So does anyone know when Wyze will finally do something about their Alexa so-called “skill”, because it is anything but skilled.
I am still constantly getting error messages which states a particular camera is unresponsive on my Echo Show 8, 2nd. generation and yet am able to view live camera feed via the Wyze app on my Android smart device reliably.
There is obviously a disconnect between the “skill” and Alexa , a problem which Wyze has ignored for some time now, look at the reviews of the “skill” and you’ll agree.
When do you plan to take your heads out of the sand Wyze?
Aloha, I don’t think anyone here is going to be able to help you reference the Alexa/Wyze skill. I personally don’t think the issue is Wyze skill. I believe the issue resides inside the Show 8 2nd gen. And here’s two of my old posts why I believe that.
Tell me. Does this help you? I ask because no one commented when I took the time to explain it, or the update. And I am beginning to think, I wrote for a Black Hole.
And Mahalo nui loa.
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Thank you for posting your explanation! BTW - It was difficult to find page two of the comments… I have been searching for solutions to the problems I have been having with my V3 Cameras and Echo Show 8 Gen 1. Like the OP, I am unable to view my V3 cameras on the Echo Show. When I try to view them in the Alexa app on a the phone connected to the Echo Show, the app displays the settings page for the camera rather than the live view. Never mind trying to get the the Echo Show, they aren’t getting through the Alexa app. I tried all of the recommendations but none worked.
A comment on viewing times - we have viewed our V2 cameras for hours on the Echo Show 8 Gen 1 using only voice commands.
Thanks again for posting your info.
You are welcome. I don’t see an reason or even hint why you want to look at the camera image via the Alexa app vice the Wyze app on the phone. Many moons ago, right after the Alexa app starting supporting the Wyze cam view, I looked at a few times, but its smaller than the picture on the Wyze app in portrait mode. Though I turn it to landscape to get an excellent picture.
I don’t want to cover everything I have talked about here via Wyze, Alexa, Show 1st gen. But have you enabled the Wyze skill in Alexa? Does your Wyze cam have Cam+ or Cam+ Lite? I think either is necessary. Certainly necessary for person detection.
I use Alexa routines voice commands. I use Alex routines triggered by 'time". I use Broadlink Button Switches. I use Flic 2 (flic.io) button switches to call for Alexa to bring up Wyze images on a 1st gen Show 5 and 8. 2nd gen Show 8 is not reliable.
Thanks for your reply! I’m trying to troubleshoot my problem(s) by checking each step in the path between the camera and the Echo Show. The Alexa app on a phone is the current step. My configuration is… The Wyze cameras are on my phone (Note20U). They are shared with / to my wife, also a Note20U. She has the Wyze app and the Alexa app on her phone. The Echo Show 8 Gen 1 is connected to her phone. The Wyze Skill is in her Alexa app. (yes, it has been disabled / enabled multiple times). We have had Wyze cams for a few years - a couple V2’s and a Pan Cam V2, and they have worked flawlessly. We can watch them for hours, and have. Several years ago I picked up two V3 cameras with the plan to take them on vacation. I picked up a travel router at the same time. I connected the upstream TR connection to our home network and set up the two V3’s on the TR network. Everything worked great. The V3’s have 128GB SD cards and were configured for continuous recording. One was set for a timelapse but I never really got that figured out correctly so it just recorded continuously. Recently I decided to move the V3’s to our network. It has been a struggle. I ran set up again for the new network configuration. The Echo Show would display the camera momentarily, post a Buffering message and quit. I updated the firmware until the cameras no longer worked / connected to the Echo Show. I recently received a Pan Cam V3. Same issues… The Pan Cam V3 problem turned out to be a permission on my phone for the microphone. It now works with the Echo Show. I finally got the V3 cams working on our network with firmware flashes and resets, They appear in my phone in the Wyze app and work correctly. They are shared with / to my wife’s phone. and appear in the Wyze app, and work correctly. They appear in the Alexa app / Skill on my wife’s phone, but do not work correctly. In the Skill, if I select the V3 cameras it displays the settings page for the camera. Selecting a V2 camera displays video from the V2 camera selected. I do have Cam Plus Lite and all cameras appear on the list of devices. The goal is to add these two V3 cameras and utilize the voice commands ‘Alexa, show cam 3’ to view the cameras. I’ve upgraded and downgraded firmware(s), even flashed RTSP firmware (needed to factory reset to reflash…), upgraded apps, disabled / enabled the Skill. multiple times, renamed cameras. I do not need any detection other than motion and do not need any rules. The hardware has been stable enough that I didn’t need to put the cameras on Switches. I’ve looked at the wifi in the immediate area and there is no chance of network congestion causing interference. All cameras, once they are working correctly, get 128GB SD cards warranted for use in continuous recording devices, and are configured to record HD 24x7. I get about 12.5 days before old video is overwritten. I agree with your comment there is no reason, usually, to view the cameras in the Alexa app, especially with the Wyze app also on the phone.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Hi, I don’t see a lot in what you said that is different than would I would do. I will note a couple of things though. I think these will be easy to see if they are contributing to a conflict in your viewing. But I am doing a couple of things you are not.
