Can anyone recommend a good license plate reading camera?

[Tgo01]

So the cameras I have setup managed to catch someone on film fucking with our shit this year but unfortunately they went to a part of our yard where the cameras couldn't get a good view of the actual person but I could tell the make and model and color of the car.

Unfortunately this wasn't good enough for the police officer. It's not like I expected the CSI team to come out and dust for finger prints or anything but I thought they could do a little more than just write what I said down and hand me a business card and leave. The cop couldn't even be bothered to look at the actual video, instead he just asked me to explain what happened.

For next year I would like to be able to see the actual license plate of the douche bag doing this but the cameras I have now can only see license plates during the day or of a stopped car at night. I haven't figured out a subtle way to get a thief to stop their car exactly where I need them to so my cameras can catch their license plate. Looks like I need a special camera that is designed to just read license plates. Anyone have any personal experience with these cameras or work at a place that uses them and can recommend one? Ideally I'm looking for one that can either send the videos over my wifi or records video to an SD card or something. Running a long cable out through my yard and all around my house doesn't sound like much fun, nor very practical.

Ideally I'd like to spend 500 dollars or less, I know that kind of limits my options for this sort of camera.

I wonder if next year I did manage to get the license plate number, make and model and color of the car if the cop is then gonna say "What? You couldn't tell what color eyes the driver had? Sorry, can't help ya."

[Androidpk]

If this is something that occurs every year then I imagine the perp lives in your area. Drive around until you spot that car.

[waywardgs]

What are these people doing?

[Wrathbringer]

So the cameras I have setup managed to catch someone on film fucking with our shit this year but unfortunately they went to a part of our yard where the cameras couldn't get a good view of the actual person but I could tell the make and model and color of the car.

Unfortunately this wasn't good enough for the police officer. It's not like I expected the CSI team to come out and dust for finger prints or anything but I thought they could do a little more than just write what I said down and hand me a business card and leave. The cop couldn't even be bothered to look at the actual video, instead he just asked me to explain what happened.

For next year I would like to be able to see the actual license plate of the douche bag doing this but the cameras I have now can only see license plates during the day or of a stopped car at night. I haven't figured out a subtle way to get a thief to stop their car exactly where I need them to so my cameras can catch their license plate. Looks like I need a special camera that is designed to just read license plates. Anyone have any personal experience with these cameras or work at a place that uses them and can recommend one? Ideally I'm looking for one that can either send the videos over my wifi or records video to an SD card or something. Running a long cable out through my yard and all around my house doesn't sound like much fun, nor very practical.

Ideally I'd like to spend 500 dollars or less, I know that kind of limits my options for this sort of camera.

I wonder if next year I did manage to get the license plate number, make and model and color of the car if the cop is then gonna say "What? You couldn't tell what color eyes the driver had? Sorry, can't help ya."

I wish I had an anual spy vs spy holiday season. :(

[Tgo01]

If this is something that occurs every year then I imagine the perp lives in your area. Drive around until you spot that car.

I'm almost positive it's someone who lives in our area but there are a lot of houses in our area and everyone owns a damn garage :(


What are these people doing?

Stealing our Christmas decorations, smashing/running over our mailbox and egging our house


I wish I had an anual spy vs spy holiday season. :(

When I catch the asshole doing this I'll send them your way ;)

[Wrathbringer]

Have you considered ied' s? Serious question.

[Fallen]

Good lord, man. What have you done to piss off your neighbors to that extent?

[Velfi]

That's pretty fucked up. I know I'd be seeing red, especially if it's a repeated thing.

[Tgo01]

Have you considered ied' s? Serious question.

Seriously? No...

Jokingly? Yes.

[Tgo01]

Good lord, man. What have you done to piss off your neighbors to that extent?

Nothing. I think it's just some asshole who really hates Christmas so they decide to target our house. At this point I'm convinced it has to be different people or it's one very dedicated douche bag.

To be fair the mailbox thing might have been an accident...but it was no accident that they didn't stop and leave a note. The egging of our house happens on Halloween.

[Wrathbringer]

Nothing. I think it's just some asshole who really hates Christmas so they decide to target our house. At this point I'm convinced it has to be different people or it's one very dedicated douche bag.

