New V4 camera DOES NOT work with Cam Plus Lite. So unless you want to pay for a monthly subscription to Cam Plus don’t buy this camera
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FYI, Wyze has indicated that no other camera model will ever support Cam Plus Lite.
Basically, it helps me to look at Cam Plus Lite in this analogy:
In the 90’s there were ISP’s offering “free” or low cost dial-up internet. Juno, NetZero, AOL, all offered [10 hours of] free or low-cost internet, but you could choose to pay more to have unlimited if you wanted.
When new equipment came out with better lines for DSL, Cable, Fiber, etc. These “ISP’s” didn’t continue to give free internet on the newer equipment like they did the old equipment. Some people weren’t happy about that first, but these companies continues to offer internet at the same price on the old equipment just like they used to for those who wanted to continue to use the old the equipment the way it used to function. Even today, if someone wants to use dial-up internet for free with the old equipment that used to give free internet, they can do so. Juno and NetZero STILL offer 10 hours of free dial-up internet on old hardware to this day, and AOL also does Dial-up still. But, these ISPs can’t be expected to continue offering FREE ISP services on the new broadband equipment. It’s not sustainable.
Similarly, Wyze has clearly told us that all cams after at least Spring 2022 would no longer qualify for their deprecated and grandfathered Cam Plus Lite anymore. In some ways it’s now similar to expecting Juno or NetZero or AOL to offer Free ISP services on Fiber Broadband Internet because they used to offer Free internet on old equipment in the past. That’s not really how things work though. They still offer that for anyone who wants to use the old stuff. Even today, people are free to knock themselves out with free dial-up like they’ve always offered and still do. Similarly, people who prefer Cam Plus Lite may continue to purchase and use the old hardware that supports it and that CPLite was developed for. But Wyze has been pretty clear it won’t be an option on future hardware.
I think they’ve acted in good faith though. Any camera model that has ever had free 12 second cloud events, still continues to get them, and people can still add more of those to their account if they still want them. Wyze has not canceled or reneged or taken away anything that they promised to anyone with that, in fact they even ADDED free person detection to CPLite which is an extra thing added to many of those camera models which never had person detection before. So, they not only didn’t take anything away, but they ultimately gave more than they promised when said camera models were launched.
I don’t think we are entitled to continue to get the same service on newer hardware that it was never promised on, particularly since the costs would continually be increasing. Particularly with the V4 as this thread is about, Wyze has been raising the resolution on many of their cameras. 1080p is one thing, but some of these newer cameras like the V4 have image resolution up to 2.5KQHD. That is a significant increase with millions of more pixels per frame (and likely increased sensitivity and more frequent detections, etc) and a lot greater cost to continue to do “free cloud events” for something that isn’t actually free to them. It’s not the same thing anymore. I’m glad they continue to act in good faith to make CPLite available on all cameras that have ever had free cloud events, etc, but I don’t blame them for ending it any more than I blame ISP’s for requiring me to pay them money to be my ISP for Cable, Fiber, etc instead of continuing to give me free internet ISP services like used to be available on older hardware. Things change. The nice thing here is that Wyze made it possible for the old stuff to keep working as it always has. Lots of companies don’t do that.
I basically boycotted IFTTT because they took away a lot of the stuff they promised me for free, and told me I now have to pay them money to use things that were once free. I don’t like companies that deal that way. Wyze isn’t doing that here. Everything that was free on a device is still free.
And to be honest, I have used all the newer models without Cam Plus and Cam Plus lite and found them to be quite functional thanks to the SD card recording and storing events anyway. I can even see motion events on the SD card timeline, etc, so I don’t feel like losing cloud events made much difference since the events are all still there and viewable. This is the same way most companies do things (use an SD card for events) unless they’re like Ring and FORCE people to pay a subscription.
Or…does anyone else know of another similar popular US company that still gives free cloud events on newer 2K cameras? If other US companies have found a sustainable way to give free cloud recording on newer 2K+ cameras without charging exponentially more for their cameras to compensate for the cost, I’d be interested in checking out how they manage that.
But for now, I don’t expect or get mad at Juno and Netzero for not expanding their free ISP services on later hardware that they never offered free stuff for and that nearly no competitors offer to do for free either. I feel it’s only fair to treat Wyze the same on their later hardware, particularly when serious competitors aren’t doing it either… 
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What’s this? A research paper?
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So are you an employee or end user? When I purchase my cameras and many other products from Wyze not that long ago it was a service that was part of the product. Now they push a subscription to make their products function. So is this a bait and trap or do you use it for e few years then throw it away.
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I am just an end user. I don’t work for, speak for or represent Wyze. I just know a lot about them and use a lot of their stuff. I have over 40 Wyze cams (some of nearly every model except the v1) and over 300 total devices. I haven’t thrown away anything. They all still work great. I have used them all without any subscription, I have used cam plus lite, I have used cam plus. They’ve all worked fine even without a subscription. As good as every other company without a subscription.
