{"id":13824,"date":"2024-01-29T03:02:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T03:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newestek.com\/?p=13824"},"modified":"2024-01-29T03:02:30","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T03:02:30","slug":"lpr-camera-home-install-license-plate-reader-software-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newestek.com\/?p=13824","title":{"rendered":"LPR Camera Home Install License Plate Reader Software Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recently, I installed our new 4mp Viewtron LPR camera at my house to test the automatic license plate reader software at an angle and distance much greater than CCTV Camera Pros normally recommends. We have been supplying our 2mp Viewtron LPR camera for four years and it has been a tremendous success. However, almost all of our LPR camera system customers have been businesses and government installations.<\/p>\n

Home LPR camera sales have mostly been limited to large residential properties that have long driveways and\/or gated access points. This is because of the strict installation requirements for LPR cameras<\/a>. Specifically, the minimal horizontal and vertical angle that is required for license plate recognition software to work properly if very difficult to achieve when mounting to a house. The team at CCTV Camera Pros has talked many homeowners out of buying LPR cameras because we knew it would not work well on a typical home installation.<\/p>\n

\"ANPR<\/a><\/p>\n

The new 4mp LPR camera<\/a> model looks the same the 2mp model, except that it has a larger focal. It has a 8 to 32mm motorized varifocal lens, and is also twice the resolution at 4mp vs 2mp. I thought that maybe license plate capture may be somewhat possible when installed on the front of my house if we pointed the camera as far down the street as possible and zoom the lens all the way in. This would create the most minimal angle as possible within the recommended maximum license plate detection distance of 80 feet.\u00a0 My original idea for the above video was to explain why LPR cameras DO NOT work well when installed on the front of a house. However, the results using the new Viewtron LPR-IP4 were very surprising for both daytime and night time license plate capture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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LPR Camera Home Installation<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"LPR<\/a><\/p>\n

This is where I mounted the LPR camera on my house. Normally, I have a Viewtron 4K AI camera installed in that spot to monitor my driveway. The 9 foot 4 inch installation height is MUCH higher that we we recommend for LPR. We typically recommend that LPR camera are installed as level to license plate height as possible.<\/p>\n

\"LPR<\/a><\/p>\n

My house is set back 35 feet from the street. This is MUCH farther away than we recommend for LPR camera installation. We usually tell customers that they need a pole as close to the street as possible.<\/p>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a close-up of the installation so that you can see the angle I used when focusing the camera on the LPR detection zone.<\/p>\n

\"License<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a picture that I took from where the LPR camera is installed, pointing away from the house towards the LPR detection zone. I also measured the distance from the camera to where I created the plate detection zone in the LPR software. It is 110 feet away from the camera is installed. As I previously mentioned, this LPR camera has a recommended max LPR range of 80 feet.<\/p>\n

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LPR Software<\/h2>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the LPR software setup screen on the Viewtron NVR that the LPR camera is connected to. The large green rectangle on the screen defines the license plate detection zone. The two smaller rectangles define the size range of the license plates that will be passing through the detection zone.<\/p>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

After I setup the license plate recognition zone on the Viewtron NVR, I left the LPR detection recording on for a few days. The results were amazing! I was expecting to be able to identify some plates by manually reviewing the recorded video surveillance video on the NVR. I was very surprised to find that the AI software was not only detecting license plates, it was also automatically recognizing the license plate numbers and letters. This is known as automatic license plate recognition.<\/p>\n

The above screenshot is the Intelligent Analytics search screen on the NVR. It lets you search for all of the license plate recognition events.<\/p>\n

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Daytime License Plate Recognition<\/h2>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a screenshot of one of the license plate recognition events from daytime recording. You can click on the above image to open a higher resolution screenshot so that you can see the license plate better.<\/p>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a close-up view of the day time license plate capture.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Night Time License Plate Recognition<\/h2>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a screenshot of the night time license plate recording. Please also notice the timeline on the right hand side of the video playback screen. All of the license plate recognition events are notated with a light blue color so that you can easily jump to other LPR events on the video playback screen.<\/p>\n

\"license<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a zoomed in view of the night time LPR.<\/p>\n

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License Plate Capture vs License Plate Reader<\/h2>\n

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After testing the Viewtron LPR-IP4 at my house for a week, I made the above video to share additional results and my latest thoughts. In case you are not familiar with the difference between a license plate capture camera (LPC) and a license plate reader camera (same thing as license plate recognition), here are some definitions.<\/p>\n