Detectability / Compression / Details | RLC-820A

[robert_5420]

Hello,
I have a camera set (RLK16-820D8-A) with 8 cameras (RLC-820A).

The setting is: 4K and 25fps

I am dissatisfied with the visibility of details. In daylight and at a distance of 16m, a license plate is hardly recognizable. Other details such as faces are also difficult or impossible to see.

I looked for a compression setting, but couldn't find anything.

What can I do?

Greetings from Germany,
Robert

[Reolink Fiona]

@robert_5420 You can also adjust the bitrate in the Stream setting. When you view the video, do you view it in clear mode?
You can right-click the mouse on the LiveView screen and then choose the clear mode.

Here is the guide, https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000662483-How-to-Playback-Recordings-Smoothly-in-Clear-Mode.

[robert_5420]

@reolink-fiona
Hello!

Thank you for your reply and questions.

Resolution: 3840x2160
Bit rate: 8MB/s (full)
FPS: 25

The license plate is only 16 meters away from the camera and is a sunny day. The license plate is not clearly legible.
People and faces are also difficult to identify.

The picture quality on the other cameras is also bad. I tested it over several days with many cars and people on multiple cameras and positions.

What good is 4K resolution if the sensor blurs out all the details in the image?
I am dissatisfied with the image quality of the cameras.

I bought it two weeks ago from Amazon. (NVR+8Cams, ca. 1000 Euro).

Attached are five photos. The last photo is the original resolution photo (3840x2160).

[faasio82_480971996033257]

This post is deleted!

[robert_5420]

@robert_5420 : I have an 523WA and the same problem.
This car is about 15 meters away and i can't read the license plate.

Do you have your example photo in full resolution (4K)?

[faasio82_480971996033257]

@robert_5420 : The picture is taken with 5MP. That is the highest I believe.

[John_350143387672724]

I agree, something seems wrong. I wonder how Reolink’s software (app, client) handles h265 video and making a snapshot from it. I’m sure there’s potential problems on which computer/browser/phones Reolink’s software is running on and how it handles h265 video. It could be a problem on the hardware’s side where the Reolink’s software is running on.

I’m not sure what the problem could be if you’re taking your image from the highest resolution video from the camera and making sure there’s no resolution loss.

[robert_5420]

I’m sure there’s potential problems on which computer/browser/phones Reolink’s software is running on and how it handles h265 video.

I've tried multiple ways (Live View, PC, Mobile, USB over NVR, etc.). It doesn't matter, the same problem everywhere.

I’m not sure what the problem could be if you’re taking your image from the highest resolution video from the camera and making sure there’s no resolution loss.

I asked a surveillance engineering pro.
He told me that in his estimation the problem is that the image sensor is too small for 4K. The sensor cannot capture a clear image in 4K at all due to its small size.
That would mean that a software update cannot solve the problem. The camera would be technical scrap.

[John_350143387672724]

I asked a surveillance engineering pro.
He told me that in his estimation the problem is that the image sensor is too small for 4K. The sensor cannot capture a clear image in 4K at all due to its small size.

That better not be true since Reolink's stated spec is for 3840X2160 (8.0 Megapixels) at 25 frames/sec. I bought a RLC-820a camera that's going to be delivered this weekend.

[robert_5420]

to be delivered this weekend

I'm curious about your result.

[John_350143387672724]

@robert_5420
@robert_5420
My RLC-820a camera arrived today, and my results closely match yours!
 
I used the beta Windows client v8.8.0 to set it up and downloaded the latest firmware version v3.1.0.956_22041501 for the camera. I updated the video options and made sure the camera was recording at its highest quality.

 
I then put a license plate at 45 ft (13.716 Meters) and 65 ft (19.812 Meters) and recorded a video and took a snapshot using the windows client. The video and snapshot both checked out at 3840X2160 (8.0 Megapixels) with the video at 25 frames/sec.



I zoomed in and made a closeup of the license plates which strongly matched your results.

 
My conclusions:

The cameras f=4.0mm fixed lens and sensor quality aren't that bad but does lack the closeness and details for zooming in on a license plate, Not sure how much a 4k image should be able to be zoomed in without lose of quality. We don't have a high price camera with a top of the line image sensor.

So, I'm happy with what I'm getting for the price I paid for the camera.

[John_350143387672724]

@john_350143387672724

Here's the full image.

[robert_5420]

@John_350143387672724

I zoomed in and made a closeup of the license plates which strongly matched your results.

The number plate at 13 meters is difficult to see. These are not clear details.
How big are your license plates?
The license plates in Germany are very large (52 centimeters) and very clear in their structure, as well as black writing on a white background.
And with these best conditions, this license plate is no longer legible at 15 meters.

The cameras f=4.0mm fixed lens and sensor quality aren't that bad but does lack the closeness and details for zooming in on a license plate, Not sure how much a 4k image should be able to be zoomed in without lose of quality.

Try it yourself with your cell phone and see what quality your cell phone delivers.

By the way, Reolink gives license plate detectability with this camera with only 13ft (4 meters):
https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005087394-Reolink-Cameras-Visual-Distance-on-License-Plates
4K and 13ft?
So you have to ask the bad guy to drive right in front of the camera.

@faasio82_480971996033257
Why did you delete your photos?

[John_350143387672724]

@robert_5420

How big are your license plates?

Our license plates are 6 x 12 inches (15.24 x 30.48 centimeters).

Try it yourself with your cell phone and see what quality your cell phone delivers.

I made images using the Reolink’s windows client and android phone app. The windows client uses a PNG format while the phone app is a JPG format (Lossless (PNG) vs lossy (JPG) compression formats). This seemed strange to me and maybe a problem.

I download the high-resolution video (supposedly H.265 lossless compression) off the SD card, and then made images using media player VLC and a video editor Any Video Convert (AVC) software. Both were in PNG format.

All four images that I made are virtually the same, with no noticeable differences.

I don’t think there’s anything that can be done to improve clarity of the video/image. The camera is what it is! Not what we were hoping for!

What I don’t know is if the camera’s compression (H.265) is being done by hardware or software. I’m guessing it’s a chip on the camera. If its software, maybe something could be done to tweak the compression algorithm.

[robert_5420]

Our license plates are 6 x 12 inches (15.24 x 30.48 centimeters).

The German license plate is almost twice as wide (52 centimeters), only black and white and that's not even legible.

All four images that I made are virtually the same, with no noticeable differences.

This is a strong indication that it is not the compression, since otherwise it would always look slightly different depending on the resolution. It points more to the image sensor, which already delivers so poorly.

The camera is what it is! Not what we were hoping for!

I also come to this conclusion.
The software can't do anything about that, since the image comes from the image sensor as it comes.

[user_587092910207017_587092910207017]

Hello,

i have the same problem with RLC-810A

i have set to 2k and to 4k (both max quality 8000kb encoding) there is absolute no change in quality. (i used the direct stream and encoded with VLC/ffmepg and also used the software with snapshot)

even if i zoom out the picture, it result in absolute same details.

there is may a bug in software or the sensor cmos has only 3MP and is scaled up by software.

i also see that the stream run on 29 FPS ?? how could this possible in 4k?

i hope we can clearify this issue, i do not want to have bought (on amazon) a fake 4k.