RTSP Dafang Custom Firmware

ElectroStrong · January 1, 2021, 5:47am

So I finally bit the bullet and did a full reset on one of my WyzeCam v2’s and successfully converted it to the Dafang CFW.

Boy was I not disappointed.

Many of you know that I really like RTSP. I’ve published a bunch of info on threads and topics to help people out, but there’s always the fact that the RTSP firmware is buggy and separated like an ugly duckling from the mainline (so not cool).

There are a bunch of issues with the current Wyze specific implementation that, as a community, we’ve identified and reported. My hope is that the next RTSP build that has been promised will address some of these, but they are:

Cannot hard set IP address (static IP)
DNS lease expiration causes MAC address reassignment (Wyze masks the hardware MAC)
No event data or remote controls (ONVIF)
Cannot run without internet connection
No hardware ethernet support
Consistent audio issues
No ability to set quality for RTSP stream

Enter the world of Dafang CFW. I had played around with the Dafang CFW when I just got into the Wyzecams. I was struggling to get RTSP to work in general and tried it out. The biggest stumbling block I had wad the fact that I couldn’t run the camera at 1080p and so many of the concepts at that time were foreign to me. So, I stuck with the Wyze RTSP and worked out all the quirks on getting 12 cams to work with a custom Zoneminder system.

Fast forward to today and I wanted to again take a look at the CFW. I followed the instructions, installed a custom bootloader, and now have an RTSP camera that addresses every single issue I listed above and it goes further! And I can run it at 1080p!

There’s a web interface on the camera that I can access:

I can override video AND audio settings:
Screenshot_20201231-231536

I can integrate with MQTT so that all of the sensors on the camera are exposed:

Once that’s setup, I can use Home Assistant to view all the info from my phone, computer, tablet…from anywhere in the world:

And if I want it all…I can have it:

The downside…I can’t use the Wyze app…but with Home Assistant, you really don’t need it. Yes I know it takes a little elbow grease, but for those of us that are technically inclined, running Wyze cams with Dafang with Zoneminder as a DVR and Home Assistant make a powerful solution for you.

You don’t need Dafang either…I have a mixed pool of Wyze RTSP and Dafang that I’m testing.

I hope Wyze can at least match what the community has created…because its pretty cool and good companies should take cool ideas and run with them

bermudafox · January 8, 2021, 9:38pm

Hello will you share how you did this?
Thanks

ElectroStrong · January 11, 2021, 9:21pm

Sorry for the delay @bermudafox - I basically just followed the instructions at the Dafang CFW. Many of the other things are just standard setups of Zoneminder and Home Assistant. If you follow the guide on how to make your camera RTSP w/ Dafang, then Home Assistant is another application that then connects and reads the stream.

In my setup, my cameras:

Run Dafang CFW and some Wyze RTSP
Connect to Zoneminder for 24/7 recording and monitoring through RTSP
Connect to Home Assistant for quick monitoring and 1 second image updates
a. This is all accessible then through a mobile device anywhere in the world

That’s basically what I did to make it work.

talz13 · January 18, 2021, 2:28pm

@ElectroStrong did you ever have issues with your Wyze cams periodically dropping connection with the RTSP firmware? If so, has it been better with the Dafang CFW? I run Blue Iris, and it seemed that the more cameras I added, the worse the dropouts became. I’m down to just 1 wyze cam, and it’s been acceptable, but it’d be great if I could make use of the other 4-5 cams that I have lying around gathering dust right now.

bermudafox · January 21, 2021, 12:05am

Thanks.just playing around with the rtsp feed right now. Seems solid on the one I have done.
Will let you know if I do some more.

ElectroStrong · January 21, 2021, 12:25am

@talz13 I did have drop out issues. The biggest issue revolved around the fact that sometimes the Wyze firmware would reset the MAC address causing a new IP address lease to be acquired. Basically, the Wyze app would still work but my RTMP feed would fail.

With the new firmware I have more options to control the RTSP feed. Since Dafang runs on an SD Card, I can also mount it and then chroot with an emulator to create compatible binaries to address even more issues (kinda like a Raspberry Pi or the older Awinner devices).

The stability of Dafang has been very positive for me. The biggest issue I have in my current setup is really the explosion of 2.4ghz wifi devices and the noise created. My next major focus is around router updates as some of my older routers (i.e. Airport Extreme) just don’t stack up to the newer models. Having a modern router with at least implicit beam forming helps many of my cams operate in a very solid manner.

ikrowni · February 23, 2021, 11:13pm

Will this work with the v3 cams? I still have 1 left after my wyze selloff and would like to make it useful in some way. I dont care 1 bit if its bleeding edge and can potentially brick the brick.

Customer · February 23, 2021, 11:30pm

No.

ikrowni · February 23, 2021, 11:33pm

well that sucks guess its back to holding my papers from flying away

Customer · February 23, 2021, 11:38pm

The Wyze branded RTSP firmware is supposed to be coming soon.

ikrowni · February 23, 2021, 11:48pm

fingers crossed

alanizat · February 27, 2021, 1:09am

Yup, heard that too, funny when I talked to a Wyze Wizard this week, was told no ETA, and when asked why they were not including as a standard feature in the production firmware, again no comment.

