Sad day to learn Wyse lied

Not sure a trail cam (or Wyze Cam Outdoor) would suffice. Apparently he or she has multiple cameras at a home. He or she needs a regular DVR system with wired cameras to achieve localized networking with a master console, and without a phone app. Most low end WiFi cameras like Wyze’s are not intended to support off-Internet use, as far as I know. Some careful use of IP address assignment, RTSP, and recording software (Blue Iris et al.) could get around this. He or she just didn’t put in the work. Wanted all of the benefits of easy to use Internet based services without thinking about what they were doing.

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I was addressing this part.

I find “Bear Country” a funny phrase. Canada is Bear Country. They come in all colours. We’re very diverse, bearly. :slightly_smiling_face:

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They all come up there for the health care.

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Huh…this get me thinking. I have a camera set up in my kitchen that I really only turn on when I’m not home for an extended time. I have noticed over the last couple of months, this camera that I turned OFF, I will all of a sudden see that it’s ON. I did NOT turn the camera on. This has happened about a hand full of times now. Happened just yesterday. It makes me very uncomfortable.

These cameras are great BUT I dread every time they do an update. Something usually screws up. Other than that you can’t beat them. Wish they’d update the software and GET RID OF THE 24 hour military times. I spend more time subtracting 12 to see what the real time is. At least give us the option of a 12 hour version. Thanks for listening and have a good day.

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Somtimes We Disagree

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They can never be actually turned off. They have to monitor Wifi or they would never know when you wanted to turn it on.
I don’t really know why Wyze even included the setting. It just leads people to believe they csn be turned off.

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I’m not sure what you are trying to achieve or, alternatively, what you are trying to prevent. If you don’t want motion notifications then turn those off. If you are concerned about being recorded while you are home then pull the power cord.

I assume they are trying to achieve what the Wyze software leads us to believe, when you turn the camera off it’s actually off. It sounds like a reasonable request but, as I’ve pointed out earlier, is not going to happen.
Like you said, pull the plug.:slightly_smiling_face:

You need to buy a wired system that goes to its own hard drive. There are several variations on how you access them, some are easy to see who is at the door from your phone, others are not. I can’t advise as I use Ring and had issues with the V1 Wyze and still have a couple of them. I have one V2 I never tried to hookup because it was such a PITA to setup the V1s. For what you want you need wired and to access it from your phone will require Internet between the two. I am about to try Wyze again once the Pandemic is under control and the elections and inaugurations are over.

Just out of curiosity, can you elaborate on what any of those things (pandemic, election and inauguration) have to do with deciding whether you should get any Wyze products or not and why you should wait until they are over with?

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I don’t believe Wyze is to be blamed on what happened. They certainly did their due diligence with the product. As consumer, we need to be responsible to research or read before buying. One thing I can suggest if you have doubts with regards to your privacy, you can convert the cams to rtsp. They provided a firmware for that. With this, you can stream your video without the cloud but by using local network. This will however disable some features. You can also use a firewall and adjust the policy to only allow sending to certain locations or regions. Just try to research and you will find some info on how this works. Just my 2 cents.

Ignorance can be bliss - State of NEW JERSEY bear reports. I guess the any state can have bear issues. 10 YEARS of data.
https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/bearactivity_reports.htm

And the reports are showing a dramtic rise so as I can’t run as fast as I did 40 years ago and can’t climb trees like 50 years ago I find using 2020 technology to overcome 60 years of aging is a safer choice. Even where there may be internet services available IF they are all locked down then a visitor may not have access unless they carry a Musk Starlink that reqires open sky to work well. Must have internet service negates the usefullness of Wyze products.

Yes I have 7 cams looking outside and waiting for a V3. Last 4 days the cable internet provider has been down almost 20 hours total. Most cams still provided outside views WITHOUT internet so why can’t the software be corrected to NOT require internet after setup is completed? As ALL my cams point outside and full public access view, my privacy concerns are for other users.

