Help needed - license plate (full video available)

[Vector-SS]

Hey guys, my wallet was recently stolen so I would highly appreciate your help with identifying the license plate of a van who I believe is the prime suspect. Basically, in this video you will see a white van pull up and park just ahead of the camera - a few guys start going in the van and you will notice one guy towards the end lean down, pick up something (presumably my wallet), and enter the van. My car (not visible) is just ahead of that person and behind that wall and I believe it fell off when i went out of the car and turned around the back of it. Basically, my car is positioned just like that van is so i don't believe it's coincidental that i was parked there, this van showed up, and this guy leaned down and picked up something. The wallet was 100% in the car before my car door was open. I was able to verify through the car wash video cams just before.

After some research i was told that this van picks up the office cleaners of a office building right across. I just need the last link (plate number) to put it all together and make my move. Using my very limited skills I believe i was able to get maybe two digits from this plate, but i'm not so sure about them. The plate can be either 5 or 6 digits with no letters. I've attached a pic for reference.

I've posted a dropbox download link to avoid loss of quality for 2 videos. They are same ones however two different formats. One is in MP4 and the other AVI (not sure if it helps). Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Dropbox - ch08_20180127184700.avi

Dropbox - ch08_20180127184700.mp4

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

Long and short answer, as almost always: Umm, no. This isn't "CSI" on TV. There is no such thing as reconstructing evidence from "invisible pixels" or tiny mushy specks. And obviously there could be an endless debate about whether any of this would be admissible in court or a criminal investigation just as well. Just count your losses and move on.

Mylenium

[Vector-SS]

Mylenium,

I typically would not respond to your post especially when it has no actual use to me however, I believe this case merits a response.

I’ve actually studied the videos for a few hours, and with only simple video playback software, a few picture editing software I was able to a) identify a few numbers of the plate and b) actually see my wallet on the floor, while being picked up.

So not to drag this any longer, you are right, the Adobe forum isn’t “CSI” nor should anyone expect it to be, however if you or even the person who “liked” your post even put the slightest bit of effort you could have easily helped me out taking into consideration the nature of the forum.

You chose not to, and that is perfectly fine with me as you are in no way required to do so; however your post may have discouraged others from attempting to help me especially when you mention how "invisible pixels" (clearly that wasn't the case) are impossible to deal with. I also thought that this may not be the right community to post such a request but the mods approval of my thread convinced me otherwise.

With that said, I’ve managed to identify the company that owns that vehicle and they have admit that it was their car, their staff, stealing my wallet. They are currently investigating, and they are doing their best to identify the culprit – who can be easily identified if you actually watched the video.

I may or I may not get my wallet back, however I will make sure that person gets what he/she deserves.

[D Fosse]

We all sympathize with your situation, and if it was me I'd also do what I could to identify these people.

It's just that people have totally unrealistic notions about what is actually possible to retrieve from a low-resolution, low quality pixel image. There is no magic "enhance" button, there is no hidden information "behind" the pixels. What you see is what there is. If you can't read it, it's not there. It's just pixels. The TV shows lie for dramatic effect.

[Vector-SS]

Hey there, and thank you for your response. I understand your explanation and it makes perfect sense. Either way, i was able to make this out of it just by zooming in and out and using some software to play around with sharpness, etc.

https://imgur.com/6ffXu39

Either way, i appreciate your attempt and all is done. We can close this thread.