Reviewing footage on pc

[Dalevw]

Hello to all. I'm new here and my name is Dale. I've been using a dash cam for a couple of years now and being honest it has save my bacon and helped me claim from a third party. I bought a viofo cam for my partner a year or so ago.
Yesterday a van/pickup hit her car and ripped off the drivers mirror. It was just after 7 in the morning so it was not daylight. On viewing the footage the number plates are totally white. This probably is reflection from her LED headlights.
I have view it through VLC player

I would like to view it frame by frame.... is that possible to do

Thanks in advance for any replies

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[LateralNW]

Welcome @Dalevw
You can step video frame by frame in VLC. You need to enable that menu option.


Goto Tools / Customise interface - then have a play with the menu structure you want. Make sure you add the Icon shown in the image.
Sometimes inverting the image eg a negative may show things you don't see in normal view.
Good luck getting the Number plate.

 

[Dalevw]

Thanks for the super fast reply. I'm off to work soon so I'll have a look at it tomorrow. I'll let you know how I get on

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[LateralNW]

Thanks for the super fast reply. I'm off to work soon so I'll have a look at it tomorrow. I'll let you know how I get on

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

Look forward to how you go.
Cheers.

 

[Dashmellow]

Also, to add to LateralNW's suggestion, in many media players you can step forwards and backwards frame by frame by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard. In some media players if you hold down the arrow keys you can scrub through video frames in slow motion.

Another thing you can do is to go into the "video effects" menu in VLC (and certain other media players) and try adjusting the brightness, contrast and gamma settings. Often, this will reveal hidden details not normally seen in your videos.

 

[Kremmen]

Last time I tried to be clever in VLC I stuffed it and had to do a complete reset

 

[Dalevw]

Thanks @Dashmellow I'm new to this so I'll have a play tomorrow. I'll try and link the actual video so all can view it

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[Dashmellow]

Last time I tried to be clever in VLC I stuffed it and had to do a complete reset

It does help if you are familiar with imaging functions but it's not that hard and always worth a try. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by a "complete" reset but all you need to do is press the reset button in the control window shown above to go back to your original video. You can't really screw things up.

The gamma settings can be very helpful, especially if you want to open up details hidden in otherwise too dark portions of an image but sometimes you can do the same with overly bright areas like the blown out license plate numbers in question here as long as there is some hidden detail in the original that can be extracted.

 

[Kremmen]

It was a while ago and it was a posted tweak to make the video playback smoother. I don't remember exactly what I did but it had side effects for me.

As you hint, I didn't know what I was doing

 

[Dalevw]

Collision is about 1min 15 seconds onwards
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[Dashmellow]

Wow! What an unfortunate incident. At least it was just the mirror. It could have been worse!

Unfortunately, I doubt that there is much you can do to recover the plate number. The blown out license plate number is problematic in and of itself but combined with the severe motion blur, it makes it virtually impossible to recover any usable information from this video.

The HDR setting here isn't helping things either, in fact it is making the situation worse. This is why the plate is a 3D looking trail rather than flat.

 

[kamkar]

Nothing to do here, your best chance are probably to keep a eye out for the white van in the future as it might well be driving the same route daily, and then call out the plate as you see it.
No dashcam i know of would stand a chance in these circumstances.

 

[Dashmellow]

Nothing to do here, your best chance are probably to keep a eye out for the white van in the future as it might well be driving the same route daily, and then call out the plate as you see it.
No dashcam i know of would stand a chance in these circumstances.

+

 

[gse]

The HDR setting here isn't helping things either, in fact it is making the situation worse. This is why the plate is a 3D looking trail rather than flat.

In this video there is no HDR and the horizon is wrong 70% of the sky and 30% of the road.
Now, if the horizon was at least 50/50 and the HDR was turned on, then the chances of catching the number increased.

@Dalevw​

It feels like the windshield is not clean.
What kind of firmware is used?

 

[Dashmellow]

In this video there is no HDR and the horizon is wrong 70% of the sky and 30% of the road.
Now, if the horizon was at least 50/50 and the HDR was turned on, then the chances of catching the number increased.

I agree about the horizon adjustments but I'm not so sure about the HDR setting. In my experience with the A119 V3 when I use the HDR setting I get mutliple unregistered images that can make license plates look like an elongated box but when I do not use the HDR function I don't get that effect, so that was the reason for my comment. Perhaps it is only motion blur that we are seeing?

Not sure what firmware the OP is using as that can make a difference with HDR success.

 

[gse]

adjustments but I'm not so sure about the HDR setting.

This is what a working HDR looks like.

 

[Dashmellow]

This is what a working HDR looks like.

But that is modified firmware, no?

The factory supplied firmware doesn't seem to do so well. I believe the OP is likely using what shipped with his camera.

 

[HonestReview]

Which vehicle hit you. There are two van vehicles at 1 minute 15 seconds.

 

[gse]

But that is modified firmware, no?

I don't remember, I took a video from the forum, we have a lot of such "tasty"
It also works well on official firmware, for example, on the test V2.6T

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't remember, I took a video from the forum, we have a lot of such "tasty"
It also works well on official firmware, for example, on the test V2.6T

That's not been so much my experience. I think some of this has to do with the much smaller size of American and Canadian license plates which makes them much harder to capture in general but especially at night.
I've tried the modified firmware(s) with mixed results. Improvement? Yes, but only in some situations and not others.