Video Doorbell

That is some good thinking. I have some non-wyze devices I might have to see what Alexa can help do with routines now.

This is true that it is way too complicated for most people, I should point out that rooting a phone is totally unnecessary though. I don’t have any devices rooted and use it just fine.

Still, to prove your point of how hard it was to set up (I spent several hours trying to figure it all out on my own) Here’s the tasker setup to have my Google Assistants (@AdonistheGreat I have the following working: Google Home/Google Home mini, Nest home, nest home mini, Nest Hub, Google Hub, etc) announce things I want:

  1. First install/setup Tasker and the Autocast plugin, Best to have some pre-recorded audios ready…I’ve used text2speech.org and ttsmp3.com to create my own text to speech MP3’s for free, but you can do whatever you want casted. Autocast also apparently does it’s own TTS, but I haven’t tried it.
  2. In Tasker add new profile (plus sign)
  3. Select Event
  4. Select UI
  5. Select Notification
  6. Click Owner Application and select Wyze or WyzeBeta then the back arrow
  7. Select “Text” and type in something specific to the notification you want watched, when done, hit the back arrow.
    a) For example, if you have a sensor called “Mailbox” and you want it to watch for any notifications that have the word mailbox in them, you enter “Mailbox” surrounded in asterisks, but without the quotes.
    b) If you want a very specific kind of notification, you can enter exactly what the text will say, such as “Mailbox was opened*” or “Person Detected on Front Cam*” or whatever, but use an asterisk at the end since the date/time at the end of each notification will always be different for these Wyze notifications.
  8. Select New Task
  9. Click +
  10. Select Plugin
  11. Select AutoCast, then AutoCast again in the popup
  12. Select configuration
  13. Select Cast Device and choose which device to cast to
    a) If you haven’t already set up Autocast to detect your speakers, load it up, make sure you’re on the same network, click plus, and select each one individually to add them to the list of available devices, and then repeat step 10/11/12 and you’ll now see the devices)
  14. Select Screen and choose Full Screen Media
  15. Select Full Screen Media elements
  16. Select Audio
  17. Select Audio - song to play
  18. Enter the location of the mp3 you want played when the event occurs (if you already know the exact location of the mp3 on your device you can just paste the location in there, otherwise when it asks if you need help selecting a file, choose “Yes” and browse for it)
  19. Select okay
  20. Click back
  21. Click back
  22. Click the checkmark
  23. Click back
  24. Click back
  25. Click the checkmark

Finally all set.

It was a big pain to figure out all on my own without a walkthrough, but I love it now!
I can also set up an extra event in the profile so that it only makes announcements on certain speakers during certain hours of the day (ie: if I come home from a meeting late at night, it’s not making announcements on the Google Home Minis in people’s bedrooms while they’re sleeping).
Once you’ve done it once you can always save the event or action and clone it to other profiles, or make small modifications like change which device it is casting to. So, since I wanted it to cast the same thing to several devices I copied the action for 1 device, then just added a duplicate action and just changed which device was in that action so the next Google would also broadcast the message. Then I didn’t have to repeat all the steps. It was the same profile with the same event, it just sent another action to another device at the same time.

Anyway, that’s a walkthrough for anyone who wants to get their Google speakers to announce things, but @kjay is right that it is WAY too complicated for most people to figure out, especially on their own, but even with a long complex walkthrough. I tried tons of different methods, and finally settled on this one as the best as far as I could find so far. Hopefully it helps someone else who’s been frustrated like I was trying to figure it out for myself.

***Note that it’s best to set this up on a dedicated android device that stays at home and connected to the same local network the Google devices are on. If you set it up on your phone, then it will only work as long as you are there and connected to the network, but if you go to work or something and other people are home, it won’t announce because your device isn’t present. So use an old phone or a tablet that’s always connected to your network and it will always work. If you don’t care because you only want it to work when you’re home anyway, then go ahead and do it on your primary phone. It is pretty cool. You can make it work with ANY notifications, set certain hours or when something opens or closes or anything. I love it.

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This looks like good stuff, thank you. When I get the chance I will try to implement it in Easer which seems to be an open source analog to Tasker.

