I have a construction site where we would like to add some security cameras inside of the building on 10 floors. In order to cover the space we will need at least 4 cameras per floor and some additional to view the site. We have WiFi available and would like to be able to record and store footage for one week. What is our best option for setup? Can 50 cameras be viewed on a single device? Are we able to allow multiple users to login and view cameras?
For Professional Grade Security I would Not recommend Wyze cameras.
Wyze cams are a hobbyistâs camera.
They require a subscription for the cameras to Not be hobbled. If youâre okay with paying a subscription then they are okay for hobbyist grade security.
As the saying goes âYou Get What You Pay Forâ
I have over 50 Wyze cameras.
I share them with other accounts.
Note that shared accounts canât view the SD card recordings, only the live view and Cloud recordings. You could share the credentials of the primary account, but then what happens if someone else changes the password and you lose access? Iâd really only share account credentials with a spouse.
I have never tried viewing all 50 at the same time, but I have gotten up to 30+ livestreams at the same time (I think Iâve gotten 20 at the same Time on Wyzeâs Web Portal and 30 something on the same monitor using a 3rd party RTSP converter), though not directly in Wyze App itself though.
Yep.
Yep
Yep.
Everytime someone says âget what you pay forâ in here, I think of this:
To me, Wyze has kind of changed the meaning of the quote âYou get what you pay forââŚwhile that statement will almost always be technically true in some way or another (obviously you literally get what you pay for)âŚin this case, Wyze has proven that more affordable price doesnât actually mean worse quality, nor more expensive meaning better overall quality as the above unbiased article tested and provedâŚbut rather it can now seem to just mean that you can spend a lot more for something not as good and now have less money for other things. Thus making âgetting what you paid forâ could mean you get a slightly worse financial situation (though admittedly negligible in the case of a single smart scale, or camera, but worse in a long-term pattern of thinking paying more for brand recognition or higher profit margins makes any difference) and fewer smart devices you couldâve otherwise had. Thatâs how Iâve been seeing it. Same with Wyze cameras. I have active smart cameras from more than 8 different companies (often for redundancy), and the more expensive ones DONâT work âbetterâ than Wyze in my experience, so I see others âgetting what they paid forâ when they pay more money to someoneâs higher profit margins and often for less functionality and forums full of people with all the same or similar complaints with that company too.
To be clear, I respect othersâ opinions and I fully support other people going with competitors so there continues to be good competition with price innovation occurring in the market.
I even have and like devices from some of Wyzeâs competitors, myself, as I said. But I always seem to find myself coming back to Wyze as my primary smart device company because they keep proving themselves to me over the long runâŚso I love âgetting what I paid forâ where I have awesome IoT / Smart Home devices for low profit margins through a company with awesome core values I respect and appreciate.
To be clear, I respect othersâ opinions and I fully support other people going with competitors so there continues to be good competition with price innovation occurring in the market.
Maybe.
If I pay low, my expectations are low. If they are met, great. Exceeded, even better.
If I pay more, I expect more.
If I buy a cheap car, I expect it to be a cheap ride. Price=Expectation
If I buy an expensive car, I expect it to be a much better ride. Price=Expectation.
But of course, opinions vary. If they didnât, we would have only one type of everything.
It takes a little time for the mini-novel to be written
For sure, some improvements require higher cost. Iâm definitely not saying there is zero correlation with price and quality. Certainly, if you add a multi core processor into something instead of a single core processor, it will cost more and it will have better performance and be able to support features that a device with a single core wouldnât be able to do. More RAM costs more money and can thus support more features (Edge. AI, etc). better lens and image sensor will cost more money, but allow higher resolution. Bigger or better antenna or Wi-Fi module can cost more money.
So yeah, for sure some improvements definitely require higher cost.
But often, a lot of electronics, IoT, and smart home companies even use the exact same suppliers for their products, and often the exact same internal hardware (for cameras, many will have identical or equivalent SoC, image sensor, Wi-Fi module, and flash chip). The quality of the hardware components will be identical in many cases. I have often looked up who various companies use as suppliers. Or people will compare 1 companyâs entry level against another companyâs high end model, vs comparing like to like and then make a crazy generalization.
But in many cases, more expensive doesnât mean better.
In some cases you may get a small incremental improvement of something that is not reflective of the degree of improvement, such as is common with fashion or luxury purchases.
There are tons of examples even outside of smart home.I came extremely close to starting a coffee shop business and I can tell you that in most cases you are not necessarily paying more money for a better cup of coffee. You might pay more for more Expensive labor, rent in prime locations, higher profit margins, etc, rather that higher quality of the beans.
Pharmaceuticals are a good example where the active ingredients and effectiveness can be completely identical, but the higher cost often reflects the brandâs marketing expenses, research, and profit margins. Not anything better in any way at all. They demonstrably price gouge you for the name recognition alone. This same thing happens with basically all products and services, and often they simply have better propaganda to convince people otherwise.
Everyone has seen different prices at different stores for the exact same item or brand vs generic alternatives. Whether it be toiletries or anything else. Higher prices didnât necessarily mean you get something for l more for it. We even see that within Wyze itself. You can buy the subscription from The Wyze website or pay 30% more to buy it through Apple/Google, even though your overall experience may be worse since your higher prices also have more limitations (Apple and Google wonât even allow Wyze to touch the subscription and they have to tell people to contact Apple/Google about any problems with it, and sometimes they will tell you they donât have access to certain things and you get stuck in a fingerpointing game & worse experience despite paying 30% more (this happens with all app subscriptions done through Apple/Google, not exclusively Wyze, itâs a requirement Apple/Google setup so they can limit companies and not allow refunds, etc so they can get more moneyâŚa worse experience for a higher price). Thatâs my version of âyou get what you pay forâ despite higher not being better.
I think Home Assistant is demonstrably the best overall smart home platform. It has the most extensive device integrations, the most features, the best quality, the best customization, local control, privacy, the most advanced automation option, customizable dashboards, open source and free, canât be bought out or sold, flexibility in setup, voice control and mobile apps. Countless things make it the undisputed king of the smart home. But based on âthe more expensive, the betterâ standard, itâs the worst.
@R.Good came to Wyze from one of the most highly priced camera and security companies you can get, Vivint, and he is pretty adamant that they are trash, one of the worst, and Wyze is better in almost every way despite being more affordable.
I saw some pretty thorough testing of contact sensors not too long ago where they put all the most popular sensors (including the most expensive, the cheapest, the biggest name brands, etc) on a device that would open and shut automatically many, many times per day and then measured which sensors were the most accurate and how their battery life was, etc. The best overall sensor was one of if not the cheapest sensor (depending on where you buy itâŚI would call it the cheapest sensor): Aqara. Aqara lasted for 878,364 cycles = more than 4 months of constant open-shut. Second best for battery length was Ring at 377,983 open/close cycles = only a couple of months. Aqara more than doubled Ringâs performance with higher accuracy. The most expensive sensor (Fibaro at $40/sensor) only lasted 90,062 cycles. Exponentially worse. One sensor only lasted 3,921 cycles, despite costing more than Aqara⌠So âget what you pay forâ is definitely not true here. Aqara, using a tiny cell battery outperformed and outlasted all the other sensors by a ridiculously exponential amount. I often think of this experiment when people say âget what you pay forâ because itâs a clear example disproving it.
Still, your examples are certainly good, valid, logical ones. A higher performance engine in a car will certainly cost more. At the same time, sometimes you also pay exponentially more for higher labor costs or higher profit margins, without the same degree of improvement. Of course thatâs expected to some degree when the newest, best, top of the line stuff is in question.
I think the truth is somewhere in between. More expensive isnât universally better, but certainly some improvements obviously require more money. When it comes to smart home stuff, itâs been my experience that Wyze outperforms most of the others at a more affordable price. If that werenât the case, there wouldnât be so many companies trying to emulate them or make âWyze killersâ and all smart cameras would all still be costing >$200 per camera without everyone copying a bunch of features and options that Wyze helped make popular and affordable. I think their main deficits are open standards and integrations (native RTSP, Home Assistant and other integrations, local control). However, those arenât about the quality of the product, and Dave and Matt have both been indicating that they are finally working on addressing those things.
I think Wyze is perfectly fine for security for certain use cases. Of course PoE with the option of local storage and redundant backup, etc will be superior though. Itâs just not critical/necessary for 99% of use cases.
Heh, part of the problem is that right now Iâm writing from my phone in church while juggling 2 high maintenance toddlers. Instead of using my computer as usual.
Wow. A church for multitaskers?
Good work.
Summary of your Novel done with only half a free handđ
Words: 1,118
Characters: 6,769
Paragraphs: 14
Next time go for 10,000 characters, you were so close
Carverofchoice has a Summarize option?
Where do I click
On the Summarize button. It reviews the whole thread but still saves time
âŚ
The discussion is about using Wyze cameras for a construction site. michael-sewell wants to install at least 4 cameras per floor and is looking for advice on setup and storage. bryonhu advises against using Wyze cameras for professional-grade security, stating they are âhobbyistâs camerasâ that require a subscription.
However, carverofchoice disagrees, sharing their experience with over 50 Wyze cameras, and notes that while there may be some limitations, they can be used for security purposes. carverofchoice also argues that the phrase âYou get what you pay forâ doesnât always apply, citing examples where more expensive products donât necessarily mean better quality.
The conversation continues with ssummerlin and ssummerlin discussing the relationship between price and expectation, with carverofchoice pointing out that while some improvements may require higher costs, more expensive doesnât always mean better. carverofchoice believes that Wyze offers good quality at an affordable price and is suitable for certain security use cases.
The discussion also includes humorous comments from bryonhu and bryonhu about the length of carverofchoiceâs post, and lighthearted exchanges between ssummerlin and carverofchoice about writing while juggling toddlers in church.
Summarized with AI on Mar 2
LoL so the whole thread, not just Carverofchoice.
We need the Carverofchoice Summarize Option

