The five minute cool-down is a very popular topic of concern for many posters, so I’ll skip the review. We understand this is to limit the cloud space usage so Wyze can continue to provide this service, but this gap in notices is problematic. Who has time to sit through five minutes of playback video to see if there is something or someone that came by after that last insect? Can there be a compromise that doesn’t significantly increase the storage space for Events, such as placing a record in the Events log that signifies motion during the cool-down period and not including a video, but the mm/dd/yy & hh:mm:ss of the motion?
Solution: If an SD card is installed, there is an alarm folder containing motion triggered event thumbnails. This is at the heart of Events. Unfortunately, these records are subject to the five minute cool-down and should represent a one to one with cloud Events.
I propose in this Roadmap to keep the five minute cool-down for event records being sent to the cloud so the current Free Cloud Videos remain consistent for what Wyze advertises. (Paid cloud storage is a separate issue so please post those comments in the appropriate thread.) Change storage of thumbnails in the alarm folder to a cool-down of 30 seconds (so constant movement doesn’t blow out the SD card capacity) so users will have visibility of continued motion with the cloud only, having the 5-min cool-down. Also create visibility within the app of alarm folder thumbnails, so users can ‘at a glance’ have confidence that motion within the cloud cool-down is either critical to view and act upon or is insignificant and can be ignored. The thumbnail filename contains the YY/MM/DD and HH:MM:SS of the actual trigger motion, so going to that point in the Playback timeline should be easy. The ability to click and go there, even better!
This also give users visibility of events in cases of connectivity issues with the cloud servers.
Fine, store it on the SD card and have the app read it. You wouldn’t get push notices, but at would at least remove the question of movement during the cool-down period.
Agreed, you absolutely need to know when that person walks up to your door after the auto passes on the street before the next event can even be recorded. A definite hole in security.
I think this is the intent of the Event Only recording to the SD card. Yes, I know there’s an ongoing debate on how the sensitivity of the SD card Event Only works as opposed to cloud events. Hopefully we’ll get that nailed down fairly soon.
Yeah, getting that resolved is certainly step 1 and Event Only would go a long way to helping, but I would still like to see a camera based list of motion with the hh:mm:ss of the movement.
Probably, because Wyze uses all the buzz words in their features list. Except that word ‘security’, so people have expectations based on the buzz words.
If you’re talking about the alarm folder, tell me how to read that from the app without getting out my ladder. I haven’t checked, but does that include motion during the cool-down?
Edit: looking at a copy of a card, the alarm folder files looks to have the five minute cool-down gap too.
Edit2: I’d be happy with enhancing what gets stored in the alarm folder to include all selected motion ignoring cool-down. Read that list of files and show me those thumbnails and I could decide if I needed to review Playback.
Another advantage of a camera based list of motion is if there is enough failure in trying to upload Events to the cloud, it simply times out and you’ll never know there was motion as there will be no Event saved to the cloud. No video and no notification.
OverWatch, what do you mean by the “Alarm Folder” I have never seen an alarm folder either via the app or looking at one of the uSD cards on a PC. And I’ve never had any trouble saving any video via the app. It’s a bit tedious since you get it in real time as opposed to a high speed download, but it always works. Actually, the only real issue downloading a video is getting it off this damn iPhone - SO MUCH EASIER with an Android.
In the two cards I’ve pulled due to my “This video doesn’t exist” errors, I find the following folders on the cards when using Windows Explorer file manager:
alarm, log, photo, record and time_lapse.
The problem I’m having with saving videos is I’m getting “This video doesn’t exist” errors when trying to view Events within the app. The suspicion is some failure of wifi connectivity, but unconfirmed. I seem to be able to connect to the cameras and view video okay. Turn Off, Device Restart and apparently the command to send firmware logs doesn’t seem to work.
Thinking about it, it’s been at least six months since I pulled a uSD card to read it, and maybe I just don’t remember seeing it - either that or the different folders are something new. As I get older, my memory is not what it used to be
@Loki, Would you please do your magic and convert this into a #roadmap so people can vote on it? I’m also going to do some edits to the OP to include some way of reading the alarms folder on the SD card, which gives a better record of events than the Events page from the cloud should there be any communication issues between the camera and the cloud. See Delayed notifications.
Two completely different functions and areas of the app.
Mark Events in Playback is an aid while viewing Playback and targeted to aid viewing continuous recording.
Mark Events in Playback does not give the user any hint as to what the motion is, so they have to watch the video to find out if it was an insect or not.
This is an extension of the Events list with thumbnails specifically addressing the void during the cool-down period.
This could potentially change the Events list to device based and therefore not be subject to connection/transfer issues currently seen with cloud Events. Such as: No events in the list what so ever, “This video doesn’t exist”, no thumbnail, etc.
If I see an insect flying by on the thumbnail in the expanded Events list during cool-down, I’m probably not going to watch a minute of video or even go to the playback.
Mark Events in Playback only has one reference to the five minute cool-down and suggest using a file naming convention for identifying which one minute files include motion. This would require users to watch the entire minute to identify the motion.
There is nothing specific in Mark Events in Playback to say exactly how much of the timeline should be marked other than #7 in this list, which suggest the entire minute be marked, and therefore watched. Again, users will need to watch the entire minute to determine the cause of the Marked Event.
