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My brother had his landrover broken into for about the sixth time, in broad daylight and all his work tools taken.
He's a tree surgeon and simply cannot work without them.
I have a couple of really blurry CCTV stills which don't show the people's faces or car too well (although it looks like a corsa). Can anyone enhance stuff like this?
Many thanks
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Not really. We're a film production company and we get asked about this. We tried to do it for a chap recently to no avail.
you maybe able to do something clever with lots of frames, but given the low resolution nope. I can't even tell what second image even shows, could be a blonde playing a guitar.
I'm not holding out much hope tbh! I know there are fancy algorithms out there but I'm fairly sure they can only make a best guess on what the image should look like.
Re the YouTube clips - obviously a slow day/night for the STW masses....
The corsa is the thing to find. It's got black non standard alloys and it's a commercial with no back windows by the looks of it. There will not be that many of them.
The 6th time? He needs better security of the tools or one of those dash cams running that records in and out the car.
... If anyone sees any Pink STIHL chainsaws on eBay let me know - he painted them after the last lot got taken..
Not really helping the OP here, but I came across this yesterday.
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It turns out that AI can actually be really good at this stuff. 1st column is 16x16 image. 3rd column is same image enhanced to 64x64 using AI, 4th column is actual 64x64 image.
[url] https://github.com/david-gpu/srez/ [/url]
His camoflaged car didn't help him much did it?
Best I can do, sorry, Harrison Ford could do better.
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Marvellous.
Jam bo's vid is amazing
[quote=pdw ]It turns out that AI can actually be really good at this stuff. 1st column is 16x16 image. 3rd column is same image enhanced to 64x64 using AI, 4th column is actual 64x64 image.
Good at making an enhanced image which looks something like the original maybe, I'm not sure how many of those real people in the 4th image you'd be picking out in an ID parade given the 3rd image though.
Yeah ok thanks people
Ha. Guy loses all his tools and possibly his business.
Hilarious .
I don't think anybody is laughing at your mate losing his tools, but what you're asking is basically impossible, and given that what did you expect on here? fisha even provided a helpful reply - about as helpful as you can really expect in the situation.
Ha. Guy loses all his tools and possibly his business.Hilarious .
Basically Enhance Enhance Enhance is something from the Movies to make the film work in under 92hrs of actual work. You can't realistically put in detail that does not exist, you can interperate and extrapolate but if the original image is poor then not much chance.
I hope that 1) he is insured for his loss and 2) as this is the 6th time works out a way to secure the tools. Not trying to be clever but 6 times is a lot.
You can't "enhance" detail which isn't there outside of Hollywood. You can tweak, sharpen and so on to make it "look" better but it's not going to add any additional information.
You could potentially combine or "stack" successive shots of the same image from video to get a better result, but from a moving image that's going to be challenging and from a single still, no chance.
I know some people have offered advice.
I didn't actually ask nor expect miracles I just thought that someone in an appropriate line of work might be able to sharpen them a bit more than I can on a phone app.
As for my brother's landrover - not known for their security and when you're repeatedly targeted strangely it's virtually impossible to get insurance. His lock up, house and shed have all been targeted multiple times.
When the above happened his landrover was parked 40 feet away from his front door whilst he got some lunch.
I was going to suggest what Cougar ^^^ said about stacking images from the CCTV video. I've used image capture and stacking software in conjunction with a webcam fitted to my telescope's eyepiece to resolve an initially blurred and indistinct blob into a creditable image of Jupiter.
If you google astronomy imaging from a webcam, you'll see the software that folks use, but again as others have already said, if the information's not already there in the image, you can't create it like they do in the movies, sorry.
If he's driving something "not known for its security" and has been targeted "multiple times", an obvious solution presents itself.
The original images have gone?
I've got some image stacking software that I have used, it is quite flexible but geared up for static landscape type images so will not work well for moving targets.
If the Corsa was sat stationary in the frame for a while then I can try stacking the images to get a reg number, the more frames the better, original uncompressed video is best source to work from as even frame capture jpgs will have some loss of quality from the jpg compression.
Padlock and chain through all the tools and bolted to chassis might be an interim solution?
Edit but best to keep one tool handy for when you see that corsa again...
Couger - ok , so suggestions are welcome for highly secure transport suitable for a tree surgeon? I'm not entirely sure there's an obviously solution.
Twisty- I removed them seeing as they were only being used for amusement purposes.
I still have them but can't get the original video easily unfortunately.
Unfortunatley CSI NCIS etc are a pile of cr@p, and doing anything with the footage is tampering with evidence, if it ever came to that. The horse has bolted. Invest in better cameras. Sorry.
