I give up - after countless posts in numerous threads, and Wyze complete inability to fix (or even admit) the “jerky” behavior of the pan cam when it detects motion (NOT the manual control).
Is it possible to made the pan cam a fixed can like the V2 ? Not just turning off Motion Tracking & Pan Scan but completely stop all horizontal movement.
At this point I will even cut into the cam if needed, since the 3 pan cams I have are totally useless in this stare. And don’t suggest contacting support - they have been useless.
Is removing detection movement possible ???
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On both of my Pan cams, I have motion tracking set to off, pan scan set to off, and motion tagging on, and neither one ever move, but still record motion events. They act as fixed cameras, but I still have the ability to move them manually when I choose to which is a feature I like.
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That’s how my Pan is setup as well. It never moves unless I tell it to (Or a squirrel attacks it) and basically acts like a fixed camera.
I will give it a try - thanks for the replies.
Really sad that Wyze will NOT fix this cams problems.
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Then what’s the point of paying for a Pan Cam if you’re turning the pan feature off? Isn’t that the whole point of a Pan Cam? Just by a V2… cheaper at least.
So, instead of Wyze fixing this terrible feature, we should just disable it… OK, maybe that works for you, but I bought the thing because their advertisement showed this beautifully smooth panning following a puppy around, and instead I get this jerky garbage that overshoots the object of motion, and is utterly useless.
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I agree they should fix it, yes. In my case, I wanted the pan cam’s ability to pan even before I knew it would do it automatically. My outdoor pan cam replaced another brand that was pan capable and I wanted to be able to move the camera around to see different areas. The area is too large to see everything at once. Another Pan Cam I have indoors covers most of a room, but I’m able to look around for my dog in other corners when I’m not home.
The auto pan feature definitely should be fixed, it’s an advertised feature. Right now though I use it like any other pan camera that’s been available for decades since I didn’t even know auto pan was a feature when I first bought it back when it was a new product
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I set a detection zone & just set it to full screen… It’s now locked in place
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Because Wyze is NOT going to fix it and I am tired of bitching about it. Bottom line they won by ignoring all the complaints and don’t have to do anything. I also make sure that I always tell everyone to not buy the pan cam since it is a piece of crap with no support.
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100% agree. Those were the first two cameras I purchased, and have regretted it.
I also tell everyone who asks to avoid them. And if they ask why, I show them the video of the mouse under my crawl, and the camera swings to follow it and then well past it, then back to it, and past it, then back to it and past it… and on.
Of course, there’s no support for anything anymore. They’re too focused on new products to support the old ones. I mean, even the Playback feature is so FUBAR, but they ignore all the posts about how bad it really is.
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I started with 3 of these pan cam - expected they would address the problem - Waited too long can’t return them for a refund.
Many people here thinks Wyze is all about customer support and they can walk on water - customer support when it is in their best interest and they aren’t wanking on water they are dragging their feet in mud on this problem.
In the Army, we called that “over committing and under delivering.” Common with companies growing too fast. They need to sell products to stay solvent, yet they leave their older products unsupported, which loses them sales.
I know I’m not purchasing anything further from them - definitely not their new lock. If they can’t support current products, how can I trust that they will support that after it’s release?
I will willingly pay for a Hue bulb because I know they support their product. Same with TP-Link.
These wyze cams are ridiculously cheap. Considering the prices I don’t have any real complaints. They are what they are and we got what we paid for…and then some.
Not happy ? Then go spend $200, $300 or $400 or more per cam from another company.
I purchased a few crazy cheap cams and received more than my money’s worth.
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Don’t know how I missed the horrible reports on the Cam Pan, but I purchased 3 as well because we like the v2’s so much. We’ve found the motion tracking and panning to be worse than useless, and have it disabled. We now use them as static camera’s, that we wasted additional $$ on, and have to live with the ugly extra bulk.
Every day they don’t fix the problem, it damages the reputation for great features at a great value. And I disagree with those that seem to think we have no right to criticize because the product is so cheap; I can live with the software bugs, and bricked devices after a firmware update, I think we should protest when they fail to provide the features they are actively marketing.
