Live View 10 Minute Limit Workaround

Curious if anyone has found any kind of workaround for the 10 minute live view timeout?

I know that you can use a Visual Basic command to select a Window and another command to click a button on that window every 10 minutes automatically, which would work for a dedicated camera PC, but not so much for a PC that you are actually using to do other things such as browsing the web, watching risky shows, etc…

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21033736/how-to-make-a-window-active-in-vb-net

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Hey @RingMaster2. Thank you for all the great help you have offered this and other fellow neighbors. I wanted to give you a bump on this post and in addition, could you please reach out to the Community Team at community@ring.com? We would love to ask you some questions and get your feedback directly as a valued member of the Community.

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Thanks Chelsea.

What should I put in the subject line for the e-mail?

@RingMaster2 Nothing too particular! You can just say “Community Outreach” and send us an email and I should get it! :smiley_cat:

@Chelsea_Ring Sent E-mail. Thanks! :robothappy:

Looking at this workaround I am starting with the following on a standard Windows 10 PC:

1. In Notepad, create a brand new file called RingTimeoutStopper.vbs

2. Copy the following commands to the file and save it:

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

’ The First line gets the shell ready for your command.

WshShell.AppActivate "Ring"

’ The Second line switches to the Ring application if it is already running.

WScript.Sleep 5000

’ The Third line is a work in progress. We need to know what Sleep amount equals 10 minutes. To be continued…

If anyone knows the answer, please post it here, otherwise I’ll try to find out. thx

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Made some more progress on this testing. On my Ring setup, I have 4 cameras.

If I launch the Ring app and then click on just the first camera view photo thumbnail and then go back to Windows Explorer and run the script, the following will then jog through the selections and then hit the Space bar to click on the Live View button. In my set up it takes the automation of the Tab key being pressed 18 times in a row (designated with a SendKeys of TAB 18) followed by a space key press in the example below. I think I am getting really close. Film at 11.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
WshShell.AppActivate “Ring”
WScript.Sleep 1500
WshShell.SendKeys “{TAB 18}”
WScript.Sleep 1500

WshShell.SendKeys " "

Note: If you aren’t certain how many Tab keypresses you need to get to the Live View button, you can slow down the process by just using a Sleep 1500 and {TAB} and repeat the process for the number of TAB presses you think you need. That way, you can watch it press each Tab key in slow motion until you get the exact number you need. For example, 5 cameras would equal 19 TAB key presses to get to Live View, 6 cameras would be TAB 20, etc.

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Here is what I have been testing so far and it works for hours. 629000 is very close to 10 minutes although I will be shortening the amount to get closer to 10 minutes even. (600000 is exactly 10 minutes but you have to account for connection delays, etc.)

Right now, the script runs and then shows a blank white screen for about 30 seconds and then launches Live View. I’ll be adding in a loop feature at the end (currently I just copy the lines over a bunch of times to simulate the loop). I’m looking for beta testers if anyone is interested who has Windows 10 and a PC that can just sit and monitor Live View all day.

Basically, all the script does is it waits 10 minutes and then sends a space to press the Live View button, you can then set it up to repeat the process over and over so it just keeps clicking the Live View button every 10 minutes so you don’t have to with a mouse click.

The script below is set for a 4 camera system only (Tabs 18 times before sending the space character to restart Live View):

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
WshShell.AppActivate "Ring"
WScript.Sleep 1500
WshShell.SendKeys "{TAB 18}"
WScript.Sleep 1500
WshShell.SendKeys " "
WScript.Sleep 629000
WshShell.AppActivate "Ring"
WScript.Sleep 1500
WshShell.SendKeys "{TAB 18}"
WScript.Sleep 1500
WshShell.SendKeys " "

Just curious if there’s anyway to apply this to a tablet? Like HD Fire tablet

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Thank you for your work on this. unforunetly we use tablets and phones for monitoring our child. But, this is at least more work the ring seems to want to put in to it,

Can someone from the ring team actually do something here? like, i dont know, maybe give us an option to disable the timeout?

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I just wanted to inform everyone ‘No Help Is Coming to Resolve this Problem’. On February 25 Amazon will be announcing the Echo 10 for $249. There is no way they are going to make improvement to the Echo 5.

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It doesn’t look like the Ring team wants to do anything about this issue. :nauseated_face:

In fact, they made it worse.

Now the Timeout is only 40 seconds!

I agree they couldn’t care less, they have your money. I for one will be dissing RING to everyone i know that’s thinking of getting one. I am selling mine and buying a FAR more superior doorbell (UBIQUITI) stuff RING. and good riddance.

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I’m no pc nerd but I can follow directions. Where should one go to enter this “script”? Does it work on tablets or only pc’s?

Thank you so much for all of your time, work, effort, and patience. You are awesome.