I have 8 cameras I would call a garage group. Three outside facing different, but overlapping coverage. And 5 inside the garage. Do I need 5 inside? No, but playing around, I added them. I have one WiFi plug feeding power to all of them. Extension cords through the attic, to the adapter with short USB cable to the camera. One WiFi plug to turn all 8 off and on. And that one WiFi plug is on a schedule to restart all 8 at 3 a.m. every day. All get a fresh restart after a 10 min shutdown. I had all 8 on their own WiFi plug. but pain to restart all, so put 3-4, might as well do all. I like this better. If one camera fails to display, I check 2-5 of the others. Almost always, they are okay, so its not a power thing, but removing power and restarting resets comm too.
I don’t do any sharing to another person, so I can speak from experience on sharing. But I read somewhere that the Wyze camera doesn’t like to try to stream to two “viewers” at the same time. I mean the Wyze developers didn’t build in the capacity that the image could be pulled up on more than 1 screen at the same time.
The three outside cams are driven by Alexa routines. Alexa routines swap Cam A & B on the hour going to show A. Every other hour Alexa routines refresh Cam C to Show B. None of my cameras are announced on the Shows. I find, announcing success or failures to the shows interferes, so all voice replies from Alexa come from an echo dot close by. Seems to make a difference. Why? no idea. All my cam routines have no “send announcements” of any type in them. Seems to interfere with the “displaying”. (I seldom announce to Alexa to display any cams on the shows.) I like the Alexa routines vice voice commands to display.
I do have a pair of mini ipads sitting on stands that can show images just like my shows. Once in a while during the day, at the hourly turn over, I hear an Alexa announcement, (something like) the Wyze camera is not responding, please check the network connection. Usually, it works an hour later. But sometimes, just for giggles, I bring up the Wyze app on an ipad, and try to view that camera via the app. Surprisingly it works. So, while I can see via app on ipad, Wyze image won’t come up on Show. For more giggles, I often restart the WiFi plug feeding all 8, and force run the Alexa routine off the hourly schedule to test, and wow, it works. So something had caused comm to fail/drop but a cam restart fixed it. Hmm, drastic, but its trying to find a cause.
So 20-22 routines swap cameras and refresh images all day from 06:00-20:00 hours. And once in a while a WiFi plug restart.
Many of us here do not use the power adapter that comes with the Wyze cam. We’ve found more powerful/higher amp adapters than the 1.0 that come with Wyze cam. My cam success improved immediately by replacing my 1.0’s with 2.3 amp adapters even if I use only one of the USB slots.
In your writings, I must admit, I don’t understand this statement or how you do it. " The Echo Show 8 Gen 1 is connected to her phone."
In your testing I would suggest a couple of things. If you are having trouble viewing, disable sharing to her temporarily and try viewing again. Could sharing be contributing.
