Thanks for the tip. I'm REALLY surprised Amazon hasn't made showing camera video on Alex Echo devices a standard option you can enable in the app without having to manually customize this through a script.
You made me go into alexa routines and redo most of them, redo i ment pimp them up. To be honest I had no clue this messaging thing exists and allows to have her speak on all devices, I had one simple routine split to multiple before in order to have har talk on where I wanted. And again, we would be stuck or walking in circles without you or channels like yours! Thanks chief 🤜🤛
Hi Brian,. thanks for the video, I have enabled Brief mode but I still get the okay in response to triggering the alexa routine. Im in the UK using an echo spot. Any ideas? Cheers.
@@stephenpowstinger733 I think this automation certainly compensates you for the lackluster user interface of the Echo Show when compared to the Google Nest Hub devices streamlined experience.
Brian, Thanks for the instructions. Two questions, please. I can't get either of these to work or find them on my own. 1) What's the command inserted in the routine, that sends the Echo Show back to its Home screen before you display a camera? 2) (Asked Alexa/Echo Show folks this one, they don't know.) Sometimes when I send/display a camera on my 1st or 2nd gen Show's, the camera displays, but it does not fill the screen. Its in the upper left corner using less than 1/4 of the screen. Pressing the image, brings up a "expand it" icon each time, but it soon reverts back to the upper left corner. Why does it do that. How do I prevent it. I want full screen. And thanks.
It's pretty standard. Should work just fine with those Blink Outdoor cameras. Check that they have a trigger in the routines that allow motion or people detection. I believe Blink does have Motion Detection with Alexa.
Nice video! Btw, is there on the market a button compatible with Alexa? I want to show up a camera on my echo 8 but I can't use a motion detector as a trigger because the camera is outside near the street. I just wanted to build a door bell button. I've found some smart buttons on amazone but aren't compatible with the echo. Thanks!
Hey Brian, great video. Works like a charm. Actually it works to well, it pulls up the camera and keeps displaying it until I manually turn it off. This drains the battery of the Arlo Pro3. Is there a way to make it turn off by itself after a certain time? Would be greatly appreciated!
So what I'd do is the following. Have the same trigger start a second routine (or turn on something else with the same trigger). Then Wait 5 minutes, then issue a customized command of Stop to the Echo Show. :)
I haven't tried in a while. I think it's more based on the camera maker as to whether or not they can support multiple streams. I'm sure you could make two routines that do it though
Hi, what is the brand of the small monitor / smart display you have. I have Tapo C200 cameras and want live footage displayed on a screen other than my phone and tablet that works off a mains supply not battery
Brian somewhere I saw that you can display up to 4 cameras on Echo Show 8 at the same time,I have 4 Wyze 2xV2 and 2 x V3, I am not having any luck making this work
Hey Brian, I'm not seeing the option to use Wyze cam person detection as a trigger. I'm subscribed to the Wyze person detection but not their CAM Plus. Is that only available if you're signed up for their CAM Plus service?
This video made me a subscriber and got me wishing I bought the echo instead of the Nest Hub. BUT, I figured out how to do this on the Nest - thanks to what I learned here! I set my echo dot next to my Nest Hub and created the following routine: When my cam detects motion, Alexa says "Hey Google, show driveway camera feed" Not the best workaround but it will do for now! Thanks again
Do you have any idea of a camera that will record on a card , is battery operated, and dont need permanent wifi connection ? I want to record an entrance but I dont have wifi there, just when my phone is near it with hotpspot sharing ?
#sharethelove Brian, I was referred to your site by Craig's Tech Talk. Love finding another online resource to set-up new smart home toys. You have one more subscription. Thanks
I have 4 rental properties with ring doorbells and can view camera with echo show inside each home. How do I turn off the camera view from the other houses on one house's echo show?
Love that new custom! It works great with broadlink it works great with Harmony. Bet it would we even work with Brian. So glad you stopped by with another Super educational RU-vid thanks for all your hard work Mikey
@@AutomateYourLife I use Harmony for my televisions. I use broadlink to turn on my fireplaces and several other things Harmony is used to turn on stereo. And I've got a couple older Shades that are just remote-controlled that I use broadlink for.
Stephen's right! That's a SmartThings Motion Sensor. Hard to find in Canada these days, but there are lots of ZigBee Motion Sensors you can buy and use with this!
HI Brian... great job! Thanks. I saw you have smartthings cam, are you able to see it through echo show? From alexa my smartthings cams are just a switch. Do you have any video setting that?
