Camera License Pack - having to pay double!

[icerabbit]

For what it is worth: when the camera licensing first came about, with a DSM update, in the forum here we were told that the licensing was to support development of the surveillance station program, and was based on competitive offerings.

For home use, if you want to add a few cameras, the licensing stings. I haven't added cameras due to need for extra licenses, difficulty selecting cameras with lack of guarantee that cameras will be 100% fully supported. Browser crashes when connecting to their demo unit and/or not being able to use some browsers (may have changed by now) have left me underwhelmed and overwhelmed at the same time.

introid --- Thanks for the xprotect go recommendation!
I will certainly take a closer look at that.

[todd1814]

I just came across this thread after discovering the surveillance license issue. Has anyone received a response from Synology on their justification for selling products and then taking away functionality? I was the third member of a successful class action suit against a vendor in an un-related case but I know the legal process and would consider starting it if there are enough people to warrant an affected class. I've already talked to an attorney and discussed prior case law that supports this situation. We both believe there's a case to be won here. There's a loss of use (of the feature) so there are monetary damages to be claimed for the duration that owners have been denied use. If there is already something in progress then I'm willing to pay into it if necessary.

[SparkyCushman]

I too thought this was the perfect product to offer my customers. I was in search of a product that would do it all and Synology was my choise. I ordered a DS411+II that would handle 20 cameras. Imagine my suprise when I found there would be an additional charge of $800 to use it. now add cameras, hard drives and POE switch.
Back to the search! see "GeoVision"

[idc2]

I just got a new DS211 after comparing the cost and the features. But I was not aware that the product requires additional purchase of license for additional surveillance camera.

Let's spread to ALL OUR USUAL FORUMS so that people can take this into account before making future purchase decision.

As explained by the support, the 1-camera-license included is not free but included into the purchase price. It seems like the separation of license sales is their product marketing strategy. Let's make it known to all.

Since license has to be purchased with the local dealers and I expect them to take a big cut (if not 100%) of the price. No wonder dealers are pushing Synology products.

Synology product is good, don't get me wrong. Consumers just need to know more details on how the product and it's associated components are priced.

[rodef]

Surveillance Station has been going for 3+ years and it still doesn't work properly. For many of us, DSM 3.2 - 1922 has made Surveillance Station worse. Synology won't listen and consumers only have themselves to blame if they don't take action.

If people shared their licence keys, it would force Synology to completely re-think its policy on licensing.

[LG1]

i am also disapointed about the fact that its only 1 license

no where on the box when in the shop is there any text not even small one saying only 1 camera license included
and then when your back home! yes then you read it in the manual.

this is misleading....

and if these where like 10 for 1 or 30 for 4 .. OK but the cheapist i can find is like 35 for one...

so thats not funny!
i have 3 cams.. that i can only use one now! before i "upgraded" to synology i could record to the limit of the CPU,.. now... i i have to pay even more....

i synlogy would bring the pricing down and clearly state only 1 included on the box then i think its ok!
the compitions Qnap includes 4 as of standard!!

[coolspot]

Not happy about the licenses... Surveillance Station doesn't, it's hard to justify licenses at the current price. It's near extortion!

[brumster]

Morning gents,

Slightly different situation for me. I'm currently running a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ which has served me well but just doen't transfer data at a useable rate. This put me in the market for something quicker. My criteria: a 4 bay NAS that has the usual, download manager, Itunes, etc, etc, but with a bit more throughput. Plenty of digging around saw me deciding between a QNAP and a Synology device. Okay, bare with me I'm getting to the point......

After much research I read the small print and as a result of that I ended up discovering this thread, the outcome of that? I'm pretty dissapointed to find out that the Surveillance Station licenses will cost me another £200! Ouch! That being said I wasn't looking for something to sort out my IP cameras, just a device that would meet my criteria and present some iSCSI targets as well.

I'm not to here to solve any licensing issues or to moan about the cost of Surveillance Station (well maybe), I intend to choose Synology based on performance and functionality (yes it would have been nice to have one shoe fits all, but alas, that's not to be at this cost)!

I thought some of you might be interested in a product called Blue Iris, (link not posted so just google it). It's a well supported IP camera product that I've been using for 2+ years). It's worth every penny of the small cost they ask you for and supports heaps of cameras! I had an RTSP that wasn't on supported list and they helped me to get it working in a matter of hours. Okay it's needs a host (I run mine on a VM), it presents a good functional front end to manage cameras and record video.

Apologies for thread hijack, thought you may be interested in a cheaper alternative to Synology's pretty expensive option!

Paul

[rodef]

welcome brumster,

I don't think you need to apologise for anything you wrote. It was all on topic as far as I'm concerned.

About Blue Iris. The software runs on a PC. There are lots of similar software packages that do the same. I think a lot of people who rely on a NAS don't want their PC running 24/7. This is where Surveillance Station comes in handy.

What would be ideal is to get software like Blue Iris or ZoneMinder etc, running on the Synology. Unfortunately, I don't know if anyone is willing to write the software to get that done. The power of those packages would surely make Surveillance Station redundant though.

[evilradish]

I have to admit, when I bought my ds212+ recently I saw no mention of the additional cost for camearas after the first 1. All that the advert said wad up to 12 cameras so I bought:

Nas: £250
2x 2tb drives £220
4x wireless cameras £280

That is £750 of my money on a sufferance station. Now Synology want me to spend £200 more for camera licences taking my total to £950

For this price I could have bought a mini itx pc and the cameras with a copy of zoneminder (and had change!

If you are going to charge for these synology you need to make sure your sellers are putting it on the product detail as its deceptive to your customers and will only wind people up!

I suggest you at least lower the cost of licences as I have already paid for your product, why do I need to pay for features that I have already purchased?
Its like me buying a car only to be told that wheels are not included!!

Fix up!

[Sorbe]

Any of you stop to consider that there may be 3rd party royalties involved in this? Why should I have to pay those royalties in MY Synology NAS purchase if I never use Surveillance Station?

http://www.synology.com/products/licens ... hp?lang=us

Don't raise the base price just to include more licenses that many dont need or want!

[rodef]

Any of you stop to consider that there may be 3rd party royalties involved in this? Why should I have to pay those royalties in MY Synology NAS purchase if I never use Surveillance Station?

http://www.synology.com/products/licens ... hp?lang=us

Don't raise the base price just to include more licenses that many dont need or want!

There aren't any third party royalties. You may not know this, but when SS was originally introduced in beta, there was no licensing system in place. Synology created the licensing system all by themselves when SS came out of beta. It's purpose (supposedly) is to fund Synology's internal development of SS.

[evilradish]

I could understand a single charge for SS itself OR a much cheaper licence fee. But when the cost of the licence is > than the cost of the camera.... It's not that fair! and you don't see people having to pay extra for additional features in photostation or vpnserver (I presume Synology spend time developing these apps too with our cam money?)

[d33g33]

Its interesting that Synology have not come back to say more about this and justify teh costs.

If there is a cause for this cost Synology, please announce it so that it is understood.

If there is no reason for the cost then I think its fair to say that

1. the adverstisement of it being able to use (x) amount of cameras should be revised with an *conditional to purchasioing additional camera licenses.

2. Everyone has the be right to be pissed you're charging people for essentially, nothing...

C'mon Synology, share the facts. Clean this one up...

DeeG

[mlourenco]

License Pack sucks! It could bring a great value improvement to Synology products, but no.. let's sell "something" that it's already there.
I'm also considering put another computer with linux and zoneminder (or other) and leave the limitations (and cost's) to others.