Separate to the sharing test, if you are having trouble viewing, unplug power and plug back in and test viewing again. Did a restart help/fix this time?
None of us have a perfect setup. But to ease the burden of keeping it working, or even our troubleshooting, we have added WiFi plugs so we can remove power and put it back easily. I don’t trust, I think other “vets” here don’t trust the “restart” inside the Wyze app for a cam restart.
Questions: Wife has her own Wyze account, and that’s who you share to, correct??
Does your wife have a different Amazon/Alexa account than the one you are using when you enable the skill?
This is a test:
If I were you, when she is having a viewing problem, I would take her phone. I would log out of her Wyze account. (Note: That’s not simply closing the app, its logging out of the app. then closing the app. ) Then log in on her phone with your Wyze account, and see if the viewing problem still exists. I bet not. Then log out of your account, close the app. Give her phone back, and let her log back in. Check viewing again. Does problem exists?
I hope it goes without saying, I am not critical of anything you are doing.
I hope you find this useful. And good luck.
I’m very impressed by your routine(s) set up! And the wifi plugs! Thanks for the info on the power adapters. I had wondered about stepping up to more power should I want to daisy chain V2’s.
My setup is not as complex. The V2’s are backyard, washer (hanging like a bat above the display), garage (window looking towards the street), Pan Cam V2 (looking out the front window), and cat cam (temporary, when our daughter travels), All work well with the Echo Show. So far we haven’t had an issue trying to display one camera on two screens. There have been times where we are looking at the Pan Cam on the Echo Show and I’ll bring it up on my phone to zoom in. It doesn’t happen often, but has worked each time we have tried it.
The Echo Show - my wife runs the Alexa app on her phone and one of the devices is the Echo Show. That s why I said it is connected to her phone. I do not run Alexa on my phone.
Sharing - All of the cameras are ‘homed’ to the Wyze app on my phone. I have them shared to the Wyze app on my wife’s phone. There is another V2 camera at out daughters house. She babysits our cat when we travel and set up the camera in the cat’s room so we can watch the cat. That cat cam is shared with both of us. Our cat cam is shared with our daughter so she can watch her kitty.
All of the above works fine,
I ran into issues when I added three new cams to our network - a Pan Cam V3, and two V3 cams. I performed setups and shares, but had issues viewing them on the Echo Show. The Pan Cam V3 would not appear at all on the Echo Show. The V3 cameras displayed video briefly, a Buffering message appeared and the connection dropped. Initially, I thought all three cameras had the same problem. Firmwares were updated on the V3’s to get current. The symptoms changed. Once current, the Echo Show did not connect to the V3’s. I rolled back to the RTSP firmware on one V3, but still no joy. The Alexa Skill was disabled and enabled, multiple times, still no joy. Cameras were renamed, Skill disabled and enabled. Power packs pulled and re-plugged in, and so on, repeat until frustrated.
I started looking at each component in the path between the cameras and the Echo Show. The three cameras appear on my phone, and my wife’s phone in the Wyze app so that tells me the sharing worked. BTW - when you share a camera with someone you provide the app with their email address. They do not receive an email regarding the share. A pop up appears in their Wyze app. No email is sent. There was a message in her Wyze app on the Pan Cam V3 about a permission that was required. I tracked it back to a permission on my phone to allow the Wyze app to use the microphone. Once that was enabled, and maybe a Skill disable / enable, the Pan Cam V3 appeared on her Wyze app, in the Alexa app on her phone, and on the Echo Show. Yay!
So at this point the two V3 cameras work in my Wyze app and in her Wyze app. In the Alexa app on her phone the V3 cameras are in the list of devices along with the other cameras. When I select a V2 camera in the Alexa app it displays the video stream from that camera. When I select one of the V3 cameras in the Alexa app, it displays the settings page for that camera.