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If a company decides to sell a product with stated features and those features do not work, then fix the problem. If you can’t fix the problem after over a year - recall and refund.
The price of the product does not enter into this - Wyze set the price, now live up with what you advertised.
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The “problem” is there because movement varies. The pan Cam determines the initial change in pixel contrast, and tries to determine the size, then centers that object as fast possible in the frame. So a fast moving car, passing left to right, registers as a thin horizontal box of pixels, and cam pans LEFT to center up the box/car. By that time, car is right of frame. If cam picks it up again, it will swing swiftly right to recenter. And you get these jittery, back and forth frame shots. Of course, If the car is too fast, the cam won’t pick it up move right and it just swings left and stays left and you don’t catch the car much at all.
So with a slower human movement, the cam works generally better or “as expected”. The further away a person, the better. But, again, a squirrel or human passing close, will move cross-screen relatively as fast as a distant car, and the rapid back and forth issue occurs again.
But any “fix” creates a larger issue in the other areas of the security you want. I’m sure your need for a fix is seen with frustration on their part as well. You dam a river, you flood a valley. The “fix” can make many other benefits less effective.
The factors involved are:
~ Whether pan cam is inside or outside.
~ Whether pan Cam is in front of a reflective glass window.
~ Field of depth - fast cars passing in the distant/ slower but much closer humans and animals passing by cam.
~ amount of detection sensitivity (and set pixel detection in software)
~ lighting / or lack of / to create contrast with movement
~ reflective quality of cloth fibers/paint/ fur with night vision/infrared settings
One tweak is to set your motion detection sensitivity to near-zero. And sound sensitivity higher. This means it must gather more data on changing pixel contrast and so needs more changes in frame before reacting to movement. In theory, the pan swings will be less dramatic. In reality, the faster the object passes through the frame, with low sensitivity, the less object capture you’ll get as the cam won’t even see further activity by the time its centered the original detected object.
But if you’re only truly interested in person capture in a close frame of reference (ie. shooting downward from a high angle onto a porch or sidewalk) , then that low-sense setting could help.
A “fix” may be to NOT try to always center-frame the detected object but to adjust-frame 1/4 frame opposite direction relative to the objects movement. That something for WYZE to work out.
So, my suggestion, on a trial basis, if you WANT to use the motion tag & auto pan settings, is to set detection of moving to near-zero and sound detection up higher (to trigger cam on when movement might be too slow to catch. In addition, see if you can set a smaller detection AREA/ZONE to void out any distant extraneous movement, trim bushes and tree limbs which may trigger panning, have good lighting to enhance changes in pixel contrast, and use HD settings if possible.
My actual suggestion to WYZE though would be to give a setting to adjust the time pancam resets to home frame. Instead of 10 seconds, to allow as little as 1 or 2 seconds. Then a motion capture would pan the cam to ceterframe the movement, and if further movement continue centering in frame. But if movement is faster than capture, then re-cntering within 2 seconds will pick up the movement again. This would make a smoother pan and maintain much of that darned burglar in frame.
I’m no expert. Take any suggest with a lick of salt, as your mileage may vary, and test different settings until you find your best one.
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The speed the camera follows movement is controllable. Slowing down the speed instead of turning off the following feature has worked for me. As time has passed and I have added cameras, sometimes using non-rotating cameras is preferred in some locations while having a camera that I can turn away from the low angle sun glare recently has become necessary.
The speed the camera is NOT controllable - The speed the manual controls turns the cam IS controllable.
I finally got the Pan Cam to pan perfectly. See here.
Oh no, wait, that’s from the Wyze Pan website. It’s never worked like this… never.
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I want the firmware running on that cam - its the doctored version, also called false advertising
I agree with @exchiefkeithabout having the ability to pan when needed. I have 4 pans, all used in close quarters for surveillance where the noise and movement of motion tracking could attract attention of the subject and invite vandalism. I set one pan scan position only, turn off detection zone, (which works intermittently at best), and am able to scan with the cam when I want and count on it returning to where I want it when done. All of my cams have SD cards so if I Get a12 event notice I have the ability to check playback for more info.