I use TinyCam for my WyzeCam V2 and Wyzecam Pan and I’ve configured it to send out an email (with attachment) whenever there is a motion detection event. I can simply check my emails and look at the snapshots taken. This saves me the effort and time to launch the Wyze app and view a 10 second recording for each alert. This setup has been working great for both cameras and is really stable. I’ve had no issues with this for weeks. But recently, I’ve updated both the V2 and the Pan to the latest firmware and I found that TinyCam doesn’t work properly anymore for my WyzeCam Pan.
To be more specific, TinyCam doesn’t seem to detect motion for my WyzeCam Pan as well as it used to. No detected motion means no emails are sent. I should be receiving about 10 emails on a daily basis, but now I’m only getting maybe 1 or 2 at most. I’ve tried testing but waving my hand and moving directly in front of the camera, like maybe 30cms away. Nothing detected by TinyCam. However, Wyze app will send me notifications just fine.
And before you ask, it’s not a configuration issue. I work in IT and have heaps of experience with setting up IP cameras. I’ve got multiple cameras around the house (different brands/models) and they all work fine. It’s just my WyzeCam that’s not working as it used to before. Here’s a quick rundown of my setup:
- Wifi connection is not an issue. Under the Wyze app, my Pan shows 100% signal strength.
- Network isn’t an issue. I have a 1Gb fiber connection. I’m a network engineer, I know what I’m doing.
- Motion detection areas are configured correctly. They have not changed. I’m talking about the motion detection areas for both the Wyze app and TinyCam (they are configured separately).
- My PAN isn’t configured to rotate at all. I only use the rotate function manually and I rarely do that.
- Under my TinyCam settings, background mode is enabled, power saving is OFF (this gives you more FPS and keeps the app more stable). I’m not using any “record to local storage” or “record to cloud settings”. I’m using TinyCam purely for the email notification with snapshots.
- I’m not using the TinyCam email server (which limits to 500 emails per month). I’m using my Gmail account with Gmail SMTP configurations. The sender and receiver are both the same account, so no I won’t run into any email sending limitations.
- My TinyCam decoder setting is set to HW and I have tried HW+ as well. I’ve used the settings recommended by the software developer.
- My TinyCam is updated to the latest build, I’m on the beta version in fact. I’ve tried the latest stable version as well, no difference.
- Lastly (the most important bit), I have NO issues if I revert my WyzeCam Pan back to firmware version 4.10.1.41. I have tried upgrading and downgrading to test this and can consistently replicate the same result. I have tried upgrading via the Wyze app, as well as upgrading from here - https://user.wyzecam.com/upgradedevices
I’m probably missing a few more key points but that’s pretty much it. This is a strange issue and I’m not sure what to make of it. TinyCam has no issues detecting motion events on my Wyzecam V2 and has no issues and therefore the emails for my V2 are sent as expected. As I mentioned already, my V2 is updated to the latest firmware as well. Looking at the firmware changelogs for both the V2 and the PAN, they seem to be the same.
I also found that TinyCam loses connection to my WyzeCam Pan frequently and doesn’t reconnect afterwards. This never happened before when my WyzeCam Pan was on an older firmware build. I can understand that when TinyCam loses connection to the camera, of course it will fail to detect motion events. But when it is connected and you can see the live stream just fine, waving in front of the camera doesn’t trigger a motion like it used to, which means no email is sent.
Just to clarify, there weren’t any network or connection issues. My Wyze app still sends me notifications and I still get IFTTT alerts for my WyzeCam Pan. It is only the TinyCam connection to my PAN that is lost.
I understand that you guys are not the software developer for TinyCam, but obviously, something has changed and that’s why TinyCam doesn’t work well anymore. For now, I’ve reverted back to the old firmware build and everything is working great.
So the question is, were there any changes related to video compression / codec / live streaming? Were there any API changes? Obviously, TinyCam connects to the WyzeCam cameras via your Wyze login credential, through the use of an API or something I guess. Perhaps something has changed and therefore the connection is dropped more frequently? Or perhaps there’s a change in the video compression or codec of the live stream? My understanding here is that TinyCam uses a live stream and if it detects motion in the areas that you have selected for monitoring, it will trigger a motion alert and send an email.