Sadly, you can't really see it through the Echo Show. I was just in the process of redoing my ActionTiles and I'm hoping I can see my camera there. Which means I can bring up the browser and see the SmartThings Camera that way :)
ok, this is what I need to know. I have a routine already with mt Wyze camera to Show on my echo show 8. all is good. BUT, can I also make another routine on my echo show 5 to show this same camera?
Thanx..Finally I wanted to automatically display my doorbell cam on fire tablet without having to say it or look for the app...Its a Remo+ it was a delayed video and there wasn't any two way communication but atleast I can see who i'm ignoring...I probably have to play with settings maybe. Also got my LG TV showing it...this is good stuff
Wanted to stop in to wish you and your family the best Thanksgiving ever. A new year is coming and I hope it will be better than the past few. Just be Thankful for for your family and have a safe and joyful Thanksgiving. (know yours is a different day) Talk to you soon.
I’m in brief mode and still get the “ok” message. It’s been hit or miss pulling up the cameras. I have no issue pulling up my Ring cameras from either the Rapid Ring or Standard Ring app, but sometimes it just doesn’t open using this routine, it will try and load, and just times out. It works fine if I give it the command though. Also it seems to time out faster using the routine. I use to not have notifications setup in the Ring app, I just let it record motion that it sees anywhere, which included every car that passes in front of or behind my house, so notifications where overwhelming. After a recent issue I changed that, and setup motion zones on my Spotlight and Floodlight camera so that it only picks up motion on my property, set it up to take a snapshot every minute, and other than squirrels and rabbits setting it off, it’s been reliable, I’m thinking about setting it to Person Detection and seeing if that helps. I’ve turned on Rich notifications from Ring which is helpful, I just wish I could get the automatic display on my Echo Shows to be more reliable
@@AutomateYourLife yeah I’m not sure what the issue is. I have 3 UniFi APs, and my 2.4ghz network is great, my cameras each have an RSSI of -34 or so, and I get speeds of 25/15 on that connection. I just need to play with it more. Something is up with Ring right now, it gives me a snapshot of the cameras when I open the open, but gives me a connection error when I try to stream.
I got rid of "OK" message by calling custom action with mute command in front: "Alexa, mute and show MyCam camera" . Just don't forget to set volume back. I use another routine for that.
Morrison do you have Alexa Guard to activate when you leave the house? Also with the Guard 'Away Lighting' feature, can you input your local South African postcode? I have to input an American (Hawaii to be exact) post/Zip code for it to be accepted.
@@SmartHomeHASHTAGS I have routines that run in the evenings on the lamps and outside garden lights. All my inside ceiling lighting is motion activated.
@@SnowyPe do you have the Alexa Guard feature? And can you set the Away Lighting to a South African postcode? I'm just trying to find out if I'm using the American app or Australian app settings.
Can the echo dot turn on the TV and fire tv stick then play the camera feed to it? Also would like for it to send text notification to the screen if we are watching TV if certain events happen. For example if motion is detected somewhere.
Whew, that's a lot of asks. Yes you can turn on the Fire TV Stick and do the very same thing there! You'll probably need a command to turn on the Fire TV to the homescreen first, which is an action in Routines. Text notification to the screen...that's not possible just yet, but you could play a message from the speakers attached or next to your TV.
Great video. So far I encountered one issue. If I tell Alexa to "Show me the main camera" (its a Wyze V3) she will do it. But If I ask the exact same thing in the custom routine she doesn't know how to process it.
So in Uk is not avialable this feature? Need to have the last gen echo or firestik? So when you change your acount swap for usa acc and then log out and relogin with normal uk account?
Any Echo Show should work for this. The change to a different location does work but there are some impacts to doing that. Like you may lose other routines you've created. So maybe just create an Amazon US account and try reinstall the Echo Show there. Then link the camera or motion sensor to that account and enjoy.
@@AutomateYourLife thanks.i have a firestik but i am using a 3 rd gen now ..do i neet to install a 4 th gen dot? By the way if i want to swap my dot..i will loose all the device settings and have to do it again ? Or the 4th dot will pick up the actual setings routines devices?
Iv managed to get the live stream to show. Just want the function if someone presses the doorbell to notify on the tv via firestick. As my google mini has stopped annoucing the chime or someone at the door. Common issue on google mini.
