Wyze Cams Viewed On TinyCamPro on Google ChromeCast (New Version w/ Remote) on a TV

Tips & Tricks
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Hi all,

I’ve seen tons of How-To topics on this across the web but none ever did exactly what I wanted. There is an excellent walkthrough on how to use TinyCamPro (I paid the $5 for pro and it’s worth it) here. This was perfect in getting me set up, but I wanted to view my live cams on a TV screen like a real system. I saw a lot of RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) write-ups, but that required a firmware swap on the cams and something like VLC with a mosaic code to view multiple feeds. I am not that good.

Luckily, my TVs all have the latest version of Chromecast (the one with the remote). I found that if you go into the apps search bar and look for “Wyze”, TinyCam comes up as the first app. You can actually download it to the Chromecast and set up TinyCam there and it will display right on whatever TV you have it connected to. Now, keep in mind this is not a powerhouse with regards to memory and processing speed. I found the app crashed a couple of times while refreshing the cam feeds, but I simply restarted the app and once the feeds loaded it was stable. I didn’t load all my cams to the app because I didn’t want to bog the app/Chromecast down and I only wanted to view outdoor cams on the TV.

This is perfect for me because I can see my driveway and front yard for when someone comes to my house or if the dogs are outside. It’s nice because the Wyze app still runs and does it’s thing on my phone and required no mods or custom anything. Just the cams, the app, the Chromecast, a TV, and about 20 mins of setup. All with very low out of pocket costs.

My parts list is below as I’ve recently changed all my outdoor and indoor cams to the latest (and greatest) Wyze Pan v3 and outdoor floods/cam. I live in a rural area and like to see my exterior (any unwanted animals that my dog might chase or be chased by) as well as when Amazon/UPS comes by, or anyone in my driveway for that matter.

Wyze Pan v3 (8x @ ~$35ea)
TinyCamPro app ($5 for the pro; one-time fee)
Chromecast (pic below - $20 @ Home Depot on sale - the HD model only. 4k is $50 I believe)
Amazon Fire TV (I had this, but I think it was only $150)

If this gains any traction maybe I will make my own How-To or take a crack at my very first YouTube tutorial. I also have made a portable version of this to view on a 7" screen that is battery powered. It’s not a gorgeous creation, but it’s perfect for what we use it for. It’s primarily for a baby monitor, but I can see all the same cams as the TV just on a smaller portable version. If there is demand for that I can create one for that too.

This is my first tutorial on anything ever so be gentle. Sorry for the long post.

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P.S If you have Google Nest WiFi and a Chromecast with these cams, you can use the command button on the remote and tell the TV to view whatever you named the camera. This only works on one camera at a time though. This is awesome for the quick shots. I use this feature to check the laundry room downstairs to see if things are done or not, then I flip back to watching TV or whatever.

Thanks everyone!

Chris

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Great post Chris! Thanks for sharing! I am going to bookmark this for future reference! I have been toying with the idea of adding a Chromecast to my collection (FireTV Stick & Roku Stick) but haven’t yet found the motivation to pull the trigger. This may be the reason for me to do that now since I already use TCP on my Android.

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Thanks @SlabSlayer! If you happen to try something different that works, please let me know. I’m always up for trying new tech!

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Sooooo Happy! :grin:

Amazon 1 day delivery is just too fast! Got my Chromecast 4K today. Downloaded the TinyCam Pro App… Because I had already purchased it from the Google Play Store for my Android over a year ago, it just downloaded and installed. No Charge! More Happy! :grin::grin:

Loaded my first cam in, did the username\pass and 2FA without issues and then did the copy\edit UID shuffle a few dozen times and had them all loaded in less than an hour!

They have been streaming for two hours on a 16 frame page without a single dropped stream! Sooooo Happy! :grin::grin::grin::grin:

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Wow. Just so I understand, what is the max number of cams you can stream steadily/continuously at the cams’ max FPS on this setup? :slight_smile:

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How do you keep your cameras online that long. I can’t even view them in the app without them randomly dropping off.

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The max number of cams is a 5x5 grid for 25. I have 23 compatible cams loaded. I put in in 5x5 earlier and they started to get blinkey. This was daytime streaming, so at the higher FPS. Last night’s 4x4 was night time streaming (IR Night Vision on all) at the lower FPS.

I tested it in 3x3 and daytime streaming works well. Experienced no dropped streams.

4x4 had an occasional drop, but favorably stable for most of the streaming. Most of the drops were on reestablishment of the stream when the view grid was changed. If the device is fresh and the app opened to the 4x4, streams are stable in the daytime.

So, it looks like 4x4 @ 16 cams is the sweet spot for daytime FPS. I haven’t tested the 5x5 at night yet.

Also… This is mostly V3 cams with 1 PanV1, 1 VDBV1, 1 V3Pro, and 4 PanV3

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Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @rdweiler! :raising_hand_man:

Since Live Streaming is a Peer to Peer stream, when my device (phone, Chromecast) is on the same WiFi network, everything remains local on my network, even with TinyCam Pro. I have not tested this from another WiFi network or on my Cellular Carrier’s network. That would require routing thru the internet and would be subject to upload and download throttling.

But, I have an extremely robust WiFi network purpose built for IoT applications. I have a 3 Node Wyze Mesh Router Pro network. Since installing it, I have very quick cam loads and rarely experience drops or failures to load Live Stream or SD Playback footage.