To be fair the mailbox thing might have been an accident...but it was no accident that they didn't stop and leave a note. The egging of our house happens on Halloween.

How many years now?

[Tgo01]

The thing that pisses me off the most is this happens to some of our neighbors as well (although we seem to get it the worst) and whenever we mention this the people who aren't targeted always say stupid shit like "Oh they're just kids, get over it.", "Weren't you ever a kid?"

My favorite is a couple of morons who insist some of the damage is caused by drunks who didn't mean to do what they did. Yeah...okay so you have no problem with drunks driving up and down our street and swerving into people's yards?

It's like...what?!


How many years now?

8 or 9.

[Wrathbringer]

The thing that pisses me off the most is this happens to some of our neighbors as well (although we seem to get it the worst) and whenever we mention this the people who aren't targeted always say stupid shit like "Oh they're just kids, get over it.", "Weren't you ever a kid?"

My favorite is a couple of morons who insist some of the damage is caused by drunks who didn't mean to do what they did. Yeah...okay so you have no problem with drunks driving up and down our street and swerving into people's yards?

It's like...what?!



8 or 9.

Oh wow. Someone is dedicated... let me think about this.

[Latrinsorm]

Surely all you would need is a higher resolution / frame rate / better lit camera, no? There's nothing fancy about license plates, they're just small.

My advice is to put light not on the whole yard but light on the camera itself. Deterrence can't work without cognizance.

[Androidpk]

You'd need a high definition camera if you're wanting to read license plates. A cursory glance shows that small systems run into the thousands of dollars.

[Androidpk]

Might be better off hiring a private detective. Seriously.

[Wyrmx]

I assume you want an/indoor outdoor camera. How about a price range, distance requirements, range of view?

[Tgo01]

Surely all you would need is a higher resolution / frame rate / better lit camera, no? There's nothing fancy about license plates, they're just small.

That's exactly what I thought so I bought a camera with a great resolution (well great without costing thousands of dollars) and I bought really bright spot lights and pointed them all over the road, including one right under the camera pointing in the direction of the camera. I then had to mess with the settings on the camera, making the brightness really low and the sharpness high and set it to black and white mode and then I was finally able to see license plates at night...if the car was not in motion. Anything other than all of this shit and I had nothing. The cameras come with IR but with those on it just makes license plates really bright and you can't see anything but light.

From what I've read the reason license plates are so hard to capture at night is because your camera keeps adjusting the iris of the lens to account for the light around it so when a car drives by with it's tail lights/head lights it keeps making the lens smaller and larger which creates a blurred effect, which is exactly what I'm seeing. Regular cameras apparently have a shutter speed that is twice the frame rate of the camera, my cameras max out at 30 FPS, so a shutter speed of 60 tops. Cameras designed to look out for license plates have a shutter speed of 200.

Also license plate cameras apparently have built in software that adjusts for things like headlights, ambient light, speed of the car, blah blah blah, to catch the license plate.

I think things might be easier if we lived in Europe where the license plates are like 2-3 times big as ours. Since when does America do things so small?!

[Tgo01]

Might be better off hiring a private detective. Seriously.

I don't know, I really have nothing to go on other than make and model and color of car, and the time of day it happened this one year :/


I assume you want an/indoor outdoor camera. How about a price range, distance requirements, range of view?

Yeah it would need to be outdoor. I'm looking to spend 500 dollars tops, doesn't really seem to be worth it if it's much more than that. Distance shouldn't really matter much because I'm going to try and put it close to the road and disguise the camera with decorations or a bush or something.

[Furryrat]

...and disguise the camera with decorations or a bush or something.

I forsee problems with this plan.

[Tgo01]

I forsee problems with this plan.

I'll have the camera booby trapped. I'm thinking a pit filled with spikes right in front of the camera and I'll cover it all with tree branches and grass.

[Androidpk]

I don't know, I really have nothing to go on other than make and model and color of car, and the time of day it happened this one year :/



Yeah it would need to be outdoor. I'm looking to spend 500 dollars tops, doesn't really seem to be worth it if it's much more than that. Distance shouldn't really matter much because I'm going to try and put it close to the road and disguise the camera with decorations or a bush or something.

