I am certain this has been asked a ton of times however, here we go:
I am currently building out a home network and they are hard set on utilizing Unifi for their Gateway and WiFi APs. They are skeptical to purchase unifi cameras as they are more expensive than Wyze, however I have been asked to see if Wyze can record to Unifi’s Protect/NVR solution built into their UDM appliances.
Unfortunately, you cannot record to an external device (NVR or NAS) at this time. You have to use the Cloud Service and/or put an SD Card into the cameras.
Quick update on this question. I am a Wyze and Dream Machine user and I just went down the rabithole on this thinking I might be able to use Wyze cameras with Unifi Protect. The TLDR is that it won’t work, The Wyze firmware doesn’t implement a protocol that Protect needs to enable 3rd party camera support.
Technical version: In order for Unifi Protect to “see” RTSP cameras and thus adopt them, they must support ONVIF. The RTSP firmware provided by Wyze do NOT enable ONVIF therefore Unifi Protect doesn’t see them as adoptable cameras. RTSP and ONVIF are different protocols:
ONVIF and RTSP are both protocols used in video surveillance systems, but they have different purposes and use cases:
ONVIF
An industry standard that allows devices from different manufacturers to work together. ONVIF was created by a forum of manufacturers, developers, and consultants to make it easier to exchange video resources between different devices. ONVIF can also control IP cameras and I/O devices, such as pan, tilt, and zoom.
RTSP
A network protocol that manages the transmission of audio and video data over a network. RTSP is used for streaming media content, IP surveillance cameras, and live broadcasts. RTSP also allows users to control the stream, such as pausing, rewinding, and changing the resolution
The issue is they don’t make any money on the cameras, in fact they often lose some. They are a subscription company, and I doubt they’re going to develop anything that lets you get similar functionality without paying.
But maybe they’ll offer it as a feature to subscribers in order to drive subscription growth (and probably reduce bandwidth used on their servers which costs them money), I think that’s the only angle that will make them consider it.