Displaying Wyze Cam on Echo Show - Stays on/up

I mistakenly muted (not- turned the volume down), my 2nd Gen Echo Show 8, and the picture stays up for hours. Ordinarily, it minimizes down to 1/8th-1/9th of the screen up to the left corner. But when its muted, with the red alert banner across the bottom, the picture stays up and active.

Thought it would be useful to know. This could be just a fluke. But until Amazon realizes its working so well, then changes it to mess us up, this works.

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I have a routine that pulls my WVDB up on my Echo show 15 when the doorbell is pushed and get the same result. Has been like that almost since day one of setting this routine up with the Show 15.

The video will corner itself and has ran for days before, where I had to manually exit the window.

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When, when I have an announcement occurring to alert me to the Show 8 receiving the camera’s image, the announcement triggers (after about 10 minutes) the screen minimizes up to the left corner. The screen has a message “No photos to display”. and her voice says, “No photos found in the calendar”. (What the heck?, I am not trying to show the calendar, but that’s what she says).

Trying to stop this action, trying to stop it from displaying that “No Photo’s to display”, I contacted Alexa Support. Waste of time. They had me do screen shots of the message, of my routine because they didn’t believe the “messaging > announce” command was causing this. I spent two hours on the phone with them, and got no where while the passed me around to different people. After the 9th support person, I hung up, giving up on them for assistance.

When I removed the “messaging > announcement” message I was sending to myself, that particularly problem ceased. But it still minimized into the left corner, just no message.

I have token pictures in the Amazon cloud so the Show’s can Display them, but I don’t want any displaying. I know that message is not a result of there NOT being photos. Photos are there. So, that message is not looking at the regular photo stored location. That confuses everyone at Alexa support, I think. And certainly me.

I think that when we share these quirts to get stuff to work or stop doing something, it helps us all.

I also noticed, that sometimes that camera can’t display on the Show 8. The Alexa messages says “something is happened, or something is wrong” (I don’t remember exactly what. When it does this, I used my handy-dandy Smart Plug and turn it off and back on. This camera is mounted inside a metal porch style street light, where no one can see it. This light has only a bulb, not outlet. So, I used a screw in Outlet Socket adapter that had two each two-prong outlets. Of course the next issue was the Smart plug has a three prong plug, and there was not room for a grounding outlet adapter. I put the Smart plug in a vice and cut the grounding lug off, and painted the metal stub with liquid electrician’s tape. So, now I know the Smart plug can work (as it should) with only the two prongs.

So, wondering why this camera starts having this problem, I tested and discovered, if I left that same camera up on either one of my iPad or on my phone, it appears that camera can’t reliably handle streams to two screens. Making sure I am using one screen at a time, has made a difference.

I’m having the same issue - I can ask Echo Show to show the camera, but I haven’t found a command to stop or hide the camera. It just gets smaller and stays on the screen until I manually click the video window on the Echo Show.

Is there a list of echo show commands or a way to stop viewing the video from a camera on the show? (Not just minimize it)

Well, it took me a while to find my own thread on this subject. I have and update. Keep in mind that this info couple temporary, because I think its a Echo Show firmware issue/glitch

I have been playing around with using different motion sensors to bring up cameras on Echo Shows.
I have Wyze motion sensors, some Sonoff RF motion sensors and some generic Zigbee motion sensors.
I created some Alexa routines using the sensors as triggers, (not person detection on the cameras), and displayed the V3 and Blink Mini images to Echo Shows.

I have:
1 Show 5 1st gen
1 Show 8 1st gen
2 Show 8 2nd gen

This started with just using the sensors to trigger the image on the Shows. Working.

But the interesting thing is at both 1st gens (the 5 & 8) have the same firmware (ending in 932) Does yours? Each of the two Show 8s 2nd gen have different firmware. Not important the version

Both the 1st gens Shows are holding/showing the camera images for hours. Same image, and clock is ticking so I know its live. After 4 hours, I played the routine manually, just to see if something happened. (I have an announcement and a Wyze bulb on/off during the routine), so I can see the routine is running. Both 1st gen Shows refreshed an image and started showing live again. (The routines also turn off WiFi switches to the V3’s wait 2 min, then back on. So it take a while for the routine to finish and bring a fresh image to the Show’s screen.

Then I pointed the same routines to each (and swapped them) the 2 each 2nd gen Shows. Image came up, and lasted about 10 minutes, then jumped to that small picture in the left upper corner, then blanked out and went to Show’s home screen.

I’ve done this two complete cycles today. And that’s also letting the 1st gen images stay up 3+ hours before I reset the routine.