Per your suggestion I just logged her out of the Wyze app. Before logging her back in I tried the Alexa app and tried to display a camera on the Echo Show. The Echo Show displayed one of the V2 cameras, I guess I don’t understand the “path”. When trying to access a V3 camera on the Echo Show I get “live view unavailable in alexa app” The same message appears in the Alexa app on her phone. I think my next step is going to be installing Alexa on my phone and learning about profiles on the Echo Show.
You are not getting critical. I appreciate your replies. I don’t mind being told I’m wrong, or forgot something.
Thanks again!!
Number 1, sir, you are not wrong. This stuff is confusing. Not complicated, just confusing to all of us. 
This is a lot to digest. And I am old and forgetful what you have said. Sorry. And even though this is a conversation between us, lots of people may benefit from our exchange and help them.
The Echo Show - my wife runs the Alexa app on her phone and one of the devices is the Echo Show.
Actually its not. The Show like all the other Echo devices and for that matter other devices you see in the Alexa app, are connected to your network and registered into the Alexa account. And you see those devices in the app because you logged into the Account. To prove my point, she could install the Alexa app on your phone, login to Amazon, open the Alexa app, and see the devices there. Not on your phone, but in the Alexa account. That may sound like the same thing, but its a result of the efforts of the developers that are working to make this stuff transparent to the customers. You currently don’t see the Show, because you are not logging into the Alexa app. Everything I have said in this paragraph doesn’t impact her account, her phone, your Show or the camera.
Sharing. No, the cameras are not homed to the Wyze app on your phone. The cameras are registered in the Wyze cloud/database. They are not on your phone. They are merely seen from your phone, but when you view or manage them, you must have logged into your Wyze account on their cloud/database/server. Your phone is merely a tool. And you are actually granting your wife permissions in the Wyze database/server for her Wyze account to allow her access to the cameras in your Wyze account, not access to your phone. This is how it works, but you, me, other customers don’t really care how they do it. But its useful to know, if you lose your phone, you don’t lose your cameras or access. You just get another phone, login into your Wyze account, and back to business.
You didn’t confirm for me, if she has a Wyze account. I’ve not done Wyze cam sharing, but I believe, that pop up created an account for her in/at Wyze. I guess she already had the Wyze app on your phone. But I can’t figure how your Wyze sharing “fix” knew her among the billions of others with a phone, unless she had already created a Wyze account/login and password. Wyze and the Wyze app don’t know she’s sitting on the couch across from you versus millions of others in the USofA. I guess when you typed in her email address, the Wyze server/database/programming sent her an email, she opened email, and sees the link. Then she pressed it and it created an account for her magically. I bet she had to enter a password. ?? If so, she has a Wyze account. Your sharing feature may have sent a link to also install the app on her phone, but it had to arrived inside an email. Else Wyze (the Internet) would not know who she is. If she had used your daughter’s phone, and opened up her email, the Wyze message/popup would have displayed there.
You said: “When I select a V2 camera in the Alexa app it displays the video stream from that camera. When I select one of the V3 cameras in the Alexa app, it displays the settings page for that camera.”. " When I select one of the V3 cameras in the Alexa app" is this on your wife’s phone? Because you don’t have the Alexa app, right? I think you do not successfully have Cam+ or Cam+ Lite configured on these V3’s. I remember (vaguely) when Wyze skill update allowed us to the the Live view in the Alexa app, they also told us we had to have person detection turned on. AND we could not get person detection without Cam+ . (That was before they gave us Cam+ Lite.) So some of us were stuck.
I encourage you to try the Alexa routines. The great part is you can assign 1 word to your Routine as the trigger such as 'BUBBA" or “Soup” (Regardless of the name you use on the routine as they don’t have to be the same.
Then the only “command” line you would want to use is "Alexa, Show “my cat cam” on Show (whatever your show’s name is).
When you go to the “ALEXA WILL” line in the routine, select the “Custom” choice. Then this choice add the word “Alexa,” in front of your “Show my cat cam on Show” line that you type in.
If you have one other Echo device, select it in the “Hear Alexa from” choice at the bottom.
Do not try to think of a “path”. This is like electricity. You don’t think of a physical path or components, obstacles "between the Show and the camera.
