Anyone Able to Zoom in on This Video?

donga100 on 13/01/2015 - 22:32

I'm hoping there might be some video editing genius here that can help. I'm trying to get the registration number from the car driving in this video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0c4Wmck1mvidVh6Wm1vSnFuN2s…

I've downloaded VLC and tried zooming in and adjusting brightness, contrast, sigma, etc. but still can't quite get it. It could have something to do with my computer being the cheapest version possible 5 years ago when I bought it. If you have a better computer than me or just able to do a better job please help me out.

You can confirm if the registration is correct by entering it here:
https://www.service.transport.qld.gov.au/checkrego

To me it looks like:
PEST01
PEST81
FEST01
etc.

However these don't work in the registration search.

Computing Video Editor

Comments

  • lukeloop on 13/01/2015 - 23:12
    +3

    tried in photoshop a few filters etc, sorry mate.

    • donga100 on 13/01/2015 - 23:16

      Thanks for trying.

  • dylanando on 13/01/2015 - 23:48
    +1

    Im impressed with what youve got, do they do this often? be out the front in some undies waving a baseball bat, while shaking your fist.
    What car is this? someone might have posted something about this fool on a facebook suburb page or some forum.

    • donga100 on 14/01/2015 - 08:44
      +3

      They do it often enough. A lot of young kids, 3-10yrs old, ride bikes and play at the end of this road so I'm trying to prevent a disaster.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/01/2015 - 23:50
    +1

    If I were you I would have grabbed a brick and thrown it rather than the camera to record it.

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 14/01/2015 - 01:04
      +1

      Not such a great plan Drew, the brick could bounce off the car and hit something else (like a kid, etc.), but I understand your sentiment!

      • Scrooge McDuck on 15/01/2015 - 20:47
        +1

        Also, the driver/owner could easily exact revenge given they know where OP lives.

    • donga100 on 14/01/2015 - 08:22
      +2

      The rocks are kept on the upstairs balcony. I was downstairs this time.

      • [Deactivated] on 15/01/2015 - 14:44
        +2

        The rocks are kept

        Kept? For just such an occasion? :p

        I can't make out the plates, but the car isn't exactly common. Shit-brown, with a large grey-patch at the rear left. It kind of stands out. Maybe it's a Gemini?

        I've seen a kid hit by a car by one of these idiots and it isn't pretty. Complete lack of regard for other peoples' safety.

        Hope you can get a better look if you see 'em again.

  • Sage on 14/01/2015 - 01:26
    +1

    yeah doesn't look like we can read it. http://miscpix.com/files/4/40877.png
    though you have enough information to spot it from a line up.
    Maybe you'll see the car around your neighbourhood.

    • donga100 on 14/01/2015 - 08:42

      I probably will see it around the neighbourhood again. This was my best attempt at CSI;
      http://i60.tinypic.com/jza42d.jpg

      Feels like I'm so close to reading it but just can't quite get it. If anyone has any suggestions for the settings I tried please let me know or give it a crack yourself.

      • [Deactivated] on 15/01/2015 - 11:46
        +9

        Have you tried hunching over your computer while yelling "ENHANCE! ENHANCE!"

      • GnarlyKnuckles on 15/01/2015 - 21:29
        +5

        It actually looks like "PEST 01", which would be pretty appropriate!
        EDIT: OOPS, just reread the top of your post and I see you've tried that.

        Is the number-plate format standard in QL, i.e. three numbers then three letters? In which case this would definitely be a personalised plate? If so, then maybe it would be worth showing the cops the picture you have, and asking them if they can get "Queensland rego" (or whatever the QL version of "VIC-Roads" is) to work out which car it likely is, via "smart searching" of their data-base of personalised registrations.
        They may be able to do a search like:
        1. Show all Geminis with personalised plates
        2. Eliminate all except early 1980s models
        3. Eliminate all that don't have a total of six characters
        4. Eliminate all that don't have "T" as the fourth character

        "Etc."

