Time for my annual Audio complaint for my Wyze Cams

Cameras
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1

I have a Wyze Cam V4 and a Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro. Both have audio issues. I got them both in 2023. The audio was amazing when I got them. Then, a few months later, they became hard to hear either live or in playback (High Endurance SD Card). I have the Paid Subscription Service as well. It’s as if both cameras have super high gain and get overwhelmed.

It started with the Cam V4. When we had this camera on a shelf behind glass doors (like a China Cabinet), it would pick up conversations without any issues. We had to move it out of the cabinet and just on a shelf and then, if the TV is on, the playback is the TV that is 3x louder than in person and it drowns out any conversations. You can BARELY hear people’s voices. It is horrible.

Then a while later, the Floodlight pro did the same thing. However, this camera is still where it was when we first put it up and it didn’t have volume issues so it worked perfectly in the same configuration/location it is right now. This is extremely annoying. It used to pick up conversation all the way to the end of the driveway. Super clear, no issues. Then it changed. It now has constant backgrounds sounds, clicks, chomps, drum beat sounds that drowns out any conversation going on. The worst part is that on playback, it picks up loud dog barking or roosters that are STREETS away from us. We have gone out and stood in the driveway and can not hear any animals but the camera is playing a loud barking dog or rooster/chicken sounds (yes, people can have mini farms in tract housing where we are). Any sound it picks up from far away, drowns out any conversation happening right under the camera.

I have tried all the helps given me - changing the outlet it’s plugged into, making sure the firmware is up to day, removing the app and putting it back in, making sure camera is clean etc. The fact it worked fine for a few months after we got them tells me it’s the camera. We even got new higher speed fiberoptic internet since we got the cameras and it changed nothing.

I am hesitant to order any more cameras from Wyze because we purchased an OG for our attic (critter cam) and it’s audio is just as bad but right out of the box. I don’t want to pay more for the same issue.

I saw a comment from 2018 where someone said the same thing and the Wyze rep said they would suggest a volume control as a future option and 8 years later, nothing has come from it.

Why are these cameras set so high that noises further away down out anything close? It’s the one and only issue we have with this brand of camera that we have had.

Please consider addressing this issue in a firmware update for all your cameras. I shouldn’t hear a dog barking so loudly, it drowns out anything close to the camera when that dog can’t even be heard when standing outside. Same with the TV downing out the indoor camera so much so that the conversations can’t be heard. We can hear each other over the TV in person so it’s like the cameras have overexaggerated distance volume. Not sure of the technical terminology for this.

2

You could try manually flashing the camera firmware back to an older version. Wyze has v4 firmware going back to 2024. This might determine if the sound degradation is software related.

https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024852172-Release-Notes-Firmware#Accordion-wyze-cam-v4-firmware-38

For me, all of my Wyze cameras are indoors looking out windows so do not use the camera microphones or speakers.

I found the Wyze audio quality is just slightly better than on this recording.

3

Some points of input for you:

Glass is actually a really good condenser of sound and would have the effect of giving the microphone in the cam a wider area of sound that it will pick up (and making it all a fairly consistent volume).

Think of the microphone in these cams as somewhat laser focused. They are designed to pick up normal audio in front of the cam at a relatively close distance (but loud stuff can be heard clearly pretty far away). So if the mic is aimed toward the area of the TV, it will pick that up really well, while stuff off to the side, especially if quieter, will not pick up as well.

Generally this is for privacy reasons, most people do not want cameras picking up sounds and conversations from areas that aren’t being monitored.

You could potentially toy with putting a small piece of tape or a sticker over the mic to de-sensitize it some, maybe even something glass to help cause a similar effect to what you had before, but it won’t be the same as being enclosed in a cabinet with large glass doors. Maybe enclose it in something glass?

4

I think I’ll start with the tape over the mic. It’s not that I want to listen in to conversations, it’s more about people who see the camera and try to talk to me thru it (outside). Delivery people, friends, etc. after no one comes to the door. Like an audio message. But I end up hearing so much background and distance noise, I can barely make out what they are saying.

For inside, it’s peace of mind. I don’t listen to the audio as I always have the sound off when I do playback in the App but it’s nice to know it’s there if someone does come inside. We did have our TV turn on at 2 am while we were on vacation. Had the sheriff come check it out. He then spoke to use thru the camera mic. He turned the TV off and it had to do with a Samsung Smartv update and woke the TV up. We adjusted the settings so it won’t happen again. Who knew? Anyway, there are times like that when it’s nice to have clear audio.

Thanks for the tips. Start with the tape and go from there. We had just discussed putting “blinders” around the camera to get directional sound kinda of directing it downward. Just need to experiment with it to make sure it doesn’t obstruct the view.

5

Thank you - A appreciate the audio sample. Our playback has a lot of choppy sound due to the TV being so loud on playback. It’s as if the audio is backwards - it’s picking up far noise LOUDLY and near noise, too quiet. I’d like the closer sounds/voices to be louder than the background noises/voices.

Thank you again!

6

Obviously different types of tape might have totally different effects. I think I’d probably start with a small piece of thin-ish packing tape (in my experience it tends to hold up to UV pretty well too). I’d think cellophane would act more like glass than say vinyl electrical tape etc.

There’s also the option of using a hole punch to make a hole in the middle of the tape and using some sort of thin fabric or felt, but that would probably be more for wind noise or similar.