This looks exactly like what I want. I want a Show on my bedside table showing the area that a Ring alarm sensor covers 😊 Do you know if I can use any camera type? I have POE ethernet cable running everywhere and was thinking about a Reolink NVR & cams. Thanks SO much for this! Subscribed.
@@AutomateYourLife rats - I wrote Reo earlier and was hopeful - “Thanks for contacting Reolink. Yes, PoE cameras can work with Echo Show. But PoE cameras that come from a kit system and have no UID can't work with it. You can refer to this to get more How to Add Reolink Cameras to Amazon Alexa” If the trigger comes from a door sensor say, and a Reo is pointing at the door, would that be enough to display that cam? (Sorry about basic question - I need to get my head around this a bit mire!)
Thank for the informative video! Is there a way to stop the video streaming after it has been triggered say after 60 seconds? I don't want the video to play forever once this is triggered. Thanks in advance!
It'll only play for 5 minutes, so if that's good then great! Otherwise, create a second routine that waits 1 minute and then just say "stop"? Haven't tried it but should work.
Hey Justin! There's a few comments where I explain how to do that in the video here! Just check in the comments. It's basically another Alexa routine and you're good to go!
Thank you so much! I wouldn't have figured this out without you man. My only problem is that it's not at all as instantaneous as your device. It takes a few seconds..
The "customize" feature is very nice I only wish that it allowed us to use more than one "customize" feature per routine. For now I guess I'll just keep having my Echo Dot as Alexa asking questions to my Echo Flex as Echo or asking my Google home additional questions that otherwise I would put in under "customize".
Hi, great video, can I add that it will turn off after 2 minutes? I mean, the cam is displaying on my echo show, and I want it turn off automatically after x minutes. I add another routine to turn it off, but do you know if I can do it within the same routine ?
Thank you for the great video. One question. Is there a way to automatically have echo show hide the camera after displaying it? It continually records until I ask it to hide camera...
@@AutomateYourLife I've been trying to do something like this. I don't think mine is recording, but the camera just stays on the screen. Sometimes another camera alert will bring up another camera and sometimes, another camera alert will toggle the one showing off. What is the trigger of a new return to make it go home?
Okay.. But how do you view your Echo Show 5 camera from your phone? Like.. If you are not using a separate camera.. you want to see your kitchen where your Echo Show is and you're not home. Can you, from your Alexa app on your phone, get the camera on the Show to turn on and watch what it sees on said phone?
I'm told it doesn't work right now to get rid of the OK. Still, it's in the Settings of the Alexa app and it makes Alexa's responses to you often just a "beep" type of sound.
Please advise why my eco 10 do not showing my Arlo front door camera when someone pushes the ring button? I’m asking Alexa show my front door camera before I will open the door and she can find anything no cameras. If I’m asking Alexa show my front door without some push the calling button she will showing without issue. Any help would be great thx.
Not a newbie question at all. Actually fairly hard to answer still. I'll put it to you this way. I don't have one right now. My SmartThings Camera does it through SmartThings itself. Nothing else I have installed at the moment.
@@AutomateYourLife oh wow.... having it work like in your video would be my one and only use case!... maybe at this point in time would it be easier to use a cctv camera's native app on a tablet to get the same function?
So I was able to get the Ring floodlight to show when it senses motion but can't get it to go back off? I tried setting a routine for if no motion for 2min Alexa home but no luck. Any ideas. Thanks
That sounds like a connectivity problem, because it should know if there's no motion for 2 minutes.... So here's what I'd do. Use the same trigger on in a second routine, wait 2 minutes, then customized command of "stop" on the display you're using. :)
Well I haven't had great luck with any person detection from Wyze and that seems to be the only trigger they have available for their cameras. I'll have to see those triggers before I can answer this!
It works great, thanks ! But it never stop to show camera, and it seems impossible to ask Alexa to wait 5mn and to stop… does somebody have a solution to stop camera after few minutes ? Specially for Blink camera who run on battery… Thanks !
@@AutomateYourLife hi ! Almost ! Just have to solve 2 issues : Video sometimes doesn’t appear in full screen, only on PiP, must be because of notifications of a movement displayed on Echo Show. And the other issue is that doesn’t seem to work when Echo Show is on energy economy mode, after 10mn of inactivity… I’ve to do more tests… Cheers
Hi Brian, thanks for the video! You made me buy the Echo Show 8 to automatically display motion detected by my Blink XT2 cameras. I created the routine to play a specific camera, how can I automatically stop the camera after 1 minute?