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I hear good things about tasker and that it’s pretty powerful if you take the time to set it up. I’ve been tempted to try it out a few times but procrastination has always gotten the better of me :sweat_smile:.

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Cool! This is the first I’m hearing of Easer. I am highly supportive of Open source though, so I’m glad you mentioned it. I’ll have to check it out.

Let me know if you figure out a way to do it that way. I always prefer supporting open source over all other methods as a primary go-to if I can figure out an open source solution that works.

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I love it! When I first got Tasker, it was very confusing to me, even though I have basic programming education (Python, SQL, Java, etc). I gave up and tried to mostly use IFTTT, which was easy to understand.

Eventually, I searched online for a walkthrough to set up some kind of automation (like silence my phone when I get to this building). After seeing up my first profile (what they call each project of an event and action), it made tons of sense. Sometimes I still have to search how to do specific things or advanced things, but most stuff is now really easy to do on my own…I am glad I came back to it and did a couple of walkthroughs to set up some practice profiles. I mean I now figured out on my own how to use Tasker to do this awesome stuff, let alone all the other automations that I love. It was worth it. I thought I’d have to read the entire Tasker manual or something, but just following a couple of simple and short walkthroughs of easy projects first was all I actually needed to understand it afterall. I very highly recommend it. I currently have 13 awesome profiles I created myself, including some complex ones that use conditionals and sub-profiles too. Very cool stuff, and I’m by no means advanced. I don’t even understand what half the options mean it can do. Lol. I watch their youtube videos about new features sometimes though.

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Oh wow that’s the first thing that confused me about Easer - that the meat of an action is called the "profile*. Perhaps it’s more of a clone than I even thought. (I’ve never used Tasker.)

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Oh, Wow! This is phenomenal! Than you for taking the time to post all of that.

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There are really NO good video doorbells on the market??? Either the hardware is OK but the software sucks, and there is a subscription needed to get the best of the product, or there is no subscription, and the hardware still sucks and so does the software. I know in my heart of hearts Wyze was meant to solve this issues. I’m Waiting :thinking:

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You can find details about the Video Doorbell here. https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048443032-Introducing-Wyze-Video-Doorbell

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Is there a link to purchase this? I cant find it on the website.

Let me know

Thanks

Not not yet, but it is possible that is could be the product that Wyze will announce today. So check back later today.

not yet

All good.

Thanks

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Reading through the documentation, it appears to be a wired doorbell, and you purchase the chime separately. Not clear whether it has an SD slot. With Alexa and Google integration, chime may not be necessary, I suppose it depends on the lag.

It is likely the video doorbell will be released today because if you look at the other introductions for the other products, it says “Coming Soon”. https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360049453252-Introducing-Wyze-Thermostat https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360049445172-Introducing-Wyze-Headphones The doorbell is the only one that doesn’t say that. Also if you want details on either the Wyze Thermostat or Headphones check the links above.

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They better announce it today. I have been putting off a purchase for other a year and my wife is getting on me because the original doorbell has a broken button (melted plastic cover). :wink:

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Are you going to offer the small angled spacers like some of the competitors?
My doorbell is on the side wall and I need to be able to point the video doorbell more towards the front/street.

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I soooooo want this device :raised_hands:t5::raised_hands:t5::raised_hands:t5: I have an off-brand one (GazeSure) I bought off Amazon that works with the Smartlife app. The doorbell is trash, its super big, does not have the fisheye view so I had to install it at head height in order to see any visitor’s face but I cant see anything below their shoulders, and thats only if they are standing directly in the front of the doorbell cam, so basically the thing was a waste of money!!! Only good thing about the device is that its battery powered, has simm slot, and it works with Alexa (sometimes) and Google assistant. But everything else sucks so if Wyze announces this today I will be the 1st to place an order :pray:t5::pray:t5::pray:t5:

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The article says the chime is included.

Wyze Chime included. Hear your doorbell from anywhere in the house with the included chime, which comes with 19 different tunes.

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There is a wedge included with the doorbell. https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048443432-Wyze-Video-Doorbell-Setup-Guide

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