That's what stakeouts are for.

[Tgo01]

That's what stakeouts are for.

True true.

[Wrathbringer]

Surely all you would need is a higher resolution / frame rate / better lit camera, no? There's nothing fancy about license plates, they're just small.

My advice is to put light not on the whole yard but light on the camera itself. Deterrence can't work without cognizance.

This is what I came up with as well, but TGO, you said you've got the yard well lit...and it still happens, with the area being vandalized well lit?

[Tgo01]

This is what I came up with as well, but TGO, you said you've got the yard well lit...and it still happens, with the area being vandalized well lit?

Yes. I think lighting up the yard did help this year because we didn't get hit as hard or as often as we usually do. The vandalizing usually starts on Halloween night or shortly thereafter, didn't start until after Thanksgiving this year. So there is that I suppose.

[Wrathbringer]

I'll have the camera booby trapped. I'm thinking a pit filled with spikes right in front of the camera and I'll cover it all with tree branches and grass.

A shart moat around the camera should be effective. Or wait, just around your property. Why mess around?

[Sorcasaurus]

The thing that pisses me off the most is this happens to some of our neighbors as well (although we seem to get it the worst) and whenever we mention this the people who aren't targeted always say stupid shit like "Oh they're just kids, get over it.", "Weren't you ever a kid?"

My favorite is a couple of morons who insist some of the damage is caused by drunks who didn't mean to do what they did. Yeah...okay so you have no problem with drunks driving up and down our street and swerving into people's yards?

It's like...what?!



8 or 9.


In 8 or 9 years, the person has likely gone from being a "kid" to an adult. One SoB at that.

My neighbor used to sit on his front porch giving candy out on Halloween. When I got older he told me he also had a glass pellet gun and was watching for potential eggers. I say you just set up a few motion sensors on your property and buy a bb gun. It's like your own personal shooting range.

[Tgo01]

My neighbor used to sit on his front porch giving candy out on Halloween. When I got older he told me he also had a glass pellet gun and was watching for potential eggers. I say you just set up a few motion sensors on your property and buy a bb gun. It's like your own personal shooting range.

I was so hoping to catch this person in the act this year but sadly I needed sleep at some point :(

Yeah the kid theory is bullshit. It's someone old enough to be driving a car at 4AM.

[Wrathbringer]

I was so hoping to catch this person in the act this year but sadly I needed sleep at some point :(

Yeah the kid theory is bullshit. It's someone old enough to be driving a car at 4AM.

Well, that rules out Bobmuhthol. It's a start.

[Tgo01]

Well, that rules out Bobmuhthol. It's a start.

Although he does make 100 dollars an hour so he could be paying someone..but naww! Bob loves me :D

[Sorcasaurus]

I was so hoping to catch this person in the act this year but sadly I needed sleep at some point :(

Yeah the kid theory is bullshit. It's someone old enough to be driving a car at 4AM.

My guess is a hazing ritual for the local sportsball team. Go mess with O'l man TG. He's likely AFK anyway and won't notice until he checks his logs =P

[Wrathbringer]

Although he does make 100 dollars an hour so he could be paying someone..but naww! Bob loves me :D

Yeah, you're just going to have to invest in a better camera...and rig up some sort of motion triggered poop shooting hose mechanism...and start a youtube channel.

[Tgo01]

My guess is a hazing ritual for the local sportsball team. Go mess with O'l man TG. He's likely AFK anyway and won't notice until he checks his logs =P

Gah! These people are craftier than I thought!

[Whirlin]

My guess is a hazing ritual for the local sportsball team. Go mess with O'l man TG. He's likely AFK anyway and won't notice until he checks his logs =P

Isn't this ENTIRE THREAD about how Tgo01 can AFK watch his yard, and just check his logs later?

[Wrathbringer]

Isn't this ENTIRE THREAD about how Tgo01 can AFK watch his yard, and just check his logs later?

:lol:

[Tgo01]

Isn't this ENTIRE THREAD about how Tgo01 can AFK watch his yard, and just check his logs later?

I afk watch my yard while afk scripting in GS.

