Need help to identify thief in video!

[Chris Moore]

Hi everyone I have surveillance video of a package thief with a clear view of their license plate but I am unable to read it. Is there a way to enhance it so I can catch the bastards! I can supply original. Thanks in advanced!

https://youtu.be/SReN00K6Y7M

[usually_quiet]

Despite what you see on TV, if the license plate number is any worse than just barely illegible, there is no hope of enhancing the image to make the plate number readable.

YouTube is worthless in these cases because YouTube re-encodes and further degrades the picture. Those here who try to help need the original video.

If the MP4 is the original video, then the video resolution is probably too low to recover a better picture of the license plate.

[Chris Moore]

The MP4 is the original... 720P is the resolution. Thanks for response...

[jagabo]

The mp4 file you uploaded is 640x352, not 720p (1280x720).

[usually_quiet]

The MP4 is the original... 720P is the resolution. Thanks for response...

What you uploaded to VideoHelp is not anywhere near 720p. I downloaded it. The resolution is 640x352.

[Chris Moore]

well that may be the case but my camera is 720P Ill see if I am able to download a higher resolution file

[johnmeyer]

These requests come up all the time in this forum and, unfortunately, if you can't read the plate in the original, you probably won't be able to magically make it appear using software. The stuff you see in the movies is completely made up.

The key to having any hope of getting a positive ID on the perps is to get the original file from the camera, with no software used to modify or change that video other than using software that does a lossless cut in order to just show the portion you need to post. The freeware ffmpeg can be used for this, or the friendlier commercial software program, VideoRedo. Any re-encoding of the video will screw things up, especially if you are not totally familiar with the science and art of video editing. The MP4 you uploaded has too many encoding artifacts to have any hope of recovering even one digit. This may be a problem in the original, however, because many security camera systems, in order to get lots of video onto a relatively small storage device, like a memory card, encode at a really low bitrate which is one of the reasons you get these artifacts. For the future, you should use the highest bitrate (best quality) available and invest in the largest amount of storage possible in order to offset the large file sizes which result from that change.

I assume you have given this to the police. You can certainly easily tell the make, model, and color of the car. That actually is a huge amount of information, especially if the police have leads from other robberies (it is highly likely these same two have committed other crimes).

[Chris Moore]

Thanks for the help!

[redwudz]

Chris Moore, in the future, please use a title that better reflects the subject matter of
your thread to allow others to find it with a search as per our rules. I will change your title this time.

Thanks, and welcome to our forums.

Moderator redwudz