New to cameras and no idea what i am doing

I bought one of the $10 black Friday deal Wyze cameras. I bought it on a whim because it was cheap. I did a quick search and i read that it could be viewed on Windows as a live stream. Come to find out this was old information and you can no longer view these cams on a PC live.

My plan was to mount this camera on my shed and let it stream 24 hours a day. And if i wanted to view it i could bring up a window on my PC or on my Amazon fire stick.

Is there any way to do this or will there be a way to do it in the future?

You can still view on a computer through web browser, but it requires the subscription to Cam Plus.

But another option is Tiny Cam. If you have the OG (which was the $10 sale) camera I believe it works with that. Google it and see if that option works for you. I donā€™t know if it will work on a fire stick but it will work on most android based devices and I believe PCs as well.

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Welcome to the Forum, @ShedGuy47! :wave:

I donā€™t have any experience with Amazon Fire TV Stick, but you can search the Forum to find relevant posts. There are options for viewing the stream on a PC without a subscription, but they all tend to be hacks in one way or another (with the possible exception of Window Subsystem for Android, but thatā€™s going away). Iā€™m not sure what you expect to gain from a 24/7 stream (itā€™s not something Iā€™d want to have to monitor), but Iā€™d definitely put a quality endurance-rated microSD card in the camera and set it for continuous recording. I like SanDisk High Endurance and tend to go for the 256 GB cards; other community members highly favor Samsung PRO Endurance cards.

ok i found the tinycam app and i installed it. I dont know how to get it working though. Do i need to download the wyze app to set the camera up first on the wifi network?

I donā€™t necessarily want the camera for security reasons. I live in a very safe and crime free area. I just thought it would be cool to pull up and see my side yard and driveway and see how deep snow is getting ect. I thought for $10 i would give it a try and if i like it i might buy a better camera with pan and zoom later.

For your use case, then, I donā€™t think you actually want to stream it all the time, and I totally understand wanting to be able to check on things remotely as a matter of convenience. Thatā€™s what I primarily use my cameras for.

As far as the snowfall goes, one of the cool things (I think) about a lot of Wyze cameras (including Cam OG) is their time lapse feature. Iā€™ve been playing around with this some recently and had one set up to capture snowfall last weekend, but then we had a power outage in the middle of it (because of freezing rain and ice; before the actual transition to snow) so that failed. Some users have posted pretty nifty time lapse recordings, though.

In order to do that, though, the camera needs to have a microSD card installed. The ā€œfreeā€ local storage (you have to buy the card, but itā€™s free for you to access without a subscription) is a major selling point for Wyze Cams, in my opinion.

I believe so, yes. My understanding of tinyCam is that the camera needs to be set up in its native app first, because tinyCam needs to be able to index it from data provided by your Wyze profile/app.

Yes you need to set up a Wyze account, install the app, set up the camera, etc. Tinycam essentially just pulls the feed as though you were watching it on your phone, but presents it in an interface that can be run on other devices.

Worth noting that when using tinycam, it will be streaming constantly out and back in, using about 1Mbps of bandwidth constantly in both directions on your internet connection.

You also have the option of just using a cheap tablet running the Wyze app to keep the view up all the time (which will just use your local network). As @crease mentioned, there is Windows Subsystem for Android which they wonā€™t allow new users on soon, but if you install it now, it should keep working for a while (they havenā€™t announced when existing customers will be cut off). That basically lets you run the Wyze app on your PC. There are other android emulators out there too.

Windows also includes something call Windows Phone Link which just mirrors your phone to the PC. You would run the app on the phone and stream it to the PC. Thatā€™s another option to keep the traffic local but may not be ideal since it will probably chew up battery on your phone and potentially hinder other stuff you want to use your phone for.

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ok, i cant install the wyze app because my android device is too old.

Is there a camera sold to do what i want to do with it? I would rather have a link on my windows desktop that i can just click on and view. I think they call them IP cameras. I donā€™t need it to record it. I think i seen somewhere that IP cameras you just need the link to it. Maybe what i want dont even exist.

