Currently WYZE Duo Cam Doorbell only supports PIR for motion detection. However when it’s hardwired, with SD card continuous recording and motion tagging with detection zone, the camera can already do image based motion detection easily. Please trigger motion detected events like PIR.
[Mod Note]: Topic moved to Wishlist with title and tag modifications as noted in discussion below.
Welcome to the Forum, @HKH! 
The way I interpret your post, it seems like a request to have Duo Cam Doorbell—when wired to low-voltage doorbell AC—act like a regular “wired” Wyze Cam so that it’s using pixel comparison (because the image sensor is “on” all the time) to generate motion detection events instead of first relying on the PIR sensor to detect something and “wake” the image sensor to begin video capture. My questions:
1. Yes
2. Yes it’s using PIR for sure even when hardwired.
3. Expect to have a motion event triggered based on image based motion detection and PIR, when hardwired.
That didn’t actually answer my previous “how do you know” question, so I conducted my own testing with two different doorbells and various conditions, summarized in the table below. I included Battery Video Doorbell in this testing because I had one available and because it’s another current Wyze video doorbell that can be powered via its internal rechargeable battery or using AC power from a transformer. Like Duo Cam Doorbell, Battery Video Doorbell uses PIR and also allows the user to enable continuous microSD recording only when it’s connected to AC power, meaning that the image sensor should be powered full time when that option is selected, so pixel-change-based motion detection seems like it should be possible.
In order to actually test whether the PIR sensor is necessary for initial detection and event generation for both doorbells using both power sources, I ran separate trials with each device’s PIR sensor lens visible (uncovered, able to “see”, denoted by below) and covered with duct tape (denoted by ). I should also note that during the trials where each device was connected to AC power, Settings ➜ MicroSD Card was set to Continuous to keep the image sensor active while so powered.
| Device | Power | PIR Can See? | Event Generated? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duo Cam Doorbell |  |
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| Duo Cam Doorbell |  |
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| Duo Cam Doorbell | |
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| Duo Cam Doorbell | |
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| Battery Video Doorbell | |
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| Battery Video Doorbell | |
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| Battery Video Doorbell | |
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| Battery Video Doorbell | |
I imagine that Duo Cam Doorbell’s downward-facing camera probably also requires the front-facing PIR sensor to trigger events, even though it seems conceivable that a small critter that hops up onto a porch could cause enough pixel change in that field of view to generate an event if the device allowed it; however, I did not specifically try to test for this condition.
Because actual testing indicates that the requested feature does not exist (i.e, it appears that even when it’s powered by AC the Duo Cam Doorbell requires the PIR sensor to initiate event capture), because this condition appears to apply to Battery Video Doorbell as well as Duo Cam Doorbell, and because I’m not seeing an existing Wishlist topic requesting this when I search, I will move this topic to Wishlist with modifications.
This is a good wishlist request. The big flaw with PIR is that it often fails with direct forward straight movement. It’s designed to work well when movement moves across multiple PIR signals to change the temperature moving sideways.
You can offset this flaw by how you place a camera so that all movement moves across it’s view. At worst you mount the camera higher up at a 45 degree angle and then forward movement is moving from top to bottom and still triggering the PIR that way the same as side to side.
The problem with PIR on a doorbell is in most cases, people point a VDB straight out from their door and most visitors come walking straight in toward it… The exact thing that is the fatal flaw in pir detection. And you can’t easily mount a VDB high up at a 45 degree angle to offset the flaw like you can with other cameras.
Therefore detections are often missed or delayed.
Granted you can force an angle on a VDB with the wedge, but then your view is not always optional.
But the other problem is distance. Pir sensors typically have a shorter detection range than pixel image detection for the same object (person).
But, it can be useful in certain use cases to reduce the false positive detections. So it can be beneficial for some people who want to reduce false positives, especially when it is used in combination with AI detections.
Overall, I agree with the premise of this wishlist. When wired instead, DCDB should ideally at least have the option to use pixel detection instead of PIR only.
Don’t forget to click the vote button
That’s a good point about angle—detecting motion that’s moving transversely across the camera’s FOV vs. directly approaching it—and it’s something I should probably consider when planning to change my current Duo Cam Doorbell’s mount (I’m using the 30° wedge but would prefer something with half that angle).
I agree that it should be optional, as well, kind of like the option to choose Continuous or Events Only microSD recording, and I believe that it should also apply to Battery Video Doorbell, which is why I tested both and modified this topic.
Yeah, especially since if you turn on continuous recording, the camera is already recording constantly, so the internals might as well be able to just consider pixel differences between frames it’s already recording just like every other camera does. Since it’s already capturing those frames when wired and on continuous recording, it just makes sense to allow it to leverage that detection capability for that use case. As said before, It is a superior method for something like a doorbell that generally receives straight on motion (which PIR doesn’t do well with).
the internals might as well be able to just consider pixel differences between frames it’s already recording just like every other camera does
It’s already doing it. Motion tagging already highlighted the movements. The current doorbell firmware just does not trigger the motion event.
Yeah, that’s essentially how I tried to describe it above as what I understand to be the thrust of this request.
@HKH, don’t forget to vote for your own request.