Did you try this? When “its not working at the show”. Remove power at the camera, restore power at the camera, wait 2 minutes or so, look/bring up an image from that camera in your Wyze app, working? Good, Close the app, so its not feeding to the phone. And ask Alexa to show that camera on the show. Did this make a difference? A fresh restart?
I guess you have your own reasons, and you do not need to justify or explain, but I think much of the process of fixing would disappear, if you share the same Wyze account (your account with her) and you use the same Alexa account, that you have enabled to your Wyze account.
Here’s just an explanation. The Alexa app allows us to manage the devices “from an Alexa point of view” that are added to the Alexa database. If you started all over and just setup your WiFi network, other than your phone for setting it up, there’s no IoT (Internet of Things) devices on it. And you buy 1 Wyze camera. You add the Wyze app to your phone/tablet/ipad and add the camera to your network. Then you load the Alexa app on a phone or tablet/ipad. You login. You add 1 Echo device, in your case your show. The Alexa app and the show don’t know the Wyze camera is on your WiFi network. Does not “see” them until you bridge between Alexa app/database and your Wyze device with the Wyze skill. Bingo, not it sees the camera. And the features the Wyze team designed into the skill give granularity to the Alexa settings so you can perform functions with Alexa. And the Alexa team designed the means for the camera to display on the Show, and Wyze helped too. But for instance, you can’t see the Show in your Wyze app. Wyze doesn’t know it exists. The Wyze skill does not include specs or commands or functions for the Show. This is just my rambling.
This is just me adding some info about Wyze Cams and Echo Show. It doesn’t solve anything. In fact the opposite it shows how confusing all this is.
- I am using an Alexa routine to bring up a camera and displace it to Show 1. The trigger that I am using to run the custom action is: Time - at 08:00 pm
The action for Alexa to do is: "Alexa, Show Alley Cam on Echo Show 1. There’s no other action or command in the routine.
and - I am using an Alexa routine to bring up a camera and displace it to Show 1. The trigger that I am using to run the custom action is: a Broadlink Switch Button - it activates the Alexa routine when I press the button. The action for Alexa to do is: "Alexa, Show Alley Cam on Echo Show 1. There’s no other action or command in the routine.
Now, having explained that, its two routines. One is triggered by the time of day. And the other is sort of a backup, I can push the button anytime to run the routine that does is triggered at 8 pm.
Here’s why I explained this. At 8 pm tonight, the routine started (see #1 above) , and one result is, Alexa announces “Okay”. and proceeds to try and bring up the cam on the show. But seconds later, Alexa announces, “Wyze camera is not responding, please check the network connection.” and stops trying. Nothing changes on the Show. Here’s the kicker. After hearing this, and withing 30 seconds, I press the Broadlink Switch button to run an identical (see #2 above) and it runs. Its the same single action in the routine to bring up the cam. AND IT WORKED.
I have no idea why it would not bring up the cam on the show when this time the trigger was the 8 pm trigger. Yet, I seconds later, I could get the same cam to display on the same show using a virtual button to run/trigger the routine.