        If they can do "smart searching" like that, I reckon they could nail it in about 5 minutes.

  • Heizenberg on 14/01/2015 - 02:04

    i can't make any of it out myself. hope someone can though.

  • loulou1 on 14/01/2015 - 09:26

    ok so i know pretty much nothing about cars but….. is it a ford festiva? if so then i think the first letters are FEST

    • [Deactivated] on 14/01/2015 - 14:33
      +5

      I'd say it's a Holden Gemini (TG series, 1983-1985)

      • loulou1 on 14/01/2015 - 15:52

        so i wasnt even close ha ha

  • scrimshaw on 14/01/2015 - 10:57
    +1

    Buy some cheap binoculars or monocular from ebay and the next time you hear them going have have a look yourself?
    http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Binoculars-/83880/i.html?_dcat=83…

    And if you have a point/shoot camera with at least a 3x optical zoom, you should be able to capture a better source video.

    • [Deactivated] on 14/01/2015 - 14:34
      +3

      And don't shake the camera around so much, you just get blurred frames. If you don't have a tripod handy, brace yourself against the door frame.

  • enforcer on 14/01/2015 - 17:58
    +5

    You may be able to narrow it down by checking (non-)availability of the likely combinations on PPQ
    https://secure.ppq.com.au/pages/createaplate.aspx

    • ProjectZero on 15/01/2015 - 11:38
      +2

      OMG… you QLD guys are lucky, you still have the once off payment for custom plates… NSW sucks, we have yearly payments.

    • donga100 on 16/01/2015 - 00:11

      Great suggestion! All of the possible combinations I tried are still available though. :(

  • Chris Topher on 14/01/2015 - 19:16

    Can we narrow down your location a bit so we might localise the lookout, even with someone we know in the area we can ask?

    • donga100 on 14/01/2015 - 21:48
      +1

      Collingwood Park, QLD. I don't recall seeing this particular car in the area before though so it might be from a neighbouring area.

      • Chef-Johnson on 15/01/2015 - 11:10
        +5

        Im in same suburb will keep an eye out

  • Jay43 on 15/01/2015 - 07:33
    +6

    Send the video to the QLD Police force's Facebook page:

    https://www.facebook.com/QueenslandPolice

  • Azn310 on 15/01/2015 - 08:01

    I reckon you need to use a proper camera with zoom function?

  • tasty-falafel on 15/01/2015 - 11:51
    +3

    Just a heads up that link you're using to check the validity of a plate doesn't seem to work with personalised plates. I've just tried two of my friends QLD personalised plates and it doesn't bring anything up, however tried a few standard ones and they are working fine.

    If this is the case you may very well have the correct plate number, just are not able to verify it.

    • sash213 on 15/01/2015 - 13:24

      Then it must be PEST01. PEST69 must have already been taken

    • donga100 on 16/01/2015 - 00:17

      Thanks for that. I tried searching them on the PPQ website too but no luck. I'll lodge a hoon report with the police and see what they can come up with.

      • maybeamacy on 16/01/2015 - 20:22

        My personalised plates work and so do all of my friends combo's which I try… weird.

  • Less Point on 15/01/2015 - 12:29

    is that the original video file? Has it been compressed at all?

    • donga100 on 16/01/2015 - 00:08

      Yes, original file. Don't think it's compressed because the original on my pc/phone is 18mb the same as the version on google drive.

  • pf666333 on 15/01/2015 - 13:33
    +1

    Check this out
    Enhance
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiqkclCJsZs

    • [Deactivated] on 15/01/2015 - 20:19

      Too late, already beaten to it.

  • Peace Maker on 15/01/2015 - 17:01
    +7

    Pfft, try this guy in the video. He'll do it easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5TRwoyggAE

  • PVA on 15/01/2015 - 21:57

    may be BEST1 - as in the term Best One, more likely than Pest1

  • Gomo on 15/01/2015 - 22:23

    Just to blury :(

  • r3volt on 15/01/2015 - 23:40
    +1

    Ask in reddit or whirlpool if someone can help with the image. You could also try posting this to a few of the car forums, ie OzGemini or you could even try posting it to facebook pages of your local area.