One can never hope to achieve this level of afk mastery.

[Soulance]

At first I thought I read they had messed up your front yard by driving through it so I was going to recommend digging out some strips in the lawn and burying some sawed off on an angle conduit just below the surface and covering it back up with a slight layer of sod and dirt...but you didn't say that. Oh well.

Maybe put some your decorations closer to the street and put a camera in one of them, or maybe a fake rock by the mailbox pointing down the street?

Sorry it happens, people are idiots.

[Tgo01]

At first I thought I read they had messed up your front yard by driving through it so I was going to recommend digging out some strips in the lawn and burying some sawed off on an angle conduit just below the surface and covering it back up with a slight layer of sod and dirt...but you didn't say that. Oh well.

Maybe put some your decorations closer to the street and put a camera in one of them, or maybe a fake rock by the mailbox pointing down the street?

Sorry it happens, people are idiots.

People suck.

I think the only way the police are going to do anything is if I can get a license plate. The police wouldn't even come out to our house in previous years when we didn't have cameras. To think I usually take the cop's side in shit and this is how they repay me :(

[Thondalar]

People suck.

I think the only way the police are going to do anything is if I can get a license plate. The police wouldn't even come out to our house in previous years when we didn't have cameras. To think I usually take the cop's side in shit and this is how they repay me :(

Dude, cops are too busy hunting down black kids to murder to care about your house. Get real.

[Tgo01]

Dude, cops are too busy hunting down black kids to murder to care about your house. Get real.

Once again the black man is keeping the white man down!

[Gnome Rage]

Fence in your entire property, put up signs stating that you have booby-trapped everything, throw a few trip wires around and some auto spots, get a recording of a machine gun and have it play if someone sets off a motion detector. /solution

[Latrinsorm]

I second the PI thing. If the docudrama Veronica Mars is any indication, you'd be surprised how effective they can be given nominally limited information.

[Archigeek]

I would forget the placed cameras, and set up motion sensors that just wake you when triggered. Use a decent point and shoot and get your pic's that way. This would help with the guessing game, and perhaps net you some decent pics, or just knowledge of which neighborhood kid or kids are doing it.

Also, does your personality in RL come off about the same as here? That might explain the problem.

[Tgo01]

I would forget the placed cameras, and set up motion sensors that just wake you when triggered.

Problem is the person was done and gone in 12 seconds, I would never wake up and make it out there in time :(


Also, does your personality in RL come off about the same as here? That might explain the problem.

What the fuck does that mean?!?!

[Tgo01]

Fence in your entire property, put up signs stating that you have booby-trapped everything, throw a few trip wires around and some auto spots, get a recording of a machine gun and have it play if someone sets off a motion detector. /solution

I like the machine gun idea.

Oh wait, just the sound of a machine gun? :(

[Archigeek]

Problem is the person was done and gone in 12 seconds, I would never wake up and make it out there in time :(

How the hell do you know? With the exception of the last time? I would guess that 12 seconds to egg a house is rare speed.


What the fuck does that mean?!?!

Constantly complaining to all the neighbors about mundane stuff? Maybe they're in a conspiracy against you. Egging your house could be a neighborhood right of passage.

[Wrathbringer]

Problem is the person was done and gone in 12 seconds, I would never wake up and make it out there in time :(



What the fuck does that mean?!?!

He's asking if you run in and out of rooms quickly while ignoring interaction in your daily life.

[Tgo01]

How the hell do you know?

Because I have it on camera.

[/QUOTE]Constantly complaining to all the neighbors about mundane stuff? Maybe they're in a conspiracy against you.[/QUOTE]

Don't be silly. Everyone loves me.

[Tgo01]

He's asking if you run in and out of rooms quickly while ignoring interaction in your daily life.

Oh! Then yes.

[JackWhisper]

I had this happen to my parents house once. My dad figured out what kind of car it was, couldn't get the license plate. We figured it was someone in his neighborhood.

I got three friends, in four different cars.

Each person sat at one entrance to the area my parents live in, in their respective cars. They recorded every car that it could have been make/model wise.

Only two cars fit the description.

