SD recording with no subscription?

I understand that without a cam subscription, only a snapshot will be taken. Is this snapshot just for the cloud or will it only record a snapshot to the SD card as well? I don’t care about the cloud or any of the other features of the subscription models but if local video recording to an SD card is disabled without a sub, that is unbelievably petty and short sighted. I have 8 cameras and I’m not paying the recommended $8/mo for features I don’t need or want. From a privacy perspective, i don’t want anything on the cloud anyway.

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No. SD recording stays the same as it ever was. Continuous or motion based recording to SD card. No limits. (If it actually works for you that is.)

The point of the new thumbnail snapshots is to link to events recorded on your SD card.

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Thank you. I did not see this information anywhere officially and am happy that I can keep the functionality advertised when I bought them. I get why people would want the other features but I use the cameras more for keeping track of the kids and pets than for actual security (I have a security system for that).

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AMEN. I have the exact same question/thoughts

@faaque, I have 12 cams on continuous SD record. Previously, the cams were limited to a 32GB SD which limited the record time although it was still about 2½ days worth. Not sure of your hardware, but the V3 now accepts much larger capacity cards to extend the record time.

I have been thru several SD replacements though. It is imperative that you invest in high quality ‘Ultra’ SD cards that are specifically designed for continuous video\security recording with faster write\read speeds. It will save you headache in the long run as you won’t know the SD failed until you need to access the video and can’t. It will also enhance playback. I learned the hard way.

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Careful with that statement. In the SanDisk product line, Ultra cards are NOT High endurance, and SanDisk specifically states that they will not honor warranty claims for Ultra cards used for video recording. Using the SanDisk product names, it is High Endurance cards that you want. They are specifically intended for video recording. Here are the ones I most recently orders (I have dozens of them):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P3D6Y5B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also note that although the official spec from Wyze is that a recent firmware update allowed greater than 32GB cards, I have been running 64GB cards for several years. Also tested a 128GB card and that also worked fine.

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Well they said they paid for a license so now the support is official. :wink:

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@K6CCC,

Firstly, I never mentioned SanDisk. You did.

Secondly, my apologies for offending your sensitive semantics rules by not referring to the SD Cards by your officially assigned proper lexicon “High Endurance”.

Lastly, I have never used SanDisk products so I wouldn’t have the slightest idea of their warranty rules. And, I wouldn’t be so bold as to specifically recommend a particular brand and provide a purchase link to it. There are MANY appropriate products on the market that will meet the need and actual reviews and comparisons from professionals who do know what they are talking about can be found easily. I specifically did NOT buy SanDisk for a reason. But that was my choice.

You missed my point. Although I specifically did mention SanDisk, the term “Ultra” in some other manufacturers often is used to refer to fast card - NOT high endurance. I specifically mentioned the SanDisk warranty because I do know what it says. Many other manufacturers have similar limitations for use in cameras that will be used for continuous recording. For recording on our Wyze cameras, we really don’t need all that fast of recording speed. We do need cards that are designed around the requirements that a continuous recording camera places on the recording media. As a comparison, my drone requires a much faster card, but is not recording 24x7. Very different card.

BTW, as a tidbit, the same thing applies to hard drives (generally used in security video systems). There are hard drives that are designed around the requirements of video recording. As an example, in the Western Digital product line, the Purple drives are what should be used in a security video recorder. Other manufacturers have similar product lines.

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And I’ll take @K6CCC 's advice here any day over a vague “high quality ‘Ultra’ SD cards that are specifically designed for continuous video\security recording” where I’m then informed to ignore the “Ultra” part anyway. Apparently the terminology and actual results will differ among vendors.

Ads and specs and product pages are filled with flummery and fluffery. If there are one or more “actual reviews and comparisons from professionals who do know what they are talking about” that you have found trustworthy then please share them.

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Thanks for the info on SD cards but I already have them and don’t record continuously. Only upon detection during certain times or on demand.

Not sure how this got into an SD card discussion but I used to write for a popular tech blog covering SSD and memory products and am very familiar with the endurance ratings for various types of NAND flash memory. Even though some are “rated” for certain types of activities, manufacturers like to embellish or put spin on the product capabilities. Most of the time, you get what you pay for. There are also A LOT of counterfeit SD cards on the market so make sure you are ordering from a reputable source (e.g. if on Amazon, pay attention who the seller is and who is fulfilling it). SanDisk and Samsung are two of the most counterfeited brands.

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Generally safe if both shipped by and sold from Amazon, yes?

Nothing us guaranteed (Amazon can source from anywhere) but much higher probability they will be genuine.

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Same with me. One of my cams is just for a bird feeder outside my kitchen window that was set up for my 94 yr old mother out in Calif. to watch on her tablet (besides the chicken coop-she likes talking to them when they go to bed haha). So I don’t need subscription for that.

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Might consider opting her into Lite for $0. Never know when you might need it…

Hmm, forgot about that. I might consider that. Thanks.

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I for one, appreciated the Amazon link in the post. It made it very easy to go buy an SD card recommended and also proven to work on the camera.
The same post included an answer to a question I had; how big an ųSD card can work on the v3 camera. I bought the 128 GB card so I can record for a long time before I star losing old data.
Thanks for the info.

We have four of these cameras and now they only record an image. Everytime I change the setting to record a video, the monthly subscription pops up. All cameras and base station have the latest firmware. All cameras have SD cards. So to record the 12 sec video on the SD card appears that you need a monthly subscription.

The subscription 12s recordings are a separate feature and not needed for sd card recording. In the app, choose a camera and select settings->advanced settings and enable record to sd card. You can select continuous or events only

You can select $0 as the monthly cost for the CamPlus Lite tier of service.