Yeah, this is why I like the Starlight Sensor in the Cam v4s I have looking out through windows for “color night vision”, and I keep the spotlight, IR, and status light settings off because the glare would make them useless otherwise.
Even my v3s perform well with Starlight sensors, but then so does the OG.
Loads of options.
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Of my 9 Wyze cameras, 4 have stopped working. I have replaced them with Ring cameras. Not buying Wyze cameras again; they suck. My Ring cameras a bit more expensive but they never malfunction.
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It’s so encouraging to see so many others who feel the same way I do. Wyze has decent products for the price, but they put so many artificial limitations on them that I find myself regularly researching competitors’ products because I know my patience with Wyze will wear thin.
Personally I use my cameras like OP does; I keep them streaming all day so I can keep an eye on things while I work. Wyze makes this really difficult to do. Firstly because they lock the web view functionality behind their Cam Plus paywall, which means that you are forced to use a mobile device or tablet to view your cameras unless you’re willing to pay for a bunch of premium features you don’t otherwise need. And secondly because even if you do use a mobile device you can only view 4 cameras at a time.
RTSP (and therefore a “local only streaming” mode) should be a required minimum for all security cameras these days. There have already been several security issues with Wyze’s cloud-connected cameras; a local-only streaming setup would be the ideal antidote to such risks.
I’ve seen people defend Wyze’s decisions because, obviously, Wyze is a business and wants to make money. Fair enough, but the kind of people who would go to the trouble of creating an RTSP setup are not going to be paying for Cam Plus anyway; they’re just going to buy the hardware. Or if they do pay for Cam Plus it will be for the security features (monitoring etc.) and not just for the ability to view cameras via their web browser.
Some people also say “streaming your cameras all day uses server bandwidth and costs Wyze money!” First of all, no it doesn’t, or at least it shouldn’t; the cameras [are supposed to] stream directly to your device over the local network. Secondly, if it is costing Wyze bandwidth fees, then they have even more of an incentive to implement local-only streaming via RTSP.
Also they boast about their cameras having “on-board AI” but actually this is only enabled if you pay for Cam Plus, even though the AI processing happens on your own device. It’s like BMW charging drivers a monthly subscription to use their heated seats which are already installed in the car (which is actually happening btw).
Ultimately my position is this: I’ve bought a bunch of Wyze hardware and I regret it because my experience of Wyze’s software is poor and full of needless limitations. If your customers have to set up emulators to run your software in a way which suits them, your software is deficient.
BTW I’m going to Reolink as well. Wyze should really sit up and pay attention.
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I am also disabled and not knowing what android phone you have can’t help you there, as for using RTSP why? I use an Android emulator called LDPlayer and just download the Wyze app onto that and have had no issues keeping track of my 6 Wyze cams.
LDPlayer - Lightweight & Fast Android Emulator for PC
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These are not security cameras, regardless of what Wyze and the other wifi cloud cam brands want you to think. Don’t waste money on another wifi cam and just get a real hard wired true HD security camera system if that’s what you want.
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Agree with you completely about WYZE’s poor software quality is a major problem with their cameras at this point in time, and that RTSP should be a basic requirement for any home “security camera” product. My wife and I have always laughed about and assumed that everybody in China could possibly be seeing everything streamed from our cameras - but we just don’t care! 
If they are, we’re sure that we are boring them to death! I haven’t yet tried to reverse engineer exactly how the (optional) WAN (Internet) access to my new ReoLink cameras actually work, but have the same general expectations - that if its stream is going out on the Internet - then potentially anyone could be seeing it.
One of the reasons that WYZE originally gave for not fully supporting RTSP was that it took too much space away in their firmware memory for them to add all the internal face and pet recognition logic that they’d originally contracted for another company to provide them. Then that other company pulled out of the deal, so they were back to square one with adding those features directly back into the camera logic. I usually do that type of intelligent monitoring and snippet recording from the open source iSpy PC security camera hub software running on my PC - so don’t really care if the logic in the camera is doing it at all.
I was grateful that WYZE released another “unsupported” firmware version at the start of the pandemic, to simply make the WYZE camera into a web cam device. That’s worked quite well and I’m still using it now!
Yesterday i got around to configuring my newest ReoLink E1 Outdoor Pro camera for my local network. No surprises, although it has a few more “bell and whistle” features than the indoor model of the E1 Pro has - its basic capabilities like RTSP are still the same. (Amazon’s “Rufus” AI shopping assistant didn’t know that for certain , but did correctly speculate that there were some indications that RTSP was supported from other customer feedback). Now that I’ve gotten it configured, I just have to get my local handyman back to install it…
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Agreed. I have been saying the same. I find these as useful gadgets but not for security of my family and property.