Hmm, it's a very distinctive car .. Very frustrating :-/
TWISTY - email in profile if you think there's any improvement that could be made. Many thanks
I've asked him for the original files too
The corsa is the thing to find. It's got black non standard alloys and it's a commercial with no back windows by the looks of it. There will not be that many of them.The 6th time? He needs better security of the tools or one of those dash cams running that records in and out the car.
Or just a black Corsa with black wheels and tints - they've sold plenty like that.
Are they just swiping these out of the load bed? Is there anything more than a flimsy canvas top to stop them doing so?
Couger - ok , so suggestions are welcome for highly secure transport suitable for a tree surgeon? I'm not entirely sure there's an obviously solution.
Who?
I don't have the answer, but from what you've said the situation is pretty much:
[list][*]Man buys Landrover with poor security.[/*]
[*]Man fills it with tools, leaves it unattended, has it broken into and tools stolen.[/*]
[*]Man replaces tools, puts them in the Landrover, leaves it unattended, has it broken into and tools stolen.
[/*][*]Man replaces tools, puts them in the Landrover, leaves it unattended, has it broken into and tools stolen.[/*]
[*]Man replaces tools, puts them in the Landrover, leaves it unattended, has it broken into and tools stolen.
[/*][*]Man replaces tools, puts them in the Landrover, leaves it unattended, has it broken into and tools stolen.[/*]
[*]Man replaces tools, puts them in the Landrover, leaves it unattended, has it broken into and tools stolen.
[/*][/list]
To my mind, and I apologise for being blunt, but this isn't a security issue, it's a brains issue. Once is unfortunate, twice is unlucky, six times you've got to be asking what you're doing wrong.
The Landrover clearly isn't fit for purpose. I'd either be swapping it for something that is or be looking to beef up the security. An alarm he can hear from 40 yards away might be a start. I followed a van to work today which had a huge lock hasp welded onto the back, maybe something like that? Secure / hide the tools in the vehicle too, maybe a great big metal cage inside it?
Sites safe bolted in for tool storage. Could be an option. Surprised they havent just nicked the landrover to be honest.
You don't kill the goose that lays golden eggs.
A very distinctive Land Rover too, not easily mistaken for one that isn't full of tools.
One of these would be a good start:
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That was my thought. He needs some sort of secure hard top for the LR as a minimum.
If the world wasn't full of disgusting little scumbags, he wouldn't have to. But unfortunately it is.
Large steel lock box built between the rear wheel wells. Drop tail gate un lock door and a huge draw pulls out full of tools. Boot floor is all one level above for chucking stuff into.
Thanks for your help Couger.
I assume it's accepted practice within the tree surgeon world to unload half a ton of kit every time you park outside your house for a cup of tea or lunch. I assume you know these things?
What I asked for was assistance not criticism. Regardless of the security of his truck what I was hoping for was some help with the photos. Not that it makes much odds but 3/4 of the break
Ins have been people trying to steal the van rather than steal tools. I shouldn't have to state that tools aren't left in it overnight of anything daft like that.
I didn't actually ask nor expect miracles I just thought that someone in an appropriate line of work might be able to sharpen them a bit more than I can on a phone app.
My job, for quite a few years, involved retouching photos for print, which meant pretty high resolution.
Until digital cameras became available, and we started receiving jpeg images for reproduction in Canon's house mag.
The files were taken on 1.2Mp cameras and jpeg'd down to around 850kb; they were artifacted all to hell and gone, but we did our best, and managed to get reasonable results.
However, there was never any fine detail involved, and the old computer acronym really does apply here - GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out. It is, sadly, impossible to enhance detail that simply isn't there in the first place.
As regards security, well a couple of weeks ago I had to pick up a van from a firm of tree surgeons down in Cornwall and take it to an auction site.
It was an Astra van with over 100,000 miles on the clock, and was absolutely filthy, and had never been broken into.
They basically had a cage in the back like you'd have for a dog, and a more secure clasp and lock.
It's necessary to cause as much difficulty to an opportunist thief when the van is parked nearby, for long-term parking no tools left in it is the only answer.
Not being sarky, or taking the piss, but really, the [i]very[/i] old expression "once bitten, twice shy" is totally applicable to this situation; once is unfortunate, twice is clumsy, three is just bloody careless, and I'm not going to sugar-coat it.
The vehicle doesn't have to be flashy, just easily secured, a Defender isn't, as a Police force recently found when their whizzy new marked 110, parked close to their station, had all four doors, bonnet and back door stolen overnight.