BTW, the custom action in the near 20 routines that run on the hour are all the same command, "Alexa, Show cam xxx on Echo Show xx. Mystery to me.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Your explanations give me a much better understanding how things are working and connected. I copied the information you provided on the Alexa Routines so it will be handy when I’m ready to set them up. Yes, my wife has a Wyze account. I neglected to mention that. Our daughter also has a Wyze account. I had been using my wife’s phone since she was the only one with the Alexa app. The Echo Show had been a gift to her and since it responds to both of our voices for commands, I had not seen the need to add the Alexa app to my phone. That has changed. In order to simplify my configuration somewhat, I installed the Alexa app on my phone, went through some of the setup stuff. Didn’t bother with the voice setup and different profiles. The device discovery completed successfully. All of the cameras show up as do the Echo devices we have (two Shows, one Dot (unplugged)). I haven’t tried to connect to the Echo Show 8, only the cameras. I verified Cam + Lite shows all of our cameras. Two cameras are not in the Cam + Lite group - the Pan Cam V3 says it is not supported at this time, and the cat cam our daughter shares to us. Not unreasonable… Person Detection is enabled on all of the cameras but the V2 looking at the washing machine and the Pan Cam V3. When I try to enable it on Pan Cam V3 in the phone app, it tells me I need to upgrade to Cam Plus. I verified both V3’s that I am trying to view have Person Detection enabled. I was able to view the Live View in most of the cameras in the Alexa app. No joy on the V3’s though, took me to settings. I took one of the V3’s that is giving me grief and tried to display it on the Show, unsuccessfully. I unplugged it and moved it to where I have my laptop and phone, and can see the Show. After a few minutes I plugged it in and waited for it to boot. Went into settings in the phone app to turn on the LED, verified the LED was on, saw the view in the phone app and went to the app home page to make sure none of the cameras were streaming to a display. After a couple of minutes I tried to access the camera in the Alexa app. It took me to the settings page. The Person Detection Notifications are enabled and the camera is enabled.
I just saw your second message. Thank you!! I copied it to the document I created with your previous Routine information. Strange it didn’t work… The camera isn’t responding is one of our Show’s favorite phrases lately.
A question for you please… If you go into your Alexa app and select a V3 camera, can you get a Live View? How about a V2?
Something is working… I just stood up and got a notification ‘person detected at cam6’ the current name for the V3 that I moved to be near my phone and computer. Ha!! I’ll be disconnecting that before morning. Don’t need to surprise my wife with notifications.
Interesting. What’s different? What change? Is that the same Adapter? Same cable from adapter to cam? For you to figure this out, you are going to need to wait for it to fail and document what you did to make it work.
Could it be, (yes, it could be) a too-long a cable. It could be something near its location was causing a signal interference between your router and your camera. I am going to call the location where you want the camera “the target” But now its near the router/laptop. (laptop has nothing to do with this.) If its working, try moving the camera away from the router towards the target in small steps. 5-7 feet maybe at a time until it fails. You can also move the show if you wish, so you can see or hear it. The issue is not the show, in this case. Its something to do with the cam and your router. Its weak signal or distance, or cable length maybe - IT SOUNDS LIKE TO ME.
Installed the Alexa app on your phone. Good, you can practice routines. Check out how to on Google or YouTubel Lots of help there.
Remember, the routines are not stored on the phone. The routines are in the cloud/server where Alexa stores them. This means any phone, tablet, ipad you use AND login in to that account, you will see your routines.
Naw, I don’t bother with voice setup or profiles either. And I have (good lord help me, please) 200 Routines. I have reached the limit and have to remove one to create one now.
You said " I haven’t tried to connect to the Echo Show 8, only the cameras." Don’t think of it that way. Here. Think of it this way. Your WiFi network is like a big warehouse building. Each devices Wyze, Alexa, Excho, or whatever, are just sitting around in your warehouse. No order, no rows or columns just scattered. When you want to use one, you walk past ir ot call out to it. Like a Show, you call out to it and it answers. You don’t care where it is in the warehouse as long as it answers. How your Wyze camera comes up on the Show - you don’t care as long as it does. Your warehouse is sort of a big virtual warehouse. Its being in the warehouse *your network) that brings them all together. Want to add something, bring it to your warehouse (and then add it/join it to your WiFi network.
Your daughter could add the Cam+ Lite for $0 to her cat cam, so its on there too.
Okay, you verified all your cams (except the Pan) has Cam+ Lite. So, here’s what I recommend. Use your phone, and your wife’s phone. Open the Wyze app. Since your V2’s work and your V3’s do not, on one phone open each and every setting on the V2 and compare it to the same on the V3. Find what’s different and make them the same.