Oh no! NOW the pressure is on. There's a few others who asked this. Basically, do another routine that triggers the same way, wait a minute, then issue the command to stop :)
Thanks Brian. I added a new routine which runs after the defined time. The Customized command will play but the camera won't stop. I tried "Stop", "Alexa, stop". Alexa, go home", none of them worked. Any advise? According to this thread many customers are looking for the same answer: www.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D54P00006zSsGJSA0/how-to-stop-a-routine-in-progress
Brian. Thank you so much for the showing Nest Cameras on Alexa. I thought that was gone forever! BTW, I don't think you can get rid of the "OK" in custom actions using Brief Mode.
Yeah, been racking my brain for the last 2 hours trying to find a way to suppress the "OK" on a similar setup. Damn reply even with brief mode on and volume set to 0 persists. Im thinking it got missed being added to rhe "Show me" command when brief mode rolled out. Well done the video by the way, some great ideas for setup here.
Very helpful video! Works great, but like others I am getting the "OK" even in brief mode. Hope Amazon fixes that. If you figure out a work around, that would be a great video! Thanks Again.
I tried it by having my echo show 8 show me my ring cámara but the annoying part is if I’m not close to my echo show or I’m not home when I come home the echo show will still be displaying the ring cámara unless I physical make it go back to home. Is there a way to fix that ?
Thanks for this awesome post. I was able to get it to work with 2 routines, one for displaying and the other to return home after 30 seconds. However, I noticed when set on Blink camera using "Early Notification" it will only record for 7 seconds when I have it set to record for 25 seconds.
That’s genius. You also said this, but went a little fast over it, that it’s cool that you can use the press of a doorbell to see if you don’t just want motion. Quick thing, is wyze person detection good enough? Is it free?
You can use a press of a doorbell if it's available in the Smart Home "When This Happens" section for sure. As for Wyze Person Detection, not something I'd use personally. It has about a 1% success rate for me! Serious.
@@AutomateYourLife ! Thanks for responding. I’m looking for a camera that is triggered by sound (baby crying :) and then camera streams the video to my Echo Show
What you failed to address here is how to turn the camera off! I created a routine to show my outdoor ring camera on my lounge echo show, every time it detected movement. So far so good; but then I couldn’t get the camera to turn off! I tried creating a routine on an unused sensor in a cupboard that said ‘Alexa , show home screen (on the echo show) after no movement for 1 minute ... but this, and all other ideas failed. So then, how on Earth do you get it to turn off again automatically ... rather than the camera staying on all day until I get home and give a manual voice command?
It's in the comments a bunch Neil. Make a 2nd routine, use the Wait command for the specified time you'd like, and then go "home" Have a read down below. You'll get it!
Is there a way to set a routine to dismiss the camera after viewing it for say 20 seconds? I can't figure a way to accomplish that with my arlo cameras
Brian: It failed to show my Ring Doorbell camera on my Echo Spot, as well as, my Firestick 4K. Could the problem be because I no longer have a Ring subscription or do you think I'm goofing up somewhere else? Thank you for your hard work!
It should totally work. Do you see the little Preview this Action option when you do the customized action? If so, try that and make sure that it shows then. Then we can diagnose if your trigger is a problem. Shouldn't require a Ring subscription for this to work, but I don't have that to test.
Brian: Thank you for your help! After a little investigation I believe my issue is actually w/ the ring doorbell or the Ring app. Alexa says the Ring Doorbell is not responding & when I go into the Ring app it shows a few different errors & will not display the camera. However when I press the doorbell it will still announce via Alexa. I need to get to work so I'll fiddle w/ it when I get home tonight. Thank you again for all your hard work. I'll buy something through you or show my appreciation some other way soon. I know your Thanksgiving is in Oct., but Happy American Thanksgiving just the same. BTW what part of Canada are you from? My college girlfriend was from Lethbridge, Alberta & my current girlfriend is from outside Vancouver, B.C.
CSS: I only lost the ring doorbell subscription a week or 2 ago so I haven't figured it all out yet but yes it definitely still detects motion, but does not record video. BTW: Ring doorbell or app glitch resolved itself and the routine now works like a charm. I decided to only have it display on my echo spot because I didn't want it turning on my TV when I wasn't home. Thank you again Brian! Brian: If you happen to read this. Thank you also for the tutorial on using the Echo Flex motion detectors and Samsung SmartThings virtual switches in conjunction with Home Guard to set up a quasi alarm system. For whatever reason I only use my regular alarm at night so the system you taught us is great for the daytime.