We need the Carverofchoice Summarize Option

The conversation continues with ssummerlin and ssummerlin discussing the relationship between price and expectation,
âssummerlin and ssummerlinâ sounds like a law firm, or a tough case of multiple personality.

Carverofchoice has a Summarize option?
Where do I click
When you figure it out, let me know too

Wow. A church for multitaskers?
Naw, due to my ADHD, I just function better if I do something else at the same time Iâm âlisteningâ to something. Some people judge me for it, but I really donât care. Just because their brain or their experience doesnât work the same way⌠Iâve been managing and channeling my ADHD effectively and successfully and even have a lot of education in it⌠I recognize that multitasking does not work well for the majority of people, it but Iâm pretty good at it⌠And more than that doing it is better for me, so I do it regardless of whether something is intended âfor multitaskingâ or not.

âssummerlin and ssummerlinâ sounds like a law firm, or a tough case of multiple personality.
I think it is more of the latter.

Some people judge me for it
No judging here. Thatâs between you and God.
Just pay proper attention to your wife.

I have never tried viewing all 50 at the same time, but I have gotten up to 30+ livestreams at the same time (I think Iâve gotten 20 at the same Time on Wyzeâs Web Portal and 30 something on the same monitor using a 3rd party RTSP converter), though not directly in Wyze App itself though.
So, your success is due how much to high-end router/mesh, how much to a solid ISP with ample throughput up and down, and how much to deep know-how in placing and configuring everything?
My rough guess:
40% / 30% / 30%