    Remember also the rego you are trying to find might not even be registered at the current time. A PPQ search may give better results.

  • sa-ozzie on 16/01/2015 - 00:36
    +1

    I think it was a fellow ozbargainer racing off to get a new deal on tyres

  • Mr HaPpY on 16/01/2015 - 01:55
    +6

    Long time lurker, just joined to comment on this post.
    I believe this is a tan 1981 Holden-Isuzu Gemini as I know of a friend which had one many moons ago.It looks almost identical to a car here in Adelaide which is garaged by my mothers' unit.

    The plate 'BEST81'(1981) might be a better match?

    Large rims up front, lowered and burn out rims on the back, i'd be surprised if local authorities didn't already know the owner

    Gray patch on the roof is most likely bog

    'Best' of luck with this

  • Heizenberg on 16/01/2015 - 02:07

    you need these guys to help
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF_qQYrCcns&spfreload=10

  • Mr HaPpY on 16/01/2015 - 05:13
    +15

    So this is where i'm up to (tldr, jump to summary)

    Process:

    Used Irfanview to extract all 261 frames uncompressed from the video (1.51GB of BMP files for those curious)
    Batch rotated the frames 90 degrees
    We're left with a good base for image manipulation

    For comparison pics, I eventually looked at Ozgemini.com as mentioned by r3volt
    I found a profile pic of 'Jonno' with a very similar car (albeit much better condition)
    You need to register to see his Ozgemini profile (see bugmenot.com for login,) so eventually got his profile here
    http://goo.gl/YhZxig

    Jonno's Ozgemini profic pic was rubbish poor resolution, both Google and Tineye didn't yield anything else but his profile linked to a non-existent Facebook group

    He posted lots about Gemini Nationals so Googled that with Facebook and found http://goo.gl/28Ab9a
    Public event hosted by Jonathan Hemsworth aka Jonno http://goo.gl/VJlN1w containing Jonno's Ozgemini profic pic!!
    Thankfully his Cover photos aren't locked down so I stole archived them incase he takes them down.
    We now have a hi-res photos of a similar/same model car complete with stealth inter-cooler, similar rims and even white on black plates to boot!

    Summary:

    Uploaded what I have so far to http://imgur.com/a/OJ6WD

    From what I can observe, the car has:
    - an inter-cooler thus possible turbo/induction
    - had a front-end crash (missing headlight shroud, right headlight lens and bulb, grille)
    - Paint marker/Posca written on passenger side of windscreen and on right rear quarter window 6/20 ?
    - Paint marker might be for recent auction for salvage/wrecked car else motor-sport eg Gemini Nationals
    - Had right side or rear bumper ripped off shifting the boot lid out of alignment
    - No rear number plate
    - Burnout-rims on the back

    Not really sure if any of this helps anyone but it killed a few hours for me :)

    • [Deactivated] on 16/01/2015 - 19:35
      +4

      I have no idea how you are getting upvotes.. and it's good to see you removed the link to that guy's Facebook profile considering how wildly ridiculous your theory is.

      The car you have linked to is an ACT car with ACT plates.

      You are suggesting that someone with a show quality car in the ACT stripped the car back to bare metal, pumped the rear guards, painted it in undercoat, chucked stockies on the rear and went and dropped skids in Queensland?

      And your conclusion?
      "We now have a hi-res photos of a similar/same model car complete with stealth inter-cooler, similar rims and even white on black plates to boot!"

      It's a Gemini, the intercooler location is extremely common for turbo Gemini's. The front rims are 'similar' but aren't the same. The white plates on black background are from a different state and those in the video don't start with Y.

