Unlike many consumer-level doorbells on the market, one of the main features that sets our product apart from the competition is the ability to capture and record video without a paid subscription.
Many other doorbells on the market require an active subscription to store event-based recordings. For many of these other products without this paid service, you are unable to playback or save recordings.
The DS-HD1 is a complete standalone unit that does not require an NVR, or cloud subscription. The device supports a 128GB Micro SD card for onboard recording.
What features can you expect with a Micro SD card?
When you install a compatible* Micro SD card you will be able to record and playback event-based recordings from our hik-connect application. In simple terms, this means we are maximizing the storage capacity by recording only motion and PIR (Passive Infrared Sensor) events. However, if continuous recording is required, that is possible with the use of an NVR or DVR.
One main function of the Micro SD card is the playback feature in the hik-connect application. If you are not using a Micro SD card for storage you will not have the playback function. Even if you have an NVR or DVR, the Micro SD card is still required for this feature.
In short, to unlock all the features and get the best user experience with hik-connect, make sure to use a compatible* Micro SD card.
Compatible Micro SD cards
It’s important to understand that Micro SD cards are not all the same. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that the Micro SD card you purchase will work. What has been tested and confirmed supported are our Hikvision Micro SD cards.
If you choose to purchase a 3rd party Micro SD card we strongly recommend purchasing a Micro SD card that is advertised as High Endurance. These Micro SD cards are designed specifically for the use of security cameras.
Common Issues
With some Micro SD cards, they may fail to format, initialize, or they will initialize and then go back to not initialized, try to reinsert the card, or replace with Hikvision or High Endurance Micro SD Card. You may also try to format the 3rd party Micro SD Card with FAT32 from a computer.
On playback with the hik-connect app an image preview of a past call shows, but when selected there is no record found or playback fails. Confirm a Micro SD card is installed and or if the Micro SD card has failed to initialize.
Playback failed from hik-connect even though I have the doorbell added to my NVR? A Micro SD card is still required even if recording separately to an NVR. To view the recorded playback from the NVR you need to select the NVR camera channel the DS-HD1 is added from.