Blue Iris

I am seeking a Blue Iris pro to help me fine-tune, QC and optimize where I have gotten on my own via YT videos and trial / error. Essentially, I feel that I am 80% of the way there, but still limited by things that I don't fully understand. One annoyance has been regarding the configuration of face detection snapshots; in fact I gave up on it completely when I re-did my server recently on a dedicated workstation; looking forward to learning how to set it up correctly!

Another key area I need help with is that I bought a Univision IPC6612SR-X25-VG (25x zoom) PTX camera with expectation that it would be able to discern license plates at night from both directions of a street the midpoint of which is ~60 ft perpendicular to its installation point (20 ft high). There is no trouble getting a clear picture during the day when fully zoomed in and looking at an angle, however it all falls apart at night... I have ground my teeth on the image exposure settings within the camera interface for hours on and off and only gotten close once...so many settings that I do not understand and the Univision tech support team was not very helpful.

I would also like to be able to have cameras that are dedicated to watching each approach vector to tell the PTZ camera to zoom to a specific preset when they register an ONCOMING vehicle so that the PTZ can attempt to collect plates from vehicles traveling both directions. I think this is possible via DeepStack and some cleverness, maybe making use of more than one camera at a time...? Of course this may not be viable if we can only calibrate image exposure in one of these presets at a time due to ambient lighting and such...will defer to the pro to advise.

I do already have both DeepStack and ALPR configured...although the latter recently froze my API token because the camera was sending too many requests...of a trash can lol. Please help!!!!

PS - continuous tracking of motion is doable yet in Blue Iris? The Univision camera has this capability "built-in" although it does not seem to work reliably at all and there is very little in the ways of config settings to play with...

I get where you're coming from - been there just like everybody else. You don't need to pay anyone, you just need patience and advice. What you are trying to do is interesting but not herculean in principle, but how you want to make it work, might not be the best way to get there from here. Skin a cat and all... so maybe some more context surrounding the desired outcome - what you want to accomplish, not how you want to do it. Just spitballin'...

Thanks! In short I want LPR at night on my street, both directions eventually but at least one direction would be satisfactory. The image exposure portion of this task is either outside of my skills or outside of this camera's capabilities (without supplemental lighting which is not viable - it is a subdivision street). I have watched numerous videos and played around for hours...one problem is that there is no discernable way to track or revert to a specific focus or iris size setting which obviously plays a large role on image exposure. Enclosing a screenshot to illustrate how dense the remainder of configuration is... From memory, what I know presently:

* Any IR is a NO
* Shutter speed needs to be low, but how low?
* Gain setting is useful
* Compensation setting is useful?
* Focus - pretty sure needs to be manual. Devs confirmed that it gets saved with presets.
* Iris size - I think needs to be small; seems very important but may not get saved with presets!
* noise reduction - I think all of these settings are BAD for LPR?

The one time that I got very close, I could not see anything on the camera at night other than (almost) the license plate; could barely make out the vehicle. I know from research that this is what a viable exposure setting would look like. But then I accidentally reset the camera and did not take any notes on how I got there!

By the way, I am attempting to record license plates that are on the rear of the vehicle, not the front! And I am totally not remiss about going wallet ninja for someone to just fix it...this has been hanging for a while specifically because I have not had time to spend, and already missed several potential opportunities to identify bad actors since I put this thing in...

Okay, I hear you. Here's the thought that came to mine... don't play whack-a-mole - do the math. Check this out IPVM Camera Calculator. Also, ALPR Plate Recognition only for Confirmed Vehicles.

Hi, I have a Hikvision 8mp doing what you want. It has a good picture during the day and dark picture at night which catches rear plates. I will post the settings when I get home

ducem wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:41 am Hi, I have a Hikvision 8mp doing what you want. It has a good picture during the day and dark picture at night which catches rear plates. I will post the settings when I get home

Post some screenshots too... fov, etc...

Here goes - Image Adjustment (Brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness all at default (50))
- Exposure settings, iris mode - fixed, exposure time 1/1000
- Day/night switch - auto
- Backlight settings, WDR - on, wide dynamic level 30, hlc - off
- White balance, AWB1
- Image enhancement, Digital noise reduction - normal, noise reduction level 50

I have blurred number plates for obvious reasons. The road in screenshots has cars travelling 60mph and is very rural, at night there is no light of any kind apart from the moon. I have no ir lights activated on the camera. Another camera at a different location has different settings but has a PIR led floodlight and it too can capture plates (just ask if these would be of use)
Hope this helps, feel free to ask questions. (No one wants your money, we are all in the same boat trying to find a solution for our own particular needs)


Edit-might need advise on how to post screenshots

That's funny as hell! Still laughing... When you reply, Attachments tab->Add files (not >256K), place in line with your text or just leave it be, it'll attach.

What is he obvious reason for blurring the license plates? They aren't secret or anything. They are literally out there for people to see.

And, if you are talking about advise on how to do LPR then it might be nice to see the actual plates.

In the UK it is considered "best practice" to blur license plates. These plates are from random cars and out of respect I would not post license plates without permission on a public forum.