Anyone with a 1st gen and 2nd gen Show? See if you can give this a try. Everything is the same except the firmware ver, I think that’s the difference. But we can bet the 1st gen’s fw is not forever going to stay on this version (ends in 932)

I know this is an old thread but there is no answer so here it is.

Manual method - Say “Alexa, stop showing ‘camera name’”

Automatic method:
Note ‘camera name’ is the what you named your camera in the Alexa app

Create a routine to show the camera (note for some reason only person detection is available on mine)
When: Click add event-Click Smart Home-Click Camera Name-Click Person-Click Save
Anytime (Default)
Alexa Will: Click Add Action- Click Custom-Now type the following line: Show ‘camera name’
Hear Alexa From-Your choice of show devices (I only have one)
Click Finish

Now to close the loop:

Create a routine to stop showing the camera

when: camera name’ detects a person (same trigger as above)
Anytime (Default)
Alexa Will: Click Add Action- Click Wait -Now select the wait time you desire (easily changed- I use 3 minutes)-Click Next
Click Add another action
Click Custom-Now type the following line: Stop showing ‘camera name’
Hear Alexa From-Your previously selected show device
Click Finish

Might find some ideas here.

I just got my first show today (Show 8 v2 - Selling for a great price right now).

My only issue, and I actually have not had time to dig in, is when the view is automatically triggered, the Show puts the camera in a small window - top left and displays text “Person detected on the Driveway” underneath.

Have you had opportunity to work out why it wants to display the text "Person detected on ‘camera name’ and show the image almost like PIP?


OK. I have read your post about 10 times. The thing that I don’t see is that you want to use a trigger to show a particular camera. I just now tried to change the ‘Hear Alexa from’ device in the routine to a dot, but it did not display the camera on the show and the dot said “I’m not sure what went wrong.” Pretty sure the only way I am going to see the triggered camera is to point it to the Show 8 V2.

From the other thread I tried to create an alternate group of cameras thinking that I could show them in lots of 4 in each group, but that failed. I do not have as many Wyze cams as you, but I do have too many according to my wife.

Apologizing in advance for saying things so elementary.

Yes, I use in a couple of routines the camera’s person detection to display the image. But I more often use the “time” to bring up a view because if/when its the only action in a routine, it usually stays on that camera and shows that view for 1+ hour.

As for your “my only issue”, there’s something in the Show 5/8 Gen 2, that makes it use PiP after about 10 minutes. I had a couple of 8 Gen 1s that did not do this, so I want help to fix the Gen 2. Three times, different days, I reached out to Alexa team with a well written narrative and pictures of what the issue was. Each time, they claimed they didn’t understand my problem or could not replicate it. At least twice, I simply did not believe the tech, and I gave up. I stay away from Gen 2. I bought a couple more Gen 1, as refurbished and warehouse returns to get them at a good deal.

In my example for you (just an example), your new Show 8 is named “Show8x”. And the camera is “Cam1x”

To “force” Alexa to run the display from a camera command, you need to use the Custom choice when adding an action. And the routines only allow us one “Custom” action choice per routine. I wish they permitted more. I suspect you already knew that, but might as well say it anyway.

The action in the Custom line is simply . Show Cam1x on Show8x. Once you save that line, the Custom action adds “Alexa” in front, so it reads “Alexa, Show Cam1x on Show8x” And, I suspect you already knew this too.

I think, if you simply use "Alexa, Show Cam1x, its going to default to the device that is in “Hear Alexa from”. So, we want to point the “Show” action to the proper Echo Show on its Custom action line, with "Alexa, Show Cam1x on Show8x. And it allows us to use a different Dot on “Hear Alexa from”.

I’ve not seen it from Amazon/Alexa anywhere, but every time I use a show as the “Hear Alexa from” It more often fails than successes, hence I recommend using a Dot or Echo, just not a Show.

I had luck with 4 cameras showing once or twice. I think the action in the routine was “Alexa Show 4 cameras.” But it was not calling a group created in Wyze. The 4 cameras is not useful to me, so I’ve not played around with it. Can’t help you there.

I think your suggestion is as good as it is going to get on a V2. Removing the camera announcement brings it up full screen for a short bit and then minimized for the remainder of the 3 min timeout I installed with the separate routine.

There appears to be no way to maintain full screen after the show starts to scroll the through the screens of information.

agree. I guess you know, when you put your finger at the lower right corner of the minimized window, the small window, it show you some icon choices sort of like a submenu. And the X there at the lower right corner, when you pressed will open that small window once again into full window.