One car belonged to a female widower who was 83. Very nice woman. Made awesome cinnamon cookies.

The other belonged to a club house. Not exactly a frat, but a bunch of college kids working at growing up. So my three friends came along to watch *while staying uninvolved, naturally. Assholes.* and I threw about a half dozen eggs at their front door until two of them came outside. Amongst their shouting, I politely informed them that if they didn't stop egging people's houses, I would come back and drive my car through their living room window while they were watching television, run them over, and claim I blacked out to the police.

They postured and called me all sorts of names, but went back inside. Because it was balls fucking cold that night, no doubt.

And they stopped egging people's houses.

Your solution, tgo? Get some friends, give them some pizza and beer, and get them to sit at the corners that turn into your neighborhood. There can't be that many, and do it on a workday, like a Wednesday, when the person would be most likely to use the car for work. It may take some time, but you'll be damn happy when you catch them.

Worst thing to happen is you don't get em that way. But good luck finding them!

[Archigeek]

I had this happen to my parents house once. My dad figured out what kind of car it was, couldn't get the license plate. We figured it was someone in his neighborhood.

I got three friends, in four different cars.

Each person sat at one entrance to the area my parents live in. They recorded every car that it could have been make/model wise.

Only two cars fit the description.

One car belonged to a female widower who was 83. Very nice woman. Made awesome cinnamon cookies.

The other belonged to a club house. Not exactly a frat, but a bunch of college kids working at growing up. So my three friends came along to watch *while staying uninvolved, naturally. Assholes.* and I threw about a half dozen eggs at their front door until two of them came outside. Amongst their shouting, I politely informed them that if they didn't stop egging people's houses, I would come back and drive my car through their living room window while they were watching television, run them over, and claim I blacked out to the police.

They postured and called me all sorts of names, but went back inside. Because it was balls fucking cold that night, no doubt.

And they stopped egging people's houses.

Your solution, tgo? Get some friends, give them some pizza and beer, and get them to sit at the corners that turn into your neighborhood. There can't be that many, and do it on a workday, like a Wednesday, when the person would be most likely to use the car for work. It may take some time, but you'll be damn happy when you catch them.

Worst thing to happen is you don't get em that way. But good luck finding them!

This is kind of what I was getting at with my "how the hell do you know" comment. Some decent detective work and you can figure this out. It isn't simply a thing that happens once a year and they're gone in 12 seconds just because you got 12 seconds on camera. Another thing you can do is that next time it happens, take a look at the footage going forward and backward a couple of hours. People who do this sort of thing can't resist going back to look at their handiwork afterwards, and may have scoped things out before hand. This isn't that complicated, but you are probably not going to be able to do it without doing some sleuthing.

[Atlanteax]

I think if Tgo01 would just upload his videos to you-tube, the crack team of GSPlayers'Corner will be able to ID the perps.

[Wrathbringer]

I think if Tgo01 would just upload his videos to you-tube, the crack team of GSPlayers'Corner will be able to ID the perps.

It's probably Back anyway.

[Ker_Thwap]

Put up a ranty passive aggressive sign against them, with the camera mounted in it. When they go to destroy the sign, you should get a nice closeup. Make sure you put some fine print on the poster that says. "Hah, you're on video sucker!"

I can't help but wonder if you're spending more on the cameras than you'd spend replacing the crappy lawn decorations?

[Latrinsorm]

For the record, you definitely shouldn't do any of the illegal things suggested in this thread without having those people delete their posts first.

[Peppwyn]

I worked for a company writing a license plate recognition engine some years back. I would suggest getting a infrared camera, as license plates in the US are infrared reflective. Then you just need to situation the camera in a good hidden position, and then honeypot the asshole into coming and breaking something within view of the camera.

[Sorcasaurus]

If you do figure out who's house it is, a decent start for the egg-er might be to buy two dozen eggs. Write a note along the lines of "You seem to have misplaced yours on [insert date here]. Please be more careful going forward." and leave it on their doorstep.

Most of these acts are done because the person assumes anonymity, and being clearly identified is enough to deter them from doing it again.