I am missing something. I don’t understand why you want to view the camera’s live view in the Alexa app. The screen is so small compared to using the Wyze app. Is it because you figure if you can get Live View on the V3 to work, it will work on the Show? Frankly, that could be, I don’t know, but otherwise, I can’t understand using the Alexa app to look at a camera image. I repeat, go through ever setting possible btween the V2 and V3 and make them the same.
I have at least 5 V2s and about a dozen V3. All work on the Shows.
The camera isn’t responding is one of our Show’s favorite phrases lately. THAT’S FUNNY !!
Yes, did the test you asked. Yes, all my V2 and V3’s show in the Alexa app for the Live View. Yes, all of my cameras work in Live View. A couple of V3’s and one V2 had to be restarted before it would show. But they are ALL on WiFi plugs so its easy.
Your V3’s, they are not the V3 Pro are they?
When I said I received a notification when I stood up, that was all I received. No video, just a black screen with the date and time, and a voice notification, and me wondering what the hell was that? I’m not sure when I turned on the Person Detection last night or even if it was last night. The camera has not been in a location where it would detect a person until I moved it last night. Cable is the same - the one that came with the camera. Location in relation to router about the same - six feet away on one side, and about six feet away on the other side. Empty wall (sheet rock, two layers) between camera and router now. It was a good idea though… I have a wire running to the router from the laptop. Other Wifi interference - house on one side does not have internet, Sat dish. House on the other side is vacant. Couple of wifi networks across the street. Signals levels are low, but I do remember looking at their traffic a few years ago with Kali… had to move the laptop to just inside the front windows to see the traffic.
Thanks for reminding me about our daughter and Cam + Lite. I gave her a couple of V3s and SD cards several years ago when I got mine (2021?) Found out the other day she never got them connected successfully and don’t know if she tried with her Echo Show. I believe they do work with her phone though. I wanted her to have the ability to watch the front and back of her house from her home office. Once I figure out my problem it will probably fix her issues too. The Cat cam she has is a V2 I gave her a couple of years ago. It works fine for sharing with us but I don’t know if it works on her Show. I’ll have to ask her about the V2 working with her Show and if she has the Cam + Lite. Thanks!
The reason I want to view the cameras in the Alexa app is to see if the cameras are working with Alexa. It’s really just for troubleshooting. Remember I incorrectly thought the camera video went through the app on the phone on it’s way to the Echo Show. Now I know that is not true. The Alexa app is just another display like the Show. On the bright side, I do not have to keep saying Alexa Show Cam6, I can just select the camera in the Alexa app. On a lighter note, we had dinner with our daughter the other night. My wife appeared to take great pleasure telling our daughter about constantly hearing Alexa show this and Alexa show that coming from the kitchen while she was in the family room… We had a good chuckle. So yes, I want to see the V3 cameras on the Alexa app like I can with the V2’s. Then, I believe, I should be able to see the V3’s on the Show. With my newfound perspective I can say the video is not coming down from the Alexa cloud to my devices. My test configuration is at a minimum for now.
Thanks for trying to view your cameras in the Alexa app. As your cameras are working, it tells me mine should also work.
Yes, the cameras are V3’s not V3 Pro’s.
I’m going to take your recommendation for the next step and check the settings, all of the settings, for a V2 and a V3. I seem to recall shared devices don’t show you all of the settings, etc, Pencil and paper it is!
On a different, but connected, subject, Have you done anything with the video files from the SD cards? Davinci Resolve is a video editor that comes in handy for concatenating the video files from the cameras. It is a Pro level editor with a free version. There are a few limitations in the free version but none that impact processing Wyze videos. ffmpeg is another free tool but after using Davinci Resolve I probably will stick with it for playing with these files. I downloaded Davinci Resolve for processing 360 video. Later found it useful for concatenating video files from my dash cam. and recently concatenating files from Wyze cameras. Drag and drop, select all, make compound video, speed up playback 10X. I may have another chance at simulating a snowfall time lapse this weekend. Giving back a little…
Thanks again. I appreciate your help!
I am pleased you are making some progress and its a bit clearer for you.
