Someone mentioned not liking the fact that all access to their home devices is in the cloud, on an outside server that we have no control of. A lot of people agree with that sentiment… There is also the concern of what happens to our product investments if something happens to the company?
You already started working on a NAS drive for local backups.
I would really like to see a Wyze home server, perhaps called the “Wyze Box”. Something that can run on a Raspberry Pi board as the new Raspberry Pi 4’s are much more powerful than it’s predecessors and would be perfect for something like this.
It could run a Wyze Home server that would be updated periodically from a Wyze repository.
People could buy their own pre-built Wyze Box the size of an Android TV Box or about 4"x4"x1" that they could plug into one of their router LAN outputs.
The setup could walk the user through a DDNS setup so their server will be located at randomname.wyzebox.com
Devices would be pointed to this Wyze Box that could be configured for local use. It might not have all the features that it has now, but it could definately retain standard functions. It could also be tied to the cloud for additional functionality (as an option).
People could also license the server application if they wish and run Wyze Home Server on their own server/Raspberry Pi Box).
I think this could be profitable as well as offer an excellent value to the buyers. While it won’t sell nearly as many units as a $20 Wyze Cam, I believe a healthy profit margin could be applied and many Wyze users are pretty tech savvy and would be interested in this. Selling the licensing for the Wyze server software allows you to profit without even needing to physically manufacture anything, diversifying the product line.
With a well thought out, narrated setup process, it wouldn’t require much more setup than the Sensor packs do. This would also let users who want a simple setup and to just use their cameras to stick with the current cloud setup.
More advanced users who want to take more control of their environment as well as users who would not want to buy cloud-only home devices will be interested in this, so not only would you be adding value to your product line, you would be marketing to a previously unreachable user base of users who wouldn’t invest in a cloud-only system.
While your idea has merit, I think it probably goes WAY beyond the technical capabilities of most of the people that may be buying into a $20 wifi camera. And those that do want what you’re asking for will probably just switch the Wyze camera to the RTSP firmware and create exactly what you’re suggesting.
So, I think what you’re asking for is already possible…but someone who knows more about how to setup the RTSP would be able to confirm.
This is much more than an rtsp issue. The bulbs went offline yesterday because of cloud issues. Had we been giving local control as was limited by the no hub required sales pitch this would not be an issue. The cloud is the hub in all reality. Somewhat misleading if you ask me. As mentioned above a simple pi could easily control everything but storage. Another option give us a nas for camera storage and bulb control on the local level. A win win!
I don’t agree with your correlation of technical know-how with financial frugality. I’m comfortable financially because I am frugal. Also, I’m smart AF, So bring on the in-home hub.
I agree. After yesterday’s (8/8/2019) bulb control fiasco, a “spotlight” is shining on the fragility of the current architecture. I’m ready for an in-home hub that can perform as a fall-back in case of future failure.
Personally, I don’t want/need ANOTHER hub in my house.
I have a SmartThings hub which I am slowly phasing out exactly BECAUSE of the cloud failure scenario.
I’ve implemented a two part Home Assistant(Raspi 3B+ with Z-Wave/Zigbee) and an MQTT Broker (RaspiA+) and everything communicates thru MQTT messages. I’d like to see the Wyze devices start doing MQTT and then, even if the cloud is down, I can still locally control my devices.
As stated before, I am concerned that if there is a cloud issue again, I don’t like losing control of my Wyze products. As Wyze progresses and new products are added (the upcoming plug, a possible doorbell, a switch…) it becomes even more important that we have a local hub as a backup to protect our investments.
I think this has multiple applications. It could also be adapter for business use as well. Once tested in the home market on Raspbian or another Wyze-specific Debian Linux fork, a simple .vdi image can be created of a Wyze Home Server environment and be licensed for business use to run a virtual Wyze Business Server for additional features and larger number of devices. While this would be clearly down the road, I think it really justifies the resources that would be required to develop a Wyze Home Server device. The fact that Wyze users are already used to using a smart phone during setup, really allows the installation process to be made easier. A visual walkthrough or an automated process for the home server would take a lot of the learning curve out of the setup process for less tech-savvy users should they be interested.
They already have the software written (we use it now). They just need to dumb it down a little and give it a user friendly ui and make an install docker for unraid or windows.
Using a Raspberry PI as a server is a good idea, but from the posts I gather that some may already have an installed server of some kind they could use - I for one. Both avenues would be a plus. My main concern is having in-house control of the Wyze products and the ability to store the information they gather on something larger than an SD card. The Raspberry would be just another SD card. Even storage to my personal cloud account would be better than another SD card.
I would never store IMPORTANT data on an SD card in my Pi. I actually have 2 Pis (one is a Pi4) with SSD Drives. BUT, if I needed to save any data, I would save it onto one of my (4) NAS boxes (20TB of storage). They data could then be accessed from any computer on my network. Problem solved.
Didn’t they almost release something like this? A HDD dock for storing wyze cam footage, wouldn’t take much to add local control to that
But last I heard that product was dropped
Just to be clear how would a hub help? When there is an internet outage now, my Phillips Hue hub looses its connection as does my Ring Video doorbell and everything attached to my smartthings hub. Hubs generally are used to allow devices to communicate over and with methods other than WiFi. But they do not in general insulate you from service failures.
But they could. Theres no reason to rely on the cloud and subscription models. With ddns service you can always reach home when away and if your not away you’re on the local network which doesn’t need an active internet connection.
I believe there’s two issues at stake here. One ease of use and two an additional revenue stream. In the case of wyze their not charging us so it comes down to ease of use. I believe after the initial setup they could easily cut us free by enable additional setup options for another local device to handle the control that would otherwise be cloud based. It could even be a redundancy feature so we keep both.
Using “Internet” and “WiFi” interchangeably is misleading. Your home router can lose connection with the Internet, yet WiFi signals are still being handled between your router and WiFi-connected devices on your home network. Those devices include that hub. So if the hub is doing all the smart device controlling, it can still rock-and-roll on its own. You won’t be able to talk to the hub outside your home network without “Internet” connectivity, but you still can inside of it. Without an internal hub, we’re totally dependent on Internet connectivity to electronically control even a single Wyze bulb.
Yes that is very true. However with Wyze and other cloud connected devices they often will cease working if they are unable to connect to their servers.
For instance if my home WiFi is up, but my internet connection is down I can no longer control my Phillips Hue Lights or my Ecobee Thermostat via their respective apps.
If my Wyze cameras loose power while my home internet is down (unplugged or whatever) they will not connect back to the app until the internet connection is restored even if my local router and WiFi is up.
So I was not using the two interchangeably as you see.
Your not paying attention. We bring the cloud home on the local level. You don’t technically need internet. It’s all by design. See my prior explanation. I can only see two reasons its not happening. The biggest is profit.
So bring on the in-home hub.