If it's damages, just leave a note that you have them on camera and if it happens again it will be shown to the authorities. Whether the cops will do anything doesn't matter. You've still told them you caught them and have video of it. It's rare people are dumb enough to do it again after that.

[Sorcasaurus]

I worked for a company writing a license plate recognition engine some years back. I would suggest getting a infrared camera, as license plates in the US are infrared reflective. Then you just need to situation the camera in a good hidden position, and then honeypot the asshole into coming and breaking something within view of the camera.

This actually reminds me of a lab we did in an image processing class. How blurry is the license plate on the video you have TG? You may be able to take a few frames and work out some of the letters using a few different techniques.

I'm certainly no expert, but clarifying a license plate was the actual task for the lab. I'd just be repeating some of the same steps to see if anything happened. All I can promise is I'll waste a bit of time playing around with this.

EDIT: I also say this not knowing the resolution you have. If there are too few pixel's it doesn't matter what people do, the data just won't bet there to play with.

EDIT2:

Thread: Can anyone recommend a good license plate reading camera?
zoom in. and enhance.
http://img.pandawhale.com/post-30001-ENHANCE-gif-Super-Troopers-Img-iSmj.gif

[Wrathbringer]

For the record, you definitely shouldn't do any of the illegal things suggested in this thread without having those people delete their posts first.

lolsharted

[Gompers]

http://i.imgur.com/a9CBb9M.jpg

[Tgo01]

Your solution, tgo? Get some friends, give them some pizza and beer, and get them to sit at the corners that turn into your neighborhood. There can't be that many, and do it on a workday, like a Wednesday, when the person would be most likely to use the car for work. It may take some time, but you'll be damn happy when you catch them.

Worst thing to happen is you don't get em that way. But good luck finding them!

Thing is I'm not 100% positive it's someone that lives around here. People do come from around the city and neighboring cities to look at our decorations. I'm sure some of the damage is caused by people who live around here but I can't say for sure the person I caught on camera is.


I can't help but wonder if you're spending more on the cameras than you'd spend replacing the crappy lawn decorations?

Probably. But at this point it's not about the money. Now...it's personal! Dun dun dunnnnnnn!

But they have probably caused about 1000 dollars in damages over the years and if they really wanted to they could easily cause as much damage in a single year as well. Thankfully whoever is doing this is too much of a coward to stick around that long.


I worked for a company writing a license plate recognition engine some years back. I would suggest getting a infrared camera, as license plates in the US are infrared reflective. Then you just need to situation the camera in a good hidden position, and then honeypot the asshole into coming and breaking something within view of the camera.

I have an infrared camera but it's too blurry to catch the license plate of a moving car. If I could find a way to get them to stop in one particular spot for about 5 seconds it would be perfect :D


If it's damages, just leave a note that you have them on camera and if it happens again it will be shown to the authorities. Whether the cops will do anything doesn't matter. You've still told them you caught them and have video of it. It's rare people are dumb enough to do it again after that.

If I find out who is doing it I'll be telling the cops and everyone in our neighborhood. I'm not the only one upset about this and I've had a few people tell me they would gladly "convince" the person to knock their shit off if I ever find out who it is.

[Tgo01]

http://i.imgur.com/a9CBb9M.jpg

Exactly!

[Bartlett]

I can't exactly recommend this since I have never used one but http://www.trailcampro.com/reconyxsm750review.aspx seems to be what you are after. Combine this with the video of people messing with your yard and you should get some decent evidence. As stated in the ad, you won't get to see much else beside the license plate, but you already have what you need to catch everything else from the sound of it.

[subzero]

The thing that pisses me off the most is this happens to some of our neighbors as well (although we seem to get it the worst) and whenever we mention this the people who aren't targeted always say stupid shit like "Oh they're just kids, get over it.", "Weren't you ever a kid?"

My favorite is a couple of morons who insist some of the damage is caused by drunks who didn't mean to do what they did. Yeah...okay so you have no problem with drunks driving up and down our street and swerving into people's yards?

It's like...what?!



8 or 9.


Pro tip time! If these fuckers are missing out on the action and just dismiss it when you bring it up, they're either in on it or it's time to bring them in the fold. See how dismissive they are after their shit gets smashed up, stolen, and egged every year.