Buy More Cameras

[ChloeonCamera]

Reading reviews. Pondering purchase. I see the cameras can't read license plates and there is a constant "buy more cameras" ad that flames across the screen every 30 seconds or so. That in itself will make me crazy. Can the ads be disabled? Any way to get license plates visible? Should I wait to purchase or keep shopping for another brand? I really need a system and one that works.

[jguerdat]

The ad isn't scrolling or occasional - it's just there where other cameras would appear. No way to get rid of it other than to add cameras.

The license plate issue is a combination of issues - exposure, contrast, distance, and, probably most importantly, compression.  Also, don't forget that 720p isn't exactly high resolution - it's less than 1 megapixel.  1080 wouldn't help much more since it's only a little more than 2x that of 720.  My old Canon 5D MkII is 22 MP and many cameras are close or downright beat it.  Video is lacking in resolution but the amount of compression could (should?) be adjustable to help out with these issues.  I don't know that many other systems allow that, either.

[TomMac]

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 I see the cameras can't read license plates snip  Any way to get license plates visible? Should I wait to purchase or keep shopping for another brand? I really need a system and one that works.

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You are confusing the basic two types of cameras, "Activity" and "ID".

Arlo seems to fall more into the activity type of cam ;  It covers a large angle of view ( 110 degrees ) and allows you to see what happen and when.

An ID type camera has a close up shot, tighter angle of view, and is aimed at a small area such as a door way only....

There are plus and minus in both. Activity cam generally will not give an ID, but an ID cam will only cover a small area.....if the target doesn't go there, your out of luck. 

It is best if you can use a combination of both to see what happen when and also get a possible ID.

If you want to get plates with Arlo, you can but with limited success... It would have to be 1) close to the vehicle 2) the vehicle would have to be in the 'sight window' 3) the vehicle would have to not going to fast. ( I've manage to get plates on parked vehicles up to about 30-40' , but I was trying to and set up for same ) Plates on a moving cars is another story.

End result, not to say Arlo can't get ID shots, its just not a specific ID type camera... best setups will cover both scenarios

Hope this answers your question , if any more then fire away as that's what the board is for.

[Smeric28]

720p is 1.3 MP not less than 1 1080p is like 2.2.

Daytime license plate is good but high contrast at night is a problem. However that is true with all cameras. A setting could allow this cameras to do this at night but, everything but the plate would be too dark to see what is going on. But since it's a multi camera system this is feasible. What would be especially interesting is to use a camera setup for low light lpr triggered off motion alerts from another camera set as usual on over watch so to speak.

[jguerdat]

720 - 1280*720 = 921,600

1080 - 1920*1080 = 2,073,600

If you wanna get technical, divide each one by 1024.  Then 720 is .900 Mp and 1080 is 2.025 Mp.  😄

[cdclancy]

Cannot see license plate in daylight or night

[jguerdat]

You do understand that these are wide angle lens with a ~1 megapixel sensor, right? If the plate is some distance away, it's going to be rather tough to see details, especially with the compression levels in use.