So, we will once again be in the boat of a divergent feature set of you choose to use the RTSP variant. No new features for you!!!

ElectroStrong · February 27, 2021, 4:40pm

It’d be interesting to see if they add RTSP to v3. From my perspective, it goes against their longer-term goals with CamPlus and culturally, the startup mentality of tackling multiple paths to identify and increase market share is dwindling. There seem to be some from the old guard that vocalize support, but they’re getting lost in the drowning of other products that Wyze introduces.

Not only is Wyze designing a proprietary experience with their devices, they are also making promises they cant keep. RTSP might be one of them, but Wyze Lock is certainly one with Google integration.

Don’t get me wrong - the hardware itself is fairly solid especially at the price point. But putting custom firmware on these devices in my mind is the only way to future proof your setup. I wouldn’t be surprised if DaFang introduced RTSP firmware for v3 before Wyze.

I’ve moved all my cams to DaFang. So much more control and now so many more RTSP centric features. If you have the architecture to support larger scale RTSP - its totally worth it.

GuyFromMars · April 1, 2021, 3:21am

Totally agree. I like how iTead Sonoff embraced the DIY community & encouraged custom firmware. It surprises me how many times people can come up with better software on their own time (for free). However, if Wyze offers the camera for cheap, planning on people purchasing a subscription, I can’t fault them for that. I do want offline-only options, for privacy, redundancy & longevity. FYI I currently pay a subscription because it’s great for ease of use. Long term, I’d like the devices not to phone-home, so I can decrease threat exposure to security breaches. Zoneminder is on my project list.

WildBill · April 1, 2021, 5:24pm

Just noticed that Dafang is supporting/installable on V3…

Per the website: “Copy the CFW-Binary from step 1 to the formatted microSD card and rename it to “demo.bin”. For Wyzecam v3 the filename must be demo_wcv3.bin. There must not be other files on the microSD! This is really important and it won’t work if there are any other files on there.”

github.com

EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/blob/master/hacks/install_cfw.md

# Installation of the microSD bootloader

1. Download the CFW-Binary for your Camera

    Name | SHA3-256
    --- | ---
    [Xiaomi DaFang](https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/raw/master/hacks/cfw/dafang/cfw-1.3.bin) | d45826d5b471564366b3b9435509df7e8a2c0720656ea2b4bcac6dd0b42cc3eb
    [Xiaomi XiaoFang T20](https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/raw/master/hacks/cfw/xiaofang/cfw-1.0.bin) | 333053c3e98af24e0e90746d95e310a3c65b61f697288f974b702a5bcbba48a9
    [Wyzecam V2](https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/raw/master/hacks/cfw/wyzecam_v2/cfw-1.2.bin) | 3b2deb32d0cd3ef75afef8788854883d868c09cf78c690f4b78fc26862793af3
    [Neos SmartCam](https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/raw/master/hacks/cfw/neos_smartcam/cfw-1.0.bin) | 141072077ad12e343d90c7905d0f747e5dfa07853f013328638fb16cbe26a2cd
    [Wyzecam Pan](https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks/raw/master/hacks/cfw/wyzecam_pan/cfw-1.0.bin) | f76990d187e763f160f5ad39331d6a3209d3025fe3719cb43c92dbad92cebba2
    Xiaomi XiaoFang T20L | [Start here](/hacks/install_cfw_t20l.md)
    Sannce & clones | [Start here](/hacks/install_sannce.md)
    Other Ingenic T10/T20 Device | [Start here](/hacks/newdevices.md)

2. Format your microSD to FAT32. NTFS, EXFAT etc. won't work. Try to use smaller older SD cards like 512 MB or create just a single primary 512 MB partition on it for maximum success rate.
3. Copy the CFW-Binary from step 1 to the formatted microSD card and rename it to "demo.bin". For Wyzecam v3 the filename must be demo_wcv3.bin. There must not be other files on the microSD! This is really important and it won't work if there are any other files on there.
4. Remove the power cable from the camera and plug the microSD card into the camera
5. Hold down the setup button on the camera while
6. Plugging in the USB power cable

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Customer · April 1, 2021, 8:27pm

That’s amazing. Great news @WildBill !

This opens up worlds of possibilities and ensures a long life for V3 buyers.

You should probably start a Tips thread with the news.

WildBill · April 1, 2021, 9:33pm

Not sure how much of a “tip” it may be. Looking at the Github site for Dafang, I can’t tell which version of the boot software needs to be installed. There isn’t any specific download for the V3 but the website says to rename the bin file as I mentioned in the earlier post. It seems to indicate that the V2 Dafang package works with the V3 but it isn’t really clear.

Customer · April 1, 2021, 10:13pm

It could be that simple. Maybe a V3 owner will try it and let us know.

ikrowni · April 2, 2021, 1:08am

ElectroStrong · April 2, 2021, 1:53am

As of this moment it does not work with v3 - I know they are experimenting with them though and there is progress being made but the RTSP server on Dafang is not working with it (yet).

I’m still betting though that Dafang will add it before Wyze though…