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Thanks for the rundown, Slab!

That is a strong endorsement. Who makes this device? :slight_smile:

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Perhaps not editing the quote would reveal that… :eyes:

Admittedly, I am a fan. My previous Mesh Router (TP Link Archer A6) would regularly bog down, get poor reception (very low RSSI @ device & AP), and cause severe lag when loading and playing SD Card footage. I had offline cam issues occasionally and wasn’t getting full coverage for 60+ connected devices. Because these routers are designed specifically for strength and bandwidth priority on the low band for IoT, they have made a world of difference in the stability and capability of my network.

That being said… there are significant tradeoffs that will hopefully be addressed in upcoming firmware and app UI upgrades. I have previously used the analogy that managing these routers is like driving a Formula One Hypercar using County Fair Bumper Car controls. The speed and the power is all there, and then some. But I feel like I am just along for the ride rather than controlling what it does and where it goes. The depth of reporting, customization, and configuration settings for advanced router users leaves a lot to be desired. It really does need an Advanced User UI.

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Discourse bug. I’ve spoken to @Loki about it but he apparently has bigger :fish: to fry.  jk.

Seriously, though, I appreciate your review. And your analogy.

TP-Link dumbed-down (further) their Deco Mesh app interface recently. I run the old app on one device, the new one on another. :man_shrugging:

later… with the introduction of several responsive features via firmware, the new Deco app is, on balance, an improvement over the old.

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That is so awesome! I’m glad it worked out for you. I admittedly may need your help. I recently moved (physically moved from one wall to another) my TV and now the feeds seem to drop for me. The TV/Chromecast are literally 14" from the main router (Google Nest wifi mesh). I’ve only loaded 4x of my outdoor cams and have cleared ALL other apps from the Chromecast so the TinyCam app could get full use of the CPU/Memory available. All pieces have the latest software updates. Did you tweak any settings in the app I may have missed?

It’s just so weird that I’ve only moved it from one wall to another and all of a sudden I’m having app crash issues. Any input is greatly appreciated!

Google Wifi Mesh (Chromecast is about a foot from the main point)
Google Chromecast (updated)
TinyCam Pro
4x Wyze Pan Cam v3 (love these damn things!)

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Because I copied and pasted my first cam over and over so that I didn’t have to recredential each of the cams, some of my Pan Cams were set as Wyze Cams. I did switch those over to Pan Cams to get the PTZ controls.

In the Video settings, I changed the decoder to Hardware+

I am also using the 4K Chromecast

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That could be the difference. The 4K Chromecast seems to have a little more punch than the HD Chromecast. I just flipped my decoder to the Hardware+ setting. For those interested, I did some very quick research. Below are the differences in hardware between the Chromecast HD (~$20 at Home Depot) and the Chromecast 4K (~ $50 at Home Depot…yes, I love Home Depot. You can buy yours wherever you like to shop).

         Chromecast 4k (S905X3) vs Chromecast HD (S805X2) Processor Specs

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I saw a lot of RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) write-ups, but that required a firmware swap on the cams .
Yes - demo_v3_RTSP_4.61.0.1.zip for V3 Cam

and something like VLC with a mosaic code to view multiple feeds.
No. - VLC with nothing else. Create icon on computer desktop & modify shortcut target with IP address of Cam.

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Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @Rocket_Scientist! :raising_hand_man:

TCP does not require any modification to the Firmware. It works with all Wyze Cams except the OG (soon to be supported) with their native production firmware. That’s what makes it so user friendly.

Setup can be confusing the first time, but the difficulty is very easily overcome with the next cam since the Copy function works so well and only one field needs to be modified to designate the next cam.

Not sure how RTSP is related to this topic since Wyze no longer supports RTSP and was limited to specific cam models.

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TCP is an Android phone app. The OP mentioned VLC which is a Windows program.

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Ah, yes. :+1: Now I see it. :eyes: Up in the first post :point_up:.

I did not recognize that was quoted text from the OP and that you were replying to the quoted text.

You had me perplexed and cornfused. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: That’s why I missed the context.

Thanks for connecting the dots for me!

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I have a different viewpoint. The Wyze cams themselves send and receive from internet servers anyway regardless of peer to peer idea. They were designed that way regardless of what anyone says lol.

Your problem keeping the cams up for one point is the Wyze app. it doesn’t work to keep them up. If there’s any disruption (including from the heartbeat) the APP tries 3x then gives up. That 3x then fail right there tells you all you need to know.

Using Alexa plugin and continuous tries using routines, I have zero problems with the cams continuously streaming since I have Alexa set to never give up. Every 2 hours it tries again. The cams are always streaming for the past year. Using the Wyze app directly, this doesn’t go this way. RTSP was the only time I was able to get it fully stable but the app I was using doesn’t try again after a disruption so when those happen you’d till need an app that does it (even if RTSP was worth using today and its not as they no longer update it).

The cams themselves are capable of continuing to try. This can be seen as a simple example if you unplug your router and have no wifi. They will come back up on their own later if you plug in the router again. If they were incapable then they couldn’t do that.

This issue is a complex one but you can see important things if you do the right things. The info that went around from years ago such as with the older cams is terribly lacking imo and not good to go on as it ultimately solved nothing. The Peer to peer aspect does nothing for understanding how to make them stable. Not when even the app gives up.

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Cam 101   :heavy_check_mark:

Cam 1   Day 1: