LPR Camera Night Time License Plate Recognition
Here is some night time license plate recognition testing that CCTV Camera Pros performed with our Viewtron LPR camera and NVR. The above video captures the license plate on the front of a vehicle at night with the car’s headlights on. You can see that the LPR camera compensates very well for the headlight glare and the plate can be clearly read.
LPR / ANPR Software
The first night video did not show the LPR / ANPR (license plate recognition / automatic number plate reader) software of the Viewtron NVR detecting the plate and recognizing all of the characters on it. This is because I used a Viewtron hybrid DVR to record that video, not a pure IP camera NVR when I made the video of the front plate capture. Viewtron hybrid BNC DVRs work with Viewtron IP cameras (including this LPR camera), however, they do not have the ANPR software built-in.
This second video has the target detection window enabled so that you can see the license plate recognition software working in real time on the NVR. In this video, I captured the license plate on the rear of my car at night.
LPR Camera
This is the Viewtron ANPR / LPR camera that was used in both video demos. It is a 1080p / 2mp IP LPR camera with PoE. Please note that we now have a new and improved 4mp resolution LPR camera that we recommend. The performance is even better than the 1080p / 2mp model that was used in this video demo.
IP Camera NVR
The camera can be connected to any of our Viewtron security camera NVRs. All Viewtron NVRs have the ANPR and LPR software completely integrated and there is never any ongoing software licensing fees. You can find complete LPR camera systems with the camera and NVR here.
More LPR Camera Videos
You can see additional LPR camera system videos here.
Can an LPR camera read a front plate with headlights on?
Yes. The video at the top of this page is that exact test. Customers asked about headlight glare on a front plate, and Florida does not require a front plate, so I temporarily mounted one and recorded the drive-through. I do a daytime pass first so you can see the camera layout, then I come back at night with the headlights on. At night the LPR camera view is mostly black except for the headlights and the plate. I pause on the approach, then switch to full screen so you can read the characters at the full 1080p resolution.
Can security cameras read license plates at night?
Most regular security cameras cannot. Night video is already hard, and license plates add headlight glare, motion, and reflective sheeting. Security cameras that can read license plates at night are almost always dedicated LPR / ANPR cameras with the right IR and shutter setup, not a general-purpose dome aimed at the driveway.
For more night time LPR examples:
- LPR / ANPR camera night demo – office night ALPR with the detection window on a Viewtron NVR
- How to capture license plates at night – real home install with an IR LPR camera, including distance and overview-camera tips
What about the newer 4mp Camera for Night LPR?
The camera in the front-plate video above is the older 1080p / 2MP LPR-IP7. The model we recommend now is the 4MP Viewtron LPR-IP4.
Night Time License Plate Capture w/ 4mp LPR Camera
Here is the single camera view of the LPR camera capturing a license plate on a pickup truck at night. You can click on the image for a larger view, but please be aware that I scaled these images down in size for the website. The original images are much larger at 4mp resolution.
Here is a close-up of the rear license plate capture.
Night Time License Plate Capture (Front Plate)
Here is the front license plate capture that I recorded. Again, you can click on this image for a full sized view but it is not the original. It is scaled down from the 4K HDMI output of the Viewtron NVR to 1080p resolution for the website.
Here is a close-up of the night time front license plate capture. You can see at the 130-140 foot distance from the LPR camera, the plate is not crystal clear at night but you can still identify all of the numbers and letters.
If you want to see the LPR-IP4 on a real house at night, check out the home night capture post.
Night settings that help with glare / overexposed plates
If plates look blown out at night, use the current values on our support topic Fix Overexposed License Plates at Night on Viewtron LPR Cameras: night brightness around 3 (sometimes 1 to 2), Plate Exposure around 8 (down to 6 if needed), and max shutter around 1/750 (up to 1/1000). Keep the plate large enough in the frame (about 6% or more).
Related LPR Camera Products and Links
- Viewtron LPR-IP4 (4 MP LPR camera)
- License Plate Recognition systems
- Viewtron IP camera NVRs
- LPR / ANPR camera night video demo
- Night time license plate capture (home IR)
- Fix overexposed plates at night (forum)
- More LPR camera system videos
Video Transcript
Hi everyone. Mike from CCTV Camera Pros here. I’m doing some nighttime license plate capture recording in this video using a Viewtron LPR camera and a Viewtron DVR.
A few things that are different in this video than my previous tests.
Number one, you see I have a license plate on the front of my car. In Florida we don’t have license plate on the front, so I temporarily mounted that because I had some customers contact me who wanted to see the effects of headlight glare with LPR.
Number two, I have the Viewtron LPR camera connected to a Viewtron DVR, not NVR. So the NVRs are for just IP cameras, the Viewtron DVRs are hybrid, they work with IP and BNC cameras. However, they don’t have the automatic number plate recognition built in, so this is strictly a license plate capture test where I’m going to confirm that the DVR and the camera can work together to record the video clear enough so that a human can read the plate when you play it back, but there’s no automatic software recognition of detecting the plates and recognizing the characters.
So let’s take a look. I’m going to do a daytime drive through first, and then I’m going to come back here at night to do the nighttime LPR test.
Here’s the daytime recording. I’m going to do the nighttime license plate capture next, but let me explain what’s going on here. That camera that I appear in the lower right, that really has nothing to do with the license plate recognition application, this is just a fourth camera on this system. The camera just above that, that’s the license plate capture camera, and the two cameras on the left, those are our two overview cameras that we use in conjunction with the license plate capture camera. So in a minute when I start driving you’ll see in the overview camera in the lower left, I’m going to be coming around that corner in a second, and then I’ll be in a dead on front view with the license plate capture camera. You see in the upper right I’m approaching, and I’m going to pause the video here in a second. So I’ll pause it right about there.
And you see the camera clearly captured the plate. It was recorded clearly enough. So that’s a successful license plate capture.
Next, I’m going to run through the video of just the license plate capture camera full screen. Let’s take a look.
So here I come with the LPR camera full screen, and again, I’m going to pause the video about right there. And here you can clearly see the license plate, much better now with the camera in full screen mode, this is the full two megapixel 1080p resolution, whereas in that four screen view I showed you a second ago, that wasn’t 1080p. When the DVR is viewing four cameras at once it scales it down.
So next, let’s look at the nighttime license plate capture. I’m going to go through the same exact routine as I did a minute ago with the daytime recording. You saw me just jog out to my car there, and as I pull out and drive you’ll see me coming around the corner. You’ll see it in the overview camera in the lower left, and then the LPR camera is the upper right, the one that’s pretty much blacked out. At night these license plate capture cameras are pretty much black except for the headlights and the plate. And as I get a little closer I’m going to pause the video again right about there so we can take a close look at how well the license plate was captured.
Last, let’s take one more look at the nighttime license plate capture with the LPR camera in full screen mode, and I’ll pause the video again as the plate gets closer, about right there. And you could see the letters and numbers on the plates are pretty much crystal clear.
I hope this video has been helpful in showing how well our Viewtron LPR camera does with nighttime video capture, even with headlight glare for front license plates.
I want to remind everyone, although this is a network IP camera, this entire video was recorded with that connected to a Viewtron hybrid DVR, which works with BNC cameras and IP cameras. This is extremely useful for people that have existing BNC camera infrastructure in place, and they need a really great LPR camera. You can keep all your BNC cameras in place, add the LPR camera, and none of that goes to waste.
However, you do not get the automated license plate recognition software as you do with the pure IP camera NVRs, the Viewtron IP camera NVRs. If you want to learn more about that I’m going to link below to a blog post where I’ll put this video and more info. You can reach out to me anytime via email. I can be reached at mike@cctvcamerapros.net if you have any questions. And if you want to learn more and see some additional videos, including the NVR that has the automated license plate recognition software, please go to www.cctvcamerapros.com/capture. Thank you for watching.
Have Questions / Need Help?
If you have any questions about these videos or anything else related to security camera systems, please email me at mike@cctvcamerapros.net.
