Help with settings on my Dahua IP Camera?

[Jmonroe]

I need some help with settings on my Dahua IP Camera; Model IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E. For now I am using Rekor Scout. My PC specs are Windows 11, Intel Core i7-11700, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD. I have the camera up and running and capturing about 50% of the plates. Then I started to play with the settings and made matter worse. I need to capture day and night images of plates.

I’m testing inside my office and have the lens pointed out the window. I’m doing this to get a feel for the system and to adjust the settings for optimal hardware use and the best camera settings. I am just not familiar with the best settings for this set-up. The distance to the street view is about 75 feet.

Would anyone post a screen shot of their settings from the Dahua IP Camera app or offer some advice on the settings?

TIA, Joe

 

[wittaj]

Use this thread below as a guide.

However, shooting it thru a window will result in much different settings than installed outside. It certainly won't work at night unless you have a ton of light outside because the IR bounce off the window would blind the camera.

LPR is more art than it is science so you need to get it testing in the final location because it will change.

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Jmonroe]

Thank you for the help. I have my camera up and running. I live on a cul-de-sac so I have one chokepoint. I am getting about 98% accuracy during the day except for the US Postal truck which has no plates and a couple of motorcycles.

However now I need help with the night settings. I have followed some settings advice I found on this forum but I am not picking plates up at all.

If there a page or discussion where I can get some solid tips on the night settings for this camera? TIA

 

[wittaj]

The LPR forum is a great place to start, along with this thread:

LPR Case Study: Scoping, Planning, Proof of Concept, Installation, & Results

Introduction This thread is about my journey into LPR (License Plate Recognition) after having about 18 months of experience with IP cams and having quite a bit of my system finished. I am not an expert on LPR, or IP cameras either. But I have spent a lot of time working with my system and...

ipcamtalk.com

And go ahead and post your settings and some sample images so we can help tune it in.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Just remember that night LPR, especially, is a dedicated use. The screen will be black other than when a vehicle goes by and then all you'll see is head/tail lights and the license plate.

 

[Jmonroe]

Thank you, I understand that I will probably just pick up the plate and some lights.

Okay, I have the Dahua IP Camera; Model IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E
These pictures are of the Night settings I have now:

 

[wittaj]

Those seem like a reasonable start - can you post a video so we can see what is going on?

At night, you have to set the focus to manual because it is too dark to focus - maybe it is simply a focus issue?

Since it is still daytime where you are, set the camera profile to night and have someone stop a car in the center of your field of view and get the focus. It won't be perfect, but it will be a lot closer than semi-auto and then tonight do the same thing to get the focus tuned in.