Update on Beta camera firmware 4.9.6.59(v2) and 4.10.6.59(Pan)

Beta
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Dear Beta Testers,

We would like to give an update on the recent camera firmware Beta release 4.9.6.59 (v2) and 4.10.6.59 (Pan). We have received feedback on several regressions on the builds. We want to thank you for the constructive feedback and sorry for the regressions! We want to share more background on it. Since we first launched v2 and Pan about 2 years ago, we kept adding a lot of features on top of it, detection zone, Alexa integration, Google Home integration, Edge AI (removed later), CMC, etc. The new features added a lot of complexity on the code and put quite some pressure on camera CPU and memory. I remember the average CPU load was 90%+ when Xnor AI algorithm was running. Then CMC was added which pushed the firmware to its limit. All of above impacted our camera stability and give us very little room to improve.

Several months ago we decided for a re-write of our firmware code. More than 60% of the code was re-written. The whole process consisted multiple months with cleaner architectural design and better performance design. Our test showed the CPU usage dropped 20%-25% in running time which is substantial. All the change will give us better extensibility and stability in long run. The saved CPU and memory can be used for future Edge AI related work that we couldnā€™t add before. The change was for the good future of Wyze cameras.

With such a big rewrite, some bugs were introduced. Sorry for the inconvenience! We spent months on self-testing and Alpha testing but still left bugs out. We will keep working on them and fix them. We expect longer beta testing time on this firmware update before official release. Currently we are focusing on reboot problem, sensor/bridge issues, and image quality issues. After that we will work on others. We will update firmware every few weeks. Sorry for the painful process. Once we get done we will be much better positioned for future firmware improvements. At the meantime, if you need your cameras be stable, I would suggest to revert to 4.X.5.111 version for now (via Device Info ā†’ Firmware version ā†’ Have Problem ā†’ Revert firmware in a Beta app).

Thank you again!

Update on 5/20 10pm:

Hi all, it is about 2 weeks since the original post. I would like to give an update on camera firmware status. Our original plan was to release another beta by the end of the month to address the CMC reboot issue, other stability issues and sensor issues. The plan got a little delayed but pushing out 1-2 weeks.

In the past weeks, we fixed the CMC reboot issues and verified with a few customers already. Other stability issues were fixed as well. Last week we had an Alpha firmware release to verify with a small set of customers. Based on the feedback, we fixed about 60% of the customerā€™s sensor issues. We are actively working on the rest of sensor issues now. We expect to do another round of Alpha f/w test next week. If everything goes well, we will move it up to Beta the first or second week of June.

We still have the image quality issue on our list but it will not be in the next batch of f/w update. We set higher priorities for crashes and broken functionality, then is image quality. On app side, we had a bug that we may mistakenly set to 360p mode when entering from camera group view. The fix will be included in next Beta app release.

Note: We took down the current 4.9.6.59 and 4.10.6.59 f/w from Beta for now until a better version is ready. Please donā€™t be surprised. :slight_smile:

Thank you!

44 Likes
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Thank you for the very detailed explanation of what is happening with the firmware and why so many issues seemed to pop up.

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@WyzeTao, Many thanks for this info/ update. What you say makes sense and clarifies a lot of issues.
Makes trying to help other users a lot easier. Thanks again!

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Thank you so much for listening to the Wyze Community and giving us such a detailed explanation!

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Thatā€™s a remarkable commitment of resources to a ā€œstaleā€ product and shows a concern for your users that is exemplary! Thanks for the update!

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Thank you for this informative update. This sort of transparency is greatly appreciated by those of us on the user side of testing.

Pardon the question if this was covered elsewhere. Based on the quote above, is it now possible to ā€œdowngradeā€ the firmware from within the app, as opposed to having to save it to a memory card and ā€œreflashā€ from the card?

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Thanks for the update! Iā€™m happy to see your continued support for current & future products!

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Iā€™m having an odd issue with this firmware. Mic isnā€™t working and produces a buzz/pop noise when you want to hear audio. Iā€™ve power cycled to no improvement. I even tried the forward revert, but says upgrade failed after hitting 100%.

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Yeah, It doesnā€™t work, You need to revert ā€œbackā€ to V.111. open your Cam Settings> Device Info>Firmware Version>Having a Problem > Revert to XXXX

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Thanks Tao.
Didnā€™t anyone try to pan the Pan camera? :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thx! I was able to revert all of them to .111. One of the cameras didnā€™t want to downgrade via app, so I had to do the manual firmware via sdcard. All good and mic/audio working.

1 Like
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Clear and concise informationā€¦ Thank you for that

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Yes, we provided the ā€˜downgradeā€™ feature for Alpha and Beta test app only. This is because Alpha/Beta app could be more unstable which we need to find a solution our testers. We donā€™t encourage reverting official firmware since later firmware should be better and more secure (otherwise it will be our fault). Older firmware may have security vulnerabilities and we donā€™t recommend unless there isnā€™t an option.

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Sure we did that. :slight_smile: What was the problem? We had an issue that the first few times may move very fast. It is on our list but we havenā€™t fixed yet. Right now we are focusing on CMC reboot issues and Sensor related issues. After we are done, we will look at others.

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Swiping up/down moves the camera in the opposite direction from previous firmware.
If you swipe down/right the camera moves down/left.
Swipe up, the camera moves up.
Swipe left, the camera moves right.

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Thanks. I must have missed previous notes about this ability to downgrade in the alpha/beta apps. :+1: :vulcan_salute:

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Not to be a BuzzKill here but, I think the bigger issue here is You launched 2 massive updates ( App AND Fw) at the same time in Beta Form and all 500,000 Fanboys rushed to download it on top of The Beta Testers, and it caused a Melt down. Thereā€™s a lot more Conflicts going on because of these updates than Just Pan positioning, One or the other has a Major Fail in it, and itā€™s angering Folks. Surf around the Forum, Itā€™s not just affecting the Camsā€¦Just sayin,

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First and foremost I want to say that I really like Wyze, both the company and their products. I cannot say the same for the companies that they outsource to and until Q&A addresses those sources shortcomings, Wyze as a company and their associated products will continue to suffer.

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Now thatā€™s an update. I just hope Google integration works.

Sounds like a v3 cam with higher specs will be needed eventually to add even more features.

Thanks for all the work!