Door Entry Indoor Stations and DoorBell?

[FlatWh8]

I am trying to set up a camera system for my house using hikvision ecosystem. I have planned (with Daniel's help) 4 external cameras, 1 indoor camera and 1 doorbell (not for gates, just to use as a Ring bell) and 1 NVR. Some of the external cameras will have live-guard functions as they face areas that are not supposed to have any people at night. This is essentially a system to mimic retail systems like Ring, but with local storage and much better control (hopefully).

I am just trying to figure out what's the user case for an indoor station, as it is not something you have in a system like Ring. Am I correct to assume that the indoor system will be:
1) an internal screen to show the video feed of the doorbell? and potentially let me interact via audio?
2) also can double up, via hikconnect, to show the feeds of the rest of the 5 cameras?
3) as a control unit to arm/disarm the liveguard camears? IF that's the case, I will have to put it next to the intruder alarm panels..

For my user cases above, is DS-KV6113-WPE1 + DS-KH6320-WTE1 sufficient?
As I have also seen a variety of indoor stations, some are much more expensive.
I wonder if I am missing something?

Also, could my indoor station's user case be replicated by using something else? (i.e. a smart home screen like Alexa Echo Hub?)

 

[Kyle]

Hi @FlatWh8

The key benefit of the indoor station is that it allows for fixed storage, so that you have permanent snapshots available from when someone rings the doorbell or motion is detected.

Unfortunately, unlike Ring, you don't have the capability to save video footage from the doorbells. But, a Hikvision indoor station means you can get fixed local storage (for storing still images) without any subscription fees.

(You can get stills saved in Hik-Connect without an indoor station, like mentioned here, but they are not permanent - it's better to have an indoor station saving them locally.)

The indoor screen will let you view a feed from the doorbell, answer it when rung, speak with the person at the other end, and unlock the door (if you connect the doorbell to a lock).

You can connect your other cameras to the DS-KH6320-WTE1 so that it shows a live stream from those, but you will only be able to view the sub stream and you cannot get notifications for those cameras, or access the Live Guard features, as it would work by adding cameras on the local network via their IP addresses.
For this functionality you would need to use one of the more expensive All-in one Android units, which will let you install the Hik-Connect app onto it, which will let you fully control the cameras and doorbell, as well as manage all of the alerts, from the indoor screen.

Another option would be to use any third-party Android or iOS tablet and install Hik-Connect on that.
However, you would need to keep it charged and the live view of the cameras and doorbell will time out after 5 minutes in the app.
But, it will need to be a device with access to the Google Play or Apple App Stores, so that you can download Hik-Connect on them.

This video gives a good overview of how the doorbells can work without an indoor station now:

 

[FlatWh8]

Thank you Kyle this is extremely helpful.