Reg Camera

[Matt F]

I have a customer that has had repeated trouble within the car park of his hotel and would like to capture all number plates entering his car park.

Has anybody used the number plate recognition camera made by Derwent and if so what was your opinion of the product did it work?

What set up is required or is it plug and play.

Any advice appreciated.

Matt

[Guest Andyp]

Hi Matt

The Reg range of products are excellent. I have just sold some more to a police force and they are over the moon with them.

I did a few trials on motorway service stations with them mounted on a tripod and with no more setting up than a video camera the camera captured the first two number plates that entered the area. One was stolen and the driver of the other one was wanted by another force. RESULT.

An outright ANPR camera seems a bit of overkill just to record the number plates, why not just use a decent camera that can handle headlights ie Panasonic 920 with a suitable decent lens just to record the entrance lane of traffic. As a guideline the Police Scientific Development Branch recommend that for evidential purposes, the car that the number plate is on should represent 50% of the screen height.

If you want a dedicated ANPR system that will for instance open a barrier if the car is recognised, try the Neurodynamics digital recorder. I think it is called 'Witness'. It has an ANPR add-on which is a cost effective solution to the software issue.

I hope that helps

Andy

[Matt F]

Hi Andy

Thanks for the reply.

I should be able to buy a reg cam for around £1100

Do you think there would be a big cost saving if I was to use the Panasonic camera in a housing with a 300 watt IR lamp? And will it produce a good picture in the dark with the car headlights pointing at the camera?

I have already sold him a 16 way 320 gig Ademco DVR so I don't think he'll want to change that.

Regards Matt.

[Guest Andyp]

The panasonic is a very good colour mono camera which should have no trouble capturing a number plate under street light conditions without the need for IR. I am not sure whether the camera is optimised for IR lit scenes, check with your distributor.

If you can get the reg camera for £1100 I presume that you have a location relatively close to the entrance in which case the Panasonic would do a very good job with a decent lens. The only thing which might put you off the Panasonic is the price, you wont be far off the price of a reg once you have added a decent lens and VR housing.

Andy

[Matt F]

Thanks for the advice Andy

Regards Matt.

[Guest Andyp]

No worries.

If you need any more info let me know. I have the Panasonic area rep with me today so I will ask the question about the IR.

Andy

[Guest Andyp]

According to Panasonic, CL920A is optimised for IR above 830nm. Hope that helps

Andy

[Matt F]

Thanks Andy

[Guest awadynamo]

Hi Andy

Thanks for the reply.

I should be able to buy a reg cam for around £1100

Do you think there would be a big cost saving if I was to use the Panasonic camera in a housing with a 300 watt IR lamp? And will it produce a good picture in the dark with the car headlights pointing at the camera?

I have already sold him a 16 way 320 gig Ademco DVR so I don't think he'll want to change that.

Regards Matt.

can you please tell me approx the trade price of the 16 way 320 gig Ademco DVR should cost

thanks

[Guest rjbsec]

I have a customer that has had repeated trouble within the car park of his hotel and would like to capture all number plates entering his car park.

Has anybody used the number plate recognition camera made by Derwent and if so what was your opinion of the product did it work?

What set up is required or is it plug and play.

Any advice appreciated.

Matt

No personal experience but saw a demo of a new Eneo camera at our local Enterprise Security branch a couple of weeks ago. It is configured by PC to provide a 3-way image, main picture and two segments. I saw it being used at a carpark entrance and it gave the braod overall image then images of the number plate and the drivers face. A lot cheaper than full n/p recognition if it suits the purpose.