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Wyze is intented for people that have current technology. Maybe you should spend an additional $1000 and get a wired security system.
Because RTSP is an open standard and isn’t dependent on Wyze or any other company. What happens if Wyze goes bust, or the app stops working on your model of device, or they suddenly start charging more for a feature you love, or etc. etc. etc.
It’s about ensuring people can use the hardware they purchase the way that they want to use it.
ok sound logic, but if that ever happened then I have RTSP to back up on, I can switch anytime, and for right now I’m using my Android Emulator with no issues unlike you and your RTSP.
I do like to watch my cameras into my pc but, as you said there is no simple way to emualte it. Even the latest version of Android x86 is version 9, and version 10 has been in the works for 4 years but so far no release date.
So, what I have found very useful is a github repo called Genymobile/scrcpy
You can use this app to remotely control an android device and see its display over usb or tcp/ip.
You could take a look at it and see if it works for you. 
Windows has Phone Link built in (which does the same thing, mirror your phone on your PC) and also a native android hypervisor called Windows Subsystem for Android. Unfortunately WSA is going end of support next year but supposedly as long as you install it by March it will continue working. WSA is a very fast an elegant solution, better than any emulator out there.
What is the cost difference?
WSA or Microsoft’s Linux VM requires turning on Microsoft’s Hyper-V feature, that (for no particular good reason?) breaks the more generally useful VirtualBox from Oracle as well as other VM services from third party vendors. Given that I have a few dozen VirtualBox VM’s that I evaluate things on and am still using the Nox Android emulator to control my smart thermostat, it wasn’t reasonable to turn on Hyper-V to break everything else.
Glad you found a solution that works for you though!
Here in the states, I got a two pack of the indoor ReoLink E1 Pro cameras from Amazon for about $75, and brought two inexpensive micro SD cards for them for about $10 each. The outdoor camera was a bit more expensive at about $129, again optionally requiring another $10 micro SD card. Note all of these ReoLink cameras have full 360 degree panning, person, pet, or vehicle identification, auto tracking of objects in the field of view, color IR vision, and even a spotlight for the outdoor model - all built in, That plus software that’s reliable and works well, which is priceless!
I think that’s roughly similar to the last, non-lets-get-rid-of-it-sale prices that I’ve seen for the WYZE cameras, no?
This topic concerns me because I am just barely competent at buying and configuring equipment as time goes. It is expensive when one realizes previous electronics will no longer work with new equipment and worse when one has to call in tech help as well as replacing only one year old peripherials. Hence I will be looking at consumer comments first and buying only cheap from now on to be sure of compatibility and minimizing replacement costs.
It is expensive when one realizes previous electronics will no longer work with new equipment
That’s precisely why a feature like RTSP support is critical. When the hardware doesn’t let you step outside the manufacturer’s own ecosystem, you are completely at the mercy of the manufacturer.
Hence I will be looking at consumer comments first and buying only cheap from now on to be sure of compatibility and minimizing replacement costs
Unfortunately that isn’t the best approach. Cheap hardware might seem attractive but ends up being (extremely) expensive long-term when consumers are forced into upgrading against their will, or manufacturers discontinue features without any warning (like Wyze has done with RTSP support).
The best way to ensure your devices have a long well-supported life is to buy devices which have first-class support for open standards like RTSP. Then you don’t need to worry about devices becoming incompatible or relying on manufacturers to keep proprietary services online.
I, personally, wish I’d bought cameras like Reolink with built-in support for local-only streaming, and it’s going to be expensive to replace all my Wyze cameras.
You typically can’t run more than one VM technology on a box. They each install their own drivers for many different things and they will conflict with each other. Personally when I ran servers out of my house I found Hyper-V to be excellent, but obviously it is a matter of preference.
I haven’t tried their "phone link "feature which basically just mirrors your phone to the PC, but that might be an option for some. The various emulators out there have gone through phases of good and bad, the WSA is probably the best performer by far, but won’t be supported much longer. For basic stuff (like controlling a thermostat) then most emulators should handle that fine. But once you start doing video streaming and other more complex stuff it gets a bit harder to find a stable one. It isn’t something I need to do often so not the end of the world for me. One of these days I’ll toy around with phone link. Would also be handy for transferring files etc too.
No such thing?
That’s about 4x what I paid for my equivalent Wyze cams. But if the extra features (mostly the RTSP and Person detection, everything else Wyze can do without subscription) are worth it, then that’s what people need to decide up front. Pay more up front or pay for a subscription. For some, having stuff stored in the cloud is worth the subscription price since if the camera gets stolen or SD card fails, you have a backup.