SG9665GC night time video contrast

[scootle]

Hi everyone,

This forum has been great at helping me get two new Street Guardian units set up and dialed in. However, one thing that still seems to bother me a little bit is that night-time footage here in California with our white reflective license plates seems to blow-out the plates when they are illuminated with headlights at night, turning them into a bright white mess with zero visibility of any letters or numbers on them. I've noticed in various sample videos out there that this is apparently an issue for others as well, but I haven't been able to find a discussion of some suggested fixes for the problem.

e.g. night footage from our vehicle following another car renders the plate completely illegible due to the reflection from the headlights illuminating the reflective CA plate.

Is there any settings tweak that might help alleviate this problem? Currently the cameras are set to WDR mode by default.

Thanks!

PS I should add, a friend with his own SG9665GC posted some night footage via YT that shows similar problems until he gets really close to other cars at a stoplight. Maybe this is normal?

One example framegrab:

Another:

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Welcome to DCT scootle

 

[scootle]

Welcome to DCT scootle

Thanks!

 

[niko]

Hi everyone,

This forum has been great at helping me get two new Street Guardian units set up and dialed in. However, one thing that still seems to bother me a little bit is that night-time footage here in California with our white reflective license plates seems to blow-out the plates when they are illuminated with headlights at night, turning them into a bright white mess with zero visibility of any letters or numbers on them. I've noticed in various sample videos out there that this is apparently an issue for others as well, but I haven't been able to find a discussion of some suggested fixes for the problem.

e.g. night footage from our vehicle following another car renders the plate completely illegible due to the reflection from the headlights illuminating the reflective CA plate.

Is there any settings tweak that might help alleviate this problem? Currently the cameras are set to WDR mode by default.

Thanks!

PS I should add, a friend with his own SG9665GC posted some night footage via YT that shows similar problems until he gets really close to other cars at a stoplight. Maybe this is normal?

One example framegrab:

Another:

Some answers you may find here:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/reading-license-plates-at-night-hid-xenon-standard-bulbs.1444/

 

[jokiin]

it's normal and at those distances in your screenshots you'd never see plates at night anyway

 

[scootle]

Some answers you may find here:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/reading-license-plates-at-night-hid-xenon-standard-bulbs.1444/

That is excellent info. Thanks. I suspected the HDR/WDR processing can't handle the white reflective plates very well for straight-on viewing... such is life I suppose. I noticed that once plates pass outside the direct headlight beams, they become very visible from the splash lighting. Based on the comments in that thread it sounds like even dialing down the EV won't really help since these plates are designed to reflect light directly back at the source. I have to wonder if that was an intended effect of the reflective plate material... but it sure is an annoying side-effect!

Thanks all.

 

[jokiin]

I have to wonder if that was an intended effect of the reflective plate material... but it sure is an annoying side-effect!

Thanks all.

they are designed to reflect perfectly for off axis photography (AKA, speed cameras, red light cameras etc) with the appropriate lighting for the task