      • donga100 on 16/01/2015 - 19:43
        +1

        It sounds funny when you put it like that! I appreciated the effort he put in though. :)

        I didn't want to start a wild persecution of Gemini owners who do the right thing by keeping their burnouts to the appropriate places such as car shows.

      • Mr HaPpY on 17/01/2015 - 23:07
        +1

        Sorry Shopper and to anyone else if it came across that way.

        I thought it might have been even slightly helpful to have higher resolution photos of an ancient car for comparison for those that might be on the look out or are just curious.

        The whole Facebook thing and the owner of a very nice Gemmi was only added for disclosure on how and where I came about those photos. I've got no beef with the guy and he has an awesome ride :)

        The cars are obviously 'similar' but in wildly different condition so it's more for people to get a feel for the dimensions/shape of the car which was most likely well off the roads well before people reading my post were born, rather than heavily cropped photos of said car, which look like they were taken by a potato.

        "The car you have linked to is an ACT car with ACT plates." <nods>
        "It's a Gemini, the intercooler location is extremely common for turbo Gemini's." <nods>

        "And your conclusion?"
        My conclusion is there are 'similar' cars out there and I amused myself being able to find one with many similarities but obviously different cars hence me taking the p*ss;
        "Not really sure if any of this helps anyone but it killed a few hours for me :)" as I had nothing better to do at 4AM ;)

        As for the upvotes, I'm not sure either and I can't speak on behalf of others. Smoothing over things with yourself and contributing to this awesome community means more to be than any up/down votes!

        So once again, apologies for anyone I've upset, I'm very accepting of feedback and I'm always available should anyone want to reach out to me ;)

        Take care

        Mr HaPpY :)

        • [Deactivated] on 18/01/2015 - 00:15

          This is a nice attempt at re-writing history, but it doesn't hold up.

          With quotes like "Thankfully his Cover photos aren't locked down so I stole archived them incase he takes them down.", you're expecting people to believe that your post was a public service to show the uneducated what a Gemini looks like with some high resolution photos of a 'random' owner's car?

          You have named someone very specifically and then attempted to link him to the footage purely based on a low resolution picture and the name 'Jono' from a forum post. You even provided a step by step account of how you made the link to the named person (which is now missing large portions thanks to your post cleanup job).

          There is no sound reason for why you needed to include his name, his facebook page, or photos of his car in any of the content you posted if you were only providing images to assist others.

          I wish your post was half as helpful as it is defamatory.
          http://www.lawstuff.org.au/sa_law/topics/defamation

  • hogwarts on 16/01/2015 - 07:21

    The REGO could have been expired, so they took it off the website?

  • Davo1111 on 16/01/2015 - 17:12
    +1

    Just give it to the cops at your local station (and if there is a seperate highway patrol give it to them too). I'd give them a CD with the video, and 2 or 3 colour stills of the vehicle.

    Basically tools like these stand out like sore thumbs to police, they probably already know him

    • inherentchoice on 16/01/2015 - 20:28

      If it is registered then the cops could search the database for all the Gemini cars and then filter by colour or location. Presumably there is only a handful of black Geminis of that era in QLD. And then one of them should have a plate that looks like "pest"

      • Davo1111 on 17/01/2015 - 03:56

        I doubt they're going to go to that much effort for a burn out. Especially considering they don't have that much evidence against the driver.

        Bogan mobile, modified, doing burnouts… they probably already know the driver on a first name basis.

  • tee123 on 16/01/2015 - 21:17

    From my understanding, recording someone hooning has a week of credibility. Im not exactly sure so I would check with your local police station if you are that concerned.

  • horsome on 17/01/2015 - 00:04

    That sucks dude. If they are dumb enough to do this in broad daylight then the evidence and complaints would be snowballing against them. Submit the video to police asap.

  • yessum on 17/01/2015 - 16:12

    I thought it said pistol but the car registered to that number plate is a Toyota land cruiser

  • Davo1111 on 17/01/2015 - 19:34
    +1

    ENHANCE

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