I have yet to find a SINGLE ad that says “Active insternet service is required for this product to work.” Omission of a very importan fact to someone looking for new product – BTW I do HAVE for 10 years a hard wired Night Owl system. Cans are getting old and for whatever reasons are losing their night resolution or clairtity. Also older software does not have 2019 wifi improvements. So is it wrong for a consumer to look at the ads and see easy wifi setup and use to not spend hours looking for “Active internet REQUIRED for use” statements?

Every camera ad shows “Free 14-day rolling cloud storage” and we all know where the cloud resides.
I agree, Wyze could set these up to work without Internet after the initial setup. I wish they did but this is not a privacy issue, it’s a convenience issue.

Cloud based??? Then WHY MUST you OPT IN to using Wyze “CLOUD BASED” services if you do NOT want nor need them? You must agree to the “Terms & Conditions” and pay a fee to use the CLOUD based services that Wyze offers. NOTHING states that you must use active internet to use the cameras.

I keep repeating that there has been NOTHING from Wyze that their software REQUIRES ACTIVE internet service. Making the cloud based services OPTIONAL is at least misleading and failure to disclose the required active internet is decieving to potiential purchasers.

Using cloud based services, for what seems decades to achive one location storage of multiple location data and access, it is ALWAYS an optional consumer based choice - NEVER has any company made it mandatory as appaently Wyze is doing.

It seems you have limited knowlwedge of game cams that require local retrieval of image capture. We have utilized game cams to monitor remote locations (mining & logging) to see what happened - past tense with evidence delivered to authories for criminal investigations. Been there - done that.

The constant live and notification “feature” of the Wyze products looking outside could be an atractive benefit of a closed Wifi access system when such remote locations are being activly utilized. Animals that have had unfettered access to areas will remain curious when human activity invades or returns to their space. They may be wary but rarely totally avoident of “their” space.

I have a 10 yr old Night Owl hard wired 8 cam system. It has 2008-9 software that doesn’t have 2020 capibilities to utilize 2020 wifi routers and technology. Why would I NOT look for better (and a LOT cheaper - Wyze cam $20 vs Night Owl @ $90), easier to use products vs the physical labor reqired to take down and remount external structure cameras & a hard drive recorder (single use device $190 vs the tablet $60 I bought for Wyze cams) since I became mobility challeneged a few years ago? That Night Owl system has been hard wired so it could be monitored from a hard wired location - not the freedom of wifi.

I don’t know if it is just me but from what I understand anything that does not require a hub means it needs to connect somewhere to be managed centrally and to do that you will need an active connection whether internet or Bluetooth at least. It would be great to have the feature of not having the devices rely on active internet connection that is why some of my devices I’ve flashed to use RTSP and use TinyCam as control panel.

Hopefully they can allow old v2s to connect through the hub for local connectivity and managment. That would be awesome in my opinion.

You made a mistake. You didn’t understand what you were doing. No one lied to you.

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You don’t. As stated, the 14 day rolling cloud based service is included free with the cameras.
If you want CamPlus, a service of it’s own, then you have to pay.

Cloud based service is not optional. It’s part of the service when you buy a camera. The 14 day event recordings and notifications both require cloud services.

Not really. I have several mounted at our camp. I just don’t know what you expect to achieve here.

What is your goal?
Wyze to specifically advertise that Wifi cameras, all of their devices really, require a connection to their servers?
Wyze to change the setup so we can connect directly to the cameras without an Internet connection?

These things aren’t likely to happen but if you have a specific goal I will try to help you.

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I agree with many others. WYZE didn’t “lie” to you. That’s really an unfair charge to make and damage their reputation before others. They never told you that it was not a cloud based product, in fact so many times the cloud is spoken of for camera use.

The product isn’t what you want. When you figured that out, you should immediately have contacted support to send it back, after verifying with them that it can’t meet your needs. I’ve found WYZE support to be very good to work with.

I’m not trying to be mean, but I am saying that you are being rather unfair with your words. They never lied to you. I hope you find a different product that does do what you want and need.

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