This is exactly what I'd like to do, but with my external Simplisafe cameras, which I don't see as an option in the Add Device area. I've enabled the Simplisafe skill in Alexa, but still not able to access/program the individual devices. Anyone have any suggestions please?
If you can't find simplisafe in the list of "When this happens", then you'll need a different device. You could try IFTTT as there are some trigger services for that.
I changed the volume of my settings within the routine. (The sound of wind coming through the camera was bothersome as well.) Just before the announcement, I set an action to set volume to 4 then just before the custom action to show the camera, I set the volume to 1. It isn't perfect, but it helps.
When I try to create a routine and got to “when this happens” and the “smart home” there is nothing at all listed up smart home. I have a Wyze Cam V2 among lots of other things. I can actually say to my Echo Show 5 “show front door camera” and I can view my Wyze V2 on my Echo show. So I’m not sure why I don’t have anything under smart home
Brian, I've changed my location to US from Canada and I have all the other US skills available, but there still isn't the option to use "Customized" commands in routines. How do I access it?
Why can’t my Wyze cam v3 use routines to trigger an action when I choose the camera it says that it is not supported and Wyze help says that they only work with voice commands
It should but still doesn’t just says camera not supported , tried everything that has been suggested , contacted wyze and some agents say it works and others say it doesn’t work but not having any luck
I wish Google would allow Motion Sensors to be exposed in Google Home. I am guessing Amazon is a step ahead because the have the Zigbee Hub in certain devices, but I would like being able to say "Hey Google, when was the last movement in the kitchen" as well as the camera integration. Do you find your Nest Camera has a delay when viewing it? I find, when viewing on the Nest Hub/Hub Max, there seems to be a several second long lag in what is viewed on screen and what is happening at the camera.
All smart displays and Chromecast devices have a delay, even the Chromecast Ultra with Ethernet connection does to my disappointment. Going through the dedicated camera app would give only a little lag.
@@SmartHomeHASHTAGS That's what I have experienced also. By the time I see it on the display (Nest Hub/Hub Max) the information is already 10 seconds old and whatever was out there has gone already. Thanks for clarifying my thoughts on this.
So I just checked it...it's a few seconds old here in my place. Not 10 though! Doesn't seem to matter which display I'm bringing it up on. Could it be an Aussie network thing between Nest/Google?
@@AutomateYourLife Mine in Australia is usually 5 to 6 seconds. I think it is determined where the server is (USA). I think what Brendan was referring to the 3 or 4 seconds to load the camera and then you have the delay on top of that. The best system I have is a hardwired analogue (15 years old) camera plugged into a portable dvd display (without the player) and the display is switched on with a WeMo sensor to a WeMo switch. Its instantaneous vision of the front door. Sometimes old technology is the best.
Whether the routine does it or I do it, the inescapable 5-20 second lag before the live display appears is the exact same. One is no faster than the other. Therefore this solves and eases nothing. Only a fixed live camera can truly give one “automatic display” the way most people think of it.
@@AutomateYourLife 20 seconds, perhaps is brand-and network load specific. But even with Eufys at minimum you have 5 seconds. And that makes it NOT automatic or live display. Even on rare occasions when it’s 3 seconds. Because, at least with the battery-powered models, each cam display involves reconnecting anew to one’s wi-fi network. It’s inescapable. Perhaps people in states with fiber speeds. But Fiber is the exception and not the rule across the country.
@@rbeygarcia 3-5 seconds is pretty reasonable...but that's s why you use the motion sensors. You can sense further out so you're up and viewing by the time they get to the door.
@@AutomateYourLife ah man. Wyze had to ruin it. I hate subscriptions(other than electric and water and rent) so I won’t be getting that. I hope they can do something for free. Also did you know google photos is no longer “free”. In a few years you will have limited storage :(
Hey Brian - do a video on how we’re supposed to safely have all the devices plugged in. I have about eight plugs for every pair of outlet now - But am aware of current loads. By the way, the linked video box at the end shows BLANK as of this writing 11/26/20. Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks for the heads up! Not sure why it's blank...odd. That's NO GOOD. Can you give me some details on what you're looking for within this video? You're saying you have 8 plugs within an outlet, so are you looking for a discussion on loading, heating, and potential loss of electronics by doing so? Are there other components to this discussion you'd be after? Thanks! and Happy Thanksgiving to you!