What android device is that?

Whereā€™s @bryonhu when you need him?

You can install the Wyze 2.5 app (compatible with older devices) from Wyze - Make Your Home Smarter 2.50.7.487 (arm64-v8a + arm-v7a) (nodpi) (Android 7.0+) APK Download by Wyze Labs Inc. - APKMirror

You may need to adjust your phoneā€™s settings to allow loading apps directly (not from the store). Once installed, go into play store and update it, which will give you the latest version of the app. No saying how long it will be supported but so far it still works.

There are plenty of brands of camera out there, Iā€™m sure there are ones that will do what you are looking for, though theyā€™ll likely be much more than $10.

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Iā€™m curious about the answer to @p2788dealā€™s question, too. If you can provide some information about your device and its Android version, that might be helpful.

If you donā€™t want to share that, then @dave27ā€™s advice might be your next best route, because current Android versions of the Wyze app (since v3 was introduced) require a 64-bit operating system. Note this topic for discussion of that:

One effective and inexpensive option for doing this would be the Tapo C120 or C121 (I have one of each), which allows you to assign a static IP address and can stream via RTSP, so you could use something like VLC on your Windows PC to view that at will. Youā€™d still need to install the native (Tapo) app in order to configure the camera, though, and the settings are a little involved but relatively straightforward. The cameras themselves are currently ~$25 apiece from Amazon. Even with one of those I still have a microSD card installed so I can review event recordings.

If you can get the Wyze app installed on a mobile device, though (or an Android emulator running on your Windows PC), then thatā€™s probably going to be the cheapest and easiest route for what you want to do now, especially since youā€™re relatively new to this. (We all have to start somewhere!) I really like the Cam OG and think itā€™s underrated for what it offers. I also recently picked up another one of those when they were <$10. :upside_down_face:

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Reolinkā€™s line of 4k cams. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Which model should i be looking at? I would like to be able to view it on lower resolution like 360p (to limit wifi usage) or crank it up if i want to see it in HD. Is there something like that for around $100?

The lowest resolution you can go to on a 4k 8mp Reolink cam is 896x512 but you can adjust the bitrate at that resolution down to 128kbps

Then on HD the lowest resolution is 4k with the highest bitrate of 5120kbps

The Reolink Lumus Pro should more than fit your needs.
Lists for $80 but is always on some sort of 20% off sale so really $64 or soā€¦

REOLINK Security Camera Lumus Pro 4k
Amazon.com : REOLINK 4K Outdoor Security Camera, 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi 6, AI Detection, Spotlight Color Night Vision, 24/7 Recording, No Monthly Fees, Corded Wireless WiFi Security Camera, Weatherproof, Lumus Pro : Electronics

You may want to download the Reolink App and Client to install on phone or computer before purchasing just to make sure they are compliant with your devices.

The App is for the smartphone and the client for PC

Or you can setup a direct connection via webpage or player using RTSP, HTTP, HTTPS, or RTMP

Is that camera ceiling mountable or just wall?

I would say as is wall mount, but with a different mounting arm possibly ceiling.

But for ceiling the have cams designed just for thatā€¦

The price is likely marked down on their flash sales
$74.99 currently

Reolinkā€™s line of cameras is extensive, probably better you browse their offeringsā€¦:grin:

Just being curious right now. I have no need or desire to jump ship, yet! :grin:

Yeah that cam wont work for me because i have to mount it to the wall of my shed it donā€™t have a flat eve to mount it too.

I need mounting like this, and would this model do what i need? Amazon.com : REOLINK Outdoor Security Camera, 5MP HD Plug-in WiFi Camera for Home Security - 2.4/5Ghz, Smart Person/Vehicle Alerts, 100ft Night Vision, IP67 Waterproof, microSD Card/NVR Storage, RLC-510WA : Electronics

That ceiling mount was shown for Habibā€™s question.

The Lumus pro or the one you picked and many other reolink models will wall mount.