5MP vs 8MP PoE Cameras (will 8mp catch license plates?)

[YodaVader]

Hi again people.

My system has been working fine since you helped me learn how to set it all up and use it.

I have one complaint, my 5MP cameras don't give me a clear enough image to make out license plates. Even that of my own vehicle parked in front of the house.

Q: Would a similar 8MP camera provide a clear enough image to make out the license plates of cars driving by?

My DVR is supposed to support recording up to 2160 and it does have 3 open camera ports.

Here's an image from the camera I would replace. (and move to another location)

NVR_Front [email protected] (2.65 MiB) Viewed 5919 times

[Revo2Maxx]

To be honest I don't think a shift from a 2.8mm to a 4mm is going to be enough. To be honest the position of the area of interest isn't placed well.

Few different things. First the 2 camera have almost the same sensor size. Yet the 5mp camera has a better F-Stop so that means the 5mp will have been night ability. Next with the 2 cameras with almost same sensor size the 8mp has little worse F-Stop it will have or may have noise at night and image of video or pictures won't be as clear.

If I had to guess on where to put the Area of Interest for the camera location I would have it placed to the Front of your vehicle and not the rear. So I would get a camera with a Motorized Vari Focal lens aka Zoom lens. Below is a few pictures of my 2mp TVI 5mmx50mm zoom camera. You can see in the first picture the area of Interest *Where I have it positioned full time* then second picture I zoomed it in all the way so you could see what I am talking about where it can go at maxed zoomed in area. The last picture is where and what it can see if it was zoomed all the way out at 5mm.

Last picture I might have to dig one out from today using my Blue Iris. I will try and find a plate that don't matter much to my area lol but will post one to show it as it was captured and not zoomed in.. What I mean by not zoomed in meaning I didn't zoom the digital in to see the plate but you can clearly see this plate. I had a few others but pointed to my location and don't want to give more info then others have already seen or know already..

You will need to spend little more money then 100 for a plate camera. Sure there are some out there that can and will do it with little mods for 100 but really best to just buy a camera that can do it already.. I would look at IP8M-MT2544EB or EW if you want white.. My camera while very old from 2016 cost more then 2 times the cost of the MT2544 and has features that zoom cameras of today still don't offer..

To look at full sized picture right click and open in new tab for full 1080Pp sized picture and you can clearly make out the LP in my Bi picture.

Normal area of View

Screenshot (3696).png (1.83 MiB) Viewed 5905 times

Zoomed all the way in for Lens ability at 50mm

Screenshot (3697).png (1.78 MiB) Viewed 5905 times

Zoomed all the way out

Screenshot (3698).png (1.94 MiB) Viewed 5905 times

Blue Iris from car going by with where my lens is pointing full time

Screenshot (3700).png (1.64 MiB) Viewed 5905 times

[YodaVader]

For some reason it linked to the wrong camera.

I meant this one "https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-Nightcol ... B0BMWFTFLS"

Offers 4K @15fps video with a super-wide 129° viewing angle, F1.4 aperture, and 1/2.8" image sensor.

I see what your getting at though. That $200 cam is far superior. Seeing license plates is not a requirement though, just a wish.

We are considering adding another camera facing out and west in the red circle in the front west view, see arrow in front east view. (west cam looks east, east cam looks west) and we're mostly curious if we'd see an image improvment worth the price difference in the 2 cams.

The second and third cams in that capture can see each other and it doesn't cause any issues in day or night modes.

Note: The cheaper Amcrest POE cams are on sale on Amazon until the 29th for avg 25% off.

FYI The inner detection areas are the ones that switch on the lights when the camera is in NV mode. It's working well. The larger area catches everything but the lights only come on if something 'appears' in the smalller zones.

The tripwire sets off the alarm built into the DVR and acts like an automatic doorbell letting us know if anyone approaches the front door.
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cams.JPG (75.06 KiB) Viewed 5824 times

[Revo2Maxx]

The large improvement would be day time would have better digital zoom ability and with the lens offered and the 1.4f-stop the camera would be alright at night. If it was 1.0 would be much better but the 1.4 is better then any higher number.. The image sensor is 1/2.8 and really for the price is what would be expected with other features it has. So for the cost/price it seems like a solid camera over the 5mp. Plus the 5mp is a tall format where the 8mp is a wide format.. In your 4 split it seems you are not using the Original format setting and so the feeds look wide format but if they are in 5mp the real view is long narrow..

[YodaVader]

Thank you for taking the time to help me out with my research before buying.

Note: The images are set to "original" size. I used the windows snipping tool to capture that image of ASP running on my 2560 x 1440 monitor. It's is not the entire screen.

Here's one captured the same way but of the web interface and reduced in pixel and byte size with another program.
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[YodaVader]

Capture1.jpg (71.18 KiB) Viewed 5706 times

[Revo2Maxx]

Thank you for the feedback.. About full or other format, I guess so you know what I mean. Log in to the NVRs WebUi by going to your browser, Using Edge in IE mode is best, But others might be able to change to normal format.. Chrome isn't though.. Anyway going to the NVRs IP address log in and then click on the Live View, Then double click the first box, then bring up one of the 5mp cameras. Down at the bottom click on the W:H icon and click on Normal format.. "Original Ratio"

For me while I do have a few 8mp cameras I do like 4mp for the most part. Mainly to do with sensor size and things like that. I mean buying a 4mp and 8mp camera with same sensor size and F-stop for both cameras the 4mp camera would have better night time video/picture and sure the 8mp will have better day time picture with ablity to Digital Zoom in a larger area, To tell the truth the camera placed correctly and not trying to cover more then what is expected from a camera 4mp is good enough for me and saves on space. *Not really* The truth though, 8mp camera that is able to run 30fps, I would run at 22fps just like my other cameras and 4096bit rate on H.265. Because the 8mp camera will compress more pixel data into the same bitrate, protentially reducing the image quality. *More compression artifacts* compared to my 4mp camears at the same settings.. So to fully utilize the resolution advantage of a 8mp camera, a higher bitrate is often necessary, wich increases storage requirements..