Your question, have I done anything with the video files on the SD cards. No, I’ve simply not bothered. For me, its a rare time when I go back and review past video even on the copy Wyze puts on the cloud and we can see in the Wyze app. I mainly look at a show or check on an ipad, when I hear a car or person detection announcement that seems out of place time wise. Like very late at night.
I am lazy. I hid a Wyze cam inside my newspaper tube that faces the house. When I come to my desk and sit down with coffee, I can see the image inside he tube. I can see the newspaper if its been or not been delivered. I have an Alexa routine that brings that cam up at 6:00 am and it stays for an hour+. That’s a minor thing, but shows us how to use this stuff to make it easier for lazy people.
I’ve a copy of DaVinci, but have not played with it in a couple of years. Didn’t know it could be used to concatenate the SD card files. Thanks
You are very welcome. I think you will like the Alexa routines. Of course now, you will will miss those shouts from the other room of Alexa Show Cam6. I’ve not tried this, but maybe you could use the cam to make a video of you shouting Alexa Show Cam6, then save it to the Amazon Photo Drive and create a routine that plays it when you tell Alexa, Now, it pulls that short clip up on the show and blasts it out for your wife lol ?
Just for giggles, I thought I would share this. I bought two of these plastic boxes on Amazon.
They are 3 times larger than the V3 cam. But I needed depth and wanted it to look like it belonged, so I used them.
If you look at the black oval in these two pictures, you see the box. I painted the clear cover to match the garage door/wall, except for a square about 1.5x1.5 inches. Each picture was taken by the other one in the other picture. These camera face down the alley or towards the side street. Car and person detection alerts me something is going on out there. But not all day. I programmed to report if its people walking late at night or cars after midnight. There’s one V3 sitting at an angle in each. The little square is where the lens can see the streets. Neighbors and other people walk by daily, no one has noticed. Even those right across the alley have not noticed these two boxes in the corner of my door way, by noting they do not have the same.
Finally… Got one of the V3’s working with the Alexa app on my phone and displaying on the Echo Show. I had stumbled across the solution several times as I was researching and trying to troubleshoot the issues. The solution appears on this page, several times - "Wyze live view unavailable in the Alexa app" (on Samsung Galaxy S20+) - #9 by raheenb
The instructions are: (from the linked article)
1 - first doing a complete factory reset (remove any memory card and then hold setup button for 10 seconds)
2 - Setup camera again in Wyze app
3 - Added the trial 14 day free subscription after setting up camera in Wyze app,
4 - Reboot camera in the Wyze app
wait a few minutes and then check the camera in the Alexa app…camera now works with live view.
Remove Wyze trial subscription in Google Play store
The camera appeared in the Alexa app and I was able to get a Live View. I think I added a ‘disable and enable wyze skill’ after bringing the camera back up to try to hurry things along. I haven’t removed the trial subscription yet. I’ve got some time to do that. I did check the Play Store and saw the subscription so I know where to go to kill it. This also tells me what I need to do for my daughter’s cameras. No wonder she couldn’t get them working.
While researching old firmware saw this again and figured why not try it. Worst that can happen is another factory reset. I am both elated and disgusted with the fix. I’m guessing the issue was created as wyze was trying to transition to their subscription models. There is no need to fix it if it drives customers to subscribe.
On a lighter note - Thanks for the info on the boxes. They kinda disappear into the building. It’s good you highlighted them. I’ve added them to an Amazon list.
When I mentioned traveling with these cameras, I like to take them on cruises. The magnet in the base sticks to the balcony bulkhead rather nicely. A big orange battery provides power to two of them for quite a while for recording leaving and arriving. A couple of twist ties hold things in place. in the table. I had hoped to record a time lapse with one camera and real time with the other, but never quite got the time lapse set up correctly. IIRC you need to give it a start time and end time for the time lapse recording. Davinci Resolve can do a similar thing with the real time recording. Here is a still from leaving Nassau:
Thank you again for your information, assistance, and the routine information. Once I get these, and our daughter’s cameras setup I’ll look closer at the routines.
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