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@carverofchoice - So this new V4 uses the same heavy compression which renders the 2k basically useless that you spoke of in that other post?
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Valid question: It certainly still uses heavy compression and bitrate limits, however, from comparison testing I have seen from tech influencers like @TheNetGuyDotCom and LifeHackster, I believe it’s still noticeably better in the image.
But this is a funny relevant quote from TheNetGuy:
I want them to turn their compression way down because they still compress the snot out of video at Wyze, but I would rather have that than 4K
Here are some comparisons from thenetguy with some times you can skip to see the comparisons (V3 vs V3Pro vs V4 in different conditions (The V4 is usually the last example in the comparisons):
11:39 Nightvision
13:54 Thorough Indoor Comparison
21:11 Indoor Video examples
22:31 Timelapse
The Wide Dynamic Range does make a big difference though, It also uses very little power! Doesn’t even use a full Amp at maximum draw with recording, plus siren plus spotlight, etc. That’s pretty great. Maybe uses the lowest power of all their cameras, but it has a bigger sensor with more pixels to calculate, faster CPU, larger memory, larger storage, WDR, WiFi6, Better and louder audio,
It is worth noting that the V4 PM just answered a bunch questions in an AMA event where she said they are considering options for improving bitrate, compression, etc.
Are there plans to add an option to increase bit rate or less compression? Or maybe at lease allow that for SD card recording?
We are thinking about this option, so it’s good to hear your interest in it.
Since the Flagship Camera Lines are also starting to get 2K stuff now, will you please consider at least making future “Pro” camera lines to have less compression and higher Bitrate and maybe more FPS as an option?
It’s even understandable if the camera has to have an auto setting to do something like make sure someone’s network isn’t junk first where they will blame Wyze for the bad experience that is on their end, and then you can just downrate the bitrate and compression just for those people who can’t handle it…but for those who can, please find a way to improve this, even if it’s only allowed for the Livestream locally or recording to the SD card (compress things to your Cloud subscription or whatever else you need to do for that if you still want).Absolutely! We are for sure considering Pro cameras, 4K, bit rate improvements, cloud/local options etc. However, nothing is set in stone yet.
What is the highest recording bitrate possible for the v4? The resolutions are great, but the compression is really killing the overall image quality of previous products. Is there or will there be a way to adjust the recorded image quality?
The highest bitrate is 202 KBps, but that fluctuates for different lighting conditions and scenarios. We are thinking about a way to adjust the recorded image quality and will consider your input!
When will we be allowed to adjust bitrate and framerates? (I’d like to have it run 30fps and a higher bitrate as the video captured by Wyze played off my microSD card of a moving car off my own driveway and my side street camera can stutter or not be clear enough and not let me catch their license plate clearly in time in full daylight).
We are actually looking into higher frame rates! I agree that catching license plates is not always clear at 20 FPS. For bitrate, that might take longer for us to get to, but we will definitely consider that too.
We’ll keep hounding them about the compression and bitrate. In the past, we’ve always gotten very solid “No” answers, and now they get asked about it so much that they are no longer saying “No” and are apparently considering some changes. This is the first time I’ve ever heard them give positive responses to these questions about bitrate, compression and FPS improvements, so it’s good progress.
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I bought all my wyze cams with the understanding that there were no subscription fees. They sold the cams on having no subscription fees then after we had a half dozen cams, we were told everything is going subscription based. Can’t wait until my thermostat requires a subscription. It was clear bait and switch.
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Why would anyone be surprised at this? Wyze has turned out products that failed, new products released without fixing the old problems first, squeezed you for money, and has become a bloated mess.
Their ‘promises’ are worthless. No V4 cameras for me.
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Does the v4 support RTSP? I can’t seem to find that info anywhere
No it does not.
I bought my cams when Wyze first hit the market, yes the 12 second replay was supposed to be a “Legacy” well not anymore for me, where i used to get the 12 seconds now i just get a add promoting a monthly subscription.
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Please remember to come back and copy/paste this same thing for every new product Wyze releases. It can be news forever if you just make it so. Plus it’s totally reasonable to expect you to give us free informative work in perpetuity.
I do remember that cam plus lite was a lifetime item… Well that went up in smoke!!! That way I 'm not buying anymore cams
Hi all,
I already have several v3 and expected not to pay any additional subscription. Having said this, I have added an SD to each of them and can see the events and then check through Playback whatever I want to see. So do not use much the 12 secs recording for free.
Having said this, my expectation would be to do exactly the same thing with v4; I will place an SD and expect to get motion events or whatever event so I can access to Playback and look into what happened (or even watch Live).
Is my expectation still achievable with new v4?
Regards.
Alejandro
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Yes, the V4 still allows SDcard recording and playback. The playback user interface has changed though.