine Working. ZERO Programming Experience.

The LPR_Viewer and LPR_Downloader are free Windows programs designed by @Gymratz & @DLONG2 which allow you to automatically collect, store, view and manage plate data from your IP cameras. It does require a $5 a month subscription to the 'Watchman' plan available at OpenALPR.com. Also there is...

ipcamtalk.com

Can I use this without rekor? I like that rekor will tell me the type of vehicle but I dont like the $65 a month for one camera to collect more than 5 days worth of archive. Second question is there a codeproject ai for vehicle identification type like what rekor is doing?

 

[wittaj]

Can I use this without rekor? I like that rekor will tell me the type of vehicle but I dont like the $65 a month for one camera to collect more than 5 days worth of archive. Second question is there a codeproject ai for vehicle identification type like what rekor is doing?

No it does not work without Rekor.

Dude you are looking at the wrong plan. There is a $10/month option for homeowners.

The benefit of this utility I linked is that is stores locally more than the 5 days of archive. I have it going back to when I started using the utility.

There is not currently a codeproject AI for vehicle identification.

I run Plate Recognizer, Rekor, and CodeProject and Rekor is by far the most accurate.

CodeProject is a great free local option, but it is basically developed by one guy and all it is doing is looking for numbers and letters. As such, in many situations it will mix up 1 and I and zero with O and other things. It also cannot tell you the state.

Rekor is trained for the different states and their formats, so I get a lot less mistaking a number one for an I or a zero for an O or a 5 for an S as an example.

 

[wittaj]

Perfect timing - here is a post in the CodeProject thread showing what I mentioned:

AI works in debug but doesn't log it.

Try these settings I copied yours about an hour ago to make mine identical. It made matter much worse. I captured one plate out of ten... which is actually good. Fixing more intermittent problems is a PITA. Here is a video (#2) and Blue Iris highlights the plate when I pause it while...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[anonymoosed]

Alright folks - night time test - Not sure where I should start. Btw there isn't a way to set night time zoom on the profile right? I just see the option where it changes on the live feed screen which I'd assume changes both?


Its also pretty foggy here - just waiting on another car to pass. This is using @bigredfish's settings

 

[wittaj]

Looks out of focus and too slow a shutter and maybe IR reflective bounce?

Try a fixed 1/2000 shutter and put the IR on 100

Image should be all black at night unless you have a lot of light.

 

[anonymoosed]

Looks out of focus and too slow a shutter and maybe IR reflective bounce?

Try a fixed 1/2000 shutter and put the IR on 100

Image should be all black at night unless you have a lot of light.

 

[anonymoosed]

1/4000

 

[anonymoosed]

1/10000

 

[bigredfish]

Yep, like I said you will want something in the 1/1000 - 1/4000 range.

Two problems beyond that.

• Fog is not great to be making setting changes with
• Focus. As I mentioned and until you choose another solution, you need separate day and night profiles. Use the schedule below to set the night schedule to kick in about 45 min before sunset so there’s enough light for the camera to get a good focus. Night should be forced B&W with IR on 100% manual

 

[wittaj]

Lower gain to 45

Do you have AI SSA on or off? It should be off.

Now as others have posted, focus is an issue as the camera cannot see anything at this darkness.

You need to either have someone stop in the middle of the field of view so you can get a focus or temporarily make the shutter like 1/12 or something slow so you can see and manually set the focus based on what you see in the field of view, but the plate is the best option.